Hancock
1157 Wealthy Street SEI’m kind of in between co-workers in our Kalamazoo office so I’m spending a little more time in Grand Rapids. Getting home later is one of the downside but the upside is getting to go back to some of my favorite restaurants and finding the new ones since I’ve left.
One of my colleagues in Grand Rapids is one of the social media influencer type of people She always knows the hot new places in town and she knows how much I like fried chicken.
I just happened to be in Grand Rapids on the day Hancock opened. It’s a new Nashville Hot Chicken from the people behind Donkey Taqueria. I didn’t go on opening day but I was back in town a few days later and had some time for dinner.
Hancock is on the corner of Wealthy and Fuller in the East Hills Neighborhood. The building is an old service station turned restaurant that was most recently Wealthy Street Station.
76th Street Truck Stop Diner
460 76th Street SWJ has been at her new job only a few weeks and she’s already traveling for conferences. She had a trip to Las Vegas for four days which leaves me alone with the kids. That’s not an issue but daycare does become one. I don’t get off work until (at least) 6:30 and our daycare closes at 6:00.
I was going to take a couple days off work and see if I could get our old nanny to watch the kids after school the other two days but J’s mom offered to fly in from Florida for the week to help out. She hadn’t seen the kids in a while and found a cheap flight on Allegiant to get here.
She could have booked a flight in to Kalamazoo but it would have been a lot more expensive. We told her to just book the Allegiant flight and I’d drive to Grand Rapids to pick her up.
Her flight was coming in to GRR at about 10:30. I dropped the kids off at school at 8:30 then just started driving towards the airport. I was hungry and had planned on getting breakfast along the way.
Mlive.com did their Michigan’s Best series with diners last month. There were a few that made the initial list in the Kalamazoo area that I had never been to but none made the Top Ten. There was a Grand Rapids entry that managed to place and it was along my way to the airport.
76th Street Truck Stop Diner is on 76th Street SW just west of US-131 inside the Mobile station. They placed 10th on the list and now claim to be Michigan’s best Truck Stop Diner as none of the ones above them are truck stops.
Auntie Anne’s (Portage)
6650 S. Westnedge Avenue, Suite 207So…I’m a 90’s kid which means I spent a lot of time in the malls growing up. I vividly remember when the mall near me was built. I was in 5th grade and they might as have been building DisneyWorld in my hometown. That’s how exciting it was.
We used to go on family vacations and all I would want to do was check out the mall in whatever city we were in. If we were out of Illinois, I would be looking for local basketball jersey’s. Back in olden times, if you wanted an LA Lakers jersey but you lived in Chicago, you either had to go to LA or order it from Eastbay. It wasn’t just a click away like it is now.
Mall’s still had a ton of stores, arcades, and full food courts back in those days. I spent a lot of time going between the arcade (playing The Simpsons) and the food court.
Things were different when I went shopping with my mom though. We actually had to go shopping. Jeans from JC Penny…or….if I was lucky and had a little extra money, The Buckle and then typically a stop at my mom’s favorite mall food stand…Auntie Anne’s.
Auntie Anne’s has been a mall staple since the early 1990’s. The Portage shop in on the upper level of Crossroads Mall near what I guess can be considered Center Court. Read more…
Chuck E. Cheese’s (Portage)
6175 S. Westnedge AvenueStop me if you’ve seen this one. I know, I know. It wasn’t too long ago that I took my daughter to Chuck E. Cheese’s for the first time and let you know all about via a blog post. And by not too long ago, I mean three years.
Here’s the change. It’s changed quite a bit since then. The food is a little different. The gaming area is definitely different as is the birthday party area. It’s time for an update.
The Kalamazoo area has one Chuck E. Cheese’s. It’s on South Westnedge right next to what used to be Toys R Us. We went on a Thursday night because L’s school was having a fundraiser. Read more…
Taco Bob’s (Mattawan)
23980 City Center CircleI go on and on about my love for tacos but fast food tacos are a whole different ball game.
My favorite when it comes to fast food tacos has always been Taco John’s. It probably has something to do with my family always going there when I was little. Between Taco Tuesday’s and Free Tacos for A’s, we ate at Taco John’s a lot.
I didn’t really start eating at Taco Bell until I was in college. To this day, I still really don’t like it but it’s an easy, greasy meal…especially at night.
Fortunately for us, Taco Bell is not the only fast food taco option in the Kalamazoo area. We also have Taco Bob’s.
Taco Bob’s is a small regional with seven stores mostly in the Kalamazoo area. I’ve been to most of them at one time or another but one of the few I haven’t is the Mattawan location.
Taco Bob’s of Mattawan is right near the corner of Main Street and McGillen Avenue. It’s part of the somewhat new McGillen’s Crossing shopping center right as you come in to town from I-94. City Center Circle is the road that runs within the shopping center. Taco Bob’s is one of the first stores when you come in to the parking lot from the McGillen Avenue entrance.
D. P. Dough (Kalamazoo)
2711 W. Michigan AvenueI was pretty bummed when Hot Slice closed near Western Michigan’s campus. I love pizza by the slice places in college towns and that’s something Kalamazoo has always been lacking. Then Hot Slice moved in.
I stopped in several times late at night…after work, after events, etc. The problem was, it took way too long. They always kept cheese slices ready then dressed them up and re-cooked them depending on what you wanted. It could take 10-15 minutes depending on how motivated the pizza maker was.
The storefront they were in sat empty for a while then J found out last week a new place was going in with late night hours and also had a pizza like offering.
D. P. Dough is a chain of calzone restaurants that set up shop near college campuses. The business started as a food truck back in 1983 in Massachusetts. The company saw growth and one of the franchise owners in Ohio eventually bought the company that is now based in Columbus, OH.
The newest D. P. Dough location is on West Michigan Avenue in Kalamazoo in the 2700 West development.
Old Dog Tavern
402 E. Kalamazoo AvenueAbout four years ago, we discovered a great Saturday morning brunch spot. They had music for the kids and a delicious breakfast and drinks for the adults.
We went almost every week for a while then, as it usually does, life gets in the way. Summer happened and we had other things going on. We would still go occasionally but not like we used to.
We’ve been doing swimming lessons at Gabel Natatorium for the past several months early on Saturday mornings. When we get done, there’s always an idea to get food but it was only 10:00 and places weren’t open for lunch yet. One week, L said, “Let’s go to Old Dog.”
Yes, Old Dog Tavern was our Saturday brunch spot for the longest time. The old Star Paper Company building on Kalamazoo Avenue right at the train tracks was transformed in to one heck of a bar in 2010. A few years later, Benjammin started playing weekly concerts and brunch was offered and it’s been happened almost every Saturday since.
Mannie’s Pizza (Byron Center)
530 76th Street SW #500I don’t get called to Grand Rapids much anymore. For seven years, I went there every day but since we opened an office in Kalamazoo, I tend to get to stay closer to home.
Last Thursday, there wasn’t much for me to do in Kalamazoo and they were short in Grand Rapids. My boss asked if I could work up there for the day. I was given an assignment that took me right up to and past my quitting time of 6:30. I told J it was going to be closer to 8:00 before I got home. She had already made plans to go to dinner at one of her friends with the kids anyway so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
I was on my own for dinner. That’s fine. I like stopping to pick up a pizza for myself. There are a few places I usually stop between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, but you know me. I wanted something different. So I did a Google search for a place near Byron Center.
This is where the story gets hilarious. I found a place called Joe’s Way Too on 76th Street. It was close to the highway so I called in an order. I couldn’t understand what the person answering the phone said but I thought I heard “pizzeria.” I put in an order for a 16″ pepperoni pizza. He told me it’d be about 20 minutes.
I went to the address listed for Joe’s Way Too and found Mannie’s Pizza. No big deal. Pizza places change all the time. As long as I could get a pizza, I wasn’t too worried about the name. It was going to be a new experience either way.
So, Mannie’s Pizza is on 76th Street just west of the US-131 interchange. There’s a small strip mall there with a fitness studio next door blasting music so loud it was shaking the walls of the pizza shop. The Google street view shows Joe’s Way was still there as of August of last year so Mannie’s must be fairly new to the area.
Valentina’s Mexican Grill
351 River StreetIt should be illegal how much I love tacos. There are only a couple foods that I could eat every day and be really happy. Burgers, pizza, wings, and tacos.
I found a place that I loved when I worked in Grand Rapids regularly. I’ve never been able to find a place that I truly loved and was easy to get in and get out of it. There are some really good taco places in town that I visit semi-regularly (Los Brothers comes to mind right away), but I’m always on the look out for more.
I don’t spend a lot of time in Comstock Township but I stop at the Speedway on the corner of River and King Highway every time I do.
One of those trips was on my way to Battle Creek and I decided at the last minute to take the highway instead of M-96. I still made my Speedway stop and as I crossed the river heading back towards I-94, I noticed a Mexican place tucked in to a little building right across from Merrill Park.
Valentina’s Mexican Grill has been in this spot on River Street for almost two years now. The small orange building used to be Riverview Cafe. Surprisingly, I never made it in to that restaurant so I don’t know how much it has changed. Read more…
Oasis Family Restaurant
656 S. US Highway 131I have been craving cheap, greasy breakfast food for quite a while. About a month ago, we got up on a Sunday morning to drive to St. Joseph County to check on my in-laws house while they’re away. I assumed we’d stop for breakfast along the way but J really wanted to try Latitude 42‘s new weekend breakfast menu so we did that before getting on the road.
It’s been over a month now and we haven’t made the trip south. Last weekend, we finally decided we should go check on the house again. J suggested just grabbing McDonalds after swimming lessons but I kind of cringed at that idea. She asked what I was thinking and I said I wanted to eat actual breakfast. She was hesitant because the kids can be awful cranky after swimming lessons but agreed.
We stopped in Three Rivers at Oasis Family Restaurant on the west side of town. The restaurant is on US-131 as it wraps around town near the Meijer. The restaurant looks like a typical breakfast joint and even looks like it may have been a Big Boy or similar restaurant in a past life…but Google Street View goes back to 2007 and it’s been Oasis since at least that time.
SW Michigan Dining 