The Hangar Bar and Grill

• 4301 W. Main Street
• Kalamazoo, MI 49006
• (269) 344-9663
• Website
• No Online Menu

A couple weeks ago, J’s mom was in town and when J’s mom comes to town, we usually eat pretty well.  One day while I was at work, J and her mom went out for lunch and ended up at a place we always forget about it.  They found something that J couldn’t wait to take me back to.

The Hangar Bar and Grill is on West Main Street right next to Smashburger.  That’s the problem.  The only time we ever remember the place is when we’re already set on going to Smashburger.   It’s a place I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about.  No one has ever recommended it to me and I’ve never seen anything on social media or in the press about what a unique place this actually is.

As you can probably guess, The Hangar runs with an aviation theme.  The building is a stand alone building that shares a parking lot with a small strip mall.  The design of the building is pretty unique itself.  It’s a large boxy building that has a couple bay doors that make it look like an airplane hanger.  Both on the sign near the street and above the door, there are neon lights to let you know when the kitchen is open. 

That kitchen is what really makes this place special.  As you walk up to the door, you can smell the wood fired grills and oven.  As I put my hand on the door pull, I could already smell that smokey goodness.

We were a little after the lunch rush like we usually are, but there were still cars parked around the building.  The space is pretty wide open with a half wall dividing the space in to two distinct dining areas.  On one side there is a row of booths and some pub tables.  The other side is more of a bar area with more pub tables.

We chose to sit in the bar side so we’d be seen.  Since we were after lunch, it was a seat yourself situation and the dining area could have been hidden from the waitress station near the bar.  The menus were already on the table, so when we sat down, we started looking over a menu where everything looked tempting.

We started with a couple Pepsi’s while we tried to decide.  So many things looked good and knowing they were all wood fired made the choice even harder.

What did make the selection a little easier was the incredible lunch special.  For $5.99 they had probably a half dozen options and that $5.99 included drink and fries.

I chose the 8 oz Wood-Fired Burger off the lunch special menu and added cheddar cheese for an additional seventy five cents.  The burger had a perfect line of pink running through the middle and was still incredibly juicy.  It had the flavor of summer.  A nice smokiness to the meat that can only be found when cooked over an open flame.  The unfortunate part of the sandwich was that the bun kind of canceled out a lot of that flavor.   The meat was really well cooked but the bun is a pretty ordinary white bread bun and it really dominated the burger.  Toasting the bun a little bit could have helped to reinforce that smokey flavor.

J was leaning towards a pulled pork sandwich not on the lunch menu but then noticed the chicken tenders.  She went with those and what a good choice that was.  The chicken tenders were humongous.  There were four tenders in the basket that were hand breaded and fried to a deep golden brown.  There was more food in the basket than J could even think about eating, so I ended up getting two of those pieces of chicken.  She was a little nervous when the basket was set down because she doesn’t like chicken that is too chewy and the size of these pieces of chicken was telling her brain that this was going to be very meaty chicken. After a few bites, her fears were eased.  The pieces of chicken were very tender and very juicy.

Both of our meals came with fries and both of us got more fries than we could handle.  The fries are very well seasoned and almost on the salty side.  We both loved them, but could only handle so much.

Our bill was right at $14.  I added on $0.75 for cheese and J added on $0.50 for BBQ sauce for her tenders (she got Ranch with the meal, but likes both).  Fourteen bucks for a meal at a bar is ridiculously cheap and the best part is the food is fantastic.

I’m so glad J finally remembered The Hangar Bar and Grill.  The food was not at all what I expected.  I love anything wood-fired and pretty much everything at The Hanger is.  You can smell the goodness before you even get in the door and that will be more than enough to get us back in the door…..we still have to try the wood fired pizzas!

8 oz Wood-Fired Burger w/Fries

Chicken Tenders w/Fries