 
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1136
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 10:31 am: |    |
Your statement: ^because there aren't enough residents in the city to justify them being larger
My statement: So San Francisco's Chinatown must be like 3/4's of a block? And DC's half a block?
Pop. of San Francisco: 744,041
Pop. of Washington, D.C.: 582,049
Pop. of Detroit: 871,121 (in dispute, btw)
So... your point again? |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1137
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 10:37 am: | |
"Only in Detroit can a developer, with no shame, qualms, or any kind of hold-ups, market the ground floor of a parking garage as an exciting new neighborhood."
LOL. Well, "When life gives you lemons..."
Or maybe I should say "When in Rome..."? |
Tomoh
Member
Username: Tomoh
Post Number: 307
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
Crash_nyc, actually at certain times of the year the East Coast Chinatown bus companies run service from Detroit's "Chinatown" in Madison Heights to the Chinatown in New York City for that same low fare. You just have to know where to look. |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6197
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 12:47 pm: | |
Thejesus (whoever you are),
San Francisco's Chinatown coats about 5 1/2 miles in each block. You will find lots of Chinese owned shops everywhere.
Unlike other town Detroit ethnic communities that are small and located near the suburbantopian borders. Mexicantown spread out very quickly throughout the SW Detroit ghettohoods all the way to the hillbilly communities of Oakwood Heights and Springwells Village and Del-Ray.
A way to keep a ethnic urban communities going is jobs, families and mom and pop owned shops coated with their language and cultures. |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 1606
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 3:50 pm: | |
Ihearthed:
The occupants of those cities are not dirt poor...I suppose that's the difference... |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1142
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 3:53 pm: | |
^You need to get out more. |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 1608
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 3:57 pm: | |
^elaborate please |
Thejesus
Member
Username: Thejesus
Post Number: 1609
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 4:29 pm: | |
no?
ok..I'll just post these then...individual and household incomes for those cities...
SF 57,833 $67,809
DC $40,127 $46,283
DET $29,526 $33,853
and DC is much higher in reality given how small it is and how wealthy the surrounding areas are... |
Irish_mafia
Member
Username: Irish_mafia
Post Number: 951
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 12:13 am: | |
If the marketplace is similar to the way the Toronto Marche' is, it will be fantastic....just need a Shopsies with a good Havana across the street...er maybe across the river. |
Ray
Member
Username: Ray
Post Number: 937
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 12:22 am: | |
SF Chinatown is huge and is the real deal. There are massive numbers of Chinese people living in SF and Chinatown is like being in China. It's almost too authentic. My pregnant wife began to gag during a walk through there because of the strong smells, dirty stores and "exotic" food offerings. Anyway, I love it and highly recommend a visit.
Oh... Asian Villiage is a great effort, I wish them luck, I predict failure within one year. |
Erikd
Member
Username: Erikd
Post Number: 883
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 4:29 am: | |
quote:I still think this development is a complete joke. Where the hell is it going to "spread". Completely unorganic ....I'm sure the food will be great, but whenever I drive by it I just think to myself, what a typical Detroit like development. Suburban minded development in a key area. I don't see any vision and context with it and the area, just don't.
Right now it looks hideous in context to everything else, I'm hoping they blend it in well in the future with other developments, but I don't see it taking off and "spreading". What a whole two feet? Its between the Rencen and waterfront future development, not a whole lot of room for spreading organically or unorganically.
Christos,
Your argument doesn't make any sense.
You start off by saying that this development is "lacking vision and context", and you don't see it "taking off and spreading".
You follow this up with the nonsensical statement that this development has no room to spread because it is located between the RenCen and future waterfront development.
????? |
Erikd
Member
Username: Erikd
Post Number: 884
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 5:28 am: | |
quote:Erikd,
I actually agree with you. I was wrong on Asian Village, however, I would also agree with Classico.
Detroit's urban gentrification and development, IMO, is way too patchy. There are very good place downtown, but they remain islands, and many times, walking from one entretainment district to another, you walk through ghost parts of the city.
I sincerely wish and hope that the city redevlopment will create a homogenous and tightened urban tissue that would make downtown Detroit, as a whole, a dynamic, entertainment and residential pole, unlike the puzzle it looks like now.
Frenchman,
There is an old saying that fits this discussion quite well: "Wish in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up first."
There is another old saying that also fits in this discussion: "Don't make 'good' the opposite of 'perfect'."
If hopes and wishes could solve all of our problems, we would live in a perfect world. |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6207
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 10:51 am: | |
Ray,
Asian Village will not be a doomed to failure project. There are lots of East Indian, East Asian employees all around Downtown Detroit and they want a good home Asian country cooking not some Ronald McDonald clown food or some processed trans fatty foods. Asian Village will make some progress in a couple of years and if its successful it would spread out to east side of Detroit creating a new ethnic Asian community filled with shops and entertainment venues. Detroit can't survive by black folks alone, but all ethnically diverse races and cultures. |
Texorama
Member
Username: Texorama
Post Number: 28
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 12:09 pm: | |
Have to agree with the previous two posters and say that the amount of negativity toward this project really surprises me. Here you have a new, rather innovative development, backed by a local designer, Dominic Pangborn, who has actually gotten attention from beyond these parts, offering foods and other items that aren't easily available, either downtown or elsewhere in the area. Supposedly there will be Indonesian food, for example--that's unavailable for hundreds of miles. The development is nicely positioned to attract people who are coming to see the riverfront and who will wander down that way from the festivals now that they can. I haven't been in there yet, but I'm certainly looking forward to it, and for the life of me I can't see why the project isn't being wholeheartedly welcomed. The one thing that gives me pause is all the delays--places that are massively delayed often turn out to be either really good or really bad, and they've already missed the crowds that have come down for the events that have occurred so far on the riverfront this year. There are indeed a lot of Asians working, and increasingly living, in downtown Detroit, and within a few years there'll hopefully be condo owners and apartment dwellers along the east riverfront to join them. A neighborhood can be many things nowadays, and even in Toronto now the old foot-traveled Chinatown is not really where the action is for Asian retail and food. |
Kslice
Member
Username: Kslice
Post Number: 102
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 1:05 pm: | |
Nice to get some more diversity whenever you can. The city might even get a 1% Asian population, up from .97%!!!
Just make sure they buy American cars ;) |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 6210
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 5:52 pm: | |
Kslice,
Detroit's Asian population is already at 1.1% It gained about 300 Asian people maybe more in the last 5 years. It's population now stands about 10,000.
Also Detroit has gained over 10,000 East Indians and Begalis over the past 5 years. A new East Indians/Begali/Hindu/ Muslim community has been sprouted along Conant Gardens area along Carpenter St. From Conant to Jos. Compeau St. and Davison Ave. in Detroit's Northeast Side. Go check it out those folks really kept those homes up. |
Dbest
Member
Username: Dbest
Post Number: 36
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 9:49 pm: | |
they will be a new chinatown when they are a lot of new jobs in detroit |
Lmichigan
Member
Username: Lmichigan
Post Number: 5800
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 10:31 pm: | |
huh? |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 2859
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 10:39 pm: | |
quote:^So San Francisco's Chinatown must be like 3/4's of a block?
And DC's half a block?
Actually, that's not too far off (for DC). But I'll be damned if there aren't half a dozen Chinatown bus companies in that half block. |
Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 1313
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 11:15 pm: | |
At one time DC's Chinatown was much larger. The building of the MCI center and Yuppification certainly has hurt it. I still love the arch at the subway stop though. |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 2860
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 12:04 pm: | |
quote:At one time DC's Chinatown was much larger. The building of the MCI center and Yuppification certainly has hurt it. I still love the arch at the subway stop though.
The original Chinatown in DC was near Pennsylvania Avenue, in the vicinity between the FBI headquarters and the Canadian Embassy. The residents were forcibly relocated in the 1930s to allow the construction of the Federal Triangle development. I believe the Wah Luck House apartment building that still remains has rents subsidized by the federal government because of the relocation many decades ago.
By the time the MCI (now Verizon) Center opened in 1997, many of the local Chinese had already moved to the suburbs--mostly to Rockville, Maryland. Of course, once developers bought adjacent properties, the rents increased roughly sixfold, driving many of the Chinese-owned businesses out. Sadly, the last Asian grocery store in the neighborhood closed last year.
Back to the thread. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1149
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 1:50 pm: | |
"But I'll be damned if there aren't half a dozen Chinatown bus companies in that half block."
Ha. And damned if that block isn't one big chaotic, disorganized nightmare for the masses trying to get back to Philly and NYC on Sunday evening... |
Dabirch
Member
Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2342
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 3:05 pm: | |
quote:many of the local Chinese had already moved to the suburbs--mostly to Rockville, Maryland.
Don't forget about Arlington Blvd./Fall's Church area.
And nothing compares to Mark's Duck House... |
Supergay
Member
Username: Supergay
Post Number: 67
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 3:31 pm: | |
OK, we get it, you lived in DC. Sheesh. |
Dabirch
Member
Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2343
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 4:08 pm: | |
First of all, Mark's Duckhouse transcends DC.
The point of my post, however, was to turn attention away from the conversation of a Detroit chinatown -- which is not even remotely the intention behind Asian Village.
To start talking about DC and SF neighborhoods when we are talking about a parking garage with a nice restaurant and a few other shops is preposterous.
So I just tried to steer the conversation away.
Of course, I guess it was all way to subtle for the master of the obtuse |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1153
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 4:22 pm: | |
"To start talking about DC and SF neighborhoods when we are talking about a parking garage with a nice restaurant and a few other shops is preposterous. "
But even more preposterous is to suggest a city of at least 800,000 people couldn't "support" a thriving ethnic district. |
Dougw
Member
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1795
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 4:26 pm: | |
That was Thejesus' claim, not Dabirch's. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 1154
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 4:46 pm: | |
I know. I was just refreshing the context of that part of the discussion. |
Ramcharger
Member
Username: Ramcharger
Post Number: 400
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 - 6:30 am: | |
MEET ME AT ASIAN VILLAGE: 10 cool things to discover at Detroit's newest destination |
Huggybear
Member
Username: Huggybear
Post Number: 303
Registered: 08-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 - 8:36 am: | |
I've been there (to the casual part). The food is ok to excellent (depending on what it is) but AV is having a lot of teething pains. I think part of the issue is that the place is being run by recent culinary school grads with little restaurant business education.
The fun includes underutilized dining space, awkward ordering system, everything served on black plastic carryout-style containers, even for dine-in (hmm... ordering the most expensive sushi in town and receiving it in the same container used for supermarket California rolls). When you're done, you'll be scratching your head about whether you are supposed to leave a tip: you order a at a walkup; someone brings it out; you have to go to a register at the door to pay. I left a tip because I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't, but this is very questionably service worthy of 20%. This is a cafeteria.
And for lunch sushi, they really need to adopt the bento box concept that just about every other place on earth has. You go in; you pay your $15 or 25, and they take care of everything else. A la carte menus for lunch are for situations where it's a tax writeoff or expense account (hint: not really the crowd within easy reach of the Ren Cen). Even then, the a la carte menu is limited and you might be very surprised at how much you end up paying. Nigiri is by the each, not the pair.
Unless they can get these issues under control, I don't see it as a long term contender.
I do have to give them major points for great coffee in the cafe. |
Swingline
Member
Username: Swingline
Post Number: 878
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 - 10:26 am: | |
All good points Huggy. I hope someone is listening. |
Richj74
Member
Username: Richj74
Post Number: 3
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 - 11:35 am: | |
Four of us went there last week for lunch. Indeed all the food from the food court area came in the carry out containers. But when you want the sushi area food you have to order at the counter by the fusia restaurant and they bring it to you on nice white ceramic plates.
Indeed, small pieces with a spoonful of rice and pretty expensive for what you get. By the time we left with 4 entrees, sushi, deserts. and drinks, the bill came to around $60.00. Not to cheap just for lunch. |
Iddude313
Member
Username: Iddude313
Post Number: 102
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 2:14 am: | |
I went to eat sushi tonight.
It was pretty good. nice presentation.
Although the waiter poured our soy and then took the bottle back.
Odd.
But....the place needs some greenery inside!
It's too sterile feeling.
And giant planters with bushes or small trees on the outside.
yeah.
That sounds nice.
And even though I'm not vegan by any means, the vegan hybrid roll kicks some ass! I loved it. I need more. |
Huggybear
Member
Username: Huggybear
Post Number: 306
Registered: 08-2005
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 4:09 am: | |
quote:Four of us went there last week for lunch. Indeed all the food from the food court area came in the carry out containers. But when you want the sushi area food you have to order at the counter by the fusia restaurant and they bring it to you on nice white ceramic plates.
Indeed, small pieces with a spoonful of rice and pretty expensive for what you get. By the time we left with 4 entrees, sushi, deserts. and drinks, the bill came to around $60.00. Not to cheap just for lunch. You guys got off cheap. We spent $60 for lunch for three in the food court/cattle call area and we weren't exactly pigs. I think we had no more than eight total pieces of sushi on the table - and some California rolls.
By the way, why don't they have one of those screens listing the names of people whose orders are ready? |
Gambling_man
Member
Username: Gambling_man
Post Number: 1001
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 10:21 am: | |
I'll have to mirror Huggy's and Idude's reviews. Too sterile, not well thought out, we spent $40 for three at lunch, some of the food was cold when we got it, and brought to us in a bag, in carry-out containers. No plates, plastic or otherwise available anywhere. The animations on the plasmas are so poor, that you can't read them anyhow.......might as well put up whose order is ready......Didn't have the sushi or the coffee, will return to try those, as the concept itself could do well. Try the Bao's, and the fried tofu very good. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1628
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 10:40 am: | |
Where's our resident photographers? We need some pictures of this place for forum posterity. ;) |
Dougw
Member
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1846
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 1:59 pm: | |
I've stopped in for coffee a few times in the morning on my way across town. (I park up on Woodbridge on the street, there are usually spots there mid-morning... I don't really feel like parking in the structure for 10 minutes.)
The coffee is excellent! Maybe the best in the CBD, with the possible exception of the Rowland Cafe. I also had the sushi awhile back, which was quite good, although a bit on the pricy side even for sushi, as other have mentioned. But at least with the food & coffee they seem to be putting an emphasis on quality, which is a good sign.
Still, I have more doubts about whether the cafe will survive, than the market/restaurant, just because of the somewhat out-of-the-way location (for now, at least until more residential builds near there). People will go a bit out of their way for a tasty lunch, and especially dinner, but I'm not sure that's as true when grabbing a coffee. |
Deteamster
Member
Username: Deteamster
Post Number: 33
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 8:14 pm: | |
I work part time at the Kawaiian Cafe. I'm the bearded barista. I'm glad many of you liked the coffee. I can stand by it.
I passed along your concerns and this thread to management today.
I hope this project is a success and adds to the rebirth of the riverfront. |
Long_in_the_tooth
Member
Username: Long_in_the_tooth
Post Number: 59
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Friday, August 10, 2007 - 11:11 pm: | |
Tic.....Toc.....Tic.....Toc... ..
Odds are they won't make it far past February 7th 2008.
RATS!!!!! |
Waxx
Member
Username: Waxx
Post Number: 234
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 1:59 pm: | |
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/520947992/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/672640797/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687132/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687174/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687182/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687194/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687216/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707687302/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/707810654/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/875838106/
Note: The first and last pix were taken last summer with my camera phone, the rest with a digital camera. |
Dougw
Member
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1853
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - 4:31 pm: | |
I stopped by Asian Village for lunch today. Turns out the Fusia restaurant just opened yesterday, and both it and the sushi bar are now open until 9pm in the evenings! The marketplace area is only open 'til 6pm, though.
Also, they could really stand to update their website: http://myasianvillage.com |
Tetsua
Member
Username: Tetsua
Post Number: 1319
Registered: 01-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, August 25, 2007 - 2:14 pm: | |
Me and my wife ate at "Fusia" yesterday, and though it was delicious it was kinda pricey. There are so many people catering to you while you eat, it gets kind of annoying. The BIGGEST surprise of then night though was the amount of food that was on our plates. I'm not going to complain (the food was good), but I'll just say, you might still be hungry after eating your main course. |
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