Bullseye Marketplace

• 350 Johnny Cake Lane
• Three Rivers, MI 49093
• (269) 858-3225
• Website
• Menu Changes Daily

Monday was one of them days.  My appointment cancelled on me then I ended up driving all over Southwest Michigan to pick up a few little tasks that were unassigned.  

My day started in Kalamazoo.  I had a 1 PM appointment but the person was sick so we had to reschedule.  Once that happened, I was free to make a few runs.  

I had to drive down to Three Rivers, then to Saugatuck, then back to Kalamazoo.  It was a long day of driving but I got some stuff done that needed to be done and someone else didn’t have to squeeze it in to their busy schedule.  

The question became “Where do I get lunch from?”  Do I grab something in Three Rivers or wait until I get to Saugatuck?

I chose Three Rivers.  

I really only spent about five minutes at the job location.  Just had to do something real quick then move on to the next task.  I was actually outside of Three Rivers in Fabius Township but I wasn’t too far from US-131.

I headed back towards town and went straight for Bullseye Marketplace.  I have driven by this place so many times and I have heard so many things about it from family who have a house on nearby Pleasant Lake but I’ve never actually been there for lunch.  

Bullseye Marketplace is right off US-131 near Three Rivers in a weird little strip of land that is somehow actually in Fabius Township.  You can see it from the road but the address is actually Johnny Cake Lane.  You can access the store from either the northbound US-131 lanes or around the corner from Millard Road.  

The store is kind of a lot of things. When you first walk in, there is a huge meat counter right inside the door. There is all sorts of fresh cut meat and a butcher. My family has been here several times to get grilling meat while at the lake house. It’s one of their favorite places in the area to do so. There’s also a deli counter with a pretty large selection of meats and cheese to slice fresh.

In addition to the fresh meat, there is a pretty large frozen selection too. Again, this is a popular spot for brats. Even during the non-boating season there is a number of different brat options to choose from.

It’s not just fresh meat, there is also a decently sized selection of gourmet pantry items. You can get pretty much anything you need for the cookout but it’s a nice year round option to have that isn’t one of the big supermarkets. You can get a some higher quality items here for a special meal.

I didn’t stop in to Bullseye for any of that though. I heard they had a really good hot bar with a lot of delicious options.

That hot bar is near the back of the store. There is a hot bar on one side and a salad bar on the other. There is also another counter off to the side where you can get coffee drinks and get made-to-order sandwiches.

I went for the hot bar because there was a lot that actually looked really good…stuff I could eat pretty easily and pretty quickly in the car so I could get back on the road. I grabbed a to-go container then made myself a pulled pork sandwich, grabbed a smoked chicken thigh, and a little bit of mac and cheese. There was a pop cooler near the check out lines but they only had Coke so I grabbed one of them and paid. The price shocked me. I got quite a bit of food and a Coke for less than $10.

The first thing I tackled when I got to the car was the pulled pork. It was interesting. I know they smoke their own meats and the pork did have a nice smoky flavor to it but it looked like crock pot pulled pork. The meat was very thinly shredded and swimming in a thick, sweet BBQ sauce. I know it wasn’t crock pot pulled pork but it had that texture. It actually had a pretty delicious smoky flavor but maybe a little too much BBQ sauce for me. I didn’t pile a lot on the bun but I should have added a little more on the side. It was a pretty delicious sandwich.

The chicken thigh was really interesting. This looked more like a competition style thigh. The bone had been removed and it was kind of rolled up to make a nice, neat little package. The chicken had an incredible smoke flavor all the way through it. The skin was a little tough but the flavor made it worth the little bit of extra effort. I’m not really a dark meat guy but I loved this chicken. I would have grabbed a couple more had I known.

The final piece was the mac and cheese. These noodles were covered in a thick, creamy yellow cheese sauce. It was probably tasty on it’s own but I noticed a bottle of BBQ sauce as I was looking for silverware. I love the combination of mac and cheese and BBQ sauce so I put a little of their house sauce on the pasta. It was a good move. The smokiness from the BBQ sauce is so perfect with the cheesiness of the noodles. This is another part of this blog post where I’m going to say I didn’t take a lot but I should have taken more.

I chose to eat my car because I’m anti-social and I just wanted to quickly eat and get on the road but they do have a seating area inside. There are a couple of booths then some tables around a fire place. There were several work trucks parked outside from the people who were taking up most of the tables.

Bullseye Marketplace is a great lunch spot. It’s more than a simple hot bar. They have some pretty great options and if you like the smokiness from BBQ, this is definitely a place to stop. They had whole ribs for sale in a different part of the store and I’m not gonna lie, I considered grabbing a rack just from the smell. The prepared food is worth a stop on it’s own but there’s so much more to this place.