Jersey Giant Subs (Sprinkle Road)
5965 S. Sprinkle RoadRemember that couple from Indiana that visited all of the Cracker Barrel locations? Yeah? That’s me with Jersey Giant Subs. I mean, obviously there’s not 645 JGS locations, but I still can’t pass one up when I see it.
I’ve been working a lot on weekends recently which takes away from family time. J has been pretty understanding because she knows the weekend work is stuff I really like doing while the weekday stuff is not always my favorite thing to get up in the morning for.
This past weekend, I was heading to Ann Arbor in the afternoon and would be gone the rest of the day. I got up fairly early for me (on a Saturday anyway) to spend some time with the kids before I left. They were asking right away if we could go to Jungle Joe’s for a little while and I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t.
J decided to stay home for a little quiet alone time (something she rarely gets) and asked if I’d pick up lunch on the way back. My brain immediately went to Jersey Giant Subs because I knew we’d be close to one that I haven’t been to yet.
The Sprinkle Road location of Jersey Giant Subs is in a small strip mall on the corner of Sprinkle and Milham Road. It’s in the same shopping plaza as Jaspare’s Pizza and Great Wall Express.
Shigs in Pit BBQ & Brew
6250 Maplecrest RoadWe were packing up the car after a day at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo and J looks at me and says, “You’ve already picked out a place to eat, haven’t you?” Well, duh, I don’t travel without finding someplace to eat.
My first instinct is to find a brewery. I found a couple in Fort Wayne, but breweries with food were in pretty limited supply. I found one with a few locations around town but then I stumbled on another place affiliated with that brewery that I knew would be a hit with everyone.
Shigs in Pit (get it? It’s a play on Pigs in Shit) is on Maplecrest Road about a mile and a half south of I-469 on the northeast side of Fort Wayne. This is the second restaurant for a BBQ team that has won competitions all over the country, but only this one serves Mad Anthony beers. This location just opened a few months ago in a new construction building. Read more…
Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo
3411 Sherman Boulevard- Fort Wayne, IN 46808
- (260) 427-6800
- Website
Long weekends are the best….especially after putting in a lot of days. I worked 12 days straight a couple of weeks ago but since we were so short staffed at work, they were having a hard time finding time to give me a day off. Once it reached 12, they had to just bite the bullet, so they gave me a long weekend with a Friday off.
J and I talked about several things to do over this long weekend. Detroit, Indianapolis, and Chicago were all talked about but the thought of paying for hotel rooms turned us off. J asked if there were any day trips we could take. In reality, Detroit and Chicago can both be day trips, but we always like to spend more time there.
If you follow along, you know we like zoos. They’re the perfect day trip with kids our age. We can usually get a nap out of the little one and the big one, although she won’t admit it, likes seeing all the animals.
There’s only a few zoos within driving distance we haven’t been to yet. The one we picked was the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.
The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo is in Franke Park on the northwest side of Fort Wayne, IN. The entrance is off Sherman Boulevard which runs through the center of the zoo. There are several lots near the zoo entrance as well as some further away. We were a little shocked when we saw people walking from these farther away lots, but we headed towards the main gate to see if we could find anything closer. We ended up finding a spot near the back of one of the main lots which was just a short distance from the main gates. Read more…
Cove Lakeside Bistro
9110 Portage RoadDays off have been pretty rare recently. I’ve been working quite a bit of overtime. I went twelve straight days without a day off and had planned on working a double on the thirteenth. My boss decided I needed a day off and gave me a three day weekend which I gladly took.
J and I had a pretty rare opportunity to go out to lunch with only one kid that we needed to entertain. L was at school so all we needed to do was keep B happy and we could enjoy a nice lunch out.
We had actually planned this a couple days in advance. I had seen a Facebook “suggested post” for Cove Lakeside Bistro. I keep forgetting about this place when we talk about going on, so the ad really helped as a reminder. I also wanted to go for lunch and not dinner. We’re not fancy people and the menu gets a little fancier at night.
Cove Lakeside Bistro is another offering from Millennium Restaurant Group. They took what used to be an office building for Mavcon on Portage Road right on West Lake. The building sits right on busy Portage Road with a small parking lot on the northside. There are signs at neighboring businesses not to park in their lots and the lot was full on a Friday afternoon for lunch so it must be an issue at night.
Paddle Hard Brewing
227 Michigan AvenueSunday was a short day on Mackinac Island. We had one thing to do around 10:00 at the Grand Hotel then it was time to hit the ferry and head home.
I was fortunate enough that we got down the hill in time to catch the 11:00 AM ferry. I got back in to Mackinaw City and to my car just before noon. My kids wanted to Facetime with me since they hadn’t seen me all weekend so it was closer to 12:30 before I got going.
I decided to drive for a while then pick up lunch along the way. I knew there were a couple of breweries about an hour south so that was my plan. Get gas. Get lunch. Get back on the road.
I pulled off the highway in Grayling and headed towards downtown to find Paddle Hard Brewing.
Paddle Hard Brewing sits in the heart of Grayling. It’s on Michigan Avenue just northeast of M-72. They openen their doors in late 2014 in the building which previous housed Northern Concepts which was a gift shop. Needless to say, they had some renovating to do. Read more…
Round Island Bar & Grill
6633 Main StreetDays on Mackinac Island seem longer and more physically demanding. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The lack of cars for hauling stuff around leads to me dragging 90 pounds of equipment up a pretty steep hill to the Grand Hotel first thing in the morning. By the time the day was done and we made the trek back to Mission Point, I was hungry and just wanted to watch a little football.
My co-workers had eaten the dinner provided by the conference we were attending at the Grand at some point, so I was on my own for dinner. I was fine with that. I had thought about walking back in to town, but all the bars looked pretty packed. The Michigan State vs. Notre Dame football game was about to kick off and everyone was packed in to the bars for the game.
Fortunately, Mission Point has it’s own bar with a decent beer selection, a large food menu, and TV’s to watch the game on.
Round Island Bar & Grill is in the registration building at Mission Point resort east of downtown Mackinac Island on Main Street. Read more…
Joann’s Fudge (Mackinac Island)
7309 Main StreetWhat’s the first thing you think of when you think of Mackinac Island? Is it fudge? For me, it’s definitely fudge.
Fudge is synonymous with the Island and it’s been a part of the fabric of the community for well over a hundred years. Murdick’s was the originator on the Island, but there have been several others that have laid their claim to the busy Main Street on the south side of the Island.
Every so often I’ll get sent to the Island for a conference. The day typically starts before 8:00 and doesn’t end until after 7:00. The conferences are almost always at the Grand Hotel but we never stay there. It’s either back on the ferry to Mackinaw City for the night or across the Island to Mission Point Resort.
I typically like to walk on the way back to the resort or the ferry. It’s downhill from The Grand and it’s typically cooler in the evening. It also gives me a chance to stop in to some of the shops and do pick up gifts for the kids and, maybe more importantly, fudge for J and me.
This trip I decided to stop at Joann’s Fudge. No reason for that decision really. It just happened to be the one closest to me after I hit the ATM for some cash. Read more…
Biere de Mac Brew Works
14277 Mackinaw HighwayYou know me, hard to pass up a brewery when I’m traveling.
I headed up to Mackinac Island for the weekend for work. It was a quick trip. Just Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. I worked a half a day on Friday then took off towards Mackinaw City at about 1:00. I left Kalamazoo without eating lunch with the intention of stopping for BBQ in Lake City…but that fell through when I got to the BBQ place and it was closed for the season.
At that point I figured I’d just get all the way to Mackinaw City before finding something to eat. I did a quick search for restaurants when I got off I-75 just before the bridge and one of the first things that popped up was a brewery.
Biere de Mac is just outside of the Mackinaw City village limits in Wawatam Township. It’s on Mackinaw Highway about a mile south of the I-75 exit. The brewery opened in January of this year. The building had housed a popular buffet/family restaurant seasonally for the last 35 years called Neath the Birches.
Roosters Wing Shack
14 N. Main StreetMommy and Daddy like to be lazy on the weekends. The kids do not. They want to go somewhere, play with someone, just get out of the house. For two parents that work long, odd hours, it can be hard to get motivated.
The kids were really wanting to go to the park and play on a beautiful late summer Saturday afternoon. We typically just stay close to home and go to Flescher Field or the Oshtemo Township Park, but one way to really motivate me is food….and I knew of a place in Three Rivers that I’ve wanted to try for a while…and there’s a great park for the kids nearby.
Roosters Wing Shack is in downtown Three Rivers on Main Street near the intersection with Michigan Avenue. The restaurant takes up two store fronts in the quaint downtown area. Previously, the building was home to Paisano’s Bar & Grill. The outside of the building doesn’t look much different….just cleaned up a little bit. There isn’t really a sign on the outside which is a change. I just about missed the place because I was looking for something big, but they just have a small window sign now. Read more…
Smoked Down BBQ
(Food Cart)- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 365-5846
- Website
- Sample Menu
When this summer started, I thought for sure I’d be eating at Lunchtime Live every Friday. Now that summer is almost over, I’ve made it to exactly two. It seems like Friday is always the day we’re out of the office for the majority of the afternoon so I never get the chance to go.
Last Friday was the rare Friday that we were done with our assignment pretty early and just had some office work to do the rest of the day. Co-Worker and I kind of went our own ways for lunch. He had some errands to run and I walked over to Bronson Park.
I knew before I left where I was going to eat. I have been hearing things about a food cart and catering company that has been setting up shop around downtown all summer. I saw they were out from my office window and that’s what inspired me to go get lunch..
Smoked Down BBQ is one of a growing number of portable BBQ restaurants that seem to be popping up. That’s not a complaint. I love BBQ and I love that I’m pretty much able to get BBQ whenever I want it. It wasn’t that way just a few short years ago in Kalamazoo.
SW Michigan Dining 