Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations

Places to go in detroit when not in a hospital

Somehow forgot to post this — over a year ago. But has lots of good stuff on Detroit!

I have been reading Hour magazines “101 things every detroiters should do” and assume it pertains to former detroiters as well. So here’s some things that made my list:

– Roller Derby Motor City style: see the Motor city disassembly line, the Motown Wreckers, the D-Funk all stars and my fav, the Detroit Pistoffs.
– the Rust Belt Market in Ferdale, where Old Navy used to be. Weekend art fair of sorts.
– Ernie’s sandwich shop, Oak Park
– Ford Rouge Factory tour
– Detroit Mexicantown, churros at Mexicantown bakery
– Inn on Ferry Street
-cliff Bells jazz joint, Bakers Keyboard Lounge

– Detroit soup
– Mon Jin Lau in Troy
– Motor city wine bar, 608 Woodward
– Russell Industrial Center, artist in Albert Kahn former factory
-Funk Night, monthly at the contemporary art institute
– Motown museum
– Yemen Cafe in Dearborn
– :Dorothy turkell house (by FLWright)
– Royal Oak lost and found vintage
– pewabic Pottery,
– cadieux cafe… Mussels and feather bowling
– Arab American National Museum, sole museum in US dedicated to such

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More amazing dining options at Beaumont Hospital. No kidding

So last week we also discovered another corner of the food court at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak and darned if it wasn’t an outpost of Papa Joes, the fabulous gourmet market a little further north on Woodward (or Hunter) in Birmingham. Food there and here looks great. Gateway Market in Des Moines listen up….you could do this in Des Moines at Iowa Methodist!! (and maybe you already are)

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Filed under Detroit, DINING

Glorious Royal Oak Farmers Market

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Filed under Agritourism, Detroit, Uncategorized

Red Coat Tavern burger and Rays ice cream- suburban Detroit

One might get the impression that all I am doing during this visit to suburban Detroit is eating which isn’t entirely true but not sure you really want a blow by blow account of the molasses slow days in the Intensive care Unit of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Food, even more than usual,
has been my main source of comfort and entertainment, hence you get yet another gastro post. We went last night to a place on Woodward Avenue I must have passed a bazillion times and not noticed. The Redcoat Tavern. That’s the downside of having a business on a retail-lined main drag. Takes a lot to get noticed. it’s got a faux New England exterior of grey narrow wood slats and a Redcoat portrait. inside it feels like a warm and cozy pub with lots of red leather and wood and really superb burgers…hulking patties of beef cooked as rare as you want (a rare find, mine was pink enough that the bun was a bit gooey from the juice) and thick battered onion rings, a great beer list. perfect place to unwind from the real world of a hospital.

another good place to do that is Ray’s ice cream on Coolidge where I did the highly unusual and went for a “kids cup” by myself that was about four heaping scoops packed into a paper cup for $3. Cannot imagine how much ice cream the adult cup holds. but as comfort food goes, it did the trick. I had chocolate with bits of malted balls and coffee with bits of heath bars.

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Filed under Detroit, DINING, Uncategorized

Greek islands/ Commonwealth Cafe in Birmingham; Gemmayze in Royal Oak, Mi.

We got a rude reminder of how bad hospital cafeteria food can be when we found the Mackinac Cafe at Beaumont hospital  closed in the evening (we’d dined there well for lunch)and had to go to the nearby cafeteria, although the tuna and egg salad was okay.

But we also got out of the hospital a little for lunch and had some solid Greek diner fare in Birmingham at  Greek Islands, where we had: chicken/lemon/rice soup, gyro, Greek salad, baklava, the whole shebang.  Across the street is a trendy cafe, Commonwealth Cafe, that comes well recommended for its fried egg sandwich and cappuccino, among other things.

In Royal Oak, we went to a good Middle Eastern restaurant,  Gemmayze Lebanese Kitchen, sitting at the bar on high stools watching fresh pita come out of the rustic oven and eating it warm with hummus.

City of Royal Oak

Pictured left to right: Downtown Royal Oak, the National Shrine of the Little Flower church, the Rackham Memorial Fountain at the Detroit Zoo, and the Woodward Dream Cruise.

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Filed under DINING, Michigan

Farmers Market at Beaumont. hospital in royal Oak, Michigan

Surprised to find a farmers market outside Beaumont Hospital where I am spending the day awaiting my fathers surgery to be completed. Nice idea and picked up some blueberries. Also a
Surprisingly good cafe inside the hospital, the Mackimac Cafe, with an excellent tuna sandwichand peanut butter cookies. Bakery looked great. Takes the edge off to have this. Comfort food when we need it

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hair frisk on 9/11 at Des Moines airport.

flying on 9/11 was a little eery but for the most part just fine. I had absolutely no wait at airport security in Des Moines. oddly empty but I was told that’s not unusual for a 10 am midweek flight. But oddly, After I did the scanner thing, the guard asked the squeeze my ponytail. A hair frisk of sorts.

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The Hub Spot – new stop along Des Moines Riverwalk

Walk & Bike Tour Cover

We stopped at The (new) Hub Spot for a light lunch while riding along the Principal Riverwalk in downtown Des Moines on a hot Sunday afternoon and had a perfect light meal – a very good ham and swiss on a perfectly concocted baguette – and a great view of the river and downtown, including the Latino Fest going on atop a nearby bridge. What a great addition to the ever-improving downtown scene. As further proof of that expansion, we picked up a little free Des Moines Walk & Bike Guide (more excellent work from the Des Moines Bicycle Collective) to downtown at cafe – with walking tours of the city’s public art (including sculpture by Joel Shapiro, Claes Oldenburg, Jun Kaneko)  East Village shops, downtown architecture, Capitol area,  and four biking tours of downtown breweries, historic (and hilly) neighborhoods and “Chuck’s 18-miler” which follows almost exactly our favorite loop from home to downtown and back.

What a great idea!! But the highlight for us came towards the end of our ride along the Neal Smith Trail when we spotted a giant billboard featuring our neighbor and friend Sam! See below…samphoto

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Filed under bike trails, biking, Des Moines

California dreamin’ – san luis obispo, pacific grove

My brother and his family called today while driving up the California Coast from Los Angeles. They were near Santa Barbara, heading to one of my favorite towns, San Luis Obispo where I visited with my family back in 2001 (right after 9/11). It took me only a few minutes to remember the name of the high-kitsch hotel there, the Madonna Inn, (photo above) with its over-the-top rooms and great apple pie served in the cafe. And I remembered the wonderful farmers market held on a weeknight and I think on a weekend day. In fact, I’m looking at a whimsical stamp holder (that alas, no longer is much needed) that I bought at the market or a craft gallery nearby. I had to look back in my journal to find the name of the hotel we stayed at later on, The Butterfly Inn, a retro motel next to a Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary and Eucalyptus Grove in the town of…Pacific Grove, not far from Monterey, where we enjoyed the fabulous aquarium and at a local hotspot, the Fish House.

Sycamore

Find a local business:

Powered by the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce.


MoTav Power lunch

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“Bad” (Malo) restaurant opening in Des Moines

Chef George Formaro is opening new reaturant Malo

Pleased to read that restauranteur extraordinaire George Formaro (Zombie Burger, Centro, Django, Gateway et. al) is opening yet another restaurant in Des Moines, this one serving nuevo Latina” fare and called Malo, the Spanish word for “Bad” (but more bad-cool then bad-bad). “It’s going to be at the greatl old former firehouse downtown that’s becoming the new home base for the Des Moines Social Club.
He’ll be offering two things I used to think I’d find in Des Moines – a Pisco Sour (which we grew fond of last November during a trip to, where else, Peru) and “a late night menu.” (When I first moved here in 1990, it used to depress the heck out of me that I couldn’t find a decent place to eat on a Saturday night at 9 p.m. after a movie – I’ll be forever indebted to Chat Noir, now closed alas, for changing that!) The menu will reportedly include nachos mac and cheese (which doesn’t appeal to me) but also carnitas (which I happened to serve tonight to my family, using a fantastic NYTimes recipe I found years ago).
The pork carnitas torta is a sandwich of carnitas, cheese, refried beans and onions in a red chile sauce, served on South Union torta bread.
The fried shrimp tacos are served with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado and lime.

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Filed under Des Moines, DINING