Kalamazoo BBQ Grill
112 E. Cork Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 343-5200
- No Known Website
- Menu
Sometimes, you just have to follow your gut, literally, because sometimes, that gut will take you to some of the weirdest places and find some of the best food.
J and I used to live at Candlewyck Apartments on Kilgore and we used Burdick to get downtown quite a bit to avoid the traffic on Westnedge. One day, many, many years ago (well, five anyway), we noticed a couple of smokers set up outside of an empty store on the corner of Burdick and Cork. Not long after that, a party store opened in that empty building and those smokers were being used on a regular basis.
Fast forward five years, we still haven’t stopped in the party store which is now Burdick Hair & Beauty Supply. The smokers are still out front and every time we drive by, there is still smoke coming out of them.
Somehow, last week, I chipped J’s windshield while driving on I-94 and we needed to get it replaced. It was too big to fix and the crack was slowly getting bigger. I had the day off on Thursday, so I set up an appointment at Safelite to get it fixed.
Unfortunately, it took much, much longer to fix the windshield than what we were told. When I took J back to pick it up, they still weren’t finished, so I let her take my truck and I stayed with her car until it was finished. Read more…
Waffle House – Shelbyville, IN
1784 N. Riley HighwayOur day go off to a late start on day #3 in Indianapolis. We didn’t have any assignments until late in the afternoon, so all three of us took advantage and slept in.
When I woke up at just a little after 11:00, I had two text messages on my phone….one from each colleague. Both of them were the same and both were only two words long. “Waffle House?”
While we were quite a ways from Indianapolis, we were at least very close to a Waffle House. Not quite walking distance, but pretty darn close.
The Waffle House in Shelbyville, Indiana is just off of I-74 on North Riley Highway. I can’t say I’ve ever actually eaten at a Waffle House in the past, but from what I have seen, they all look to be pretty much the same. The small rectangle building bears the familiar yellow and black paint scheme while the inside is a classic diner layout. The kitchen is out in the open and there’s a small mix of tables, booths, and lunch counter seating.
The place was pretty packed when we walked in, but there was one open booth in the back corner so we took it. We all grabbed a menu while our waitress brought the drinks and even though it was almost lunch time, we all ordered breakfast. Read more…
The Slippery Noodle Inn
372 S. Meridian StreetOur second night in Indianapolis was the tough one when it came to finding dinner. We only had a little over an hour and a half between assignments, so we couldn’t wait for a table. That was a tough thing to do on a Friday night….in downtown Indianapolis…during Final Four Weekend.
We walked around to several restaurants in the downtown area and all of them told us they had at least an hour to an hour and a half wait. We were all getting grumpy and annoyed because we needed to find something to eat, but didn’t have the luxury of time to wait for a table.
C.W. #2 had joined us by this point and he’s somewhat familiar with the downtown area. He kept talking about a blues bar that he likes to go to when he’s in town that wasn’t too far from where we were. We checked to see if they had a food menu that we could all agree on and when they did, we started heading that way.
The Slippery Noodle Inn claims to be the oldest commercial building still standing in Indianapolis. They’ve been under the same ownership as The Slipper Noodle now since the 1960’s. The building actually dates back to the Civil War though when it was used as a roadhouse and bar for railroad passengers. After that, it served as a bordello and a place for famous gangsters to make whiskey during prohibition. Read more…
High Velocity Sports Bar
10 S. West StreetSometimes, my job is pretty awesome. One of those times last weekend when I was sent to Indy during the Final Four. The weekend started out with two of us, but ended up with three of us. C.W. #1 and I headed out early Thursday morning for a full day of assignments once we got to Indianapolis.
We parked our car at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Indy and walked from there. The full Final Four rush wasn’t in town yet, but downtown was already getting busy and one of our stops was at the J.W., so it just made sense. When the day was over, we were tired, hungry, and wet. We still had to go back to the J.W., so we decided to pick up a bite there before heading to our hotel outside of the city for the night.
There are two restaurants on the ground floor of the J.W. Marriott in downtown Indy. One is a sports bar. The other is an Italian restaurant. I like sports bars and C.W. wanted a steak.
We picked High Velocity Sports Bar. It takes up a large corner of the hotel right at the corner of South West Street and Maryland Street on the west side of downtown. There is an outside entrance accessible from that corner, but the hostess station is at the entrance accessible from the hotel.
After we put our bags back in the car, we headed back to the bar hoping we could get a table. It looked pretty packed, but most people were actually just drinking at the bar. We were shown to a table for four in the dining room. Our hostess dropped off the menus and showed us the drink menu so we’d be ready when our waiter came over. Read more…
Zoup! – Portage
6749 S. Westnedge AvenueFriday’s are quickly becoming a day both L and I look forward to. A few weeks ago, I got the idea to check out Skyzone’s Toddler Time. From 10-noon on Tuesday and Friday’s, Skyzone is only open to kids under 5. L loves it. She asks me pretty much every day when we’re going back to the “jump place.”
Last Friday, we went and jumped for about an hour. L was ready to go, so we grabbed an Icee from the concession stand but that wasn’t going to be enough for lunch for her let alone me.
I texted J that L and I were going to pick up lunch and sent her a menu for the new Zoup! restaurant in Portage. Within a couple of minutes, I had her order, so L and I hopped back in my truck and headed for Portage Crossings.
Kalamazoo has been lacking a good soup place since Soup’R Heros went out of business a few years ago. It’s actually kind of amazing how many times J has said to me she wanted soup and the only place to really go to get something quick is Panera.
The story of Zoup begins in the late 90’s on the east side of the state. About 17 years later, there are 75+ stores in 18 states and one Canadian province. Read more…
Tom and Chee – Lansing
123 S. Washington SquareI have spent a lot of time in Lansing recently. Again, last Thursday, I got sent from Grand Rapids, but this time, I was flying solo. I was actually meeting a co-worker over there but I was on my own for dinner. After finishing up our task, I headed downtown to pick up something to eat.
Last time I was in Lansing, I complained loudly about downtown shutting down at 7:00. I was close again this time. It was 6:30 by the time I found a parking spot and a lot of the restaurants on Washington Square were starting to pack up shop for the night. I had to walk a couple blocks, but I made a beeline for the sandwich shop that specializes in grilled cheese.
Tom and Chee should sound familiar to some of you. They appeared on Shark Tank in Season 4 in May of 2013 and got an offer from two of the Sharks (Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran). The business took off after that and is one of Shark Tank’s real success stories.
Right now, there is only one Michigan location and 30 overall. I say “right now” because I noticed just tonight that there will soon be a Tom and Chee is Grandville near the Cabella’s. Not sure on an opening date there, but the signage was up, so it can’t be that far off. Read more…
Angelo’s Italian Eatery – Ravine
3325 Ravine RoadI have blogged many, many times about one of my co-workers who loves grinders. Well, last week, I made a trip back to Kalamazoo with her and we ended up on the north side of town. I hadn’t planned on stopping for dinner, but I knew we were close to grinders, so I asked if she wanted to stop. Her face lit up like it was Christmas morning…all over a grinder.
I started heading west on Ravine Road from Douglas to make my way to Angelo’s Italian Eatery. This location of the three restaurant chain used to be in a gas station at the corner of Ravine and Nichols, but they’ve moved across the street to a much, much larger space with a dining room.
It was getting pretty late in the evening and I didn’t check to make sure they were open, so I was much relieved when we pulled in the parking lot and saw the “OPEN” sign flashing in the window. C.W. couldn’t wait. She hopped out of the car and ran inside ready to get her grinder.
The restaurant is a pretty good size and a definite step up from the cramped counter across the street. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere though in Kalamazoo Township. It’s not far from “town,” but there’s not a lot of residential nearby. They looked to be doing pretty well though. On a Tuesday night, there were several people coming in and out to pick up pizzas as we waited for our sandwiches.
I have eaten at Angelo’s a couple times and their menu is pretty similar to other grinder places, so i didn’t really even have to look at the menu. I ordered a full pizza grinder to go. C.W. had a little more difficulty. She wanted everything on the menu. I mean that almost literally. In the end, she got two grinders. A half pizza and a half Philly cheesesteak. Read more…
Wing Heaven – Burton Street
803 Burton Street SEHave I made it clear yet that I like wings? I mean, why are there no good wing places in the Kalamazoo area…and why does Grand Rapids have so many? Even if they are all the same, at least I don’t have to go too far out of my way to find delicious wings in Grand Rapids.
Last Thursday, I had sort of a slow day at work. I was driving along US-131 and thought, damn, I want wings, so I did a search on Google Maps and found one sort of nearby. I pulled off the highway and put in a phone call to pick up what would become a delicious dinner.
Wing Heaven has multiple locations around Grand Rapids. but the one on Burton Street seems to be under different ownership. The building is on the corner of Burton Street Southeast and Eastern Avenue. The oddly shaped corner building used to be a Sheldon Cleaners, but it has now been turned in to a take-out wing business with a couple of tables for those that just can’t wait to get those wings in their belly’s.
I called in my order for nine traditional wings with a garlic Parmesan coating on them and a 1/2lb of potato wedges with salt and pepper. The order took about ten minutes and was being boxed up just as I was walking in to the store. Read more…
Tony Sacco’s Coal Oven Pizza – Lansing Township
2328 Showtime DriveI feel like I’ve been going to Lansing quite a bit for work. Again, this week a co-worker and I headed east for an assignment in Lansing Township. It was a quick assignment taking less than a half hour, but since we outside of our normal area, the dinner was on the company. C.W. didn’t want to pass the opportunity up and was craving pizza.
I never really had pizza from anywhere in Lansing that I would say was out of this world. The only thing that came to mind was Pizza House, but that was kind of far away from where we were. Instead, I did a quick Google search and came up with a delicious sounding chain restaurant just down the street.
Tony Sacco’s Coal Oven Pizza is a small, Florida based chain with 13 restaurants. Almost half of those restaurants (six) are in Michigan with the Lansing store being the closest to Southwest Michigan.
The Lansing Township Tony Sacco’s is adjacent the Eastwood Towne Center on Lake Lansing Road. The restaurant itself is actually in a small strip mall on Showtime Drive in front of a huge new development of a Hyatt Place Hotel that will also feature 125 luxury apartments and retail. Read more…
The Ada Pour House
6749 E. Fulton StreetI spend five days a week driving up and down US-131, to and from Grand Rapids for work. I hate doing the same thing on my day off, but, alas, I had no choice last week when it came time to pick up KBS.
Way back on Valentine’s Day, I set an alarm to remind myself tickets were going on sale. I sat on my computer clicking refresh as the time was coming up. Obviously, I went for days I was already going to be in Grand Rapids, but I quickly started panicking when I got kicked to the waiting room on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I very quickly clicked on Friday as well and that was the only day that came up with the option to purchase tickets, so I had to make a trip to Grand Rapids on my day off to pick up my delicious, delicious beer.
J and L made the trip with me. I had a mid-afternoon doctor’s appointment so we didn’t get on the road until almost 4:00. We headed straight to the brewery, found a spot to park right in front of the pick up, and got my beer. Had we been earlier, we were going to go inside an eat, but we didn’t want to battle the after work crowd on a Friday with a toddler.
J asked if there was any place else in the area to eat and I kind of came up empty handed. After a few minutes, I remembered a place in Ada a co-worker told me about, so we looked it up. The menu looked great and it was far enough away from downtown, the dinner rush shouldn’t have started pouring in yet.
The Ada Pour House is on East Fulton just to the west of Amway. It’s in a small strip mall with a number of other businesses and takes up a back corner space. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 