Hi-Lite
1005 E. Michigan AvenueWhile it wasn’t an weekend affair, it was pretty much an all day affair for B to participate in the Bobbie Stoermer Skills and Showcase figure skating competition at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor.
I had gotten him lunch pretty early when I made a run to Jimmy John’s. Throughout the rest of the day, he had pretty much only eaten vending machine crap. J and I hadn’t really eaten since we ate lunch at 10:30 AM.
B’s last event finished up around 3 PM. We got his medal, got him changed, then packed up and headed back towards Kalamazoo.
I had asked J on the way over if we could off on eating until we got back to Marshall. Of course…I had an idea.
I end up in Marshall for work fairly often. I usually stick to downtown or right off exit ramps on I-69 or I-94. At the Partello Road exit, it is unusual for me to go any farther than the Love’s truck stop. If I’m downtown, I usually don’t go past downtown so there’s a gap in there between downtown and the Love’s that I almost never drive on.
Last week, I intentionally went on that stretch of road because I saw some Facebook posts for a deli inside a liquor store. Not only did I find a tasty grinder, but I was reminded there is a drive in on that side of town and we have never stopped at it.
Hi-Lite has been in Marshall on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Centennial Road since 1947. The restaurant is everything you think of when you think of an iconic American drive-in.
You actually have a couple of options for dining at this old drive in. You can do the traditional thing and pull in to a stall where a car hop will come out and take your order.
The menu is hanging from the ceiling of the overhang. There are no speaker boxes at this drive. Someone will come to your car when they see you pull up.
J didn’t really want to eat in the car so we took the second option which is the patio. It was a nice day out so we grabbed a seat at one of the metal patio tables. Menus were already on the table in the form of folded, brightly colored pieces of paper. We each grabbed one and a waitress was out before we could even start to have a grasp on just how many offerings they have.
B has been on a Root Beer kick lately so it was a surprise when he said no to home made root beer. He asked if he could have a cotton candy shake instead. We had already planned on letting him get ice cream so this saved us a couple of bucks on a drink. It’s a nice, thick shake that you kind of need a spoon for.
J and I both got the Root Beer. Home made root beer just tastes so much different than the mass produced but I guess that’s true of anything. It’s not nearly as sweet and just so much smoother. I should have got the mug just for the aesthetic but I didn’t. I got a large. J got a medium.
Diners are always easy meals for us. There’s always something on the menu that everyone will like.
I kept it simple and ordered a double cheeseburger with bacon. The sandwich turned out to be much bigger than I had expected. There were two juicy burger patties on the bun topped with American cheese and really crispy, delicious bacon. Sometimes you want a gourmet burger. Sometimes you want a greasy diner burger. This is the latter and it was so tasty. Exactly what I was hoping for.
If you make the sandwich a basket, the side is Tots or Dippers (don’t know what those are). I don’t like Tots and I didn’t ask what Dippers were so I just ordered a side of crinkle cut fries. Simple and bland. I grabbed the salt shaker off the table and seasoned them up a bit. I complain about fries like this a lot but this is what I expect from a diner.
J and B both ordered a Grilled Cheese. B’s was off the Kid’s Menu. J’s was not. They’re really not any different. They’re both a classic white bread grilled cheese with that buttery outer layer you can only seem to get from a flat top. B ate the insides of his leaving me the crust. J had no problem finishing off a delicious sandwich.
The difference between the Kid’s Meal and the regular grilled cheese is that the kid’s meal comes with tots and a drink. I’m not sure we got the drink or maybe they just upgraded the shake but J wanted the tots and that was probably the cheapest way to get them. Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t like tots. I think they’re blander than fries but J was happy to dip them in a little ketchup and eat them that way.
There were also a couple of other things on the menu she wanted to try so she got her own side. She was leaning towards the fried pickles but she prefers chips over spears and the waitress described them as spears when asked. Instead, he ordered the Fried Green Beans. They were green beans that were battered and fried. She ate about half then thought about asking for a box to take them home but they likely weren’t going to be very good cold so she just cut her losses.
J also wanted a shake before we left so when the waitress brought the check, J asked if she could add on a S’Mores shake to go. The waitress brought it out right as we were wrapping up dinner so J had it for the car ride home. It was similar to B’s but S’mores-y instead of Cotton Candy-y.
The cost for dinner was right around $50 before. We could have eaten cheaper but we had a couple of add-ons that bumped the price.
How is it no one ever talks about Hi-Lite? I see Facebook posts for so many other restaurants in Marshall but this one has escaped me all these years. I have seen it before and I knew it existed but it was never something that was at the top of my mind. Having drove by last week then coming home from Ann Arbor on Saturday, it stayed at the front of my list for places to stop. Delicious food. Tasty Root Beer. Great shakes. Really, it’s everything you want from a classic drive in.
SW Michigan Dining 