McCormick Place – Chicago

16 02 2009
  • 2301 S. Lakeshore Drive
  • Chicago, IL 60616
  • (312) 791-7000
  • Website
The entrance to McCormick Place in Chicago.

The entrance to McCormick Place in Chicago.

This is funny.  Last month, when I was writing the review for Cobo Hall after we went to the North American International Auto Show, I mentioned I had never been to the Chicago Auto Show or McCormick Place.  I happened to be home this year during the auto show and I asked my dad if he wanted to go.  You see, he was supposed to drive up for the Detroit show, but snow kept them home.  I figured the Chicago Auto Show was a good replacement…and boy, was it.

 

McCormick Place is on Chicago’s South Side right where I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) turns into the famous Lake Shore Drive.  When you’re on the highway, it’s really tough to see anything other than a massive building.  I had no idea what the front of the building looked like or even how to get to a door from Lake Shore drive, but I have driven by it hundreds of times.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicago, Entertainment Venues, Illinois, Live Entertainment, Reviews

Detroit Area Company Recalling Candy

16 02 2009

From the AP…

A Detroit-area candy store is recallingsome chocolate-covered peanuts because of salmonella fears.

Gayle’s Chocolates has stores in Royal Oak and at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport. Customers can return the product for a refund or destroy the box. The UPC number is 3447803065.

Gayle’s Chocolates of Royal Oak says it has no reports of
illnesses. But the peanuts used in 10-ounce boxes of sugar-free
chocolate-covered peanuts came from Lynchburg, Va.-based PeanutCorp. of America.

A salmonella outbreak has been traced to a processing plant in Blakely, Ga.


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Categories : Food News, Michigan

Slows Bar-B-Q

25 01 2009
  • 2138 Michigan Avenue
  • Detroit, MI 48216
  • (313) 962-9828
  • Website
  • Menu
Slows Bar-B-Q on Michigan Avenue in Detroit.

Slows Bar-B-Q on Michigan Avenue in Detroit.

My biggest complaint about the food here in Mid-Michigan is that there’s no good BBQ.  After a rant one day, I was told by more than one person to eat at Slows Bar-B-Q the next time I was in Detroit.  That was probably six months ago, but we’ve only been to Detroit once.  J and I were in town for the North American International Auto Show and we wanted to do both lunch and dinner in the Detroit area.  We were too early for lunch at Slows, so we settled on BBQ for dinner.

Slows Bar-B-Q is on Michigan Avenue in the shadow of what’s left of Tiger Stadium.  There’s no parking lot that we could see, but we were able to find street parking around the corner.  The area looks a little rundown and not some place I would really want to be at night, but Slows stood out as a diamond in that rough.

Our first challenge was getting in the place.  We couldn’t find the door!  There are two doors that actually look like doors, but both are looked and not an actual entrance.  We stood looking at the store front trying to figure out how to get in!  Fortunately, someone came out.  The door is blended in to the facade.  It’s has the same wooden slats the cover the building.  No windows or even a handle.  There’s a hole cut out of the wood to pull the door open.  It’s actually a really cool look and once we figured out how to get in, we had a little chuckle and could appreciate the design.

We made it to Slows just after three o’clock.  Not a prime dinner time.  We thought we’d be ok, but when we got in, there’s was actually a wait.  There were two large groups in front of us as well as a couple normal size parties.  We gave our name to the host who told us it would be about twenty minutes.  A twenty minute wait at three in the afternoon!  Again, that’s usually a good sign, so we stuck it out.  Turns out, the wait was about ten to fifteen.   Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : BBQ, Detroit, Local Flavor, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

Cobo Center

24 01 2009
  • 1 Washington Boulevard
  • Detroit, MI 48226
  • (313) 877-8111
  • Website
The Cobo Center in downtown Detroit

The Cobo Center in downtown Detroit

I really didn’t want to miss the auto show.  My family has always talked about making the drive to Detroit, but this year, I live an hour and a half away.  I really didn’t have an excuse not to go, so J and I got up early and made the trip to Detroit.  We were going to the auto show.

The Cobo Center is in downtown Detroit near the river.  We made it downtown with no problem.  Being veterans of Chicago traffic made navigating Detroit that much easier.  The problem was, we didn’t know where to park.  There was some confusion on Jefferson street which put us down by Joe Louis Arena.  We didn’t want to park there because we didn’t know where we were, so we took a “Michigan Left” and headed back the way we came.  After another “Michigan Left” we were back in front of Cobo.  Still not sure where to go, I took a right where we finally saw some parking garages.  Surprisingly, it was only ten bucks and a really short walk to the entrance of the conference center.

Inside, the Cobo Center is huge.  It’s probably comparable to McCormack Place in Chicago…but I wouldn’t know.  I’ve never been there.  Sad, huh.  Anyway, we walked the lobby area until we found a ticket kiosk.  There were options to either buy from a ticket window or use a computer.  Buying tickets from a person meant cash only.  Using the computer wsa the only way to use a credit card.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Detroit, Downtown, Entertainment Venues, Reviews

Michael Symon’s “Roast” now open

30 10 2008

Very limited info on the Westin Book Cadillac website, but they do have a menu in which everything looks delicious..  Through the end of the year, they’re only open for dinner.  Reservations are suggested 313-961-2500…

The Detroit Free Press has an article on-line with pictures.  Can’t wait to try it…hint, hint….


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Categories : Detroit, Food News, Michigan

Free Pizza for McCain Signs

23 10 2008

I don’t know how else you would think this would end….

A Warren pizzeria owner received threatening phone calls Wednesday after a political pizza deal went awry.

“They’ve been actually calling here and threatening my life,” said Salvatore’s Pizzeria owner Diana Franzoni, who previously offered free, small pizzas to anyone who turned in a McCain-Palin yard sign after the Republican senator closed his Michigan offices. “It’s just ridiculous. People have blown something completely innocent completely out of proportion.”

That’s not the best part of the story. 

“We put out a sign that said ‘McCain gave up on Michigan. Michigan should give up on McCain. Turn in your McCain lawn sign for one free, mini pizza with topping,’ ” she said.

Approximately 300 signs were turned in by young and old customers, but the promotion ended Tuesday when police visited the business after receiving complaints that some of the submitted signs were stolen.

Duh.  If I could get a free pizza for turning in a McCain sign, I would probably wait until it got dark and jack a few too.  Did the owner really think that die-hard Republicans would pull their signs up and give them to a pizzeria for a mini pizza? 

I love election season.  You always get the best (wierdest?) news stories.


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Categories : Food News, Michigan

Happy’s Pizza – Lansing

14 09 2008
  • 6045 S. Cedar St.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 272-7777
  • Website
  • Menu
Happys Pizza on the corner of Cedar and Miller in Lansing.

Happy's Pizza on the corner of Cedar and Miller in Lansing.

What a miserable day.  It hasn’t stopped raining since Friday and that’s made it hard to work up the ambition to do anything but lay on the couch and watch TV.   Good thing there’s a NASCAR race on today.  We had talked about going to Okemos to pick something up, but ultimately, we both decided neither of us wanted to do much of anything except lay around and be lazy.

We had been watching the progress at the old BP station on the corner of Miller and Cedar that was being turned into a Happy’s Pizza.  Not being from Michigan, I had never seen a Happy’s Pizza before.  They got their start in 1994 in the Detroit area.  Since then, they have expanded a lot in Southeast Michigan.  Currently, they’re heading west and even starting to look at expansion in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana.

Lunch was becoming a problem.  We were both hungry but too lazy to actually do anything about it.  Earlier this week,  Runs With Spatula put up a post about Happy’s opening.  J and I talked about it all week.  She finally suggested if I could reach my cell phone on the coffee table, we should order pizza.  Grudingly, I got up and checked out the Happy’s Pizza website where I found a coupon for 12 wings,a  2-liter of Pepsi and a large pizza for about $16.  Since I was already up, I grabbed my cell phone and called in an order. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Lansing, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews

Roast opening Oct. 15…

10 09 2008

…but according to the Detroit News, they needed a loan of $400,000 to do so.

Celebrity chef Michael Symon’s restaurant Roast aims to open Oct. 15 in the renovated Westin Book Cadillac downtown, backed in part by a $400,000 loan that includes public money.

After some debate about the struggles of downtown upscale restaurants, the loan was approved Tuesday by the board of the Economic Development Corp., a branch of the quasi-public Detroit Economic Growth Corp. Some of the money comes from the city’s $40 million casino fund; the 10-year loan is backed by Citizens Bank and personally guaranteed by Book Cadillac developer John Ferchill. A breakdown of how much each party is backing was not available.  

I would love to see a menu for this project.  It’s supposed to be a meat-eaters paradise.


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Categories : Detroit, Food News

Comerica Park

27 07 2008
  • 2100 Woodward Ave.
  • Detroit, MI 48201
  • (313) 962-4000
  • Website
The view from our seats at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit.

The view from our seats at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit.

I don’t even know what to say.  WOW!  I cannot tell you how impressed I was with Comerica Park.  I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to Major League ballparks.  Comiskey Park, US Cellular Field, Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, and Busch Stadium are the only ballparks I’ve been to.  Comerica makes The Cell look like that sh*thole where the Cubs play. 

When my girlfriend and I first moved to Lansing, one of the first thing we did was check the Tigers schedule to see when our White Sox were in town.  Luck has it, they were here the first weekend we were.  Since we were still working out moving expenses, going to Detroit our first weekend here probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.  A few weeks ago, I noticed the Sox were in town again.  I got on StubHub to see what I could get for tickets and picked up two right field bleacher seats.  Since I bought the tickets two weeks ago, we’ve both been jacked about going to the game.

We parked near Greektown and walked to the park.  We ended up between Comerica and Ford Field which was a good spot since our seats were in the outfield.  We handed over our tickets and walked in and immediately both of us were in awe.  What a beautiful park.  I snapped a few pictures from left field then we went to make a lap around and see what else CoPa had to offer. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Detroit, Downtown, Entertainment Venues, Michigan, Reviews

Astoria Pastry Shop

27 07 2008
  • 541 Monroe St.
  • Detroit, MI 48226
  • (313) 963-9603
  • Website
  • Menu
The Astoria Pastry Shop in Detroits Greektown Neighborhood

The Astoria Pastry Shop in Detroit's Greektown Neighborhood

The Astoria Pastry Shop was another recommendation from fellow blogger Genie28.  Being new to the area, we had no idea that Greektown was pretty much within walking distance from Comerica Park which was our final destination of the night.  We drove down Monroe Street looking for the shop.  After driving around the cramped streets for a few minutes, we realized how close we were to CoPa and ended up pulling into a lot and just parking for the night.  We headed back to Monroe Street to find the Astoria Pastry Company and couldn’t believe what we found.

The Astoria Pastry Company is located across the street from the Greektown Casion along a strip of road that is home to a lot of restaurants.  There was a steady line of people going in an out so we figured it must be one of those “must hit” places.  When you walk through the door, you’re immediately assaulted by a huge case of homemade pastry’s, cookies, and ice cream.  It was very overwhelming.  We didn’t know where to start.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bakery, Detroit, Restaurant, Reviews

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