High Dive Kitchen + Bar

• 214 E. Michigan Avenue
• Kalamazoo, MI 49007
• (269) 365-0660
• Website
• Menu

I hate it when I have to miss my kids’ events.

L had a figure skating competition in Bloomfield Hills last week. It was a late addition to our schedule and I’m running out of days off. J and L went on their own. Since I had to work and we don’t have daycare for B during the month of July, he went to J’s parents for a couple of nights.

That left me alone at nights. I decided to take advantage of that and hit up a couple of restaurants I’ve been wanting to get to. The kids haven’t really been into eating out like we used to and sometimes, it’s just not worth the fight to do what I want to do.

I still had to run to the ice rink after work because B had practice. Once he was done, we had to do a lot of car swapping as J’s car needed to get to the shop and I had my truck downtown (it’s a long story). I had J’s parents follow me to the shop to drop off J’s car then take me downtown to get mine.

I was downtown again and I had a number of places I wanted to eat at downtown. I’m going to have another week here in a few weeks were J and L are gone and B will be at NaNa’s so I’m going to get to all of them eventually.

On this night, I chose High Dive Kitchen + Bar.

High Dive Kitchen + Bar is on Michigan Avenue just to the east of Portage Street. The restaurant takes up what used to be two different spaces across two different three story brick buildings. The main part is in the building that previously housed Fuze Kitchen and Bar. The second part of the space is in the building next door which was previously Grand Traverse Distilling.

As you’re well aware, parking along Michigan Avenue isn’t always easy. That’s fine. There’s plenty of parking behind the building in the lot off Bates Alley. I didn’t even make it that far though as I found a meter on Edwards Street and just parked there. It was after 6:00 so the meter was off.

I entered the building from Bates Alley. There’s a large outdoor space in the alley that was being taken advantage of by several people on this gorgeous summer evening. I walked passed them to find a door that leads into the back of the bar area.

There was Music Bingo happening when I walked in and there were several tables of people already hanging out. I made my way to the bar which was still fairly empty. I sat down and before I could get even comfortable, the bartender grabbed a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.

High Dive bills itself as a high end dive bar. The goal is not to look like a dive bar but have that comfortable feeling that you get from your neighborhood pub. They pretty much nail the look of this place. There’s room to spread out and different seating options for groups or couples. The sleek look walks the line between gastropub and neighborhood dive bar.

I started with an M-43. They have only a few beers on tap but they’re good ones. My typical go-to Two Hearted was also an option but I haven’t had an M-43 in a while so I started with that….then ordered a second one

The menu isn’t very big and it focuses on the things typical bars do. There are sandwiches, salads, and some high end entrees to go with the typical pub fare. The owners of High Dive are the people who created Zoo City Beastro in Portage. They sold that place to focus on this one. We were big fans of the food at Zoo City so I knew I was going to like whatever they put in front of me at High Dive.

I ordered the Smoked Blue Smash. I didn’t read the menu very closely though and totally missed that this burger had mushrooms on it. That’s fine, I just scraped them off. In addition to the mushrooms, the burger consisted of two 1/4 lb smash patties, smoked bleu cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and red onions. Without the mushrooms (only because I don’t like mushrooms) this burger was fantastic. The smash patties had those really good crispy edges and the smoked bleu cheese gave this sandwich a little bit more depth than just the tanginess you would get from non-smoked cheese.

The sandwich came with choice of chips or fries. I took the fires. They were skin on, super crispy fries with light salt dusting. The bartender set down a bottle of ketchup but there was no need. The fries were seasoned perfectly and the little bit of saltiness was all these fries really needed.

My bill for the burger and two beers was a little over $25.

High Dive Kitchen + Bar does what it wants to do. The space is a place you can feel pretty comfortable in whether you’re looking for drinks after work and going out to dinner with friends. You feel like you’re in a downtown bar but there’s no rush to turn the table. Just hang out and have a beer. Everyone wants a bar like that.