city guides: detroit

Think sports, casinos and dining. The Detroit Lions may be lackluster, but their venue, Ford Field, is one of the best in the NFL—particularly the suites. The Detroit Tigers may also have seen better days, but their six-year-old stadium, Comerica Park, has an old-style ambience and a panoramic view of downtown that is particularly awesome on summer nights. The Joe Louis Arena downtown is holy ground to Detroit Red Wings fans, and tickets may be slightly easier to come by in 2006 and 2007, as Stanley Cup memories fade. Only the red-hot Detroit Pistons play in the suburbs, 30 miles north in Auburn Hills. (If you can get tickets, clients may also enjoy University of Michigan football, about 45 miles west of the city.)

Detroit has three big casinos: Greektown, MGM and Motor City. You also can try the Windsor Casino, across the river in Canada.

If you want to take clients out on the water, the new Detroit Princess paddle wheeler, formerly a Harrah’s casino riverboat, has lunch and dinner cruises during the summer and offers charters (877-338-2628).

One of the unique attractions of Detroit is the ability to leave the country for the evening. Cross from downtown Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, via the Windsor tunnel or Ambassador Bridge (bring a passport or two forms of ID). The best part of being in Windsor is looking back at the Detroit skyline, but the city also has a lot of adult entertainment and small restaurants. Just watch out for 19-year-olds from the U.S., who clog the streets on weekends to drink in Windsor, where it’s legal. For theater, try the 1920s Gem or Fox theaters. The Gem is small; the Fox seats 5,000.

Detroit has seen an explosion of excellent new restaurants in the past two years. For business dinners, try Seldom Blues or Coach Insignia in the Renaissance Center, Vicente Cuban Cuisine, or the global fusion at Atlas and Mosaic restaurants. Passing through on your own? Visit venerable old Detroit restaurants where the locals go, such as Mexican Village, Roma Café and Lafayette Coney Island.

A clubby executive bar and restaurant is the Caucus Club, while newer places are Centaur Bar and Oslo Sushi, both downtown near the Fox Theatre.

For breakfast, try Detroit’s Breakfast House and Grill, where Detroit’s power crowd eats. If you’re lucky, you may run into the mayor.