Bagel Beanery (Kalamazoo)
810 S. Westnedge AvenueYou can’t eat fast food everyday……right? That seems to be my dilemma. I only want to each things that are grilled, smoked, or fried. I can’t do that everyday……..right?
My co-worker and I were in the Vine Neighborhood for an assignment parked along South Westnedge near Crow’s Nest. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have the time go sit down for a meal at Crow’s Nest so I had thought about walking to Taco Bob’s instead. I started to cross the street when I noticed something else.
Bagel Beanery is on a very busy stretch of Westnedge Avenue just south of downtown Kalamazoo in what is known as the Vine Business District. The buildings on this stretch of road are all up near the curb with street parking available on both sides of the street. Bagel Beanery also has some parking spaces on the side of the building between itself and Fourth Coast Cafe/Crow’s Nest. Read more…
Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum
301 S. Superior Street- Albion, MI 49224
- (517) 629-8023
- Website
Things to do on a rainy day. We’re always looking for new things to do entertainment wise just as we do for new restaurants.
We had plans to be outside this past weekend but that wasn’t going to happen. The rain was relentless. We started talking about lunch options and I brought up the new brewery in Albion. I also mentioned there was a Children’s Museum right down the street to sell a forty five minute drive.
Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum is in downtown Albion on Superior Street north of Erie Street. The museum takes up two store fronts on the main business district in buildings that were donated in the early 2000’s.
Albion Malleable Brewing Company
420 S. Superior StreetWe don’t take road trips to Albion often. In fact, I can probably county on one hand the number of times I’ve been there for anything other than to get gas or a pop just off the highway.
The last time I was in the small Calhoun county town for work I noticed a couple of things. There was a cool looking children’s museum in the main business district and just down the street was a brewery that was a few months away from opening.
Fast forward, that brewery is open. I’ve heard good things about it from friends who work at Albion College so we were hoping to get there. This past weekend was kind of a wash out and J asked what we could do that was indoors. I asked if she was up for a drive. We could eat lunch at the brewery then walk to the children’s museum for the kids.
Albion Malleable Brewing Company opened up just a few weeks ago as Albion’s first brewery. The taproom is on Superior Street just south of Erie. The building is around a hundred years old and has been many things through the years. It’s been vacant for a couple now. The new owners put a coat of grey paint on the building and squared off the front windows to give the building a modern industrial look. Read more…
Ernie’s
33851 M-140I love it when I’m driving through small towns and something catches my eye. Growing up in a town of 700 people, I always get curious, where do the locals eat. In my village, we had a family restaurant near the highway, a gas station that served pizza, and a Dairy Queen until I was about 16 (now there’s a Subway).
My co-worker and I were driving through rural Van Buren County last week on our way to a job site. The route took us through Covert Township which has an area along M-140 that could be mistaken for a small village. There are a couple of gas stations and a few restaurants in this small civil township just south of South Haven.
The place that caught my eye was Ernie’s. This small restaurant next to the Covert Township Fire Station on M-140 had a sign out front with two words that will always make me do a U-Turn. “Chicago-Style.”
Idler Riverboat & Dockside
515 Williams Street #10Sunday was another day we wanted to get out of the house. It wasn’t a great day weather wise, but it was nice enough.
We started talking about lunch and J reminded me she had a gift card for the Millennium Restaurant Group. We talked about going to one of the usual Millennium restaurants when I came up with an idea. Let’s go to South Haven and play at the beach. Millennium has a restaurant there too.
Idler Riverboat & Dockside is South Haven’s Millennium Restaurant. The riverboat is docked on the Black River at Old Harbor Village. The 100+ year old boat underwent an extensive renovation back in 2001 before Millennium bought it.
D’Nicio’s Parlour and Restaurant
6880 W. Main StreetMy kids have to come expect dessert. It’s weird because I never did growing up. We did something totally out of the ordinary and had a “bed time snack.” It would usually involve dessert foods but we’d eat it just before bed instead of right after dinner.
We left Lucky Girl Brewing Crossroads right around 7:00 on Saturday night. The kids weren’t the best behaved and they only ate part of their dinner but J and I were good and we ate all of our food….
We were actually just going to go through the drive through at McDonalds on West Main and get ice cream but that McDonalds is the worst. The line was backed up almost in to the Menards parking lot. J then asked if D’Nicio’s was still open. It was only 7:00 so I figured it should be. We got out of line at McDonalds and went a couple of parking lots over.
D’Nicio’s Parlour and Restaurant is on West Main in Oshtemo Township just to the west of 9th Street. It’s in the strip mall just in front of the Menards. This restaurant has been around for about ten years, but D’Nicio’s established themselves in Battle Creek about seven years prior to that.
Lucky Girl Brewing Crossroads
34016 M-43Alright. Back to Michigan. I had to take a blogging break after that string of Chicago posts….but we’ve hit up some new restaurants lately so I got something you might be interested in again.
Breweries and food. Some people think breweries don’t need food, but that usually doesn’t work for us. There’s also a huge debate happening on the interwebs and tweeters about kids in taprooms. It’s pretty clear that the breweries that serve food tend to welcome kids while the ones that don’t kind of tap dance around the issue.
Personally, I don’t see the point in dragging my kids to a taproom without food. I used to go to the bar with my dad when I was little but we’d play shuffleboard or pool while he hung out with his buddies. I don’t see anything wrong with that, it’s just not something I’m going to make my kids do. It was always fun for a while but then the quarters ran out.
J had to work this past Saturday so our day kinda got thrown out of whack. I had just noticed a brewery I’ve been wanting to go to beefed up their food menu a little bit and suggested it for lunch, but J was tired and wanted to take a nap. When dinner time got close, she asked if we should chance it for dinner. I figured why not.
Lucky Girl Brewing company opened at Armstrong Corners north of Paw Paw. The brewery sits right on the corner of the intersection between M-43 and M-40. I feel like the old barn this brewery now occupies used to be an antique mall. I know one of the smaller buildings next to it was, at one time, The Outpouring Coffee House.
Fry The Coop
5128 95th StreetI told you we were in Chicago for a while….but this is the last blog for now. We have more trips planned this summer so there will be more soon….but hopefully we can get back to more Michigan things after this.
On Monday, J and I went to the new chicken place to get sandwiches for dinner. They were closed for a staff meeting. We were bummed but ended up going to Buona instead. That didn’t mean we were giving up though. We went right back for lunch on Tuesday.
Fry The Coop bills itself as Nashville Hot Chicken. The restaurant is in a strip mall near the railroad tracks on 95th Street at 51st Avenue in what can be considered downtown Oak Lawn. The restaurant location is well known to me because it used to be an Al’s Beef. Between Al’s and Fry The Coop, the place was another chicken restaurant called Brooster’s. We never ate at that one and I don’t even remember it being there so not sure how long they lasted.
Buona (Oak Lawn)
6235 95th StreetCan we just talk for a minute about how perfect Italian beef sandwiches are? I mean, I know I do it all the time, but I just can’t help it. They’re. Just. So. Good.
J and I had taken the kids to Naperville to the DuPage Children’s Museum to give Nana and Grandpa a break from us. It was a crappy, rainy day and we didn’t want to stay cooped up in the house so we went for a drive. We had a great lunch at Q-BBQ then headed back to watch movies with Grandpa.
When dinner rolled around, I asked everyone if they wanted to try that new chicken sandwich place. Everyone was on board…but….they closed early for a staff meeting. J and I were stuck sitting in the parking lot and didn’t know what to do for dinner.
The night before, we had stopped at a new beef place on 95th Street near the Chicago Ridge Mall. I didn’t take pictures or blog because we did the drive-thru and I had blogged about a different location previously. I looked at J and asked if I could have another beef. She just kind of smiled and laughed then said, “Sure. Why not?”
Buona’s Oak Lawn location is on 95th Street just a few blocks east of the Ridgeland Avenue intersection. This new construction building is jammed on to a plot of land that used to be a couple of houses as recently as 2016. Read more…
Q-BBQ (Naperville)
103 S. Main StreetIf you’re still reading this blog and wondering if we’ve moved permanently to Illinois, my answer is, it feels like it. Six days without my grill is a lot and it’s also a lot of eating out. Just a few more and we’ll try to get back to some Michigan blog posts next. Deal?
Monday was kind of a gap day. We only stayed in town because it didn’t make sense to drive back to Kalamazoo for one day. We would have had to turn around and come back on Tuesday. Both of our works were understanding but we did hate keeping L out of school for three days.
We needed to do something stimulating. Our initial plan was Brookfield Zoo, but it was raining so that was out. We then decided on the DuPage Children’s Museum.
We spent a couple hours at the museum and the kids had a blast. At one point, B looks at us and says, “I’m hungry.” That almost never happens. We asked L and she said she was hungry too. That was fine with J and I because we were also hungry.
I typically do a ton of research when we travel to a new town and find the perfect spot to eat. This time, I looked on Google maps at what was around us and saw the word “BBQ.”
Even if I had done my research, there is a very, very good chance I still would have picked Q-BBQ. This counter service BBQ joint in downtown Naperville sits on the corner of Main Street and Van Buren Streets. There is street parking all around and a surface lot across the street, but on a Monday afternoon at 2:00, all of it was full. We got lucky and found a car leaving a spot on Main Street just a few cars down from the entrance.
SW Michigan Dining 