Eastown Cafe

• 410 Ethel Avenue SE
• Grand Rapids, MI 49506
• (616) 233-0797
• No Known Website
• Menu

I was lazy today when it came time to leave for work.  I didn’t feel like making my lunch.  I know I should have, but I said the hell with it and just decided to eat out.

Around 7:30, my manager looked at me and asked if I had taken dinner yet.  I said no and he told me to get out of the office for a while.  I didn’t really have any idea what I was hungry for, but I did want to go check out a shop in Eastown.

About a month ago, I saw a news report on a new shop that makes fresh pasta.  I really wanted to check it out and pick up a couple packages of pasta for dinner later in the week, but when I got to the door of the Local Epicurean, the lights were off.  They close at 6:00.

As I was walking back to my car, I spotted a cafe that a co-worker had recommended to me some time ago.  I never really knew where it was, but since I was in the area and technically on my dinner break, I figured why not.

Eastown Cafe is on Ethel Avenue just south of Wealth Street SE.  It’s a small building with the dining room visible from the street.  I sort of peaked in first to see if it was a sit down place or a place where I could order carry-out.  It was hard to tell from the sidewalk, but I did notice a cash register sort of sticking out from behind a wall and figured out it was a place where you order at a counter.

There was only one employee in the kitchen when I walked in.  The place was empty so he was sitting on a stool not doing much of anything.  I hopped up when I walked and promptly took my order.

The Eastown Cafe specializes in burgers and panini’s and they serve breakfast all day.  The recommendation I had gotten was for the burger so that’s the only place I even looked on the menu.

I chose the Ultimate Burger which is a fresh beef patty on toasted bun with Swiss, Cheddar, and Smoked Provolone cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and onion.  After paying the bill which came to just a little over $5, I popped a squat in the dining room and before I could could check-in on Foursquare and send a tweet to a friend, my burger was being handed to me in a Styrofoam to-go container.

On my drive back to work, I cracked the box and started in on the fries.  They were standard restaurant fries which were nice and crispy.  There was a lot more in the box than I was expecting.  Actually, I wasn’t expecting any for five bucks, so seeing a full container made me happy.

When I got back to work, it was time to dig in to the sandwich.  It was a pretty standard burger done well.  The bun had a nice toast around the edges yet was still soft and flaky.  The patty was juicy and completely covered with the three slices of cheese.

Eastown Cafe is another fantastic option in this neighborhood.  It’s cheap, it’s quick, and the food is quality.

Ultimate Burger w/Fries