Wing Hut
826 East Cork StreetJ and B are on a road trip without me.
B qualified for the US Figure Skating Excel National Festival at The Skating Club of Boston this week.
J has the entire month of July off so she doesn’t have to use PTO to travel. We’re also going to Lake Placid in about ten days so I had to decided which trip I was going on. We couldn’t afford for me to do both. J and B flew to Boston but we will drive to Lake Placid. All four of us are going though so that’s going to be a pricey trip. I have very little PTO left as it is so I would have had to try to fly the day of his competition and come back home with them on Saturday.
I wasn’t totally home alone this time. As much as she wanted to, L didn’t get to go either for some of the same reasons I didn’t get to go. Plane tickets are expensive.
Tuesday night she gets done with skating before I get off work. She was able to catch a ride home with a friend so I wasn’t in a super big hurry when I left work. There’s a familiar chicken place that just moved in to a new location somewhat on my way home so I decided to stop there for dinner.
The Wing Hut has been in Kalamazoo for a few years. They first opened up in Campus Pointe next to Western Michigan University back in 2022. There was a second location added the following year in the food court at the Crossroads Mall. Those locations closed and the business moved in to a new location on Cork Street near St. Mary’s Street in the Milwood Neighborhood. The restaurant shares space with House of Soul (I’ll do a separate blog post on that place eventually) in the building that was most recently Quekas. It’s an oddly shaped building on a very narrow parcel of land. There is parking on the west side of the building. The east side of the building buts right up to the Corkscrew Party Store parking lot.
Read more…Berries Famous Pancake House (Gull Road)
I thought I was done with Skate the Zoo…our club’s Michigan Basic Skills figure skating competition.
My kids are both highly competitive on a national level in the Solo Dance Series and the Excel Series. They have leveled above what the Michigan Basic Skills series is for.
B qualified for the Excel National Festival (which is literally happening as I write this post) in Boston. He asked if he could do Skate the Zoo as a warm up for Boston. The event he is in is the last level available in the Basic Skills Series. He also wanted to do something called Interpretive where they play a song and the skater has to make up a program pretty much on the fly.
We decided to let him do it which means I actually have one more Skate the Zoo. Next year, both of my kids will have completely leveled out of it.
My parents decided they wanted to come to watch B in the Interpretive event. What happens is they get all the competitors on the ice for their warm and then they play the song they are going to skate to. They hear the song three times and have to make up a program on the spot. This is something B does constantly anyway so he thought it would be fun. My parents also thought it would be fun to watch him so they came to town to see it.
Two of B’s three events (he also did a jumps challenge) where first thing in the morning and pretty much back to back. He won both of the events. He got his medals then I got him changed out of his costume because the next event wasn’t for another four hours.
Once all that was done, my parents asked about breakfast. They were just thinking of going up the road to Butler’s Breakfast & Lunch which is normally fine with me but I wanted to go someplace a little further away so we’d kill a little bit more time. I don’t mind sitting in the rink most of the day but I know my parents aren’t huge fans. They don’t know anyone and they really don’t know what’s going on. They just want to show up and be present for the grandkids.
We headed away from Wings Event Center towards Gull Road. I had a restaurant out that way I have been looking forward to eating at.
We headed to Berries Famous Pancake House on Gull Road east of Sprinkle Road in the large shopping center on the north side of the road. This is Berries second active location and the third overall. The original one is on South Westnedge in an old Theo & Stacy’s. They also took over the downtown Theo & Stacy’s location for a while but closed that one after just a year in busiess likely due to the construction that kept people away from downtown. This third location is in the old North Eleven space which was a higher end pub and bistro that closed in 2024 and essentially moved the business out to Richland to become Tavern 32. This spot then became Berries Famous Pancake House in January of 2025
Read more…The L.A.B.
- FOOD TRUCK
- Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- (269) 400-6660
- Website
- Sample Menu
Finding lunch on Friday’s in Kalamazoo in the summer can be pretty easy.
Just walk to the park.
I had another pretty easy Friday because my co-worker in Kalamazoo was out of town. I had some long term projects to finish up but after that, it was just kind of a day for doing some maintenance and organizing some things.
I forced myself to stop for a while around lunch time and when I looked out the window, I remembered it was Lunchtime Live…..so I walked across the street to get something to eat.
I always like to find new food trucks and there was one parked near the end of the row of trucks on South Street near Westnedge that I had never seen before.
The L.A.B. (which stands for Lockett Authentic Barbecue) is a Kalamazoo based truck that specializes in barbecue, steaks, chicken and other delicious meats. There was a small crowd gathered around the white and black with lime green accents truck. Like me, many of the other people in line were seeing this truck for the first time and were excited to try it.
Read more…Happy’s Pizza (Kalamazoo)
Thursday night isn’t pizza night.
I know. I know but it’s actually been a while since we did a pizza night even on Friday. This summer has just been nuts.
My parents were coming to town Friday night because B was competing in Skate the Zoo on Saturday morning at Wings Event Center. We thought he would be later in the day but when we got the schedule, he was one of the first things scheduled just before 9 AM.
My parents didn’t want to get up at 4 in the morning to drive in from Illinois so they got a hotel. I knew they were doing that and I knew they wanted to go out to dinner Friday night so Thursday night, I ordered pizza.
We haven’t really had a pizza place recently. We did Cottage Inn for years but I think we finally overdid and no one is requesting it anymore. The problem is, no one is requesting anything when it comes to pizza.
I still had to go to Wings Event Center after work to pick L up so I decided to order from the new place on way to the rink.
Happy’s Pizza is actually “new” to Kalamazoo. It’s more of a return. They had a couple of locations in town at one time….both on Westnedge. One was in Portage. The other was on the corner of Crosstown and Westnedge. Both of those locations closed and we’ve been Happy’sless in Kalamazoo for a couple of years.
That is, until last week when a new Happy’s Pizza/Savvy Sliders opened up at the corner of Westenedge and Cork Street in Kalamazoo’s South Westnedge Neighborhood. The building is that one that is really kind of hard to get to just south of the intersection of Westnedge and Whites. It used to be a Big Apple Bagels and then it was J. Gumbo’s for quite a while before that closed and the building sat empty for a few years. Now it has a new red and white paint job and the building is kicking out pizzas and sliders.
Read more…Subway (Sprinkle Road)
Sandwich chains two nights in a row. That’s really unusual for me.
I headed out to Wings Event Center after work to pick up a kid. I didn’t know which one but I knew one of them had to stay later than the other.
I got there a little bit early to pick up B. L wanted to stick around because a lot of the little kids that she helps coach in the club’s Learn To Skate classes were practicing for this weekend’s Skate the Zoo competition.
B didn’t care about that and wanted to go home.
J had gotten the kids Jimmy John’s so they didn’t need anything else to eat. I had Jimmy John’s the night before so I didn’t want that again. I didn’t want to go too far out of my way or make B sit in the car while I went inside to grab something so I just resigned myself to the fact I was going to get fast for or something along Sprinkle Road…or it was going to be a frozen pizza night.
I really wasn’t in the mood for a fast food burger or a slice of gas station pizza so I opened up my phone and put in an order for a Subway sandwich.
The closest Subway to Wings Event Center is on the corner of Sprinkle Road and Covington Road just barely inside the city limits of Kalamazoo. The building looks a little warn. It’s a two storefront commercial building with grey vinyl siding. The Subway has been there for well over 15 years according to Google maps and if you scroll through the old street view pictures, you can see how the chain has changed branding over the years.
Read more…Jimmy John’s (West Michigan Ave)
I’m not the type of person that does a lot of restaurant loyalty programs.
I don’t eat at the same place very often. I like to try new things.
One of the few places that I do actually pay attention to the rewards program is Jimmy John’s. It’s the one place we eat at at a lot.
When we skated over at Wings West, there was a Jimmy John’s just down the street. There is other fast food there but Jimmy John’s was always the easiest to grab and to bring back to the rink.
When we moved over to Wings Event Center, there is a Jimmy John’s right on the corner of Sprinkle and Vanrick we pass to get to the arena. That became the go-to for before practice, break, and after practice meals so signing up for rewards was well worth it.
I’m the only one that really pays attention to those rewards points though so when I’m sitting at work and money is a little tight, I can almost always use rewards to get myself a sandwich.
That’s exactly what I did Monday night.
I was working in downtown Kalamazoo and had about an hour before my next assignment. I needed to run out towards campus so when I redeemed my rewards and put in an order, I chose the Jimmy John’s right next to Waldo Stadium.
The Jimmy John’s in the West Main Hill Neighborhood is one that is kind of in an odd location. The address is West Michigan Avenue but that portion of Michigan Avenue is only two blocks long and it sits on the north side of the train tracks across from Waldo Stadium. The restaurant is on the corner of West Michigan Avenue and Eldred Street in a very residential part of town. The parking lot kind of dips down and you can’t even see the sign for Jimmy John’s from the street. The sign is only visibible from across the tracks as you’re driving on Stadium Drive. There are actually spots for two businesses in this very small building. The back part of the building used to be the Kalamazoo Cat Cafe…that’s where we got our two kitties from…but they moved a while ago to a spot on Westnedge.
Read more…Tacos Porvenir
It’s been a really long time since I’ve had good tacos.
I have no idea why that is. There are good tacos all around me. I just haven’t ventured out to the places I normally go to get them.
I was pretty much on my own at work for the majority of last week. The colleague that usually works in the office with me was on vacation and I only had one day where a Grand Rapids colleague was sent down here to work with me.
I did what I could to keep busy and didn’t end up eating out nearly as much as I wanted to.
I found some time on Wednesday to get away from the office for lunch. I had an idea on Cork Street but I told myself that if I saw a taco truck out and it was open, I was going to stop. I intentionally went down Portage Street because there are two locations where there are trucks somewhat permanently parked.
As I approached the Town and Country Market on the corner of Portage and Reed Street. I saw one of the trucks I was looking for. The window was open and the generator was on so I pulled in.
Tacos Porvenir has been parked in the back of the parking lot of the Town and Country Supermarket for quite a while. The brightly painted trailer is hard to miss when driving by. I’m just usually in a hurry when I drive on this side of town so I never get a chance to stop.
Read more…J’Harvey’s BBQ
It was another Lunchtime Live! in downtown Kalamazoo but I had to make a run out to Portage on my lunch break.
I was still planning on getting back to the park in time to grab lunch. I had to take a co-worker down to a business on South Sprinkle Road way down by Romence Road.
As we were driving south, I spotted a food truck I had never seen before. I was going to do a food truck downtown but here was a BBQ truck that was new to me.
On my way back to the office, I decided to stop.
J’Harvey’s BBQ is parked on the corner of Merideth Street and Sprinkle Road in the parking lot of Lume Cannabis which, many years ago, was a Circle K. The all black food truck with painted flames around the bottom sits in the back of the parking lot near the road. I just parked in a spot up near the building since there were several open spots and walked to the truck.
Read more…The Fire Hub
Battle Creek built some really spectacular fire stations in the early part of the 20th Century. I realize that they’re not really practical as fire stations anymore but the buildings are so great it’s hard to tear them down.
My colleague and I were in Battle Creek last week for an assignment. I had planned to check out the new Jack In the Box for lunch but I soon realized we were on the west side of downtown.
I could have still made my way back to I-94 via Capital Avenue but I passed another spot that recently reopened that I’ve been itching to try.
The Fire Hub is in one of those old fire houses in Battle Creek….the old Station 4. It’s on Kendall Street just north of the train tracks and Dickman Road. This conversion to restaurant was initially done by Firekeepers Casino but that version of the restaurant closed in 2023. The building sat vacant for a couple of years until new owners took it over Spring of this year. The old name stayed the same as the restaurant started another new life in this historic building.
Read more…Erbelli’s Gourmet Pizza (Oshtemo Township)
The Southport Summer Classic figure skating competition at the Pleasant Prairie Rec Plex in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin always takes place on Father’s Day weekend.
We typically leave on Wednesday and get back sometime Saturday evening. By the time we get home, I usually have a lot of stuff to do on Sunday so I just kind of ignore the whole Father’s Day thing.
J always asks where I want to go out to eat but we just spent a ton of money over the last several days out of town so I just say I don’t want to go anywhere unless there is some new restaurant I really want to go to…but that wasn’t the case this year.
I spent my Sunday mowing, cleaning up the yard, and grocery shopping. When I got home from the store, I’m pretty sure everyone was taking a nap. It was around 4:30 and I hadn’t eaten yet. Since it was Father’s Day, I just made the executive decision to order a pizza from one of my favorite pizza places that we almost never order from.
Erbelli’s Gourmet Pizza has two locations in the Kalamazoo area. One is on Portage Road in the southern part of the City of Portage. The other one is right down the street from us in Oshtemo Township on Stadium Drive just north of Sunset Road. The restaurant is in a small shopping center and it takes up several store fronts in the building. It’s easy to spot in the building because all the windows are covered by graphics which help set the mood inside the dining room.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 