Where to take a visitor to Detroit on a driving tour of the city?

[Zacha341]

Solution re. slow service at Slows BBQ is to "call in your order" 313.962.9828! Yummy! Then drive while eating goodies...... Wash down car later : ) LOL!

Tiger Stadium would be my first suggestion, if the gate is still open you could even get out and go on the field.

Just off of the top of my head, here is a few suggestions...

A) Michigan Central Depot
B) Fisher Building
C) Guardian Building
D) Packard Plant
E) Comerica Park/Ford Field/Fox Theatre
F) Greektown
G) MGM Grand Casino/Motor City Casino
H) Renasnace Center
I) Police Station
J) Old Wayne County Building

As far as actual places to eat, there is not that many places however here are a few suggestions...

A) Slows BBQ [[Problem is that the wait is usually 45 mins)
B) Nemo's Bar
C) Lafayette/American Coney Island
D) Elmwood Bar and Grill by Comerica Park
E) MGM Grand Casino
F) Leftys Lounge [[Pizza)
G) Nikkis [[Pizza)

If you go to MGM Grand, they got the Breeze Resturant which has a nice selection and will get you in and out. Also if you might want to try Bourban Steak [[In MGM Grand), they have great Bar Burgers if you sit in the lounge, just expect to spend about $60 for 2 people.

Other than that, I was at Leftys Loungs a few weeks ago on Cass Ave behind the Detroit Library and they have really good pizza at a reasonable price.

[bobby wobby]

I would start on Fort just under Mannys bridge that will never be completed then head east turn right on Cass park at Bagley and go inside of the Michigan theater, that's used for a parking lot [[as seen in the 8 mile movie) ,Then head east to Campus Martius stop look at the original survey spike,then head north on Woodward turn right at the stadiums,
then go to Greektown ,go East on Gratiot to Eastern Market,buy some nuts at Rockeys head north to Canfield see the beautiful churches,then go west past the Med Center to Wayne State, then go south on Cass to Michigan go rigrt, to the train station double back to Michigan park amd have lunch at Slows BBQ.

[eastsidechris]

Well, as requested, here's the report:

I picked up my buddy, who works for the Baltimore Orioles, outside the Westin Book Cadillac [[the team's hotel), Monday night at 7 [[by the way, his chief complaint about coming to Detroit is that aside from hotel bar food and casino buffets, there are hardly any restaurants that are open in the area near the ballpark/hotel past 10 on a week night--but he added that Cleveland is even worse).

Here's the Cliff's Notes version of our mini-tour and his general impressions:
1. Cruised down Michigan Ave. to what remains of Tigers Stadium [[I knew he'd like that). Two of the gates along Michigan Ave. were open, so I parked the car and we walked on inside [[and I kept an eye out for the cops). As reported on here, there's not much evidence that there was once anything of note at The Corner aside from the old iron fencing along Michigan, the dirt that marks the infield/pitcher’s mound and the flag pole. He took a pic and said he'd tell Juan Samuel, the current O's manager and former Tiger, that he'd been by. A family from Georgia was coming in as we left.

2. Drove through the New Center area, where he got a glimpse of the Motown Museum. He was surprised to find out that they actually recorded all the old hits in that building.

3. Went past Wayne State and the DIA along Woodward. He commented on how little activity there was in the downtown area after five.

4. Turned east on Jefferson and drove to Belle Isle. He was impressed by how many things there were going on at 8 on a Tuesday—people flying kites, grilling, hanging out, eating, fishing, playing cricket, golfing, swimming, comparing bikes/cars, and some looking to see and be seen. I was shocked at how many people were still out there that late. My buddy asked me if it was always that crowded on a Monday night and I said I was sure most of the people were there because they didn’t have A.C., so going to Belle Isle and sweating beats sitting at home and sweating. Unfortunately, we both also made note of all the trash at the park—apparently the city was in no big hurry to clean up after the previous day’s festivities. That was disappointing. Also, had there not been a bottleneck along the reduced-lane road near the beach, I would've taken him through Indian Village, but we were stuck for about 15 minutes at Belle Isle, waiting to get out.

5. We got back on Jefferson and headed back downtown, where we drove alongside the River Walk area behind the Ren Cen and I also pointed out Cobo and Joe Louis arena to him [[I had to laugh when he asked what COBO stood for, and explained that’s the name of a former mayor).

6. Eventually, we ended up in Mexicantown and had dinner at Taqueira mi Pueblo. He commented how it must be pretty authentic to offer beef head and tongue as ingredients for the tacos and burritos. I had to agree.

By this time, it was about 10, so I drove him back to the team hotel [[no autograph seekers hovering outside like there were when I picked him up). He said he appreciated the tour because on most road trips, it's airport-hotel-get a late night bite to eat-sleep-get up-grab some lunch-go to the ballpark the next day-repeat-repeat-go back to the airport, so he rarely sees much of the cities they go to [[other than New York because everything is open so late).