Blogging is hard.

Who would have thought? You mean I actually have to keep up with this? These posts won't write themselves? I'm back in the saddle now folks. Ready to take this seriously. Maybe.

Motor City Brewing Works

The Cass Corridor is known for vagrants, prostitutes, veterans, and hipsters. Oh, and cheap beer. But the Cass Corridor has more to offer than just 2 dollar Pabst. The Motor City Brewing Works is a microbrewery known for the Ghettoblaster, a colorful name for a mild ale. With the weather getting better, I wanted to enjoy a good beer outdoors.



The deck sits atop the bar and provides a nice view of the neighborhood and of downtown. A set of stairs runs up the side of the place. Until late last year, Motor City Brewing Works just offered their own beers. Now they have added Pizza to the menu and it's gone over very well. It's not the traditional Detroit Style pizza, one pizza will fill up a hungry person, it's a little small to fill two hungry people.






There is plenty of street parking in the area, and a few spots in the large lot that surrounds the Brewery. The lot is owned by the Traffic Jam and Snug and will charge you to park there if you are headed for the brewery.















Motor City Brewing Works
470 W Canfield St
(313) 832-2700

Red Bull Air Races - Not Sold Out!

Supposedly, all tickets for the US side are sold out. But, some enterprising folks (Schoenith Family of Roostertail fame) seem to have another option. They are holding their own events to view the Red Bull Air Races!


Their website is called "Air Race Experience" and has multiple options for Saturday (Prelims) and Sunday (Finals). The website looked a little hokey, but a quick whois showed that the domain was being held by someone at the Roostertail. There are three locations to view the races from: Potbelly in the RenCen, Seldom Blues, and the Miller Parking Garage.


For reference, the Miller Parking Garage is where the Fireworks VIP Rooftop party takes place. It is just west of the RenCen.

HUMP - Festival Foreplay! - Friday 5/23

Ok, so back in the day (before Foran's became a beer lovers paradise) Foran's used to host many DJ/Techno nights. One of which was the popular Wednesday "HUMP" nights. It was an evening of Ghettotech (Ass-n-titties, You need another drink, the Godzilla song) sweaty bumping and grinding. Oh, and humping.


The regular Wednesday nights are gone, but the one-offs are still here. Tonight is one of them, and for the money, it's alot of fun. Girls always "want to go dancing" so bring them to this. Well, as long as they aren't insulted by the word 'Ho'.


BTW - The Surgeon is the DJ who had the booth at DEMF that pulled a bigger crowd than some of the official stages.



Foran's Irish Pub
612 Woodward Ave.
313-961-3043

Butcher's Inn - Eastern Market

The weather has finally broken, and the crowds return to Eastern Market. After hiking around the market buying produce, flowers, and other odds and ends, one has worked up quite an appetite.

There are many places in Eastern Market to fill your belly. It's tough for a regular visitor to pick a favorite! But, for the non-breakfast crowd, my pick is Butcher's Inn.

Though the Grand Marnier French Toast is good (not great), I'm drawn to lunch. The Jerk Chicken Sandwich is excellent. There are many places with "Jerk" items on the menu that are bland, but this one has a little kick (not too much) and some great Jerk Flavor. The spicy slaw topping is a nice accent and matches the jerk flavor perfectly.


For the vegetarians and mushroom fans, the Portabella Mushroom sandwich is also a tastey lunchtime favorite. Grilled on toasted bread from Avalon Bakery - another Detroit gem - the sammy includes roasted red pepper, onion, provolone and wasabi mayonaise.







Oh and -- the beer is cheap.


Butchers Inn
1489 Winder St
Detroit, MI 48207
(313) 566-0966

The Hub - Not the Bar - The Bike Shop

Some of you may be familiar with Back Alley Bikes. It's a great community group that seeks to educate people on how to maintain and repair their bicycles. If you have ever been there during one open shop days, you know what a madhouse it can be.

To alleviate some of the crush, they have opened "The Hub". Whereas Back Alley Bikes aimed to educate folks, The Hub is more of your traditional bike shop. You can drop your bike off for a tune-up, or drop in for an estimate for other repairs. They also have used bikes for sale. They range in price from $60 on up through the $600 range. Knowing the care these folks put into
their work, I have no qualms about buying one from them.

The Hub Detroit
On the west side of Cass. Just north of MLK
No phone (yet)
Mon - Sat 10 -6
Sun - 12 - 6

Harry's Detroit

Everyone has their spots to watch the big game. Sometimes it's the smokey dive around the corner with 2 dollar pints and greasy burgers. Other times, you're looking for more than just "pub-grub". You want good beer and good food to match.

Harry's is a sports bar for sure, they've got plenty of HDTVs that are configured correctly, the picture looked very good. There is tons of room for large groups. But the beer selection is above par for a sports bar. On draft, they had the usual suspects, but they also had Stone IPA, Harp, and Bell's Winter White among others.

The place has normal bar fare covered - Chicken Wings, Artichoke dip, Quesadillas (all above average). But the Crab Cakes and Tex-Mex Egg Rolls are also excellent. For some items that are definitely not on menu at the Detroiter, try the Sesame Salmon Salad. This might be the only sports bar where you shouldn't think twice about ordering such items.

Harry's isn't super cheap, Sandwiches / Burgers are all in the 8 dollar range, but the food is damn good across the board. Because of the location ("Scary" South Cass Corridor, Just north of 75) this is still a hidden gem. It's a quick walk to Comerica Park, which makes it a great spot before or after the game. And if you want to catch some of the Pistons game after you get out of the Theatre, you won't feel out of place.


Harry's Detroit
2482 Clifford St
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 964-1575