Checkers (Kalamazoo)
575 E. Michigan AvenueThe power of advertising.
I’m not even going to lie. Checkers is a restaurant that hasn’t been on my radar in forever despite the fact I pass both of the Kalamazoo area locations on almost a daily basis. I mean, I realized last week that in the 15 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never blogged about either of them. I know we’ve picked up food from there a couple of times at least but I’ve never taken the time to actually take pictures and write a post.
Checkers got on my radar after they I started seeing commercials for a sandwich that looked too good to be true from a fast food joint.
I had to head out to Wings Event Center to pick my kids up one night after work and I knew I was going to pass the Checkers in the Central Business District. I figured I’d stop and see if this sandwich is anything like the ads make it look.
There are two Checkers in Kalamazoo. The one that was closest to me on this night is not the one that’s closest to where I live, but since I was already downtown, I stopped at the location on the corner of East Michigan and Harrison Street just to the east of downtown but still in the Central Business District. It’s at a little bit of a tricky intersection as it’s right before Michigan Avenue splits in to the two one ways. If you’re heading west, it’s easy to get in to but heading east, away from downtown, you just need to pay attention and get in the turn lane before you get to the light at Harrison.
Checkers is part of large chain of restaurants. In some parts of the country they go by Checkers. In others they go by Rally’s. Whatever the name is, they’re the same restaurant that mostly serve as drive thru’s with no indoor dining room. Some of the original Rally’s locations have dining rooms but these in Kalamazoo stick to the common walk-up/drive thru design. The somewhat unique thing about this location is they do have an outdoor seating area with concrete picnic tables off to the east of building. There’s a large population that uses the walk-up window option in this part of town so having someplace to sit and eat makes sense.
I don’t always love drive thru’s so I decided to get out and go to the walk up window. It’s in the front of the building and uncovered from the elements.
There’s a drive thru style menu board next to the window between that area and the driver side drive thru lane of the building.
That was my plan anyway. There were some people in front of me that were taking forever so I just got back in my car and headed around to the drive thru. I figured it would be faster so I put my order in at the speaker then got in in line. There are two drive thru lanes. One on the side of the building of the passenger door and one of the side of the building that would be on the driver’s side door. The one on the passenger side door side is blocked off though and they only use the one drive through despite having two lanes.
The reason I chose Checkers this night is because I had been seeing the commercials for the BBQ Brisket Melt and Brisket Bosswich sandwiches. I thought there’s no way brisket from a fast food could even be remotely good….so I ordered the Brisket Bosswich combo which came with fries and a drink. The total cost was just under $13.
When I got to Wings Event Center, I started with the fries. Checkers fries are pretty legendary and definitely not typical fast food fries. They’re more of a battered fry with a very heavy seasoning on them that includes a lot of paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. They’re definitely not like other fast food fries. With that said, they’re still fast food fries. They’re good…better than most. But as I’ve mentioned in several blog posts, I don’t love the battered fry. If you do like these fries, you can actually buy them by the bag in the frozen section at the supermarket.
Now, on to the Brisket Bosswich. This sandwich is a Checkers hamburger patty topped with smoked brisket, American cheese, BBQ sauce, dill pickles and red onion served on toasted Texas Toast. As is the case with most sandwich, it looks nothing like the advertisement picture but the truth is, this sandwich isn’t bad. The hamburger patty kind of gets lost in the whole thing and the brisket is a little dry but the flavor isn’t terrible. The buttery, toasty Texas Toast slices are a welcome substitution to the typical white bread hamburger buns. My expectations were low but I wasn’t disappointed. Especially for the price
So, yeah. A solid fast food offering. This isn’t nearly as good of a sandwich as you would get at a BBQ joint but for being fast food, I don’t really have any complaints. The price still blows my mind. This was definitely the best meal I’ve had for under $13 in a long time.
SW Michigan Dining 