Eminem Opens a 'Mom's Spaghetti' Pop-Up in Detroit

The words “Mom’s spaghetti” are forever etched into the collective unconscious of a generation, not because of their own mom’s spaghetti—well, maybe—but mostly because of a reference Eminem once made to his own vomit.

The immortal line “His palms are sweaty / knees weak, arms are heavy / There's vomit on his sweater already, Mom’s spaghetti” was dropped on "Lose Yourself," the biggest single from the soundtrack of his 2002 film 8 Mile, and since then, it’s probably outlived everything else about the film, enjoying full meme status. Now, it's gotten the pop-up restaurant treatment.

According to the Detroit News, “Mom’s spaghetti” was manifested at music venue The Shelter in Detroit’s St. Andrew's Hall over the weekend, where Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith himself, a.k.a. Eminem, showed up to sign autographs and promote his new album Revival.

Fans could enjoy Mom's spaghetti—well, takeout containers full of spaghetti and garlic bread for $5 ($8 with meatballs) or a $5 spaghetti sandwich—while trying on merch and listening to the new record.

Union Joints, the company that catered for the Mom’s Spaghetti pop-up, reportedly went through “100 pounds of pasta in the first three hours of the event,” proving that there is still an appetite for this pop culture delicacy, disregarding the fact that the lyric is about, uh, puke.

“What’s better than spaghetti on a cold day in Detroit and people are eating it up,” Curt Catallo of Union Joints told the Detroit News. “It’s the best the Shelter’s ever smelled.” Some attendees waited over an hour for a taste of Mom's spaghetti.

Luckily, no one vomited in the tense build-up to a freestyle battle against Rabbit. And more good news: If you missed the event, there are a lot of moms out there available for future spaghetti pop-ups.