Good morning and Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
I hope those of you who are celebrating the day off of work have a great extended weekend. The highlight of ours definitely took place yesterday with our first experience of the Detroit Auto Show followed by a brand-new restaurant in Corktown.
When Scott and I moved up to the Detroit area, we knew we would be surrounded by more cars on display (both new and old) than ever before. This is Motor City, and the Metro Detroit area is the location of the headquarters of three major automotive companies: Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.
Yesterday was our first time visiting the products of all three plus many more at the Detroit Auto Show!
North American International Auto Show (NAIAS)
Since the early 1900s (with the exception of the World War II years) Detroit has hosted an auto show famously known as the Detroit Auto Show. What started as a strictly regional show has now become an international event displaying the best of the best from each manufacturer.
If you are in the market for a new car, this is a one-stop-shop to preview a little bit of everything. From a look at their most popular sellers to a display of brand new releases (including total concept cars), you could easily spend hours wandering the aisles exploring the goods.
Wandering for hours is exactly what happened. The only time we really stopped was when we found a familiar face from Orlando early on working the Porsche display!
(Hi Megan!)
NAIAS is really four shows in one: a media preview, an industry preview, a charity preview, and a public show. The public show is what we were able to get tickets to ($13 a piece for adults), and it kicked off a nine day run on Saturday.
I had a feeling we were going to be in a large crowd. That it was!
It took impeccable timing and determination in order to capture the cars without awkward photo bombs. We definitely had to be patient and wait our turn to see anything up close. The closest I got to actually getting into a vehicle was hopping on this BMW motorcycle, which I still had to be aggressive and pop in between others on.
This year’s Detroit auto show kicked off with an impressive debut of two supercars: the Acura NSX
… and the Ford GT.
They were both incredible and drew quite the interest!
I am not one who claims to know much about cars, and even so, I felt completely in my element. I have a feeling that a lot of people were there to simply look at and take in the beauty of these vehicles. They were truly stunning.
Some other personal favorites and highlights include:
Bentley Convertible
(That purple paint was gorgeous!)
Alpha Romeo
Fiat 500X (Vans Design Concept)
(I’ll take one and a beach condo in California, please.)
Corvette Z06
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
(It’s mounted on a wall… no big deal.)
The fancy interiors in cars like Mercedes and Audis
(WHY I didn’t snap a photo of the Maybach is beyond me…)
Maserati
And this (crazy, spacey) concept car from Mercedes
(Basically, what the Jetsons family would purchase with Bill Gates’ income.)
It was so much fun to walk from one giant display to the next. Everything was pretty, impressive, and pretty impressive!
The show will run until January 25th. If you happen to go, make sure to hit the ten cars you should stop to see at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Gold Cash Gold Restaurant
We wrapped up our trip to Detroit with a late lunch that turned into an early dinner at Gold Cash Gold.
Are you guys ready for this one?
Gold Cash Gold has only been in business a month and already had a wait out the door on a Sunday night. Properly named, it might not look like a trendy restaurant from the outside because it used to be a pawn shop! The restaurant creators completely rolled with the idea, left the original sign, and made a bold statement with their unique details.
The floor is reclaimed from an old abandoned elementary school, the stained glass windows are handmade from one the owner’s family members, and the ceiling tiles are all refinished originals from when they bought the space in the building.
They are closed on Mondays and between the hours of 3:30-5 p.m. to transition from lunch to dinner. The bar is still open, however, and they happily welcome you to come and hang in order to put your name in and sit for dinner when they are ready for you.
We arrived right around 4 p.m., so we had a good hour to chat and enjoy their specialty cocktails.
The girls ordered a round (or two) of Pearls which was a fabulous and refreshing choice.
We had a group of eight with raging appetites, so we split a few appetizers to start. We all ordered different entrees and shared a little bit off of everyones’ plates. I love when everyone is down for family style eating so we can try as much as possible!
Burrata & Pepper Jam with Grilled Bread, Creamy Potato Soup (with brussels sprouts) & Grilled Teres Major (steak) with Cheesy Potatoes, Poached Egg Dressing and Watercress
And that isn’t even half of it. Oh my goodness. Everything was delicious! While we were at the bar, we met one of their employees who was visiting as a guest on her day off. That’s how you know a restaurant is good, right?

The restaurant looks great! I love the idea of a converted Pawn Shop. What was in your cocktail? It looks delicious. The car show looks fun too! I have never been to one. Enjoy the day with your friend and Scott!
Tito’s Vodka, Pear Nectar, Fresh Lemon, M. Lawrence “Green”. Not sure what that is, but it was amazing! I think you would love a car show like this!
What a neat idea for a restaurant! I love stuff like that. Looks like you had a great weekend. My boyfriend would be in heaven at the car show and it looks like I would have had a good time too…even though I really know nothing about cars.
We did! I’m sure most guys would love this auto show. Some I know talk about it all year long!
I’ve never been to the Auto Show. I need to go next year, I’ve heard such great things about it. I’ll also have to put that restaurant on my list – it looks great!
Sarah
Midwest Darling
I’ll have to try out that restaurant! Everything looks so good! I’ve never been to the auto show despite growing up in Metro- Detroit my whole life. When I was a kid, my parents would always take my brothers since they knew I would have no interest in walking around and looking at cars for hours. Now I really want to go one year and finally check it out!
Oh man you should definitely go! There’s still a week left this year 🙂
I’ve never been to a car show, let alone did I really know what they are for! This is great to keep in mind since my boyfriend and I are going to be getting new cars soon! Nothing as expensive as those cars pictured though hahaha
Oh i feel ya! There were actually a lot of “normal” cars to look at too (as i like to call them), these were just more “highlight” worthy! 😉
There’s a car show in San Francisco every year and Dave and I went once for a preview day. It so cool to sit inside some of the luxury vehicles! Glad you guys had fun. Enjoy your day with your Florida buddy! 🙂
Thank you! I totally forgot – you probably know Megan very well!!
I have never been to a car show like that! Wow! Impressive! Actually, the only “car show” I have been to are the little ones they have in the summer at fairs or whatever where people bring their classics, which are always fun to check out.
Those are always fun to see! Scott and I look forward to the Woodward Dream Cruise here every summer!
Oh you are so lucky! The car show is somewhere that has always been on a bucket list of mine. http://www.eatallovertheworld.com
Aw, I hope you get to check it out during one of your trips to the states!
My fiance is a HUGE car enthusiast so he was talking about this Detroit Auto show in conversation with me many times last week. I know he would have been thrilled to attend. Maybe one day we can go for a special treat together as a mini vacation.
On a side note, I’ve always wondered if you would be interested in being a “mentor” of sorts to anyone who was looking to invest more time into their blog to become more of a regular blogger and monetize. Basically I want to make my blogging more of a part time job, and it would be great if I could eventually turn it into a full time job (every blogger’s dream, they say). But you seem to be doing it quite well! If you’re at all interested in just some tips, advice, and maybe some mentoring then I would love to chat with you more about it by email. Thanks Heather! Hope you have a great week.