Mr. Don’s Restuarant
341 N. 20th StreetIt should come as no surprise when I say I’m working a lot of overtime again. Late last week, I got called in to work early and sent straight to Battle Creek. I had a pretty time sensitive job and I needed to get there as quickly as possible. Once I got the call, I left without grabbing something to eat and there was no time to stop on the way.
When the assignment finished just after 5:00, I decided to grab something to eat before heading back to Grand Rapids for the rest of my night. I was in the Springfield area and there’s a fast food place I always seem to get coupons in the mail for…yet, it took me forever to figure out where it was.
Mr. Don’s Restaurant is a mainstay in the Battle Creek area. The business has been family owned, through four generations now, since it’s inception in the early 1950’s. The restaurant is a fast food restaurant, but with a menu size that rivals any full service restaurant in the area that includes both breakfast and lunch specialties.
Mr. Don’s is just off Dickman Road in the City of Springfield on 20th Street. It’s actually south of Dickman at the intersection of 20th and Betterly. The building was probably state of the art when it was built, but it’s looking a little on the rougher side now. There is a drive thru on the south side of the building and the parking lot on the north side butts right up to Betterly Road.
Counter service is what you would expect from a fast food place and counter service is how it’s done at Mr. Don’s. The menu can be a little intimidating at first and the unfortunate thing, for me anyway, is that I didn’t know what some of the items were. I mean, I know the Fiery Don Burger or the Western Don Burger are burgers, but no one in the restaurant does it say what comes on each one (the answer is Fiery Don – spicy mayo, lettuce, deep fried jalapeno rings, and Pepperjack cheese. Western Don – BBQ sauce, lettuce, onion ring, American cheese). I found out later once I had better access to their website.
I decided I was just going to order a Bacon Double Cheeseburger and a large order of fries. Pretty simple, standard order for this type of place. I got in line to order and was pretty shocked at how many people were in the restaurant. The line was five or six deep and there was one girl taking orders and packing them up trying to keep up. She was going as fast as she could, but the people in front of me were making a lot of demands on her. Read more…
Tacos Los Brothers
2015 Portage StreetI apologize for the lack of Kalamazoo/SW Michigan posts lately. There just hasn’t been much new open up that we’ve had time to get to for lunch. I have a few more in my back pocket that I’m hoping to get to soon, but in the meantime, there is one place that caught my eye a few weeks ago that I made time for.
Anyone that works with me in Grand Rapids has been forced, at time or another, to try my favorite taco place Taqueria San Jose. I love the tacos from the small, family run joint on Division Avenue just south of downtown Grand Rapids and I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t.
Unfortunately, I haven’t really been able to find anything in Kalamazoo similar. There are some good Mexican places and even a couple of good food trucks, but I’m always looking hoping I’ll find killer tacos somewhere I just haven’t looked.
A couple of weeks ago, I was driving down Portage Street when I noticed a sign for Tacos Los Brothers. They were one of the food trucks that I would stop at from time to time and they always had great tacos…I just never knew when they would be open.
The sign out front is for a new restaurant with counter service and a dining room. They serve up a lot of the same things the food truck did, but they do it in a nice new building.
When you walk in the door, you immediately encounter the order area. There is a paper menu taped on to the counter and a visual with most of the selections hanging over the kitchen area. The menu hits on a lot of the quick and easy Mexican favorites like tacos, burritos, tortas, enchiladas, and the like. There are even a few combo options that include rice and beans. Read more…
Meatheads Burgers & Fries – Oak Lawn, IL
11026 S. Cicero AvenueOur last night in town on this quick trip to the Chicago area, J and I had hoped to have a nice dinner and some drinks on our own. We left the kids at J’s parents house and headed towards Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant just down the street from her parents house in Oak Lawn.
J and I have no problem being old. 4:00 dinner on a Saturday night? Sure. If it means we don’t have to wait on a table. In Kalamazoo, that would be a good plan. In the Chicago suburbs…4:00, 6:00, 7:00? Doesn’t matter. There was already over an hour wait and the bar was packed…at 4:00! Neither of us wanted to eat at Cooper’s Hawk bad enough that we were going to wait in line for an hour.
It turns out, Cooper’s Hawk shares a parking lot with J’s favorite grocery store. We needed to pick a few things up, so we headed to Mariano’s to do a little shopping. J just picked up dinner for herself, L, and her parents from the deli area, but I wasn’t in the mood for anything they were serving up.
I had thought about dropping J off then going in search of another Italian beef, but that’s a lot of Italian beef in one weekend. Plus, I didn’t feel like driving anymore.
Also in the same parking lot as Mariano’s and Cooper’s Hawk is a familiar chain from my days in Central Illinois. They serve burgers and fries and, hey, guess what? I love burgers and fries. Read more…
Johnnie’s Beef
7500 W. North AvenueChange of scenery. We desperately needed a change of scenery. Winter has been kind to us in Southwest Michigan this year, but both J and I feel like we’ve been cooped up in the house all winter. We looked at the weather and since there was very little snow in sight, we decided to take a trip to Chicago.
If you read this blog often, you know how much I love Italian beef sandwiches….and I don’t care what any body claims, if you’re not in Chicago, it’s not a good Italian beef. The cabin fever really kicked up for me a couple of weeks ago when we went to dinner at Jac’s Cekola’s Pizza and ordered an Italian beef. It was good. It had all of the basic elements of an Italian beef, but it’s just not the same as getting one from some small cramped shop in Chicago.
I’ve gone on and on about how much I love Al’s Beef and, spoiler alert, nothing actually changes there, but I want to try as many as I can. I’ve hit most of the big ones… Mr. Beef on Orleans, Joe Boston’s…as well as several smaller ones in the south suburbs, but there’s one huge Italian beef joint I still haven’t hit. After reading a Steve Dolinsky (he’s known as The Hungry Hound on ABC 7…the food critic I choose to put stock in in the Chicago area) article on the 31 Essential Italian Beef Joints in Chicago(land), I knew I had to make the drive out to Elmwood Park.
J and her parents took the kids to see J’s grandma in Orland Park leaving me in Oak Lawn by myself. After sleeping in a little bit, I decided to get up and make the drive. Elmwood Park is 26 miles from where my in-laws live, but in Chicago time, that takes about 45 minutes.
It was a pretty easy time and my heart was racing when I pulled in front of Johnnie’s Beef. The small shop on North Avenue is in a pretty busy part of the Chicago suburb. I assumed I would have to find street park, but as I turned on the adjacent street, I noticed a parking lot behind the building. There were some open spots even though the line for the restaurant was out the door, so I grabbed one then went to get in line. Read more…
Domino’s – West Main
2004 W. Main StreetJ surprises me sometimes. We’re pretty regular customers of Cottage Inn Pizza on KL Avenue when it comes to carry-out and we almost never order from one of the big national chains.
Before I went to work the other day, L said she wanted pizza. I figured that would be another call to Cottage Inn, but J threw out something new. She saw a commercial for Domino’s and it made her hungry.
It’s been a while since we’ve ordered from Domino’s. The last time I can remember eating their pizza was when we lived on the south side of town and ordered once from the Portage location just after their big relaunch in 2010.
I still needed to shower and we were kind of cleaning up the house so the plan was to do delivery, but the closest location to us was too far away for delivery. I was going to have to pick it up.
We did the Choose Any 2 for $5.99 each. J really wanted the Marbled Cookie Brownie and when we added a medium 2-topping pan pizza, we got them for $6 each. We also wanted to do some cheese bread so we included an order of the stuffed cheesy bread as well.
Once I placed the order, a really cool tracker popped up in the window. It told me my order was received and (Name of Cook) had started making it. It refreshed every step of the way and even though I left as soon as the order was placed, it was all done by the time I reached the light at Main and Drake. Read more…
Chicken Coop – Watervliet
712 S. Main StreetI’m sure I don’t have to point out how brutal winter can be in Southwest Michigan. Whenever it snows, it’s almost a guarantee that the road will be shut down somewhere on I-94 in Van Buren County.
During our last big storm, I was heading in the Watervliet area, tired and hungry, and couldn’t get back on the highway to go where I needed to go. I knew how to take county roads to avoid the major back up on Red Arrow Highway which is the official detour, but first, I needed food. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and my choices were pretty limited.
Taco Bell and Burger just weren’t doing it for me, so I pulled in to the Chicken Coop instead.
The Chicken Coop name should be pretty familiar to Southwest Michiganders. There are several stores loosely related throughout the region. This particular Chicken Coop in Watervliet is directly connected to the Paw Paw, Portage, and South Bend stores.
The restaurant is on Main Street not too far from the I-94 interchange. It’s a small shop that has clearly been around for a while with minimal updates. It does have a drive thru, but I wanted to get out of the car for a few minutes, so I headed inside to place my order.
I was hungry. I had to skip lunch. I love whole chicken wings and they had a big pack of 12 original wings for $10. I also tacked on a large order of fries and asked for it to be boxed up to go. The total price was right around $15 and there was enough food that I got two meals out of it…just as planned. Read more…
Garage Bar & Grill
819 Ottawa Avenue NWThere are all sorts of ways I find new restaurants both in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. A lot of times, things start popping up in my Facebook feed. It’s like Facebook has some kind of mind reading algorithm or something 🙂
Not too long ago, one of the advertisements that popped up in my feed was a Groupon for a place in Grand Rapids. I despise Groupon, but I did appreciate the advertisement. I didn’t click on the link, but went to the Google instead to find out more about this new place I had never heard of.
The Garage Bar & Grill takes over what used to be Teazers Bar and Grill on Ottawa Avenue NW north of downtown between Newberry and Mason Streets. The restaurant was a pretty popular bar as Teazers but it was sold in late summer of 2014 and completely remodeled then reopened two months later in October. Teazers was more of a dive bar. Garage Bar is not that. It’s a little more on the upscale side of things, but it keeps the charm of the building from the 1940’s
The restaurant had been open for well over a year before I saw the Groupon pop up in my Facebook feed and it surprised me just how good the menu looked once I went seeking it out. There’s nothing really surprising about it. Burgers and Sandwiches dominate the menu which only offers a few salads and some appetizers as other options. Read more…
Pizza Ranch – Holland
734 E. 16th StreetIf a restaurant has an online ordering system, there is a good chance I’m going to take advantage of it.
That was the case last week when I made an unexpected trip to Holland during a snowstorm. I had a job that had to be done, so I braved the cold, snow, and crazy drivers on I-196.
As I was finishing up that job, I was hungry and I knew it was going to be slow going back to Grand Rapids. I needed to have food ready to go when I walked back in the door. No more stopping or getting out of the car until I got back.
Somewhere along my travels, I came across the Pizza Ranch. I knew it was there. I have drove by it several times, but from past experience, I knew the place as only a buffet restaurant. There was one almost within walking distance when I lived in Morton, IL, so I knew of and have enjoyed their pizza in the past.
As I was sitting in the car, I looked up the website and not only do they have a take out menu, they have online ordering. It took a few attempts for me to get my credit card information in right. My hands were cold dangit, but after the order was completed and my job was finished, I headed back towards town to pick up my food.
The Pizza Ranch in Holland is fairly new. It opened last April on 16th Street right in front of the Meijer near the intersection of 16th and Waverly. It’s one of four in the West Michigan area. The same family that owns the Holland location owns the one in Muskegon. The other two, in Kentwood and Jenison, have different owners but are part of the same franchise. Read more…
Jersey Giant Subs – Grand Ledge
516 S. Clinton StreetRoad trips to Lansing happen kind of often when I’m at work. Sometimes it’s nice just to get away from the office for a while, but the drive can be a bit boring. The good news about these trips is that my dinner is on the company, so I do, in a way look forward to them knowing I’m going to get a decent meal for once.
My most recent trip to Lansing took me to the Dimondale area. There’s not much to eat out that way, so on my way back to Grand Rapids, I decided to skip getting on I-96 and take Lansing Road back towards something that would eventually lead me to Saginaw Highway. I wasn’t finding anything that I wanted to eat and I just wasn’t paying attention when I drove by the on ramp back on to I-96. I figured, screw it. I had some time. I’d just go back to Grand Ledge and get on the highway there.
I was just about to turn around and go back to a Mancino’s on Saginaw Highway, but something told me to keep going. Once I turned on to Clinton Street, I was glad I did. I found something even better.
The Grand Ledge location of Jersey Giant Subs is in a small strip mall on Clinton Street just north of Saginaw Highway. I had a hard time finding information for it on the Google which seems odd. It wasn’t listed on their website either, but the menu I picked up from the store has the same website as all the others listed on it.
This Jersey Giant isn’t much different from any of the other Jersey Giants. They do have a pretty large dining room which had several teenagers from nearby Grand Ledge High school, but other than that, it’s the same set up. Read more…
47th Street Pizzaria
3612 47th StreetAbout a week ago, I was driving through Hamilton and my stomach was growling something fierce. Unfortunately, it was Sunday night and it seemed all of the restaurants were closed. I pulled over at a gas station to grab a pop and check the Googles to see if there were any restaurants hiding somewhere that I could order carry-out from. Luckily, there was one.
47th Street Pizzaria (sic…that’s how it’s spelled on their sign) is kind of hidden in Hamilton. As the name implies, it’s on 47th Street just north of 136th. It’s to the west of M-40 which is the main thoroughfare through town. The restaurant is in kind of a weird spot. The area to the immediate north of the building is all residential. The pizzeria shares land with ND Collision and that’s about the only commercial property in the area.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to find a menu online. They don’t update it much but at least their Facebook page has pictures of the menu. Wraps and subs are both options and probably would have been easier to eat in the car, but on my first time at any pizza shop, I’m going to order a pizza….duh.
I called from the gas station I was sitting at to put in an order for a 16″ pizza with pepperoni and bacon. I was told it would be about a half hour, so I had some time to kill. As the only open restaurant in town, they seemed to be pretty busy as a steady line of cars came to pick up pizzas while I was sitting in the parking lot.
Right around the twenty minute mark, I decided to head inside. There was one lady working by herself running around the kitchen trying to keep up. She asked for my name then checked on my pizza which was just about to come out of the oven. In the mean time, I paid the bill of just over $12 then took a seat at one of the two tables set up as a dining area. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 