Eminem Is Opening a Mom's Spaghetti Restaurant in Detroit

What started as a memorable line from Eminem's 2002 hit single "Lose Yourself" has taken on a life of its own, not only as a pop culture reference but also as a pop-up eatery and charity. Now it's becoming a permanent destination: a Mom's Spaghetti restaurant is opening in Detroit tomorrow.

Eminem has embraced this culinary lyric before: In 2017, he partnered with the Detroit restaurant group Union Joints to create a brief Mom's Spaghetti pop-up restaurant to promote the release of his album, Revival. Then, last year, Mom's Spaghetti returned (again with help from Union Joints) with a noble cause: providing free pasta meals to Detroit healthcare workers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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But on Wednesday, Mom's Spaghetti is coming to the general public. This past Friday, Adam Graham, film critic at The Detroit News, posted a video on his Twitter account showing a commercial he said was airing on local news promoting a Mom's Spaghetti restaurant. Reached for comment, Eminem's publicist confirmed that, indeed, this will be the first permanent outpost for the concept, opening inside the newly-launched Union Assembly restaurant — which is also run by Union Joints — in downtown Detroit.

"We've had a lot of fun putting this project together with the folks at Union Joints, and the response from fans has been overwhelmingly positive," Paul Rosenberg, Eminem's manager, was quoted as saying. "The previous pop-ups were really a test for us to determine whether there was enthusiasm for a regularly-occurring Mom's Spaghetti spot that would be open all year long."

According to the Mom's Spaghetti website, the menu is extremely limited: Just Mom's Spaghetti ($9), Mom's Spaghetti with Meatballs ($12), a 'Sghetti Sandwich ($11), and then a variety of "pop" or water ($4).

The Detroit News reports that the restaurant itself is equally tiny, billed as a "small bodega space" with limited seating where orders are taken at a walk-up window in an alley between Union Assembly and The Fillmore. However, upstairs from the restaurant will be another space, called The Trailer, featuring Eminem and 8 Mile merch and memorabilia.

Mom's Spaghetti will open at 2131 Woodward Ave. at 5 p.m. on September 29. Additional hours aren't yet clear, but Union Assembly's kitchen serves food starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.