DIA and Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes

The first time we visited the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), it was to see the newly renovated museum transformed into a place where visitors could learn and interact with the artifact within rather simply gaze in awe.  The result was our first official museum membership.  The second time we visited the DIA, it was to take advantage of our membership and explore some of the collections we would otherwise miss on normal circumstances.  We tend to gravitate towards the Impressionists, European, and American paintings.  On our most recent visit, October 2008, we also took advantage of being members, to preview the Monet to Dali exhibit, before it was opened to the general public for admission.  While we decided not to renew our membership during our wedding year in 2009 (due to our lack of time and commitment), when I came across a free admission card in the mail a few months back, I couldn't help but start planning our fourth trip!

After reading some promising reviews for one of the DIA's exhibits, "Detroit Experiences: The Robert Frank Photographs, 1955", I thought that might be a nice time to cash in on our free admission voucher.  Neither Scottie nor I had much of the photographer, Robert Frank, but his famous book, The Americas, which included 83 (of the 28,000) photographs taken of folks at all levels of society along his journey across America in 1955.

Robert Frank who photographed people and the places they lived, worked and spent their leisure time. In factories, at lunch counters, in drive-ins, and while visiting other familiar sites including Belle Isle and Briggs Stadium, Frank captured life that was distinctly American. Through his images, he transformed the everyday experiences of Detroiters into an extraordinary visual statement about American life in the 1950s.  --DIA

While I couldn't photograph any of his individual pieces depicting Detroit, I can say that the pictures indeed presented a candid, black-and-white view of Detroiters in the 1950s whether in the factory or on Belle Isle for a weekend away from the job.  They were raw, gritty images, but at that time, I can imagine the controversy they might have caused as the DIA captions noted that Frank received special permissions to photograph within the River Rouge Plant.  He could only take certain photographs and in certain areas.  I found a web site that published the photos from the exhibit, check out Cool Hunting.

Since we didn't really help the museum out in terms of our admission fee or membership renewal, Scottie did the only other honorable thing, purchase some post cards in the museum store.  I also hope that by writing this blog post, I might convince one random local residence or tourist to take a visit to this special place, but if not, we wish the DIA well until the next exhibit that rolls into town tempting us for another a fifth visit!  And cheers to them for re-vamping their web-site as well earning them some nods on the Museum Website Ranking 2009 listed as #23!

We worked up the quite the appetite after the serious tour of photographs and some of the modern sections of the museum, so we headed up a block to the latest location of Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes, recently opened by owner, chef, entrepreneur, and former school teacher, Torya Blanchard.  Last year, Julie and I, met up for an afternoon crepe at her Campus Martius location that was simply a closet of a location with a window for ordering.  Cashing in her 401(k) and with a little help from the owner, she opened this second location with her vision of a creperie.  Situated in Midtown in an office building otherwise unoccupied with her inviting logos on the outside and deep red walls adorned with her vintage film poster collection, Ms. Blanchard certainly made something out of nothing.  Forget the looks, the crepes speak for themselves.

We went with the savory Allison (humus, spinach, herb de provence, and hot sauce).

And the sweet Snyder which included strawberries, bananas, pineapple, and blueberries topped with powdered sugar.

Cue, food comma.  On our way out, we noticed a cute book store next door, Leopold's, where we stopped in for a quick stroll.  While containing simply a few shelves with what seem like a very specific collection of books and magazines, it was nice to see a local, independent book store near a college campus.  When I spotted one of my favorite authors, Dave Eggers, on the shelves, I knew this place had promise!

Ms. Blanchard along with her neighbor, Greg Lenhoff (also a teacher) of Leopold's, were both featured on a New York Times piece about Detroit entrepreneurs finding opportunities.  Read the fascinating article here.

Later in the evening, we drove up to Great Lakes Crossing mall to see Alice in Wonderland using our free passes we received from our last visit. We dropped into see the newly opened Tobey Keith Restaurant, "I Love This Bar & Grill", which included quite an impressive sports bar. Despite being practically turned away at the door since there was a 3 hour wait and the kitchen was essentially closed for the evening, we stayed for a drink because who wouldn't want to drink a beer out of their mason jars! Let's hope they figure out how to manage the traffic this new country bar and grill will soon see.  At the very least, the mechanical bull could get interesting!