The Robin’s Nest Family Restaurant
28640 M-40It’s time to get a Christmas tree! It’s time to get a Christmas tree! I get so excited every year because this was not something my family did growing up. My parents were artificial tree people so when J and I got our first tree nine years ago, it was a super big deal for me.
We’ve never really started a family tradition of picking one out and cutting it down. We always went to places that had pre-cut. The first year was Badger County and their place on Sprinkle Road in Portage. We then did a few years at Mott’s before they closed down. The last three years we’ve gone to Gull Meadow Farms but they stopped offering pre-cut trees this year so we had to find a new place.
The kids are old enough now I thought they would enjoy cutting one down. We decided to go to Wahmoff Farms just outside of Gobles.
We got up Saturday morning with the intentions of doing all the Christmas stuff. Getting a tree, decorating it, decorating the outside…..but first, breakfast.
I knew we were going to pass The Robin’s Nest on M-40 just north of the M-40 and M-43 intersection. There has been a restaurant in this location since the 1960’s when The Country Drive-In opened up. The building also played home to The Shagnasti and The Village Inn South before becoming The Robin’s Nest in the summer of 2013.
Gibby’s Bar & Grill
139 W. Main StreetI worked late on Friday night so Jessica and the kids went to stay at her parents house somewhere between Sturgis and Mendon. I was going to join them when I got off but I figured I would take advantage of having a quiet house to myself.
Saturday morning J was just going to come home but we started texting each other around 11:00 and decided to just let the kids stay at Nana and Grandpa’s. J gave me the option to continue enjoying the empty quiet house or joining them. I decided to join them.
Around 4:00 we started talking about going home. I hadn’t eaten all day and was starting to get hungry. I asked J’s parents if they wanted to join us for dinner. I figured I could find something close by on the way home but they didn’t want to leave. I was still able to talk J into stopping even though we knew we were taking a chance with two overtired kids.
We’ve learned the “back way” to get to my in-laws house so the only towns we go through are Schoolcraft and Mendon. We could always go the suggested route and hit Centreville and Three Rivers too if we’re looking for something to eat and Sturgis isn’t that far out of the way either. Knowing we had sleepy kids (yes, it was only 5:00 but did you get much sleep when you stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s?) the most direct route was best.
We chose to stop at Gibby’s Bar & Grill in Mendon. The restaurant is on West Main Street (also known as M-60) near Nottawa Road. The building is pretty typical small town bar. The brick building is connected to several others along the busy road which serves as Mendon’s downtown. . The bar was named after former MSU and Detroit Lions star Kirk Gibson…which I can only assume why wood paneling on the building is painted green.
Maple Grove Grill & Bar
72040 M-43I told you it was South Haven week on this blog. Co-worker and I spent the whole day in Van Buren County. He drover separately because he was heading towards Kent County after work and we knew we’d be there all day.
J knew that I was going to be home late so she and the kids went to her parents house for the night. They picked up pizza along the way so they had dinner taken care of.
Friday night is usually pizza night but I was in South Haven by myself so I decided to take advantage of that. There are still a few pubs I haven’t been to in the area and it was time to check one of those off the list.
Maple Grove Grill & Bar is right on the roundabout at the corner of M-43, 12th Avenue, and 72nd just a few miles south east of South Haven proper. The building dates back to the 1930’s. It’s been many things over the years but some sort of restaurant has always had a place in the little corner building.
Six Chicks Scratch Kitchen
364 Broadway StreetIt’s South Haven week on the blog. I spent a lot of time there last week and had the opportunity to eat meals at a lot of places I haven’t been to yet.
A co-worker and I were there on Friday and we had a lot of time to kill. It was actually him who suggested we go get lunch and try to kill at least an hour someplace where we weren’t sitting in our car.
We ate at Gino’s East just a few days earlier so I knew that was out. I asked C.W. what he was in the mood for and he just said someplace he could get a sandwich.
I picked Six Chicks Scratch Kitchen because it’s the kind of place we wouldn’t normally eat at while we’re in town for the beach. It’s more of a breakfast/lunch place…the kind of place we would definitely eat at often if we lived or were vacationing in South Haven before hitting the beach for the day.
Six Chicks Scratch Kitchen is on Broadway Street right at the intersection with Michigan Avenue. The business was previously a Chinese buffet. The building sits right along the busy street which is also M-140. There’s a small parking lot on the south side of the building that was full. We ended up parking on Michigan Avenue and walking back to the restaurant.
Hot ‘N Now (Sturgis)
69310 M-66Nostalgia is fun right? There’s a lot of restaurants I stop at for nostalgia purposes. Taco John’s is a place from our day sin Central Illinois that we don’t have much here…same with Casey’s General Store and Hardees. They’re not the greatest fast food joints in the world but I always get excited when I pass one because I don’t have the option of getting it every day.
I didn’t grow up in Michigan so all the empty shells of Hot ‘N Now really never meant much to me. I eventually figured out what they were but I still knew nothing about once thriving regional chain that had 150 stores at it’s peak.
My Michigan-native co-workers have told me stories about the place and how they always wanted to make the drive to Sturgis where the last remaining Hot ‘N Now is still serving up a lot of the same things they did in the 1990’s.
Guess what? I went to Sturgis last week for work. I had some super jealous co-workers.
The lone Hot ‘N Now sits in the same place it did when it opened in 1990 on a very busy stretch of M-66 on the south side of town. Like all Hot ‘N Now’s, the business is drive-thru only although it does have a few parking spaces off to the side where you can pull off and eat in your car. Read more…
Ruggers Up & Under
711 W. Michigan AvenueI realized this past week there are still a lot of long time restaurants in Kalamazoo I’ve never been to. Theo & Stacy’s on Portage Road closing this week made me realize that. There are hundreds of blog posts on this blog from all over Southwest and West Michigan but there are a few long time businesses that I haven’t been to for some reason or another.
Wednesday night J had an event to go to with the kids. It was scheduled to begin before I got off work so she didn’t RSVP me. I ended up getting off work early and could have met them there but J told me to just take the night for myself and go get dinner. I’ve been putting together a list of bars I still haven’t been to that I likely wouldn’t take the family so it was just a matter of picking one.
I picked Ruggers Up & Under because I know their days are numbered. The sports bar has been kind of right on the edge of downtown Kalamazoo on Michigan Avenue right where Michigan Avenue meets West Main Street for about 25 years.
Gino’s East (South Haven)
248 S. Broadway StreetIf there’s one hill that I will die on it, it’s the hill that Chicago food beats all other regional food. Don’t @ me. As a couple of my co-workers have found out, there’s nothing you can say that will change my mind about Italian beef, hot dogs, and both kinds…yes, both kinds of Chicago-style pizza.
In Chicago, the hill both J and I would die on is the south side thin cracker thin crust pizza is far superior to the more popular north side deep dish pizza that more people associate with the city…hmmm….seems like baseball works the same way…south side better than north side….
Yes, I prefer places like our all time favorite pizza place Palermo’s 95th and the very close second Vito & Nick’s…but I still really like the deep dish pizza that Chicago is famous for.
Chicago pizza really made it’s West Michigan debut when Giordano’s moved in to Holland a few years ago. I haven’t eaten there yet. Giordano’s is my least favorite of the Chicago Big 3….also, I just don’t get to Holland much anymore.
The place I really got excited about opened this past summer in South Haven.
Gino’s East is on South Broadway Street right on the edge of downtown South Haven. The Chicago pizzeria moved in to the former Joe’s Bar & Grill. The restaurant underwent a pretty extensive renovation to give it the downtown Chicago feel that you get from the original shop on Superior Street.
American Legion 118 Vet’s Cafe
701 Riverview Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49048
- (269) 365-0779
- No Known Website
- Menu
There can never be enough BBQ. Have I said that enough yet?
It seems like there are two pretty distinct styles of BBQ here in Kalamazoo. There’s the big commercial stuff that always has brisket, pulled pork, and baby back ribs…then there’s the more neighborhood stuff with the spare ribs, rib tips, and BBQ chicken. Both of them have things that I really enjoy and if I can find a place with good rib tips, my shirts better get ready to be stained with BBQ sauce.
As I was looking through planning commission meeting minutes as one does, I came across something interesting. A cafe was being planned by what was to become an American Legion post. There wasn’t much info then. They were trying to get a liquor license if I remember right but it’s something I kept looking for over the summer.
I don’t get down Riverview Drive very often but a few months ago, I was heading out towards Richland and I noticed a new sign on an old building. The American Legion 118 Vet’s Cafe was open.
The Vet’s Cafe is in a building on the corner of Riverview and Hotop Avenue. It has been so many things over the years. The most recent was Jaddin’s Precious Soul Food Cafe. Before that, it was a couple of different short lived soul food places and Beale Street BBQ. This corner has a history of this kind of BBQ but it also has a history of businesses not lasting very long.
Distant Whistle Brewhouse
118 S. Main Street- Vicksburg, MI 49097
- (269) 475-5447
- Website
Billboards, man. I get sucked in by so many billboards. In my non-professional opinion, billboards have to be the number one way for a restaurant to spend their ad budget because they get me every time.
We’ve been driving down to the Centreville area a lot more recently to see my in-laws who just moved to Southwest Michigan. I knew that there was a brewery in downtown Vicksburg but I didn’t know much about it. I knew they didn’t have food so it was never really an option to take the family too, but every time we passed the billboard on US-131 near Schoolcraft, I would start trying to figure out when I could get down there by myself.
It worked out that I needed to go do a job in Vicksburg a couple of Saturday’s ago. I actually took the family down to J’s parents house then came back to Vicksburg for the job and just used my personal car instead of the company car. We had plans to go to The Local for a really cool Bell’s event called Black Note Deconstructed for dinner. I didn’t really need the company car for this quick job so I just stuck to my personal vehicle so we could do what we wanted to do afterwards.
My job in Vicksburg took a couple of hours and since I was by myself, I wanted to quickly hit up this brewery that I keep seeing signs for before heading to Centreville to meet everyone else for dinner.
The Distant Whistle Brewhouse is in downtown Vicksburg on South Main Street almost right across the street from Jaspare’s Pizza. The brewery was opened in 2016 by a couple of friends who began experimenting in a garage. The taproom is located in an old brick row building downtown. The previous tenants include a flower shop and Boundry Waters Cafe.
Nonla Taqueria
321 N. Grand StreetMan, I love tacos. Like…tacos are right up there with pizza, burgers, and wings. It’s one of the few foods that I truly crave and it’s one of those foods that, while simple, can also be easy to screw up.
My favorite taco place is Taqueria San Jose in Grand Rapids. A co-worker and I used to each order five tacos on Friday nights and wash it down with some root beer. They are just such simple tacos. Steak, onions, cilantro and corn tortillas but the steak they use is so flavorful and so tender.
Getting that tasty tender combo seems to be the hardest thing with steak tacos. I’ve had so many from so many different places over the years and very few even come close to San Jose.
Withing the last few weeks, one of my new favorite burger places just opened up a a new taco place. I figured if they do tacos half as well as they do burgers, this place was going to be a hit.
Nonla Taqueria is the newest addition to the Nonla stable that includes Nonla Burger and Nonla Vietnamese Street Food. The taqueria is on US-131, or North Grand Street as it’s known as it goes through Schoolcraft. The building sits a little way off the road and there’s a big parking lot that wraps around the building.
SW Michigan Dining 