The Butler
40 Butler StreetI’m still going to work every day. Not much has changed for me. J, on the other hand, is working mostly from home. She goes in to the office occasionally if she has a big print job or needs to get things signed by her boss but for the most part, she’s riding this pandemic out at home with the kids.
By Saturday, J really wants to get out of the house. We’re really limited in what we can do. I’m doing all the grocery shopping since I’m out every day anyway so that’s not even a way to get her out of the house.
We got a new car right before all of this started and for the first time, we have WiFi and a DVD system in the vehicle. J figured just taking a drive was better than sitting at home and the kids would be entertained.
We just started driving west with no particular place to go. I was sort of heading towards Saugatuck because I knew it would be a pretty good drive. I figured we could call in a carry-out to someplace there and then sit at the beach for a little bit if it wasn’t crowded.
We got to town and headed to a gas station to fill up. I noticed The Butler was still open so I had J call in an order while I filled up and got candy for the kids.
The Butler has been in downtown Saugatuck since the 1960’s. It’s one of those quintessential tourist town on the lake restaurants. They have outdoor patios that look over Lake Kalamazoo and the boardwalk and a large dining room for those busy summer nights when downtown Saugatuck is bustling.
J had put in the order and when we pulled in to the angled parking right in front of the building, an employee met me just outside the front door with our bag of food. J had already paid over the phone so I just needed to sign the slip and make sure they got a tip.
We didn’t really want to eat in J’s new car so we headed up to Oval Beach to see if we could find a place we could be secluded from other people and let the kids run. There were a few other people with the same idea and everyone did a good job of spacing out and giving each other space. J and I popped open the hatch on her car so we could sit there and eat while the kids dug in the sand.
I ordered Our Famous Butler Burger because that’s The Butler’s claim to fame. The sandwich is 1/2 lb fresh ground Angus sirloin topped with grilled ham, American cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise. The burger is charbroiled then topped with the cheese which melts into the crevices in the burger. The burger comes on a pretty standard poppy seed bun that has been buttered and toasted. The sandwich is a solid burger but nothing that will knock your socks off. There were two slices of ham on the burger which made it a little more substantial. The sandwich came with potato chips and a pickle spear.
I also got an order of fries because I thought I was upgrading from chips to fries but I ended up getting both. The fries were pretty simple flat restaurant style fries. They had that little bit of a crunch on the outside. L ended up stealing about half of my fries so I’m pretty happy I got the chips too.
J skipped the meal and went with two appetizers instead.
The first thing she ordered was Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts. The sprouts are flash fried then tossed in a honey Sriracha sauce. The were super crispy and the sauce was more sweet than spicy. J has been on a fried brussels sprouts kick lately and she said this was a delicious take on the app.
The other appetizer she got she shared with the rest of it. Pub Pretzel Bites with Beer Cheese and Pub Mustard is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The little balls of pretzel were nice and crispy and the perfect thing to dip in the little cups of cheese and mustard. This was kind of a pain to clean up, but the sauce from the brussels sprouts actually spilled out of the Styrofoam container. Then, the pub bites came open and some of them spilled too. It was a little messy but it actually turned out really delicious. Some of the pretzel bites had the honey Sriracha sauce and it was a fantastic addition of sweet and spicy to the pretzels then was really tasty with the cheese.
We didn’t get the kids anything because they were happy with their candy. We figured we’d get them McDonalds once we got closer to Kalamazoo. They just wanted to run and play in the sand anyway.
Our bill before tip was a little over $35
We have never eaten at The Butler in the 10 plus years we’ve lived in Michigan despite this place being a staple in downtown Saugatuck. Once this whole thing is over and we can eat in restaurants again, we will need to make another trip (with another blog post) to get the whole experience.
As for this trip, we wanted to support a local business and get everyone out of the house for a while. The Butler made a great destination drive with a tasty lunch
SW Michigan Dining 