Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Did ya hear Kid Rock is playing at Comerica Park this weekend? He’s also throwing the Badass Beer Block Party before the concerts on both Friday and Saturday.

The block party is free and you don’t need tickets to attend. There will be a 10-story Ferris wheel, midway games, Badass Beer, karaoke and a mechanical bull!

But wait—there’s more!

Buddy’s Pizza wants to celebrate too! The Kid Rock Badass Detroiter Pizza—with crust made with Badass American Lager and pepperoni on top—is only available at their Detroit location on Fridays and Saturdays. And they have new Badass t-shirts too, also only available at the Detroit location for $15 or $10 with the purchase of a Badass Detroiter Pizza.

Would you like to win a Badass t-shirt?

Buddy’s is giving away one t-shirt—size large—to a Detroit Moxie reader.

How to enter

Add a comment to this post with your favorite pizza topping. You must leave your email address when leaving the comment or you won’t be eligible. (Your email won’t be published—I just need to contact you if you win!)

For an additional entry, tweet the following:

I entered to win a  @buddyspizza Badass t-shirt from @becksdavis & Detroit Moxie. http://bit.ly/oGD7qE #moxiepie

For the additional entry, you must have posted a comment.

The contest ends on Friday, August 12th at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be selected at random using random.org.

So, what do you like on your pizza?

Weekend Roundup

1. Art Ride 2011 (Facebook link) - Hit the streets on your bike and explore public art. The 12 mile bike ride will stop at 5 sites including Hamtramck Disneyland and the Access Arts Scripps Park Public Art Exhibit II opening. August 13th.

2. Spontaneous Combustion Motor City - Get your funny on at this improvisation comedy festival featuring groups from around the country and workshops. August 10—14.

3. D.I.Ypsi - Head to Depot Town in Ypsilanti and check out this handmade fair featuring indie art. Plus food and drink! August 13th.

4. World Tournament of Historic Baseball - Step back in time at Greenfield Village and watch vintage baseball played by teams from around the country. August 13—14.

5. Royal Oak Corn Roast & Country Fair - Family fun including face painting, games, corn and pie eating contests and more. August 13th.

Bonus: F***ing Awesome Fest

Restaurant Week events in metro Detroit are in full force

It’s that time of year again. Yep, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a restaurant week in the Detroit area over the next few months.

Here’s a quick low-down on the dates for upcoming restaurant weeks in the metro Detroit area.

• Rochester Restaurant Week is happening now and runs through Friday, August 12^th. Lunch is $10 for a two-course meal and dinner is $20 for a three-course meal.

• Nautical Mile Restaurant Week joins in the fray for the first time celebrating the restaurants of St. Clair Shores. Three-course lunch and dinner menus will be available for $20. August 12-21, 2011.

• Troy Restaurant Week includes 16 participating establishments. Theirs is also the most confusing. Lunch specials for $15 and dinner can run you $25, $30 or $35 per person depending on the restaurant. August 21-26, 2011.

• Detroit Restaurant Week is always the most anticipated and the fall edition will return September23 through October 2, 2011. The price will stay the same at $28 for a three-course dinner.

Detroit Restaurant Week started in 2009 and this will be the fifth installment. Last spring 18 establishments participated.

From the responses I’ve heard in the past, people either love the restaurant week concept or hate it. The complaints usually are that you receive smaller portions and possibly not the best quality because of the sheer volume.

Others, though, love it and make several reservations each season.

Which camp do you fall in? Are you a lover or hater of restaurant weeks? Which cities’ installment will you participate in? 

Holy Toledo! A fabulous date night just an hour from Detroit

Clocking in at about an hours drive from Detroit, Toledo offers some hidden surprises as well as affordable fun. If you haven’t explored our neighbor to the south—which we lost in the Michigan-Ohio war—it’s worth a look. And its proximity makes it an easy day trip, weekend adventure or date night.

A perfect date night not too far from Detroit: Hit up Tony Packo’s for some Hungarian fare, catch a foul ball at a Mud Hens game and stop by Oliver House for some local brews.

Tony Packo’s

If you're ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty-five cents...

Those words were uttered by Jamie Farr’s character Corporal Max Klinger on the uber-poplar series M*A*S*H and put the local joint in the national spotlight.

My husband had the Moad—that's one big hot dog!

Serving Hungarian food and local flavor since 1932, Packo’s is a Toledo tradition and is mostly known for its chili hot dog. Sound familiar? Think of it as Toledo’s version of our beloved Detroit Coney Dog. My heart and taste buds will always be partial to Detroit’s hometown dog but this interpretation packs a punch. Try the fried pickles and beware of the peppers mixed in.

The restaurant itself is a comfortable concoction of family diner meets quirky kitch. Celebrities, politicians, sportsmen and the like have been signing the hot dog buns for decades—Burt Reynolds started the tradition—and they decorate the walls. For lunch the place is set up cafeteria style but it offers full service dining for dinner.

The Toledo Mud Hens

The Triple-A minor league baseball team is an affiliate of our beloved Detroit Tigers and is a fun night at the ballpark to watch up-and-comers or those nearing the end of their career. We happened to see the first game for Brandon Inge after the Tigers released him—and wouldn’t ya know it—he had a stellar game.

Brandon Inge up to bat and sliding into second base.

The Mud Hens offer an affordable ballpark experience—with ticket prices in the $9-$12 range—and an intimate setting. There doesn’t seem to be a bad seat at Fifth Third Park. We were practically sitting on first base!

The cute mascots entertain the fans while dancing around in the seats and there is entertainment between innings, including the grounds crew who put on a dance reminiscent of a boy band.

Muddy and the grounds crew dancing up a storm.

Oliver House

This is the place all the locals were buzzing about! A perfect spot to check out before or after a Mud Hens game is Oliver House. Opened in 1859, this historic building was once the premier hotel in Toledo. Now it’s home to a steakhouse, patisserie, brewpub, café, a dive bar and a brewing hall of fame and museum.

We arrived late so we only had a chance to taste a few home brews from Maumee Bay Brew Pub and peruse the Toledo Brewing Hall of Fame and Museum before heading downstairs to Mutz, the resident dive bar.

They served a few of the beers from Maumee Bay and had live music, pool tables and dartboards and a lovely courtyard. College kids from the University of Toledo were just as at home as our crowd.

Rumor has it this place is haunted! The Oliver House was a medical center during the Spanish-American War and guests have reported seeing apparitions. One of supposedly haunted areas of the building is in Mutz’ pool room. On our visit we didn’t encounter any other-worldy types. Just a diverse crowd having a good time.

We stayed at the Park Inn Radisson and the location can’t be beat. It’s steps away from Fifth Third Park and I’m pretty sure the visiting team—the Norfolk Tides—were the strapping young men that were checking into the hotel right after we did.

Packo’s, the Mud Hen’s and Oliver House round out a fabulous Toledo date night!

Be sure to check out our most excellent adventure at Cedar Point. Next time I’ll be exploring more of the family-friendly and cultural institutions including the Toledo Zoo, Imagination Station—where I rode a bike across a high wire, and the Glass Pavilion. 

Disclosure: Destination Toledo and Cedar Point sponsored the media tour of Northwest Ohio. All of my expenses for the trip were provided except for transportation and incidentals. The opinions and words expressed here are my own. 

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

Over two years ago—when there were a bevy of summer festivals going on—I started the Weekend Roundup as a way to highlight all the fabulous things to do in Detroit. It wasn’t originally intended as an ongoing series and it didn’t even have an official name until its third installment.

Since then, I’ve published it every Thursday—week in and week out. My only regret is that I can’t do everything on the list!

Have fun and enjoy your weekend in Detroit!

Weekend Roundup

1. Buy Michigan Now Festival - Support Michigan-based businesses and local products while enjoying downtown Northville! Sidewalk sales, street vendors, live music and children's activities. August 5—7.

2. Ribs 'n' R&B Jazz Festival - The popular Hart Plaza festival features mouth watering barbecue and smooth jazz. August 5—7.

3. Motor City Shakedown 7 - The Rovers, a vintage scooter club, are throwing their annual rally. This is for both scooterists and non-scooterists! [Confession: I've wanted a scooter since I was a pre-teen. This dream has never been realized.] August 5—7.

4. Figment Detroit - This free, interactive art event aims to blur the line between the artists and art lovers. See art & Belle Isle in a whole new way! August 6th

5. Detroit City Futball League Finals: Copa II - They've been battling all summer and now it's time to crown a champion. In addition to the fabulous footy, there will be live entertainment. August 6th.

6. Animal House Party - Woof! Party like an animal at The Whitney while supporting the Michigan Humane Society. August 6th.

Bonus: Hot Glass + Cold Beer.

Do you know of a great event going on in Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

The most excellent Cedar Point adventure

The roller coasters of Cedar Point.A summer isn’t really a summer without a trip to Cedar Point. It is a tradition that most of us from southeastern Michigan have grown up with. We’re pretty spoiled to have the “Best Amusement Park in the World” with 17 roller coasters on our doorstep.

We rode into Cedar Point last week on the last day of our tour of Toledo. Besides finally getting to ride Top Thrill Dragster, I really wasn’t expecting it to be different than other trips to the amusement park. Boy, was I wrong!

The last time I was at the park was back in 2003 when my now-husband came over for his first trip to Detroit. He’s a roller coaster fanatic and I knew a trip to Cedar Point would win me points and impress the hell out of him. It was the first year of Top Thrill Dragster and between the lines and it breaking down we didn’t get on the 420-foot-tall beast.

This time everything was different. This time I win wife of the year!

Two Cedar Point interns greeted us in front of Hotel Breakers. They explained that they would be our guides for the day. “Do you like roller coasters?” Hell, yeah!

We broke into two small groups. We traveled through the park with our rock star guide Ainsley and Tammy from AnnArborMom.com and her husband and two young kids.

Here’s the amazing part. Here’s the part that I didn’t really want to tell you for fear that you would hate me. We were taken to the front of the line for any rides or coasters that we fancied. Also, we were in the first car for every ride!

We barely noticed the blistery hot heat and humidity as we ran from roller coaster to roller coaster, smiling all the way. I completely forgot that my husband giggles like a schoolgirl on coasters.

As someone who is terrified of heights, his giggles turned into much stronger language on the brand new WindSeeker. Oh yeah, it looks innocent enough. It’s just swings right? You feel your stomach and legs leave you as you travel up the 301-foot-tall swing ride. I heard a lot of, “#$%@  &$%*!” both on the way up and the way down.

After our disappointment in not riding Top Thrill Dragster back in 2003, we had high expectations. It delivered! My eyes may or may not have been closed the entire time.

From my current favorite Millennium Force to my teenage crush Gemini—we hit them all. Maverick, Corkscrew, Mantis, Mean Streak, Raptor, Magnum XL-200, Blue Streak, Wicked Twister, Iron Dragon and Disaster Transport. Whee!

Pink’s Hot Dogs, the legendary Los Angeles hot doggery, is now open in the park. We stopped there for a brief lunch. Of course my husband had to have the Monster Dog. I was overjoyed with my bacon chili cheese dog. Luckily, we didn’t loose our lunch when we jumped back on the coasters.

Back at Hotel Breakers, we learned that Knute Rockne, the famed Notre Dame football coach, worked as a lifeguard on Cedar Point Beach. It’s rumored that this is where he dreamed up footballs’ forward pass.

We had the best day of our summer at Cedar Point—it was the most excellent adventure. We’re hoping to get back to the park one more time before the season ends and get our scare on at HalloWeekends.

The next time my husband nags me about something or we have a squabble I’m going to remind him of his fabulous day at Cedar Point. I win!

Coming soon: more adventures from Toledo!

Disclosure: Destination Toledo and Cedar Point sponsored the media tour of Northwest Ohio. All of my expenses for the trip were provided except for transportation and incidentals. The opinions and words expressed here are my own. 

Photos courtesy of Cedar Point.