Moonraker Restaurant & Lounge
544 W. Beadle Lake RoadWe are so happy the zoo is open for the season again. I sort of wish it was in Kalamazoo, but the drive to Battle Creek isn’t all that bad and L loves Binder Park Zoo.
We were able to take advantage of our membership for the first time this year this past weekend. It was predicted that the weather was going to be kind of crappy, but we figured we could just go for a little bit and if the weather got bad, we could bail. That’s the great thing about the membership. If the trip is a bust, you’re not out $40.
The weather turned out to be better than expected and we stayed for a couple hours. Afterwards, we wanted to grab lunch before heading home to Kalamazoo.
J had actually suggested just going to Buffalo Wild Wings, but I had just eaten there a few days earlier when I was stuck in Norton Shores with a co-worker. I like BW’s, but not enough to eat there twice in a week.
For some reason, I remembered a pub just down the street from Binder Park and pulled up a menu while we were snacking on popcorn after a ride on the Binda Carousel and showed J. She said it looked pretty good and that it was a good option for lunch.
Moonraker Restaurant and Lounge is on Beadle Lake Road just to the north of the I-94 interchange. There are two Moonrakers in Battle Creek…the other being on Columbia and one in Marshall (unsure on the relation to BC shops) that J and I ate at several years ago after we got lost on the way home from Goshen one day. Read more…
G & L Chili Dogs – Sherman Blvd.
771 W. Sherman BoulevardFinding a place for dinner in Muskegon is always a challenge for me. I don’t know enough about the city and all I seemed to be drawn to is chains. My co-workers always want to eat at Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken because they’re all from Grand Rapids….and Grand Rapids doesn’t have any Lee’s.
A co-worker and I ran in to this problem last week. We were in Muskegon Heights for the night and both of us were hungry. I didn’t really want chicken, so I didn’t bring it up as an option. Instead, I knew this C.W. has mentioned she liked Coney Dogs before, so I asked if that was ok for dinner.
There’s a small chain of Greek Coney Dog places in the Muskegon area called G & L Chili Dogs. We were fairly close to one of the Norton Shores locations so I suggested we go there for dinner.
There are four locations of G & L, three in Muskegon County and one in Holland. We were closest to the Sherman Boulevard restaurant which isn’t too far off Business 31 in Norton Shores.
G & L is more of a sit down type of place but they do have a drive through. It kind of has the same set up as a Steak ‘n Shake. It’s a quick service, full service restaurant. Everything is made to order. Read more…
Papa’s Italian Sausage
1219 King HighwayWhen J and I moved to Kalamazoo almost five years ago, one of the first recommendations we got was from one of J’s co-workers for Papa’s Italian Sausage. Sad to say, that was one of the few recommendations we didn’t jump on right away. We just aren’t out on that side of town very often.
Last Friday, I had to make a run out that way before heading to Grand Rapids for work. I was hungry and was thinking about stopping downtown for a sandwich or something. On my way back towards downtown, I spotted that little green building that I have drove by so many times without stopping.
Papa’s Italian Sausage is on King Highway in Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood just to the north of Crosstown Parkway near Mayor’s Riverfront Park. It’s easy to drive by unfortunately because the building sits kind of on an angle. Even coming from south, I had to hit the breaks a little harder than I should have to make it in the parking lot before driving by.
The very tiny store has enough seating for about a dozen people or so and ordering is done at a window that is directly in front of you when you walk in the door. The menu was much larger than I thought it would be. I figured I would be pretty limited to sausages, but there is a huge sandwich menu.
I started to order the Italian Beef sandwich even though I had it once before and wasn’t a super huge fan of it. It’s just kind of habit when I see it on the menu, but my eyes continued scanning and I noticed another sandwich that I can almost never pass up. Pastrami. Read more…
The Stray Dog
245 N. Whittaker StreetJ and I pretty lucky. Our families get along and (we think) genuinely enjoy hanging out with each other.
That played to our advantage on Easter. We started out asking her parents to meet for lunch because it was her step-dad’s birthday. We then invited my parents and one of my aunts. A few days before Easter, my brother said his girls really wanted to see L, so we invited them to.
We planned to make a day out of it starting with lunch and ending at the beach.
Since L and I moved to Michigan five years ago, we have been meeting our parents in the Michigan City/New Buffalo area. One of our favorite restaurants has always been The Stray Dog in New Buffalo. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the building in July of 2012 and it took them about a year to rebuild.
The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, so we asked everyone to be there by the time they opened at noon on Sunday. We had such a large group, we wanted to hit them right away, so we could get seated quickly and get the girls down to the beach.
To our surprise, there wasn’t much of a crowd when they opened. We were seated right away in the four seasons patio alongside another large group and our waitress came over right away to start taking drink orders. Read more…
Ritzee Hamburgers
1643 Michigan Avenue West- Battle Creek, MI 49037
- (269) 964-4701
- No Known Website
- Menu
Daddy daughter dates are the best. Don’t get me wrong, I love nights out with J and damn do I look forward to them, but it’ s something special when it’s just L and I.
The last couple of months, we have taken advantage of a few of the Knee High Naturalist programs at Binder Park Zoo. This past Wednesday was the final program for the season so L and I went one last time before the zoo opens for the summer.
Afterwards, I was hungry and J wasn’t going to be home when we got there, so I decided L and I should go get lunch.
When J and I moved from Lansing to Kalamazoo four years ago, our first trip we had to take the long way and do two lane highways the whole way. Just before we got to the Lansing Road exit on WB I-94 in Lansing, the mattress I had tied to the bed of my truck when flying out. That scared J a little bit and she wanted to get off the highway.
Our trip took sort of around Battle Creek and we ended up going through the Urbandale of Battle Creek and passing an old timey hamburger joint. Four years later, I finally found the time to get back to it for lunch. Read more…
Tibbs Brewing Company
402 S. Burdick StreetI like beer. I’m just going to throw that out there. I don’t like getting drunk, but I really enjoy trying as much as I can. That’s weird because I was kind of a late bloomer when it comes to alcohol. I didn’t have my first beer until I was almost 22 and even then it was occasional and it wasn’t until we moved to Kalamazoo that I discovered craft beer.
I love the growth of the beer industry in Kalamazoo over the last year or so. I’ve been able to make it to all of the open taprooms except for one. Tibbs Brewing is only open on nights that I have to work, so I haven’t found a time to get down there yet.
Tibbs Brewing Company is on the corner of Burdick and Lovell in a small corner space that was last occupied by Barista Blues West. It’s not a big place. There’s enough room for a decent sized bar and a handful of tables. On busy nights, you are really going to be squeezed in there.
I mentioned earlier that that they’re not usually open on nights that I’m off, but this past Sunday was a special night. REO Speedwagon was playing at the State Theatre next door, so they decided to open up and take advantage of the location.
I had no interest in the concert so I waited until most of the crowd started to file out of the brewery and next door to the show. I sort of hung out outside until I saw a spot open at the bar then I swooped in to enjoy a couple beers.
The beer menu was pretty limited because Sunday is usually a brew day. There were only three options. An IPA, Lovell Double IPA, and Hel-Jen Belgian Tripel. Read more…
Five Guys Burgers & Fries – Grandville
3090 44th Street SWIt’s still really hard for me to pass up a Five Guys. Even though they seem to be popping up all over the place, I still can’t get enough of them. I just really like their greasy fares.
Late last week, a co-worker and I were heading back to Grand Rapids from Jenison. Now, it’s not really on the way, but there is a Five Guys in Grandville that opened up within the last few months. It’s not on the way…but it’s not too far out of the way either.
I convinced my co-worker to let me stop for dinner. He didn’t have a problem with it, so I headed towards the 44th Street exit on I-196.
The (so-far) only Grand Rapids location of Five Guys is on 44th Street in Grandville in front of the (somewhat) new Cabella’s. It’s in a small plaza out near the road that hosts a couple of different restaurants including a Potbelly Sandwich Shop.
I promised my co-worker I would walk back out if the place was packed. I could see from the large windows that face the parking lot that they were busy, but I didn’t see a line at the order counter, so I went in. Read more…
Breakfast at Tiffiny’s – Portage
3271 W. Centre AvenueLast fall, we got L in to a one day a week toddler class that I take her to every Friday. Some days I go home and take a nap while she’s there. Some days, I go get breakfast and run some errands.
This past Friday was an errand day. I needed to pick up some things from Lowes and Meijer, but first I needed breakfast.
I noticed a few weeks ago that Breakfast at Tiffiny’s was opening a second location. J and I had tried once before to stop in for breakfast, but they were pretty full, so we passed.
The new Breakfast at Tiffiny’s location is on Centre Street in Portage in the new plaza with Centre Street Taphouse and a Biggby. The space is deceivingly big. It looks like a small space from the outside, but it’s a long building which has room for a couple dozen tables.
When I walked in, a waitress told me to find a seat wherever I would like. I went a table in the back near the kitchen. The middle of the restaurant has a long, two sided bench seat that several tables shares. The restaurant was not all that crowded, so I didn’t feel bad taking up a four top. Read more…
Indianapolis Zoo
1200 S. Washington Street- Indianapolis, IN 46222
- (317) 630-2001
- Website
Our little getaway ended Monday morning after an interesting night of sleep. A king bed would be plenty if the toddler didn’t like to sleep sideways.
Anyway, we got our stuff together and loaded up the car a little after 9:00. We got up and going because we wanted to make one more stop before we headed back to Kalamazoo and the weather was working against.
The Indianapolis Zoo isn’t too far from downtown Indianapolis. It’s on Washington Street inside the White River State Park. There’s a huge parking lot between the zoo entrance and Washington Street that costs $6 to park for the day. As I alluded to, the weather was pretty crappy and it was a Monday morning, so we had almost the entire parking lot to choose from.
We were meeting another family from our Sunday excursion. They were in town from Florida and still had one day until their flight back. We got a text from them that they were there just as we were pulling in to the parking lot.
I was able to find a coupon for the zoo on Visitindy.com for $2 of admission. Prices during the week are a little bit cheaper. Entry was $12.45 for adults and $9.45 for kids. Unfortunately, our membership to Binder Park Zoo didn’t give us any discount, but we could use that coupon for $2 off each admission bringing the total down to a little over $28.
Once everybody was inside, we walked up to the first exhibit which was the Sea Lions. It was feeding time and they were barking and begging for food. L and her new little friend were pointing and yelling, “they’re barking.” Read more…
Scotty’s Brewhouse – Downtown Indianapolis
1 Virginia Avenue #100The Children’s Museum wore our butts out. After a long day of playing (over 4 hours), we headed to our hotel in downtown Indianapolis. I got lucky with a Priceline Express Deal and scored the Hyatt Regency for just $62. We checked in to the hotel and L crashed..hard. Once she was asleep, J and I were able to turn the lights on, watch TV, and have a conversation and L didn’t even move.
We finally woke her up after about an hour and a half nap. We were all pretty tired and we wanted to make sure she went to bed at a decent time since the three of us were sharing a King size bed (the downfall to the Express Deal….don’t get to pick room type).
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Indianapolis for work. My co-worker and I had planned on staying the night, but we decided to just drive home. Before that trip, I, of course, scouted out some places to eat, so when J and I went back a few weeks later, I already knew what I wanted for dinner.
Scotty’s Brewhouse is a small Indiana chain owned by the people that own Thr3e Wise Men Brewing. The downtown Indianapolis location is a little over a block from Bankers Life Fieldhouse on the bottom floor of a multi floor office building on Virginia Avenue. It was about a three block walk from our hotel room that took us right past Monument Circle.
We walked in to the hostess area a little after five on a Sunday night. The place was packed, but that had everything to do with the Pacers game that would start in an hour just down the street. We decided just to stay. We put our name on the list and they told J they would text her when our table was ready. That gave us the opportunity to go back outside to wait. It was a gorgeous night out and there is a large outdoor patio with a fire pit and pretty comfortable couches that weren’t being used for service, so we waited out there. It gave L a chance to run around and somehow, run in to one of the little boys we went to the museum with earlier. His parents had the same idea and were heading in to put their name on the list as we were playing outside. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 