As soon as I wrote the title to this article, if you are from my generation and from Delray or Southwest Detroit, it sounds like I am going to talk about the old neighborhood.  Alas, I am not going to talk about the Cadillac Motor Car plant or the famed park that has an outstanding ice arena that has seen some of the Red Wings play on.  The Clark Street that I am going to mention was the site of an infamous gangland massacre in Old Chicago and the bricks made a circuitous trip to Vancouver and finally now reside at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.  My grandchildren didn’t recall going there, the last time we took them, so it was brand new to them again I was really looking forward to recreating an older photo that we have of myself with three of the grandchildren as we were lined up for our mug photo.  The last time that we were there, my Bride took the photo, this time I guess the mug photo line-up is such a big tourist attraction that you have to have their photographer take your photo, so that you could buy it later at the gift shop.  I would have opted for that, but even though we were the only people in the room, the photographer would not take the photo unless we had our masks on, and to me that negated the whole photograph of a before and after type of photo.  I guarantee that no one was ever photographed or lined up at a real line-up with a mask on. 

After touring the museum and I think the kids may have enjoyed it more, since they were older, they really wanted to “take” us to Sammy’s Woodfire Pizza & Grill at Sammy’s.  When one thinks of Vegas, they think of The Strip and then the Downtown district and both sections are very glittery.  There are plenty of small local, almost neighborhood casinos interspersed along the main and secondary streets of the city.  It was the first time that we ever ventured into one of these venues, though in the past, we have been in drug stores, grocery stores and even gas stations that have maybe a half dozen machines waiting to take your spare change. The kids love this place, and they knew that I had to go there for the Duck Tacos, because they all know that I love duck dinners,  There was a ton of food ordered and to give you an idea here is the list: five orders of Lobster Bisque with Sherry, a platter of Truffle Fries, two orders of Braised Short Rib tacos, shrimp tacos, four orders of Duck tacos, Mini-burgers, Margherita Pizza, Mozzarella Pizza, two orders of Chicken Wings, Pork Dumplings a “Messy Sundae” and an “Apple Pie Pizza” and the two desserts still were only partially consumed by the crowd that we had at two tables. 

We may have started off with Margaritas, but we eventually ended up with wine (of course we did).  First, we had Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio Trentino DOC 2019.  Mezzacorona is a group of co-operative wineries and brands, established in 1904 in Trentino.  The winery is known as the “Citadella del Vino” and they recently built a state-of-the-art facility to better serve their fifteen-hundred growers.  Mezzacorona claims to produce more Pino Grigio and Chardonnay than any other Italian winery.  With the wine being produced by so many small vineyards, the fruit is hand harvested to this day.  There is no production information, but I sure that I may surmise that the fruit is aged in Stainless Steel for a short period.  I say this, because the wine is green and flinty, crisp with a light floral nose and a soft finish.  A perfect wine for food and lots of talking and merriment.  Next was Daou Vineyards & Winery Pessimist Red Blend Paso Robles 2018.  Daou Vineyards is located in the Adelaida District of Paso Robles and was established in 2007 by George and Daniel Daou who had originally built a successful IT business.  They bought part of the Hoffman Mountain Ranch and in 2012 bought the rest of the property and now have two-hundred-twelve acres.  The Hoffman Mountain Ranch had been the first modern commercial winery in Paso Robles after Prohibition and created by Stanley Hoffman with assistance by Andre Tchelistcheff. All the estate fruit is hand harvested and has been certified as sustainable farming practices. The Pessimist Red Blend 2018 is a blend of sixty-two percent Petite Sirah, twenty percent Zinfandel, sixteen percent Syrah and two percent Lagrein.  There are no production notes, but I well venture to say that the wine saw some barrel time, as Daou is big on Bordeaux varieties and also Rhone varieties.  The wine was a deep purple with floral notes, big dark and red fruit, with some butter and vanilla (oak) and a nice smoky finish.  A couple of nice popular price wines with an interest spread of food for dinner and a repeat of a museum that at least my Bride and I remembered, and I can guarantee you that we were not in Southwest Detroit, even if it sounded like we were.