Avalon International Bakery
422 W. WILLIS • DETROIT, MI 48201 313.832.0008
HOURS OF OPERATION: MON – SAT 6 AM – 6 PM SUN 8 AM – 4 PM
I enjoy finding places that are out of the way and unassuming, but offer something I love…be it great food, unusual items, or inspiration and if it offers more than one of those things, all the better.
Living in Holliday Park offers the opportunity to find places in many locations, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Plymouth or Northville, because all are within a 20-30 minute drive. This short drive also makes it possible to enjoy my places often. They can be a destination in themselves or a stop on the way to another place. I love sharing these finds with my friends and learning that they have added them to their list of favorite places. These are just two of my favorites in Detroit…one old and one new.
I’ve often heard that you find things when you aren’t looking, and I think that’s true, because the first find, Avalon International Breads, was discovered about ten years ago when my oldest daughter and I got lost after attending a function at Wayne State University. It was near lunch time and we noticed the large number of people going in and decided we would check it out.
Upon entering, the aroma of the baked goods was intoxicating and the choices were many. After finding out that they served breakfast and lunch, besides selling baked goods, we ordered sandwiches. Mine I remember was mozzarella with tomato and basil on olive bread. It was amazing! After lunch, I purchased one of their bread’s and some sweet rolls for our breakfast the next day.
While making these selections, I noticed the sign that all the bake goods were made with organic flour. I have returned many times in the years since. Sometimes it has been the destination for my daughter and I when she visits from Seattle, and other times I have added it on to a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts or attending a play at the Hillberry.
It’s still a very unassuming looking place. Not much if anything has changed since my first visit, except that they now deliver to 40 restaurants and markets located from Ann Arbor to Royal Oak and Grosse Point.
So they fill the bill as a place that offers great things to eat, but they also offer inspiration by the fact that they overcame the doubters of their being successful in opening a bakery offering artisan breads in what used to be called the Cass Corridor and became what was the beginning of a transformation of the area into what is now known as Midtown. Avalon is located at 422 W. Willis just off Cass in the Wayne State area and is open seven days a week.
* For the Third Year in-a-row Avalon International Bakery is partnering with Kids Kicking Cancer. A portion of their in-store-sales will be donated to this worthy cause on Valentines Day February 14th. See Avalon’s web site for details: www.avalonbreads.net . The Bakery’s slogan is Eat Well. Do good! They do what they suggest to others.
Another of my favorite places is a new one that I found just about a month ago when I was staying at the Book Cadillac hotel for the weekend. It does offer good things to eat, but not in the same way. It’s called Lafayette Greens. This is a place of total inspiration for me and although not a destination in itself, it’s a place that if I am anywhere in that area, I will want to drive by and check it out.
My second favorite place is located on a triangular shaped lot at W. Lafayette and Shelby in downtown Detroit. It was part of the view from my hotel window, the first time I saw this place. It was fenced in and had 35 raised beds. I had to check it out because it looked so curious, and what I found was that it was an urban garden and a relaxing green space that is sponsored by Compuware. Last summer, Lafayette Greens grew, in one month’s time, more than 900,000 pounds of fresh produce specifically for the Gleaners Community Food Bank. That’s not bad for an unassuming three quarters of an acre piece of land in an urban environment.
If you get a chance, I hope you will check out both of these places and maybe you will add them to your list of favorite places to go.


