La Loma Supermercado
1791 W. Columbia Avenue, Suite CIt’s not every often J finds out about a new restaurant before I do but that’s what happened a few weeks ago.
She saw a Facebook post for a Mexican grocery store in Battle Creek that some really good looking baked goods. They also have a taqueria.
A colleague and I were in Battle Creek last Monday for a job assignment. We got done just before 7:30 and I was hungry. I decided to see how far we were from the grocery store J found and we were right around the corner.
La Loma Supermercado is on Columbia Avenue near South 28th on the west side of Battle Creek. The Mexican grocery store is in a spot that used to be a Dollar General right next to the Pet Supplies Plus.
The grocery store is divided in to two areas. When you walk in, you come in to the grocery store part of the store. It’s a pretty typical Mexican grocery store stocking a lot of the unique items used in Mexican cooking that you can’t find in a regular supermarket.
The first thing you really see though is the bakery case. This is what got J’s attention when she saw the Facebook post. It’s a large, self service case filled with Mexican pastries.
I was going to surprise her and bring something home but I couldn’t remember for sure what she wanted so I had to text her. She told me to grab a couple of the Conchas. They were under $1.50 each so I grabbed three.
After securing those, I headed over to the taqueria side of the store. It’s kind of a small, narrow area that runs from front to back.
There is a really long order counter where you order on the end furthest from the door and pay at the other end. There is kind of a sandwich store set up with ingredients in hot trays I’m assuming are for the items that you can customize but I just ordered tacos so she took the order and walked to the register on the other end to ring me up.
There is a seating area on the wall opposite the order counter. There are a handful of tables next to some amazing wall art. There are actually a few of these murals in the store all painted by a local artist.
I ordered four tacos which came out to just under $15. I was given a buzzer that would go off when my food was ready. Since I didn’t have to stick around, I went to pay for the pastries I had bought at the grocery store cash register.
I didn’t get a drink at the taqueria so I decided to go looking for something in the grocery store. They didn’t have 20 oz bottles of Pepsi so I almost grabbed a Coke. Then I saw this massive 1.25L glass bottle and even though it was $5, I had to grab it.
It took a little longer than I expected four tacos to take but the buzzer did eventually go off. I grabbed the bag and we headed back to Kalamazoo because we still had some work to do.
I got the four tacos Mexican style which is really the only way you should be getting tacos. Each one came loaded with tender steak, cilantro and onion on two super soft corn tortillas.
There was also a veritable garden in the box in terms of grilled onions, radishes, limes, and other veggies. My co-worker looked over and asked if I had ordered a side salad. Nope. That was just what came with the tacos. If you’re inclined to do so, you could put them on the tacos but I like tacos just the way they are. I did use the hot sauce that came in the box because just a bit of heat makes all tacos better.
Just like all tacos, these tacos were delicious. 10/10. No notes. Tacos are so simple and so delicious ever single time.
Back to those Conchas. I brought three home. Monday was J’s birthday and I wasn’t really the best at birthday presents this year. I didn’t forget. Life just gets so busy it’s hard for her and I to do anything. That’s the way birthdays, anniversaries, any celebration really that isn’t directly tied to the kids has been for a while. Hell, even the kids’ birthday’s have kind of gotten like that. I worked Saturday, kids have skating all day Sunday, I worked Monday night. Didn’t leave much time to do anything. I feel bad about it every time. I feel like I’m failing as a husband…but it really doesn’t matter whether it’s her birthday, my birthday, our anniversary…whatever…we’re just so invested in skating right now that there’s little extra money and almost no extra time for things for us. In the past, J’s birthday has always been over spring break (as it was this year) and the kids used to go to a spring break camp. I’d take the day off and we’d go to lunch but they’re old enough now and J’s home for spring break that there’s no point in spending that money
I thought by bringing these home, I was at least getting her something she was excited about…..but B found them Tuesday morning. J got some of them but I think B ended up eating most of the three…and then asking when I was going back to Battle Creek because he wanted more. So yeah…they’re really good. I didn’t even get to try one.
Anyway, back to La Loma. This place is awesome. It’s a great grocery store. It’s a great bakery. It’s a great restaurant. My colleague and I were back in town on Friday and we really considered going back but it was a little out of the way this time. Still….it’s a place worth going out of the way for so we should have.
SW Michigan Dining 
Mexican food that “shakes with flashing light”? Sounds like a high-tech version of Montezuma’s Revenge. ;-}