The Green Well Gastro Pub
924 Cherry Street SEI know…Grand Rapids really isn’t on the way to Kalamazoo from Frankenmuth, but let me explain. About the time we got to Lansing, J asked how far out of the way Grand Rapids would be. We were just talking about needing to make a trip that way one Monday afternoon when I was off, but since we were already out and on the road…and L was sleeping, J suggested we just keep going West on I-96 instead of cutting back south to go home.
The reason we needed to go to Grand Rapids was to make a quick stop at Hop Scotch Children’s Store. We cloth diaper L and Hop Scotch had the brand of diapers that we use on sale.
After buying six new Flip diaper covers, J asked about lunch. We had talked about going to Brewery Vivant, but J wasn’t really wild about the dinner menu. My next suggestion was The Green Well, but again, J was worried about L. From the outside, it doesn’t look like a really kid friendly place, but I pushed her to try it. If they didn’t have high chairs, we’d find someplace else.
The Green Well is in Grand Rapids’ Eastown on Cherry Street just to the west of Diamond Avenue. The restaurant is a perfect fit in the Eastown area. It’s a LEED certified building whose focus is on local sourcing food.
You have no idea how relieved I was when we walked in and found two of the three tables also had kids. One was a newborn still in the carrier, but the other table had a baby boy just a month younger than L. Turns out, I felt sorry for the one table that didn’t have kids as our daughter and the little boy in the other high chair had a high pitched conversation across the restaurant.
Right after we sat down, I grabbed the drink menu and found a great draught list. I ordered a Farm Hand from Brewery Vivant. Yeah, I should have just went across the street and got one, but this was the next best thing.
The food at Green Well is a very upscale Gastro Pub menu. Both J and I found several things on the menu that looked amazing, but in the end, we both went with dishes we are comfortable with.
J ordered the Michigan Harvest Salad. We had sort of ate like crap all weekend, so J was happy to find a tasty looking salad on the menu. This particular salad starts with local sourced mixed greens. It’s then topped with pears, dried cherries, onions, candied walnuts, and Dancing Goat Creamery goat cheese. It’s topped with a maple walnut vinaigrette. J called this one of the best salads she’s ever had. She has a couple go-to salads (the Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad from Panera and the Strawberry Citrus Salad from Burdick’s), but this one shot to the top of the list.
As for me, well, you can probably guess. I ordered The Green Well Burger. This 100% all natural locally sourced beef is topped with smoked bacon, choice of cheese (I chose White Cheddar) and caramelized onions (I left them off) and a brioche bun. This burger was amazingly delicious. The outside crust had a fantastic flame-broiled crust and the inside was a perfectly pink medium. The sandwich came with chips, but I upgraded for a couple bucks to the fries which were fresh cut and dusted with a Cajun-esque seasoning.
As we were eating, I expected the bill to be close to $50. Mine alone was going to be over $20 with the beer and upgrade to fries. I wasn’t actually paying attention to what J’s meal cost, but she was the frugal one this time keeping it right around $10, bringing our total bill to a little over $33.
I am so glad we made the decision to stop in to The Green Well and I was even more happy to find out they were child friendly. I had heard so much from co-workers about the place, but have never had the time to go on my own. J and I really enjoyed our meals and love the locally sourced philosophy of the kitchen.
Michigan Harvest Salad
The Green Well Burger w/White Cheddar and Fries
SW Michigan Dining 