Well at least we got Leo’s done right away. (Below) My son and dad are fans, especially of the Coney Island. En route to Detroit from Chicago we stopped for a good breakfast at schoopp’s (way below) 
in Michigan City Indiana, off I 94. (We went there years ago and have never been clear on the right exit.)
Tag Archives: Michigan
Back to Royal Oak – Leo’s (Schoop’s in Michigan city)
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Detroit: Motown museum, slow’s BBQ, pewabic pottery, Avalon bakery, shinola,
First stop Shinola, where we admired the sleek decor, the watches and bikes and almost total absence of price tags. next door at willy’s, a high-priced boutique, then to jolly pumpkin for a light lunch in cool post industrial decor (Korean short rib pizza with arugula; curried potato chips.
we dropped by the Avalon bakery on the Wayne state campus which I’ve heard about for years. Amazing to see all the development going on. And really nice to see people walking around downtown where Hudson’s used to be and eating outside at a cafe.
Next stop: Pewabic pottery, a national historic landmark and a drive down Iriquois Street in Indian village lined with gorgeous well tended homes and gardens and yards and then, a stones throw away on charlevoix, classic urban blight with crumbling old houses and weed strewn empty lots.
onto Hitsville USA: the Motown museum in two of the eight houses where berry Gordy built his empire. A really fun tour full of music and interesting stories and memorabilia. It’s a very low tech exhibit which ai appreciated – you got to stand in the recording studio where many soon to be famous performers created their hits and the old 1960s office and living quarters. Our tour guide was young and enthusiastic and the tour ended with us all winding and dancing a Motown tune. Two Japanese tourists and a Brit among us.
Tonight we went to slow’s BBQ, in the shadow of the former crumbling train station, once a symbol of Detroit decay and now a symbol of its revival, as it is being rebuilt and repurposed.
Forgot to mention that we started by dropping by my great grandfather’s old house on the still elegant Boston Blvd.
Driving from Chicago to Detroit: decisions
Decision #1: i90 skyway (about $7 tolls total) or i94? My dad suggested the tollway so we tried for the first time. Not the worlds best road (construction) but maybe not as bad as i94 thru Gary.
Decison#2:all important where to eat lunch? We stopped in the pretty lakeside town of st. Joseph and found a good place Cafe Tosi (good tuna melt…tuna with artichokes, feta) and muffuletta.
decision #3: where to stop for fruit. Exit 39 on i94 in Michigan at the stand we think is called fruit acres for good peaches and blueberries. Free samples are not slices of fruit but a whole peach or apple or whatever.
Decidon#4: dinner in Chicago last night. We ate at one of our old favorites…Andy’s Thai kitchen.
Traverse City hotspots
We were staying very close to Traverse City Michigan when we were up north a year ago, bunking in a sweet little lakeside cottage in Glen Arbor, but we never made it into the big city, although I wanted to. Just ran out of time – too much to do in the small lakeside towns in the area. But now comes the NYTimes Travel section with some recommendations for TC which I will duly note here for our next trip there – which I hope will be soon!
– Artisandesign network, new gallery with local artists’ and designers’ work, especially furniture and “elegant dining chairs” by Woodbine.
– The Cooks’ House, a farm to table restaurant now in new larger location.
– Right Brain Brewery, 16 tap brew pub with all local ales. Must try the Black Eye P.A.
– Mana, “soul food” including the Divine Swine pulled pork sandwich.
– State Theater, site of TC Film Festival started by local resident and filmmaker Michael Moore
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More Detroit hotspots – pt. 2
I forgot to mention another NYT story in its fall 2010 T magazine about Detroit – this one about “artists in residence” in some struggling Motor City neighborhoods. It likened the city to a modern-day Rome. um, not exactly. But here are more suggestions of things to do, places to see:
Restaurants – Atlas Global Bistro, 3111 Woodward Ave!; The Cass Cafe, 4620 Cass Ave; El Barzon (Mexican-Italian?) 3710 Junction STreet; Russell Street Deli, 2465 Russell Street.
Museums/Galleries: The Butcher’s Daughter, 22747 Woodward Ave.; Detroit Institute of Arts (duh); G.R. N’Namdi Gallery; Heidelberg Project – between Mt. Elliott and Ellery streets heidelberg.org; Lemberg Gallery, 23271 Woodward Ave., Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward; Paul Kotula Projects, 23244 Woodward; Susanne Hilberry Gallery, 700 Livernois. Sad not to see my parent’s gallery, The Rubiner Gallery, in the list but it’s been closed for many years after a long run in suburban Detroit.
Hotels: The Inn on Ferry Street.
Leaving northern Michigan
A huge storm knocked out the internet access at our cottage on Big Glen Lake so I’m running behind in my blogging. Yesterday we took a very short hike at Empire Bluff for another spectacular view of the lakeshore and dunes, then checked out Esch road Beach – a relatively remote beach known for nude bathers (although we saw none.)
Later D and I rode our bikes from the cottage to Glen Arbor and then to Glen Haven which has a little maritime museum and a couple of old restored buildings, plus a lovely beach. We stopped at Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor for a drink and some free samples of dried cherries in various forms. Kitschy place but fun and generous spirit. Bumped into Ranger Ryan – who we’d gone on a bike tour with the day before – and he seemed a bit taken aback that we spotted him in civilian gear. Also stopped at Becky Thatcher’s Jewelry design which has gorgeous jewelry made with local stones – including Petoskey stones, which I failed to find on my own, and a pretty blue/green stone from Leland that I”m told is not technically a stone.
The huge storm rolled in around dinner time and fortunately we’d already decided NOT to cook out. We went to Art’s Tavern, the local hang out in Glen Arbor which was jammed packed but we managed to cram into a booth after a half hour wait and had the best cheeseburgers of our trip (they made mine rare!). More tomorrow. we’re safely in Chicago now although D is still searching for a parking spot.
Riding with the Ranger – Empire, Mi.
One of the best things we’ve done here cost no money – yesterday we loaded our bikes onto our car and drove about 15 minutes south to an old school house south of Empire where we met up with a young forest ranger – Ranger Ryan – and 9 other people for a bike ride and ranger talk. Beautiful morning and lovely terrain. We rode on gravel and sand roads (a mountain bike would have been handy but not essential) through deep woods, wide open meadows with the occasional perfect white farm-house and red barns and outbuildings, to the sandy shores of Lake Michigan (near a nude beach, we were told). we stopped occasionally for a talk by Ryan about the invasive species in the ecosystem (not good) and the local lore (pretty darned good) about a ghost town and hard drinking lumber boss with a great baritone.
Outside Empire we stopped at the Grocer’s daughter – a fancy hand-made chocolate shop started by a Danish woman who was indeed a grocer’s daughter in Denmark. Good price chocolates. Then back to our favorite farm stand just north of Empire and then home to Brook haven where we met up with the kids who had done some kayaking on the lake and eaten at the Foothills Cafe nearby (good). Returned to Empire beach where the waves were much calmer and had dinner at the cottage, followed by ice cream (still not Mooners but delicious and good scoops) at the Pine Cone in Glen Arbor. waiting now for the weather to clear
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TakeBetsywithyou 