B-Side Social House
2727 W. Michigan AvenueI almost messed up my string of eating out while J and L were out of town.
I ended up working some extra hours on Thursday night and by the time I got done, there really wasn’t anything open that I wanted to try.
I went home and started playing Zelda again. As the clock approached midnight, I started to get really hungry. I realized I hadn’t actually had a meal all day. I had snacked a couple of times but that was about it.
The choices get a lot more limited around midnight. There are still some good options near campus and I was leaning towards a calzone….that thought reminded me of another new place that I haven’t been to yet.
B-Side Social House is on West Michigan Avenue between Lafayette and Howard Streets in the 2700 West Development. The restaurant takes up a space between Old Goat Tavern and DP Dough. The space was once Nick’s Gyros, but that closed quite a while ago.
Parking is always my biggest complaint at this development. I know that it was developed for the WMU students in the neighborhood who can just walk, but when I want something to eat from these fantastic late night options, it’s always been frustrating.
With the street redesign, it’s been made a little easier. There is now some parallel spaces in front of the building and I got lucky enough there was one close to the entrance.
I was pretty hesitant on going for a late night snack because I couldn’t tell if this was a counter service joint or a full service restaurant. I looked at pictures on Google and noticed in the corner of one that it appeared to be counter service. That’s what I was looking for so I decided to give it a shot. If nothing else, DP Dough was right next door.
B-Side Social house is a counter service place. There’s an order counter right inside the door in front of the kitchen. This is how I remember Nick’s Gyros being set up too. The menus are on large sign boards attached to the wall of the counter. The restaurant is open from 10-6 Tuesday – Friday and 10-4 on Saturday so there is a breakfast and a lunch menu on the wall alongside the late night menu which is available from 11:30 PM – 1 AM Thrusday – Saturday.
Obviously, there are some quick service late night options in the area. Two Fellas is across the street. DP Dough is next door. There’s Que Buenos and The Wing Hut in the Campus Pointe mall, but B-Side strives food not offered at those places.
Thursday night is $10 menu night so anything on the menu is $10. I ordered the Smash Burger Sliders and fries. I was the only one in the restaurant at the time (it had just opened for the evening). The lady taking my order said it’d be about ten minutes. The cost, with tax, was just over $10 as advertised.
The atmosphere at B-Side is something unusual. I wonder if any of the college kids actually get the reference to the “B-Side” in the name. The music is loud and it’s themed throughout the menu. Baby Got Back was blaring on the speakers when I walked in. There are some tables near the back of the space but a lot of the seating is a lunch counter type bar that runs on both sides of a long narrow space leading to the back entrance. The area is lit by colored LED lights and the artwork on the wall is all music themed.
There are power strips that run along the seating area so you can plug in a laptop and get some work done. The restaurant also offers free wi-fi.
It took less than ten minutes for my order to be made fresh. Being the old guy, they just assumed I was going to take it home with me and they were right.
There was a lot of food in my to-go box for $10. I realized I read the menu wrong. I thought it was a double smash burger, not two smash burger sliders so I was a little confused when I opened the box. The two burgers were squeezed in to the box with a lot of waffle fries.
I watched them get dumped from the bag in to the fryer so I knew they were frozen. That was fine though. I actually really like this type of fry. These seem to come out better than typical frozen french fries. There is still a little skin on them and these were seasoned with just a light dusting of salt. I greedily ate all the fries before I even touched the burgers.
The burgers each come topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, and cheese. I pulled off the onions and tomatoes and was left with a delicious little slider. The burger has all those good crunchy bits you expect in a smash burger and the cheese just melts around it to envelope the meat in a gooey goodness. The two burgers didn’t last long and I was back playing Zelda before I knew it.
I love college towns with a vibrant late night food scene that isn’t just bars. Some of the best places I’ve eaten when I travel are sandwich shops open well past the closing time of the bars.
B-Side Social House is a great addition to the campus area. There’s a real diverse selection of food in the area and being able to grab a burger or one of their other great options is an asset to the area.
SW Michigan Dining 