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…
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
3000 N. Meridian Street- Indianapolis, IN 46208
- (317) 334-4000
- Website
Way back in 2011, when J was pregnant with L, she joined a Facebook group for Mothers expecting in January of 2012. Over the next several years, the group all got to know each other and their families through the power of social media. Only a few of the ladies had actually met each other and it has prompted a few get togethers for families in different parts of the country.
This past weekend, one of the ladies from Florida was going to be in Indianapolis. She put out the call to see if anyone wanted to meet up. J wanted to, but Sunday is a hard day for us even though it’s our only day off together. I get home after midnight from work the night before and J has to be at work very early in the morning on Monday.
About the middle of the week, J realized she had Monday off. She asked if I’d be interested in a mini road trip. I wasn’t going to get much sleep Sunday night, but it would do us good to get out of the house and get L around kids her own age.
We got our butts up before the crack of dawn Sunday morning and headed off on the four hour trip from Kalamazoo to Indianapolis. Our final destination, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
We arrived to the Museum, located on Meridian Street on the north side of town. We found out later in the day it’s only about a ten minute drive from the heart of the city. We were a little early as the museum doesn’t actually open until 10:00, but the free parking ramp across the street was already open. We easily found a spot near the second level sky walk. It also just happened the another member of our group pulled in right behind us.
After getting L out of her pajamas and in to some real clothes, we headed across Illinois Street via the sky walk to the museum. The lobby and ticket area is on the main floor, so you do need to walk down a ramp to get back down to street level. The big centerpiece of this area is a giant Bumblebee (from Transformers) that is probably pretty close to “life size.” Read more…
The Fifty/50
2047 W. Division StreetAnother night out…just me and J. This past weekend was J’s birthday, so she took a few days off work. She decided to go to her parents Friday when she got off work and I met her and L there late Saturday night.
After a day of fun on the farm at The Children’s Farm at The Center in Palos Park with both sets of grandparents, we headed back to J’s parents for the night. J had been wanting to do something for her birthday, but it took us a while to decide on where to go. I pitched several fancier restaurants that I thought she’d like, but she shot them down. The winner was a sports bar in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.
I first heard of The Fifty/50 on The Travel Channel a couple of years ago when they were on the hunt for the country’s best sandwich. One of the sandwiches in the Midwest episode was at The Fifty/50 and I’ve been trying to get there ever since.
The restaurant is on a very busy stretch of Division Street in Chicago’s Wicker Park Neighborhood. Parking is pretty tough because you’re looking at street parking. After a couple of trips around the block, we were able to find a spot about two blocks down.
We walked in to a very, very busy sports bar early on a Saturday night. As we looked in the window, we weren’t sure we were even going to get a table and had started talking about alternatives. Still, we went in the door and a hostess told us she was about to clean off a table by the bar and we could have that. Read more…
Maxwell Street Grill – South Holland (IL)
745 W. 172nd Street- South Holland, IL 60473
- (708) 333-5353
- No Known Website
- Menu
When J and I lived in Lansing, we would always drive back to Chicago late on Friday nights after she got off work. We were really never in a hurry to get home and every now and then would look for a 24 hour restaurant along the way to pick up something to eat.
We haven’t done that much since we moved to Kalamazoo. J is working a different shift and now we have a 2 year old who may or may not be asleep in the back seat.
This past weekend, J had an extended weekend and went to her parents house on Friday when she got off work. I had to work until midnight on Saturday, so I stayed behind in Kalamazoo. Once I got off work, I hit the road….but not before looking for a 24 hour restaurant along the way.
I was actually really close to heading to the Bridgeport Neighborhood of Chicago and eat at two different hot dog stand right next to each other. As I was doing research on those restaurants, I stumbled across a different. One that will now be really hard to pass any time we go home.
Maxwell Street Grill is part of the whole Maxwell Street family that is littered throughout the Chicagoland area. Most of the Maxwell Streets focus on their famous polish sausage as well as their possibly even more famous pork chop sandwiches.
This location is located right off the Tri-State Tollway at the Halsted exit. The restaurant’s address is on 172nd Street, but it actually faces Halsted. Technically, it’s right on the corner of 172nd and Frontage Road just inside the South Holland city limits. Read more…
Freshii – Grand Rapids
146 Monroe Center NW, Suite 160More and more often, I find myself looking for something that isn’t fast food for dinner. It’s really hard because I’m not a huge Jimmy John’s fans and I really don’t like Subway, so getting something other than a greasy burger on the go is a challenge.
A few weeks ago, a co-worker and I were in downtown Grand Rapids near the McKay Tower for an assignment. As I was walking back to the car, I noticed the storefront that used to be Subs-n-More was something entirely different. We didn’t have time that night, but I did have some free time this past Friday to check it out for dinner.
Freshii touts itself as a “health-casual” restaurant. The menu is all healthier, fresh foods that are assembled quickly.
This store in Grand Rapids is the only one on this side of the state. In total, Freshii has 35 locations in four countries with the original store in Toronto.
The design of the store is typical to a sandwich shop. You order at one end of the counter, your food is put together in the middle, and you pick it up at the other end.
When I first looked up at the menu hanging behind the order counter, I was afraid I was going to have to turn around and walk out. I’m not the most health conscious eater in the world and Freshii’s lack of hamburgers and fries sort of scared. Read more…
Pharaoh’s Valley
790 N. Westnedge AvenueTuesday was KBS Day! I’m not usually off on Tuesday, but I worked a double shift last Sunday, so I took Tuesday off so I would get two days off this week. It just worked out for me that my ticket for the KBS release was Tuesday. I was originally going to have to make two trips to Grand Rapids because I didn’t want a couple four packs of beer in my car all day while I was at work. Since I was off, I only had to make that one trip and it took my quite a while to get home.
I was pretty stupid and didn’t go inside the taproom at Founders to enjoy any of their taproom only specials. Instead, I headed over to the Downtown Market to pick up some popcorn from Dorothy & Tony’s for J. Almost as soon as I got back in the car, I got a call asking if I’d stop at The Cupcake Zoo in Otsego to pick up a couple cake pops. I figured what the hell. I didn’t have to be home for anything, so I made that stop as well.
After a stop at the Meijer in Plainwell, I noticed I was getting hungry. I didn’t really have a plan, but I was thinking of a couple places I’ve driven by recently that I haven’t been to.
My choice is a small shop on the Northside of Kalamazoo that has gone through several different restaurants. It’s been a BBQ joint, a chicken restaurant, and a Soul Food place that I’m aware of, but now it’s serving up Egyptian Food. Read more…
Cvlt Pizza
10 Jefferson Avenue SEI’m always looking for great pizza places. Always. Lucky for me, Grand Rapids has a couple of really great artisan pizza places that I visit quite often. It’s a little more expensive, but the pizza is so much better than the typical pizza place.
This weekend, I found another one of those great places when I finally pulled up the website for Cvlt Pizza and called in an order. The small, farm-to-crust pizza is located on the edge of downtown Grand Rapids near the corner of Jefferson and Fulton. It’s a very small shop that turns out incredibly tasty pizzas.
The menu has a little more than pizza. They also do a couple sandwiches, calzones, and pizza rolls, but it’s the pizza that drew me in.
The ingredient list is always changing do to the fact that everything is sourced here in West Michigan. The menu is divided in to a meat list and a veggie list as well as options for a plain cheese or a locally sourced pepperoni plus one specialty pizza known as The Annihilator.
I put in an order for a 14 inch #1 off the Meat Pizza list The super thin crust pizza is topped with Atomic sauce, homemade meatballs, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic with cheddar cheese plus their own mozzarella/provolone cheese mix. Read more…
The City Delicatessen
52 E. 8th StreetA co-worker and I were on the west side of Holland the other night driving back towards downtown. Somewhere along the way, I saw a billboard for “Killer Sandwiches.” With the shift I work, deli’s are usually closed by the time I’m ready to eat, so I expected to be disappointed, but when I pulled up to a stoplight, I found the deli’s website….and they were open! Score. I found a place for dinner.
The City Delicatessen is in downtown Holland on 8th Street just to the west of College Avenue. It shares an entrance with Crust 54 which I have been wanting to try after a great recommendation from a co-worker….but that’s for another day.
They City Delicatessen is a little more than a deli. They also offer a couple pizzas and a Froyo Bar….but we weren’t there for any of that. I wanted a pastrami sandwich…..
….but there was no pastrami sandwich. I will admit up front I was pretty disappointed to walk in to a delicatessen and not find pastrami anywhere on the menu, but there were plenty of other delicious looking sandwiches that I didn’t think I would have a hard time finding something else. Read more…
Klassic Arcade
22711 Michigan 40A couple of years ago, I stopped in to the Midwest Soda Pop Festival on an assignment for work and was amazed with what I saw. Glass bottle soda…so much more than just “Mexican Coke.” While that was cool, that was only the tip of the iceberg. The Soda Pop Festival was outside, but when I went inside to get some of home made draft rootbeer, I felt like a kid in a candy store….er….arcade.
I felt like that, because the Soda Festival takes place on the grounds of Klassic Arcade. An amazing retro arcade just south of Gobles on M-40. Since that time, I have been begging for a reason to go back and this past weekend, I finally found one.
A buddy of mine from Grand Rapids celebrated his birthday on Sunday and he asked if J, L, and I wanted to meet he and his fiance in Kalamazoo for brunch. We met up around 11:00 AM at Burdick’s For Breakfast and spent almost two hours enjoying breakfast.
After brunch, the plan was to head out to Gobles and play video games. I was stoked. I didn’t know how in to J would be, but she and L wanted to come along, so the five of us headed to Van Buren County.
The great thing about Klassic Arcade is that you don’t need quarters. All the games are on free play. You just pay $5 when you walk in the door to get a wristband and you play all day. I got kind of antsy and sort of just left J and L to go find a game to play. I ended up drooling over a row of pinball machines. They had my favorite one. The Addams Family. I’ve always loved pinball, but this was my favorite growing up at the mall arcade. J and L pulled up a stool beside me and they played a different machine while I played the Addams Family a couple of times. Read more…
Jersey Giant Subs – Plainfield Township
5002 Plainfield Avenue NEA few weeks ago, a couple of co-workers walked back in to the office with rather large subs with the familiar Jersey Giant logo plastered on them. Besides being jealous, I realized neither of them had been to Lansing or Kalamazoo, so I was a little confused how they had gotten Jersey Giant. One of them told me they were driving down Plainfield Avenue and noticed a sign for JGS on the facade of a gas station and did a U-Turn to get some deliciousness.
This past week, I was heading back to Grand Rapids from the Rockford area via East Beltline. As we came up to the intersection with Plainfield, I thought a detour wouldn’t put us too far behind schedule. Even though the co-worker I was with was eating Jimmy Johns, I was gonna grab me some Jersey Giant.
The lone Grand Rapids Jersey Giant location is in Plainfield Township on Plainfield Avenue just to the west of the intersection with East Beltline near Coit Avenue. It’s in a gas station that does have any name branding on it, but it’s very clear that there’s a Jersey Giant inside with all the the logos plastered on the outside of the building.
The sub shop takes up the back corner of the gas station and it’s little more than a counter with a meat slicer behind it. The employee was sitting in a chair reading a magazine when I walked up, but he popped up right away and started pulling the veggie trays out of the cooler to get things started. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 