Buffalo Wild Wings (Battle Creek)
5775 Beckley Road #655I know. Friday night is pizza night. J and the kids still got Little Caesars but I was in Battle Creek working an overtime shift.
I didn’t have any time between my normal shift and my overtime shift to eat. I had to get out to Pennfield Township and I was already running late so I skipped it knowing I could grab something when I was done.
I’ve said it time and time again, I hate that pizza places close at 9 PM any night of the week but especially on Friday nights. I wasn’t in the mood for one of the chains and all the good places in Battle Creek were closed by the time I got done with work around 9:30.
That meant I was going to have to find something that wasn’t pizza and I had a couple of ideas.
I picked Buffalo Wild Wings because they have a deal for 20 wings and a large fry for $20. That and I just happened to be close to the one on the east side of Battle Creek.
The Buffalo Wild Wings in Battle Creek is located in the Lakeview Square Mall on Beckley Road near M-66. The restaurant is on the Beckley Road side near the entrance where the food court used to be on the west side of the property. The mall is kind of in an odd state right now. There aren’t a lot of stores anymore but there are still a couple of big ones (Horrocks, Barnes & Noble, Dunhams) and some big restaurants. There’s an Applebees right next to the Buffalo Wild Wings and Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse just opened in the parking lot.
The Toasted Pickle (Grand Rapids)
820 Michigan Street NEI had a long work day in Grand Rapids at the end of last week. I knew it was going to be long but it turned out to be much longer than I had hoped for.
I got to Grand Rapids around 1:00 expecting that I was working the night shift. I had to help with a project a colleague usually does but he was on vacation this week. There are only a couple of us that know how this project works and two of the three were actually on vacation so that meant I had to do it.
I got to to work on then had to work with a different colleague on a project. That was why I was really scheduled to be in Grand Rapids that night. We finished up what we needed to do then an unexpected thing came up and that took up a big chunk of our night. When that was wrapped up, I still had to stay and finish up the special project…so yeah..long day.
Luckily enough, I thought I had some downtown so I left the building to go pick up dinner. There was a sandwich place that just opened in Grand Rapids not too long ago that I really wanted to get to.
The Toasted Pickle opened it’s Grand Rapids location last month on Michigan Street NE east of Eastern Avenue. This small building is a former Hot ‘n Now location that has been a couple of things since that chain went under. The last time I was in the building was way back in 2013 when the building was converted from the Hot ‘n Now to Donk’s Mexican Joint. That restaurant lasted a couple of years before it became a Thai food place. This is the third Toasted Pickle location. The other two are in Rockford and Grand Haven.
Chick-Fil-A (Westwood)
504 N. Drake RoadSeptember has been such a busy month. I haven’t had a single weekend that I’ve been home the whole weekend. We’re still busy skating and now that we have to go out to Wings Event Center, it makes our nights a little longer. The kids like skating at WEC better but Wings West is so much closer to home. It seems like we spend a lot of time on I-94 right now.
Long story short, I haven’t really grocery shopped much this month. We have been piecing together meals with what we have or eating way too much fast food…mostly Jimmy Johns.
There’s also not much food at home for me to take for lunch so I’ve been bad.
I was out on West Main early last week which gives me a lot of options to eat. I decided to go the cheaper route though and stopped at the Chick-Fil-A.
The Chick-Fil-A in the Westwood neighborhood is on the corner of Drake Road and West Main Street. We eat at this Chick-Fil-A all the time but I realized I’ve never been inside. We always do the drive thru which is super convenienent. It’s one of the newer designs with a double drive through and lots of space. This was the second Chick-Fil-A to open in Kalamazoo about four years ago. The first one in the area opened in Portage four years before that. There is now a third location set to open in Comstock Township on Gull Road in the near future.
Read more…Fat Belly Deli & Creamery
20751 8 Mile RoadMy Saturday work day on Mackinac Island was a little less hectic than Friday. We still had a lot to do but we were done by 4:00 PM and I was able to get packed up and down to the ferry docks to get on the 4:30 PM ferry back to the mainland.
I was heading home after a 10 hour work day. I could have stayed another night but I don’t see the point on staying in Mackinaw City just to get up and drive the next morning. I’d rather make the drive at night, sleep in my own bed, and sleep in on Sunday morning without having to worry about getting up and making a four hour drive.
I got back to the docks with my gear then headed back to the hotel I had stayed at the night before. I had left my car there so I didn’t have to pay Shepler’s obnoxious parking fees plus I still needed to get a receipt for my stay. The office was closed when I left at 6:30 AM and I needed that receipt for expense purposes.
My plan was to grab something to eat in Mackinaw City quickly and hit the road. That was my plan anyway.
I still don’t understand Mackinaw City. As long as the ferry’s are running, I don’t understand why businesses are closed. There’s a new sandwich shop downtown that has it’s hours listed as being open until 7:00 PM on Saturday’s but when I got there about 5:15, it was already closed up for the day. I thought I’d just keep it simple and walk to the Dairy Queen a few doors down but they have already closed for the season. I was annoyed at that point so I just got on the road. I figured I’d find something along the way.
I was looking out for billboards and roadside signs but nothing really piqued my interest. I got to a spot just north of Big Rapids and I figured I better pull off and figure this out.
I did a Google search for sandwiches near Big Rapids and came up with a spot a little bit further south that looked and sounded good.
Fat Belly Deli & Creamery is right off US-131 on 8 Mile Road near the Mecosta County town of Standwood. The small sandwich shop is inside the Davis Bridge EZ Mart on the corner of 8-Mile and Old State Road in Mecosta Township. The deli has been there close to ten years and before there, appears to have been a Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders shop. I don’t go this way very often and I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten off on this exit on the times that I have so this shop was completely new to me.
Read more…BC Pizza (St Ignace)
277 N. State StreetAnyone that has ever traveled with me will tell you what a “dad traveler” I am. I hate not being in control.
I hate flying because there is literally nothing I can do when things don’t go as planned. I’m the guy that shows up to the airport three hours early because I get so anxious. I really hate not being in control.
I get that same anxiousness when I travel to Mackinac Island. I hate being at the mercy of the ferries.
When we travel to the island for work, we don’t stay on the island. Even when you add in the absolutely ridiculous ferry tickets, it’s still several hundred dollars cheaper to stay in Mackinaw City. We typically take the first ferry of the day at 7:30 AM and try to get off the island on the 6:00 ferry.
Friday night we got stuck on the island a little bit later. Our job didn’t wrap up until 7:30 PM and the last ferry off the Island was at 8:00 PM. We had to get our stuff together then get down to the ferry docks or we were going to be stranded for the night.
We made it with about ten minutes to spare so we didn’t have to sleep on the beach.
My plan for the evening was pizza. I hadn’t eaten much all day so I was really hungry. When we got back to Mackinaw City, I got on my phone to order a pizza from BC Pizza in downtown Mackinaw City. The restaurant closes at 9:00 PM but they had already shut off online ordering at 8:20. I called the restaurant and they said they weren’t taking any more orders.
There are other options. There is Mama Mia’s Pizza which closes at 9:30 and Fox’s Pizza Den which is open until 11:00. I was kind of in the mood for BC Pizza at that point though and I still had one option.
There is another BC Pizza across the Mackinac Bridge in St. Ignace. It’s on North State Street and Central Hill right on the East Moran Bay. It’s a standalone building in what I guess you can consider downtown St. Ignace. There’s a pretty big parking lot out front and I realized I wasn’t the only one wanting pizza at 9:00 at night on a Friday when I pulled in.
Read more…Cops and Doughnuts – Headquarters
521 N. McEwan StreetI had to make the trip to Mackinac Island for work again this past weekend but I wasn’t in a super big hurry to get there.
I worked part of the morning in Kalamazoo before I left. My colleague was working on something that I helped him out with then I left for Mackinaw City around 11:30.
I get bored taking the same route all the time so this time, I decided to go up US-127. It’s only a few minutes longer and it would give me a change of scenery.
I realized I was going to be driving right past Clare on this trip. I’ve seen the signs for years and even stopped at the Mt. Pleasant Cops and Doughnuts location but this time, I’d actually get a chance to stop at the original.
Cops and Doughnuts Headquarters is in downtown Clare on McEwan Street south of 5th Street. The Clare City Bakery actually takes up three storefronts on the west side of the road. The original bakery had been in operation since the late 1800’s. When they were about to close in 2009, the entire Clare Police Department banded together to save the bakery and Cops and Doughnuts was born. Since that time, the bakery has expanded with locations in Mt. Pleasant, Gaylord, and Bay City plus some “substations” which sell the donuts at various retail stores and restaurants throughout northern Michigan.
Whitehouse Restaurant
613 N. McEwan StreetIt’s that time of the year again. I have to go to Mackinac Island for a few days for work.
This isn’t like the spring trip though. Instead of four days, I’m only gone two.
I left work Thursday morning a little before noon. I did some work with my office mate then left him to finish things up while I made the drive.
I’ve made this drive so many times over the last several years that I tend to get bored with it. I’ve been changing it up some and not always going through Grand Rapids and Cadillac.
This trip, I decided to take I-94 to US-127 to I-75.
I didn’t really have a reason for doing this but it did give me a chance to explore some more restaurant options.
I knew I wanted to stop in Clare either on the way there or on the way home to pick up donuts from Cops and Doughnuts. I figured I should probably look around Clare to see what the restaurant options were since I was pulling off the highway anyway.
I ended up finding this amazing diner that was nowhere near my radar. I’ve never heard of this place. Never seen it on any best of lists in Michigan. That’s really surprising to me.
I stopped at the Whitehouse Restaurant on McEwan Street north of Fifth Street in downtown Clare. The restaurant is a tiny white restaurant that looks out of place on the street. It’s been there since 1935 with the neon sign out front that just says “Open Hamburgers.”
Read more…American Char
6394 Adams StreetSkating competition days can be long. B had four events at Skate the Lakeshore at Griff’s IceHouse West in Holland this past Saturday.
The first event was until 12:30 so we didn’t have to get up too early. We left Kalamazoo around 9:00 AM and stopped at Dunkin’ along the way to get breakfast.
The first three events were all pretty close together. He had a break from about 2:30 PM to 5:45 PM though which isn’t totally unusual at these competitions.
B didn’t want to leave the rink. He was hanging out with friends so I ran to Jimmy Johns down the street to get him lunch. I screwed up though because I got distracted as I was ordering and forgot to leave the mayo off the sandwich. He powered through most of it and didn’t ask for anything the rest of the day.
On the way home, he asked if he could get something else to eat. I asked what and he said he didn’t care. McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco Bell. Whatever.
I told him I wanted to stop for BBQ along the way and then we could hit the Taco Bell in Wayland for him.
I headed west from Holland going back towards US-131 but I didn’t take the most direct route. There’s a BBQ place in Zeeland Township that I have been wanting to stop at for a really long time but it seems like every time I drive by, it’s closed.
That BBQ restaurant is American Char. It’s on the corner of Adams Street and 6th Avenue in the unincorporated area of Zeeland Township known as Drenthe. The building looks a little out of place until you realize this was once a home with an ice cream parlor attached to it. The add on looks very added on but less so now that the BBQ place has done some renovation making it look more like the Southern BBQ restaurants that you’re accustomed to.
Griff’s IceHouse West
4444 Holland AvenueThere’s only been one instance where I’ve had to take a kid to a figure skating competition by myself. That was L’s first year skating. J was pretty sick and couldn’t make the trip up to Traverse City so I took L.
We figured most of it out. I did her hair which is kind of amazing. The only hiccup was once she put on one of her dresses, it didn’t look right. Neither of us realized she put it on backwards. She didn’t go on the ice like that. She just changed into a different dress but we both felt pretty silly afterwards when we figured it out.
J and L were in Salt Lake City this past weekend for the National Solo Dance finals at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. B is in his first year of Solo Dance and only competed a handful of competitions. He didn’t qualify.
He was pretty bummed about not getting to go to Salt Lake. I noticed there was a Michigan Basic Skills competition in Holland the same weekend. His coaches were taking a group of skaters so I signed him up for that.
Skate the Lakeshore was hosted by the Lake Effect Figure Skating Club at Griff’s IceHouse West outside of Holland. The rink is on Holland Avenue and Ransom Road north of the City of Holland in Holland Township. The building sits kind of on the edge of an industrial complex east of US-31.
Read more…Dunkin’ (Otsego)
1314 M-89J and L were in Salt Lake City for the US Figure Skating National Solo Dance Finals. B and I were at home in Kalamazoo.
B did a few Solo Dance competitions this year but he was nowhere near the top let alone in a position to qualify for Nationals. It was kind of a testing the waters year for him to see if he was interested in pursuing solo dance or not.
At least that was our perspective. He doesn’t look at anything that way though. He thought he was going to qualify.
He didn’t. He had a really good season but he was kind of learning as he goes. Next year will be his year.
He wanted to skate this past weekend though and there was a competition in Holland that our coaches were going to. I asked if he wanted to do that instead. Of course, he said yes.
We got up around 9:00 to make the drive over to Holland. His first event was at 12:20, but I wanted to get him there to watch some of his friends skate earlier.
We can’t go to a competition without getting breakfast though. L usually wants Starbucks on her way to the rink. B, on the other hand, is more of a Dunkin’ guy.
Of course, he asked for Dunkin’ before we left the house. It was kind of backtracking to go to the 9th Street Dunkin’ and it was still a little out of the way to go to the new Main Street one. I figured we’d just go cross country to Holland and stop in Otsego.
The Dunkin’ in Otsego is M-89 near 12th Street Otsego. The building is a new build in front of the Walmart. This was the talk of the town…or at least the Facebook pages… when it opened back in February of this year.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 