Morning Walk
I made the most of my early awakening by exploring downtown Detroit and getting a sense for our walking route for our morning activities. I popped into the “Meijer River Market,” an urban grocery store that was pleasant to pursue. My best purchase may have been a bag of Grandma’s Original snack mix made in Michigan by a company called Poppleton Pantry.
Canelle by Matt Knio
Breakfast was at a well-rated pastry spot, about a mile from our hotel but only a few blocks from the Guardian Building, which was up next on our itinerary. We ended up timing our stop perfectly, having a fairly short wait in line before the place got really crowded. Only Emmie wasn’t a fan of her pastry, a raspberry tart that had a custard filling she didn’t love. Joy and Noah had croissant breakfast sandwiches highlighted by the melty gruyere cheese. Amanda had a goat cheese and olive savory croissant, I had their halloumi and honey croissant, and Eilidh ate every bite of her pistachio and chocolate croissant. They were all served warm and quickly.
The Guardian Building
No one seemed overly excited when I booked an architectural tour of Detroit’s Guardian Building, which was an Art Deco skyscraper built in 1929. The grand building, sometimes referred to as the Cathedral of Finance, was originally commissioned by Union Trust Bank. We were told during the tour that the architect was given an unlimited budget, which yielded noteworthy exterior and interior features, including two Tiffany clocks, marble from a since-closed quarry in Tunisia, and elaborate mosaics and murals. It is also worth noting that Union Trust Bank folded a few years later, so maybe they should not have spent so much money on the building.
Other Tiffany clocks can be found at Grand Central Terminal and at their flagship retail store in New York City.
The tour included stops in the lobby, entryway, and former vault, along with the 32nd-floor Guardian Club. There, we took in views of the city and Canada that may have been a little oversold by the tour guide. Amanda and I had a couple of conversations with other tour participants who lived in the Detroit area and seemed excited that we were there visiting for the weekend. They endorsed our plan to go to the Henry Ford Museum (but liked the outdoor village better than the indoor museum — where I had already purchased tickets) and suggested a trip to Belle Park, something I’d read about but could not work into our busy itinerary.
The vault features a door that weighed more than a ton.
There’s still a small active Bank of America branch in the lobby of the Guardian Building, sitting between us and the mural highlighting Michigan’s natural resources.
Museum of Illusions
The girls were excited that Detroit had a Museum of Illusions, like we’d visited in Philadelphia four years ago. Inside, there are several interactive exhibits where you can take clever photos to share on social media or include in vacation journals like this one. Noah didn’t need to revisit the museum, so he and I walked down Woodward Street to a midtown Detroit neighborhood, where we had all of 5 minutes to explore before Amanda texted that they were wrapping up. We retrieved the van, picked them up, and made the short drive to Eastern Market.
Eastern Market
Detroit’s public Eastern Market is open year-round on Saturdays and can see as many as 40,000 visitors during the summer months. Unlike Des Moines’ downtown Farmer’s Market, the Detroit market was largely housed within adjacent covered pavilions. We saw a ton of produce that looked great, but would have been impractical to store until we could cook it later on our trip. We did pick up a few packages of beef jerky, jars of pickles, and some Michigan-made pasta.
Supino’s Pizzeria
We had time to pursue the Eastern Market because there was a 30-45 minute wait for a table when we first arrived at Supino’s Pizzeria, our planned lunch destination. Noah wanted his usual plain cheese pizza, Emmie picked out a combination of pepperoni and Kalamata olives that worked really well, and Amanda zeroed in on a mushroom pizza with a white sauce. The salad I picked out was mid, the warm olives we shared were solid, but the pizza was the star. Amanda declared it the best she’d ever had, and Noah gave his thin-crust cheese pie a 17-out-of-20.
Henry Ford Museum
We drove about 20 minutes to Dearborn, home to the Ford World Headquarters and expansive Henry Ford Museum campus. I purchased tickets for the Museum of American Innovation, which houses an impressive collection including the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, the Rosa Parks bus, a full-sized Oscar Meyer wienermobile, and a prototype Dymaxion house from the 1940s. We weren’t particularly organized in our visit and managed to miss seeing the chair Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the night he was assassinated.
The restored Montgomery bus, where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and sparked a 381-day boycott.
Eilidh was very excited about the $2.99 squishy toy she found at Meijer.
Prime + Proper
After returning to our hotel, Amanda, Noah, and I made the mile-long walk to downtown Detroit. Noah was heading that direction to pick up the CAVA order I’d placed and walk it back to the hotel, while Amanda and I had the destination of Prime + Proper, where we had dinner reservations. Since dining at Smoque Steak (RIP) and Gibson’s Italia in Chicago in February 2023, Amanda and I have become big fans of great steakhouses and were excited to try a new one in Detroit.
Our meal started with a house-made Caesar salad that featured real anchovies. I was impressed that the General Manager stopped by our table to plate the salad and make sure we knew to find him if we needed anything. The dinner experience — including a perfectly-cooked filet mignon, elite mashed potatoes, very good fried potatoes, and an impressively layered carrot cake — took a full 2 hours. We enjoyed nearly every minute of it, though, and Prime + Proper definitely earns a spot as one of our favorites.
