Jimmy John’s (Stadium Drive)
I literally don’t know what to do with myself when I actually have time off.
I complain all the time about not having day’s off. I’m essentially working two jobs during the fall/winter plus I pick up freelance opportunities so it’s very rare for me to have two days off in a row for about half the year.
I always try to save some vacation days for the end of the year. I hate being at work between Christmas and New Year’s so I do my best to at least keep a couple of days off.
I didn’t quite have enough to get the whole week off this year but I had four days that at least gave me Christmas Eve through Dec. 30th off….so seven full days in a row. Unheard of.
Obviously, I kept busy enough Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The kids were back at the rink bright and early on Friday morning then we had a few days off until we had to make a quick trip to Detroit Sunday night in to Monday.
I haven’t done any grocery shopping nor have I felt like cooking dinner. Friday night, B comes in to the living room where I’m sitting on the couch mindlessly staring at the TV and said he’s hungry. I asked what he wanted and he asked what we had.
The answer was not much.
And come to think of it, I was kind of hungry too. I asked if he just wanted to order Jimmy John’s.
Of course he said yes, so I put in an order to the Jimmy John’s on Stadium Drive near Seneca Lane in Kalamazoo’s Knollwood Neighborhood. The building is the old Moe’s Southwest Grill (which before that was a Red Crown Pharmacy). The building has actually been split in two with Jimmy John’s in the front half of the building and a Smoothie King in the back half. This Jimmy John moved down the road from where the Potbelly Sandwich Works is now because they wanted a drive through and this location offered that.
I didn’t do anything unusual for us. I ordered the Toasted Spicy East Coast Italian while B got his usual Pepe. I put in an order using the app because I had $5 off a $20 order. I had to do a bit of girl math and add a cookie to the order to get it above $20.
If you were ever in the Moe’s Southwest Grill, you won’t recognize the place. Again, the space has been split up in to two restaurants. Smoothie King is where the Moe’s kitchen would have been. The Jimmy John’s takes up the front half of the building where the dining room used to be. If you remember the layout of the place, there were already two doors and each led to one of these spaces. The moved the old exit door to the front of the building and just put a wall up in between then built out the front half of the space with the Jimmy John’s kitchen and a couple of tables. It’s a small space but Jimmy John’s doesn’t really need a big space.
I picked up my bag and headed home. B was sitting at the table waiting for me.
B loves The Pepe. It’s the first sandwich on the menu and is made with ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato and mayo. He leaves the tomato and mayo off. We found out a few years ago he will devour an entire sandwich then ask for more. We’ve tried making “Jimmy Johns Sandwiches” at home with deli meat, shredded lettuce, cheese and store bought French bread but he won’t eat those the same way he eats Jimmy John’s. Obviously, it’s the bread.
I was never a huge Jimmy John’s fan but I have fallen in love with the Toasted Sandwiches and especially the Toasted East Coast Italian. This sandwich is double salami, double capocollo, provolone, Jimmy Peppers, oil & vinegar, lettuce, onion, tomato, and mayo. I leave the onion, tomato, and mayo off. This sandwich is really good not toasted but toasting it just brings it to another level. There is a lot of meat which is great but it’s the Jimmy Pepper and oil and vinegar that give me the flavor I crave. I used to loathe when my kids said they wanted Jimmy John’s but it’s become such and easy, quick, go-to meal and this sandwich actually gets me excited to stop and pick up dinner.
Obviously, my opinion on Jimmy John’s has changed drastically over the last twenty years. I used to refuse to go but I’ve slowly come around. Once online ordering became the norm and I could easily take mayo off the sandwiches, it totally changed my perception on the place. We eat at Jimmy John’s a lot out of convenience but even on the nights it’s not the only thing we pass on the way home from the rink, we’ll still go out of our way to grab dinner.
SW Michigan Dining 