MOD Pizza (Oshtemo Township)
5097 Century Avenue, Suite DWhen the homes and trees along Century Avenue in Kalamazoo were taken down several years ago and Costco was planned, we were told how that area was going to be bustling with shops and restaurants. For the longest time, we got a bunch of empty storefronts and banks…seriously, this town doesn’t need anymore bank branches. The township to limit those like they limit liquor establishments.
A little over three years later, the rest of the development is starting to fill out. Trader Joe’s and Field & Stream are the big stores, but there are finally more restaurants going in to the slots that we were promised.
The newest restaurant to open is MOD Pizza. They take up a little corner shop in the building connected to Trader Joe’s and Chowhound Pet Supplies. It can be hard to see from the parking lot off of Century but if you just follow the lot around to the backside facing Stadium Drive, it becomes more obvious where the fast fired pizza chain set up shop. Read more…
Grand Traverse Distilling Kalamazoo Tasting Room
224 E. Michigan AvenueA few weeks ago, J and I ended up at The Wine Loft after a show at Miller Auditorium. We headed downtown to have a few drinks since we had a babysitter for the night. Our intended destination was a new tasting room for a popular Northern Michigan distillery, but they close at 10:00.
We had another opportunity this past weekend when Frankie Ballard was in town for a show at the State Theatre. We dropped the kids off with J’s parents then went to dinner at University Roadhouse. We still had time before the 8:00 show so I once again suggested drinks.
We parked about halfway between the State Theatre and Grand Traverse Distilling’s new Tasting Room in Kalamazoo. The distillery took over a store front on East Michigan Avenue in a space that has sat empty since not long after the smoking ban took effect and pushed Winston’s out. Read more…
University Roadhouse
1332 W. Michigan AvenueHaving grandparents close is something new to J and I. We moved to Michigan 10 years ago from Central Illinois. We both grew up in north eastern Illinois. She grew up in a Chicago suburb. I grew up about 60 miles south of Chicago in a small farming community. For the first ten years, our families still lived in the communities we grew up in.
J’s parents began looking at lake houses last fall. Her dad had retired and there wasn’t much keeping them in Chicago. They had always planned to move away from the city after retirement but it was Wisconsin that was always their intended target.
When it came time to pull the trigger, they wanted to get closer to the grand kids. That was a big relief to us. For the first time, we’d have family nearby (and really, who would rather move to Wisconsin over Michigan?)
We’ve been able to take advantage of Nana and Grandpa nearby a few times already and it worked out perfectly when we needed a babysitter this past weekend for the Frankie Ballard concert. My mom had offered to come up again, but J’s parents didn’t have plans and offered to take the kids overnight at their house.
We had the whole evening to ourselves and we expected to take advantage of it. Dinner, drinks, and a concert.
We kicked around a few places to eat. The only places downtown we really haven’t eaten at didn’t have much to appeal to J. We discussed a few of our favorites downtown as well but ultimately, went for something we haven’t done in a while.
University Roadhouse was one of the first restaurants we ate at after moving to Kalamazoo in 2009. We’ve eaten there a few times over the years, but it has been at least a couple since the last time I can remember being there.
J met some friends at University Roadhouse a few months ago and didn’t recognize the place. She came home and said we needed to go back. The idea came up when discussing dinner plans on Saturday so that’s what we decided to do.
University Roadhouse is one of the Houz Restaurant Groups restaurants. They’re the same group that owns the Main Street Pubs, Fletcher’s Pub, and The Old Goat Tavern. The Roadhouse has been a staple situated between Waldo Stadium and Western Michigan’s University’s campus on Michigan Avenue for almost 30 years.
Factory Coffee
213 E. Frank StreetI’m not a morning person. I get up about a half hour before I need to get the kids off to school and my breakfast is usually a Pepsi and leftover pizza if we have some in the fridge. I like breakfast food. I like cooking breakfast food. I just don’t like getting up early enough to do so.
I walked out of the house really hungry on Friday. I was going to just hit the gas station on my way to work and grab a Pepsi and a Hostess, but I really wanted more than that.
As I’ve already mentioned, my morning caffeine is a bottle of Pepsi, not coffee like most people so I don’t spend a lot of time in coffee shops. I noticed a few weeks ago that a new(ish) coffee shop popped up on Grubhub. I clicked on it and noticed a few breakfast items on the menu.
Factory Coffee is on Frank Street on Kalamazoo’s north side. It’s in a business incubator known as the Reality Factory. A ceramics company and the owner’s moped business also have space in the building that was built in the 1930’s. It’s pretty much always been a factory of some kind and still kind of is with the moped business.
Grand River Brewery (Marshall)
101 W. Michigan AvenueIt’s usually me who is pressuring J in to going out to eat at a new place someone has told me about but this past weekend, she turned the tables on me.
We were planning our day on Sunday when J kept saying she wanted to go to Marshall. One of her colleagues has been raving about a brewery there and, well, she had me at brewery.
Grand River Brewery in Marshall is the second location for the Jackson based brewing company. The Marshall location is right in downtown on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Jefferson Street in the 150 year old Cronin Building. If that names sounds familiar, you know you’re Marshall history. The Cronin Mansion is the inspiration for the book The House with a Clock in it’s Walls which became a movie starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. This building downtown was used for many things over the years. It’s original purpose was a dry goods store, but it’s been an antique store and a couple of restaurants over the years. Read more…
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…
SW Michigan Dining 