[Model D] SkyBar and Lounge now open on 33rd floor, previous ground floor space being renovated and expanded

Photo from SkyBar's Facebook page.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, "Sky Bar" was a bit of a misnomer, what with the bar and lounge being located on the ground floor of the David Stott Building in downtown Detroit.

"We are in the process of a rebranding," says Marshal Simons of Impakt Digital, community manager of SkyBar and Lounge. "When the owners first opened they were new at the bar industry and wanted to get in on the ground level of Detroit" … so to speak.

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Drive: A New Kind of Social Club

If you were to think to yourself, "What is the one thing Detroit really needs?" and your answer was "A ping-pong club!" then WISH FULFILLED because Drive: Table Tennis Social Club is now open on the ground level of the Lofts at Merchant's Row on Woodward in downtown Detroit (in the area affectionately known to some as "Quickenstan").

To be clear, Drive is not just a table tennis social club the way Bell's Hopslam is not just a beer and The Walking Dead is not just a TV show. Drive is a veritable ping-pong emporium, a house of worship for ping-pong professionals and table tennis enthusiasts.

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[Metromix] Torino Espresso + Bar

Photo by VATO for Metromix.

There aren’t many places in metro Detroit where you can get a shot of illy® espresso at 6 a.m., then end your night with shots of limoncello at 2 a.m. Torino Espresso + Bar in Ferndale is in a class by itself there. Childhood friends Noah Dorfman, Samer Abdallah and Jim Culliton wanted Torino to be the kind of coffee bar-meets-BAR bar hangout popular all over Europe but rare to find in the States (and almost unheard of in metro Detroit).

“We wanted to be able to showcase this European experience that metro Detroit really doesn’t have,” says Dorfman. “It’s been really nice [to be able to do that]. Some people come in here with their laptop and order a martini; you can’t do that at Starbucks.”

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[Real Detroit Weekly] Detroit Seafood Market

Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

"The Detroit Seafood Market was originally called the Detroit Fish Market when it first opened in 2009, but after a dramatic turn of events with previous ownership, the restaurant was bought out by new owner Kenny Akinwale in partnership with the former chef of the Fish Market, Leonardo Vulagi. They also brought the old General Manager Theodore Oresky back on board, and the powerhouse that built the restaurant's strong reputation was reunited once again to do it a second time.

''We spent the first four months reestablishing the brand,' Oresky explains – in other words, there was some damage control to be done. But they just celebrated their one-year anniversary as the Seafood Market, and business is even more bumpin' than ever..."

Read the rest of the story here.

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

Real Detroit Weekly: Mon Jin Lau

"For more than 40 years, Mon Jin Lau in Troy has been the place where local and national celebrities go as a Detroit-area destination. A look at the wall of pictures in the lobby, featuring owner Marshall Chin posed next to top actors and sports stars show a little piece of this restaurant's history as a see-and-be-seen kind of place.

'Bryan and Brandon Chin, Marshall's sons and the third generation to operate MJL, have further solidified its reputation as a destination for local trendsetters, party people and celebutantes from all over the country.

.."

Read the rest of the article here.