The Toasted Pickle (Grand Rapids)
820 Michigan Street NEI had a long work day in Grand Rapids at the end of last week. I knew it was going to be long but it turned out to be much longer than I had hoped for.
I got to Grand Rapids around 1:00 expecting that I was working the night shift. I had to help with a project a colleague usually does but he was on vacation this week. There are only a couple of us that know how this project works and two of the three were actually on vacation so that meant I had to do it.
I got to to work on then had to work with a different colleague on a project. That was why I was really scheduled to be in Grand Rapids that night. We finished up what we needed to do then an unexpected thing came up and that took up a big chunk of our night. When that was wrapped up, I still had to stay and finish up the special project…so yeah..long day.
Luckily enough, I thought I had some downtown so I left the building to go pick up dinner. There was a sandwich place that just opened in Grand Rapids not too long ago that I really wanted to get to.
The Toasted Pickle opened it’s Grand Rapids location last month on Michigan Street NE east of Eastern Avenue. This small building is a former Hot ‘n Now location that has been a couple of things since that chain went under. The last time I was in the building was way back in 2013 when the building was converted from the Hot ‘n Now to Donk’s Mexican Joint. That restaurant lasted a couple of years before it became a Thai food place. This is the third Toasted Pickle location. The other two are in Rockford and Grand Haven.
The building is obviously very small and ordering ahead is actually a pretty good idea. I didn’t do that and went inside to order. There’s a small order area in the middle of the space right in front of the kitchen. The lady at the register kind of looked at me like I was nuts when I told her I wanted to put in an order to go. I had grabbed a menu from a holder off the wall and glanced over it pretty quickly. I put in an order for The Italian Bomber. I also noticed the order in front of me that was still on the screen had fries so I just blindly asked for fries too. She asked if I wanted regular or truffle. Truffle..duh.
There is a very small eat-in dining room and it was pretty packed. There were a couple of tables open but I felt bad taking one up for a to-go order. The lady who took my order said I’d get a text when it was ready and I could either come back in or go to the drive thru window to pick up.
She told me it would be 20-25 minutes but it turned out to be more like 10. I got the text and went around to the drive thru window. There are signs all along the way telling you not to get in line in the drive thru until you get a text saying the order is ready. They don’t take orders at the drive thru. It’s strictly for picking up orders that are ready.
I started with the fries on the way back to the office. This was a pretty big bag of beer battered fries tossed in truffle oil and Parmesan cheese. I don’t typically love beer battered fries but these were pretty good….mostly because of the truffle oil and Parmesan. The fries come with a Kickin’ Pickle Dippin sauce but I didn’t even open it up because I didn’t know what it was.
The Italian Bomber is salami, Michigan ham, “local” bologna (it doesn’t say from where), provolone, giardiniera, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a tangy aioli on a toasted hogie roll. The first thing I noticed when opening up the box was the aioli. There was way too much. I tried to fold the sandwich over, it was put in the box open face, and the mayo was just oozing out of either side. I couldn’t even pick the sandwich up because everything was sliding around due to the abundance of mayo. I ended up taking off the lettuce and tomatoes which took most of the aioli with it. That left the meat, cheese, and giardiniera and that right there was a really tasty sandwich. The meats were all grilled which gave them crispy bits around the edges. The giardiniera, which let’s be honest, is the reason I ordered this sandwich, was trapped underneath the provolone cheese so it couldn’t fall out. There was a bit of spiciness is each bite. The bread, at least the parts of it that weren’t soaked with mayo, were nice and crispy and added to the crispy crunch from the meats. Once I got rid of the aioli soaked veggies, this was a really good, really flavorful sandwich.
The cost for my meal was right around $20.
This was my second experience with a Toasted Pickle restaurant. This is the same sandwich I ordered when I stopped in to the Grand Haven location back in 2018. I didn’t have the aioli complaints that time that I did this time. There was just too much of it. The flavor was fine I just don’t like sauces dripping off sandwiches. Just a nice thin layer to give you the tanginess. I will still go back to this place whenever I’m in Grand Rapids. There are other tasty sounding sandwiches on the menu and so much more to explore.
SW Michigan Dining 