Clutch Time Grill
1219 King Highway I’ve been eating out way too much lately.
I’ve been without a colleague in the Kalamazoo office for a few weeks so I’ve kind of been on my own when it comes to work. I feel like I’m not as rushed and I can try to stop at new places since I don’t have to worry about if someone else is going to like my choice for lunch.
I was coming back from Battle Creek earlier this week and had no intention of stopping to grab something to eat.
But then, I saw an open sign on a restaurant that had recently opened along my way and couldn’t pass it up.
Clutch Time Grill is on King Highway just past Crosstown Parkway in Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood. The restaurant is at the longtime home of Papa’s Italian Sausage in a fairly industrial area of Kalamazoo near the river. The building was painted in the transition from Papa’s green and red to Clutch Time’s blue and white.
The restaurant is counter service with a pretty limited menu. The sign out front says “BBQ. Ribs. Chicken. Burgers” and that’s about the extent of it. There’s a chalkboard next to the cash register with the days offerings.
I’m not really a rib from a restaurant guy but I could smell the smoked meat and that really had an influence on my decision. I got the rib dinner, which comes with corn on the cob and two sides. I picked the fries and lasagna. The cost was a little over $20.
There is a small dining room in the building. It was empty when I walked in but it started to fill up as I waited for my food. I was only a few minutes from my office so I decided just to go back there and eat as the dining room was pretty loud with music and the TV on.
I started with the fries when I got back to the office. They are simple crinkle cut frozen fries but there is some kind of Cajun seasoning on them that gives this ordinary fries a kick. It’s nuts how something so simple and so inexpensive can make a boring fry a fry I want more of.
I went for the lasagna next. This seem like an odd side option to me but I do love lasagna. Again, pretty simple lasagna. Noodles, sauce, cheese. Nothing fancy but still really tasty.
It took me a little while to get to this point because I was also doing some work while I was eating. My mind was blown when I picked up the first of three rib bones. These ribs were insanely tender. They weren’t “fall off the bone” but instead they are the kind of rib that sticks to the bone but gives very little resistance when you go in to bite it off. The ribs were covered in a thick, sweet, sticky Kansas City style sauce but that didn’t even bother me. The ribs probably would have been amazing on their own but this combination of sauce and smoke really worked for me. I was in awe of how tender and flavorful these ribs were.
Finally, I finished with the corn on the cob. I’m not a big fan of corn but I don’t dislike it either. This corn is textbook corn on the cob. It’s tender. It’s buttery. It’s corn on the cob.
I was a little shocked at how much I enjoyed this meal. Each piece of it was a hearty, delicious meal on it’s own. There was a lot of food packed in to this to-go container for $20.
I’m not really sure on the hours for Clutch Time Grill. They seem to be sporadic right now as this joint is really just getting their footing. The Facebook page says they’re open Friday thru Monday 12-8 right now but I’d check that page before heading over. They do a pretty good job of announcing their hours.
I really liked these ribs. I rarely order ribs from restaurants. A lot of times they’re sitting too long and they get a little tough but that wasn’t the case. These ribs were perfect. So delicious. So tender.
SW Michigan Dining 