Marie’s Snack Shop

• 459 E. Laketon Avenue
• Muskegon, MI 49442
• (231) 578-7645
• No Known Website
• Menu

I’m not gonna lie.  I love taking co-workers to new places and watching their faces as we pull up.  The places that make them say, “We’re eating here?” are the best.  I work in a business where 90% of our meals are eaten at fast food places and/or in the car while driving to the next location.  Technically, we get an hour lunch break, but in 15 years, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually been able to walk away from work for an hour and enjoy a lunch.

I’ve spent a little extra time in Muskegon this week with two different co-workers.  The first night, our dinner was a bottle of Pepsi and the delicious popcorn from Wesco.  The second night, with a different co-worker, we had a little more time and there was a sign that caught my eye.  Co-worker wanted Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken.  I said I had a better idea.

We ended up at Marie’s Snack Shop in Musekgon’s Marsh Field neighborhood.  The tiny shop is on the corner of Laketon and Manz Street.  The building is a walk up type restaurant with no seating or inside public space.  It looks like in a previous life, it was Kacey’s Big Dipper.

This new use of the building is pretty interesting.  It looks like the menu changes quite a bit and they have some guests come in and sell their big ticket items.  The owner used to sell Marie’s Italian Style Spaghetti at the Muskegon Farmer’s Market.  You can still get that at Marie’s Snack Shop for $3.50 a pound.

The thing that got us in the door was this sign.

Crack chicken.  I’ve wrote about this a little bit before when I stopped in a spot in Benton Harbor that sold it.   Crack chicken made this way is actually a Lansing thing.  Fresh Fish & Fry actually trademarked the name earlier this year.

C.W. had no idea what we were getting and I didn’t tell him until after he took a bite.  Both of us ordered the 4 piece and roll.  I added fries to mine for an extra buck.  Marie’s only takes cash, but even with the fries, my bill came out to $6.

There were a few people in front of us so it took about ten minutes for our numbers to be called.  The chicken was being cooked out back of the restaurant in what looks like an old carnival concession stand that has had the windows taken out.  Marie’s sells a few other things, including the spaghetti, a walking taco, and a polish dog, but it looked like everyone was waiting for Jay’s Crack Chicken.

Both of our orders came out at the same time and we walked back across the street where our cars were parked to eat.  Both orders were served in a small paper boat.  The wings weren’t that big, but there were five pieces of chicken in each of our orders instead of the four we ordered.

On the first bite, CW was impressed.  The wings were small, but packed a lot of flavor in the seasoning.  There is a pretty liberal dusting of the spice mixture, which contains salt, sugar, and lemon pepper among what I can only assume is a number of other things.  The seasoning is super flavorful, but can get to be a little much if you don’t take it slow.  It’s full of salt and sugar and while delicious in moderation, too much of this deliciously good thing can be bad.

I got fries with mine while CW wished he would have.  The fries were simple out of the bag food service fries that were also covered in the seasoning from the chicken.  The seasoning is just as delicious on fries as it is on chicken.

Finally, the roll.  Nothing special here.  Just a white roll from a bag.  CW used his roll to pick up some of the seasoning that was left over in the bottom on the paper boat.  I was over seasoned at this point and used the roll as a palate cleanser.

Just like I assumed I would, I turned another co-worker on to something they never would have gotten on their own.  Marie’s Snack Shop is a nice little addition to this neighborhood and people in the area seem to be taking advantage of it.  There was a steady stream of customers the whole twenty minutes we sat in front of the place eating dinner.  It’s the kind of place that doesn’t do a lot, but they serve their community and the community takes advantage of having something delicious in their back yard.