Eastern Market and Sala Thai

It's been about a year and half now of talking about going to Eastern Market and today, we finally did!  Our last visit to Eastern Market left us with a positive vibe because we were at a beer festival, however, we didn't really get to experience Eastern Market properly. To experience it, you have to take a stroll down the six blocks of Russell Street in Detroit, MI on a preferably a warm day like we did through the public market.  But you can't just use your eyes, you have to touch, taste, and listen to the beautiful chaos.  People of all ages, genders, races, and neighborhoods flock to this area of Detroit on the weekends (and weekdays) to pick up their share of produce, meats, crafts, etc.  It has something for everyone.

In my last post, I described (quoting their web site) Eastern Market as...

Eastern Market, a historic farmer's market and shopping center, began as far back as 1841 in a different location closer to downtown Detroit. Known for its fresh fruits and vegetables, on any given Saturday, you can expect to see over 45,000 people traipse from shop to shop, shed to shed, stand to stand, grabbing local products from Michigan, Ohio, and our neighbors up in Canada, as well as for products as far as Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America. You can find not only fresh produce, flowers, and beverages, but also a variety of unique retail products.

And it was pretty much spot on.  If you look at the map, we started by strolling down Russell Street at Wilkins by the Chase Bank.  We walked the entire street crossing through some street vendors over I-75 to the Gratiot Central Market.  As described, the market vendors sell "every kind of meat imaginable."  We were disappointed when we forgot to grab our rolling cooler which would have been handy for hauling meat back.  Oh well.

We circled back across the I-75 bridge to the Cost Plus Wine Shoppe where Scottie relived his days of coming to Detroit for the very first time, a Northwestern bowl game, if I was listening correctly (I was busy snapping photographs!).

We then made our way into the sheds starting with the recently renovated (in 2008) Shed 2.  He we found tables and tables of fresh produce. It was our own Pike's Place market right here in Detroit.  Scottie and I ran around like kids in a candy store filling up our bag with mushrooms, peppers, oranges, strawberries, and green onions spreading our love around to as many vendors as we could.  We moved through Shed 3, 4, and 5 in much the same fashion picking up a few samples along the way of BBQ sauce, coffee, and juicy oranges!

Shed 6 contained mostly flowers, but we also picked up some more oranges, fresh basil, and cilantro!  By the end of the day, our bag was full weighing in at around 30 lbs! But before we could leave the area, we ducked into Sala Thai for a late lunch finding finally the best Thai food in Detroit.  It's been a struggle for us to find decent, flavorful Thai dishes in the Metro area, but I can't speak more highly about this place.  The portions were huge while the food had that great spicy flavor to them that reminded us of the Chicago restaurants we used to go to all the time.  I ordered the Pad See Ew from their extensive menu and with a little help from Scottie managed to inhale the entire plate!  Highly recommend this place and it sounds like I'm not the only one!