Whiskey Thief
8818 N. 32nd StreetTwo weeks in a row I got stuck working on overnight shift on a Thursday. I don’t mind that shift occasionally but it’s also really hard to go from a regular shift on Wednesday to an overnight shift Thursday and back to a regular shift on Friday.
It was fine though, I made it through and it gives me a chance to give J a little bit of relief from all the running she does with the kids.
Both kids skate six nights a week and L has the addition of strength and conditioning classes at Athletic Mentors in Richland three days a week. It gets a little complicated because B still needs to be at Wings Event Center while L needs to get to Richland. We have a decent system of her getting a ride with someone there and I can hopefully get off work in time to get to the rink and deal with B while J goes to get L.
I got off work at 12:30 on Thursday so I picked L up from school, took her to the rink, picked B up from school, took him home for a while then took him to the rink, grabbed L from the rink and took her to Richland. That’s pretty much a typical day for J so I get how much it helps out when I can make some of those trips.
I got L to Athletic Mentors at 6:30. I dropped her off and told her I was going down the street to get dinner. Her class runs an hour so it’s the perfect amount of time for me to get something to eat.
Last week, I got dinner from Tavern 32. When I pulled in to the parking lot there, I noticed another restaurant nearby. I had heard of it before. I saw some Facebook posts a few months ago, but I don’t get to Richland very often so I had kind of forgotten about it.
Whiskey Thief is on North 32nd Avenue south of East C Avenue where M-89 and M-43 merge to head back to Plainwell. The restaurant is in a building that is shared with The Bottle. It doesn’t look like there’s ever been anything in the other half of the store since the building was put up in 2015. The restaurant is in the north part of the building and shares a parking lot with the party store.
There’s not a lot about Whiskey Thief online. They have a Facebook page and an Instagram page but there’s no menu which seems like a huge deterrent for people looking for a place to eat. At one point on their Facebook page, they tell someone to search them on Google. If you go to their Google maps link, there is a button that says “menu” that looks like it has the updated menu but that’s not something I ever use. They’re not usually accurate. I didn’t think to that this time so I had no idea what was on their menu. It’s one of those things, I knew they had food because they post pictures. I was just hoping that had a burger or sandwich that would do it for me
I walked in to the restaurant just after 6:30 on a Thursday night and it was empty. That’s really sad because they have a gorgeous space. There’s a decent sized dining room with sturdy wood furniture. The space really isn’t a sports bar but there are a couple of TV’s that had some replays of football games on.
I headed to the bar which is in the back of the space. There’s an impressive liquor selection with over 300 bourbons on the shelves behind the bar.
They have an impressive cocktail menu as well but I gravitated towards the beer list. In the end, I did what I always did and ordered a Two Hearted. I was a little hesitant to order a cocktail because I hadn’t eaten much that day and didn’t want to take the chance. I do love a good Old Fashioned though.
They did end up having a burger on the menu as well as some other tasty looking sandwiches. I actually didn’t order the burger. I ordered the Crunchy Chicken Burger and made it Nashville Hot. The sandwich is handed breaded chicken that is super crunchy. It’s topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and an apple slaw. There was a lot of slaw on the bottom bun. I scraped a lot, but not all of it off. I wanted the flavor but I didn’t want it to dominate. The chicken was so crispy, so juicy, and had that good Nashville hot spiciness to it. There were three or four things on the menu I was going back and forth on but this was definitely the pick. It’s a great sandwich.
The sandwich came with Sidewinder fries. These are just kind of a variation on steak fries from the food service company. They’re actually pretty tasty. They’re thicker fries that are crispy on the outside and light and pillowy in the middle. There was a large portion of fries on the side so between the sandwich and the fries, I didn’t have to worry about going home hungry.
The cost of the meal, before tip, was right around $24.
Whiskey Thief was a really good meal. It’s surprising to me that I was the only one in the restaurant on a Thursday night. Last week when I was at Tavern 32, the restaurant was pretty full. I’m not seeing why Whiskey Thief wouldn’t be too. The food was really good and they have a really good cocktail list. I’m a bourbon guy when I do drink cocktails and I would have liked to have tried something. Maybe it’s a marketing thing. They use their Facebook to show off some of their dishes but I still feel like I haven’t heard much about this place and not having a menu on it’s Facebook page made it hesitate a little bit. Hopefully the word gets out. Whiskey Thief is a solid meal. 2
SW Michigan Dining 