detroit condo/loft developments

i love living in midtown… mostly because there are many things within walking distance… after walking the wife to her job at karmanos, i trekked over to the DIA to ogle at a few of van gogh’s masterpieces… on my way there, i passed the Mid-Med loft developments located on canfield and john r… these are them, below...

if you check out the website, you’ll see that they’ve got some pretty sweet condos goin’ up, along with a carwash and a new deli that should be opening up in the near future… i’m looking forward to that…

friday night i went to a development party… i don’t know if that’s what they’re called, but that’s what i’m calling ‘em… it was a pretty cool thing though… as i’ve mentioned in the past, there has been a ton of development going on in detroit and so one of the things developers will do to promote the development (as well as their properties) is throw these development parties… this particular development party was held in brush park at the Carlton… here’s a pic below...

aside from being able to get a sneak peek at what these new upscale developments look like, these development parties are a great way to get some free grub, beverages and check out some new art… of course they ask for donations, and i gave one, but you’re not required to and a lot of people didn’t…

anyways, that was my friday… checkout the new developments in detroit… you won’t be disappointed!!!

Toronto or Detroit?

split the weekend between two cities that i love…

saturday i went to toronto!!! stopped in at ikea… what a great place… i hear we’re getting one in the metro area soon and i just can’t wait… it’s the best furniture store i’ve ever been in… i’d heard so much about it, but was like “what’s the big deal?”… but after going, i’ve realized that it is a big deal… anyways, went to ikea and bought a couple bowls for the kitchen and a desk for the bedroom… after that, the wife and i went down to chinatown and had some dim sum… man, i love chinatown-toronto… it’s just awesome… for a little while you just become immersed in another culture… then you cross the street and it’s over… anyways, the dim sum was alright…we got in after the lunch rush, so it wasn’t coming around on carts like it should… we just ordered it and they made it for us… after dim sum, we went to get some bubble tea… the best bubble tea can always be found in a chinatown somewhere… well, i can say that it was the best bubble tea i’ve ever had!!! seriously, it was good… after bubble tea, we made our way home…

yesterday the wife and i spent some time in downtown detroit… i mean, we live a mile away, but you don’t always go down there… all we really did was drop off some family at the bus station and then headed over to greektown for some pizzapapalis… man, that place is goo-ood!!! then after that, we went home and met some of our new neighbors… they were the first people in our building that we actually met… it was nice, the lady invited us into her loft and we got to see it… it was pretty sweet… i mean, really… hehe… hopefully we can get to know them better…

driving through toronto, i would think to myself, “wow, what a great city this is”… it’s one of only 4 cities that i want to live in at some point in my life… but being in toronto, i just didn’t get that feeling… when we got in to detroit after crossing the border, it was like a breath of fresh air… we drove up woodward, through campus martius, past merchant’s row, past the fox center, up into midtown, to our home… i love detroit (hence the name)… and today, and for the next long while, i choose detroit… there’s just something about this place… i mean, it is my home… but there’s something in detroit that you can’t find anywhere else… something intangible, but very real…

a chinatown-detroit would be pretty swell though…

Orchid Thai – Tasty Thai Food in the D

Just last week, the wife and I moved into our new loft in Midtown. Before moving in, I said to my wife, “Where do you think we’ll eat out at first?”

If you know me, and hopefully you will get to know me, you know that I LOVE to eat! Not only that, I LOVE to eat out! So naturally, one of the first things I’d think about when moving into a new loft in Detroit is, “where are we gonna eat?”

Well, I never guessed this would be it, but the first place the wife and I (along with some buddies of mine who helped us move in) feasted at was Orchid Thai.

Orchid Thai is the new comfortable, accessible and friendly Thai restaurant located just off Campus Martius on Monroe in the first floor of the Compuware building. After enjoying dinner with my crew, I decided that it’s a place that I’ll definitely come back to.

Upon making the decision to move to Detroit, I remember saying to the wife that I hoped there would be a good Thai restaurant in the area. Orchid Thai was the answer to my hope!

Now, if you eat Thai food regularly, then there’s no doubt that you like Pad Thai; a noodle dish made with a myriad of ingredients (too many to mention here). Most every Thai restaurant serves this dish and it can even be said that if the Pad Thai is good, then the rest of the food in the place is probably just as good. The Pad Thai sets the bar! Now, I’ve had Pad Thai at a number of Thai restaurants. And upon doing so, I’ve found that each restaurant makes it in its own unique way. Unfortunately, some restaurants make some pretty sub-par Pad Thai, which led to a sub-par dining experience overall. Not the case at Orchid Thai! The Pad Thai at Orchid Thai was delicious! Upon my first bite of Pad Thai at Orchid Thai, I knew that it was a winner.

Other dishes we ordered were Spring Rolls and also Kra Tiem Prik. Spring Rolls are similar to Egg Rolls, except that they are smaller, the wrapping is thinner and crispier and the contents are generally fresher. Thai Orchid’s Spring Rolls were fresh and flakey and a great appetizer. The Kra Tiem Prik was also enjoyable. Kra Tiem Prik consists of your choice of meat and lettuce leaves served in a brown sauce seasoned with garlic and black pepper (I prefer it with beef). Perfect to eat mixed with rice! Pad Thai and Kra Tiem Prik are items you’ll see on the menu of nearly every Thai restaurant you’ll go to and with good reason: they are both delightful to all who enjoy flavorful food! Both items were above average at Thai Orchid!

A growing trend I’ve seen in Thai restaurants as of late is the addition of Bubble Tea to the menu. Bubble Tea is one of my favorite drinks EVER! I don’t have time to go into it (perhaps another entry) but the Bubble Tea at Orchid Thai is pretty good. Not great, but good.

If you’ve never had Bubble Tea, give it a try at Orchid Thai. And if you love Thai food, Orchid Thai is a great place to go for Thai food in downtown Detroit.