Hogzilla BBQ Express
911 E. Cork StreetYou can never have too much BBQ in town. Last month, a Battle Creek mainstay opened up a carry-out shop in an old Little Caesars in Kalamazoo’s Milwood Neighborhood
Hogzilla BBQ Express is on Cork Street at the intersection with Burke Street just to the northwest of Cork Lane Shopping Center. The building is a little tough to find. There is no big exterior sign right now. The Little Caesars sign is still there although it’s painted black. There are banners hanging on the side of the building, but they are kind of busy and the Hogzilla logo doesn’t really stand out.
The restaurant is a carry-out only with no seating inside the small shop. The interior has been renovated to get rid of the orange and black of the famous pizza chain and it really doesn’t even look like it used to be a pizza shop. Had I not noticed the old sign out front, I never would have guessed.
J and L stayed home while I drove across town to pick up lunch. J and I both like Pulled Pork so I got us each a sandwich. I got the regular for her which is served on a round hamburger bun while I got the large that is served on a hoagie roll. The sandwiches come with the option for either two sides or a side and a drink. For J’s sandwich, I went with two sides. I got the BBQ Beans and Grannie’s Mac and Cheese. With my sandwich, I got an order of fries and a can of Coke. The cost was a little over $18. Read more…
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Kalamazoo
180 Portage StreetIt’s been so long since J and I have been to a movie theater. The last time we saw a movie was Thanksgiving Day two years ago when J was still pregnant with L. We saw The Muppets at the Goodrich Kalamazoo 10. Really, we haven’t gone on many dates since L was born. Since we don’t have any family in town, it’s hard finding someone to watch L when we want to go out.
My brother and his family have family in the Mattawan area and this year was Christmas in Michigan year. When I found out they were coming, I took the night off and asked my parents if they wanted to come up for the weekend and we would do our Christmas on Saturday after my brother did his wife’s family Christmas on Friday.
My parents decided to drive Friday night to avoid some of the weather that was coming in for the weekend which worked out incredibly well for us. J’s boss rented a theater and treated his employees and a guest to a showing of Anchorman 2. Without my parents in town, J would have went by herself, but since we had babysitters, I got to tag along.
The movie was a noon showing a the new Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Kalamazoo. The theater opened to much fanfare last month in the building occupied by The Rave Motion Picture Cityplace 14 until late last year. From the outside, not much has changed. The big glass facade with random bright colors is still there, but the inside looks quite a bit different. Read more…
Grand Traverse Pie Company – Portage
5303 S. Westnedge AvenueI always like seeing new places move in to existing buildings. And, yes, I do like seeing new chains come to Kalamazoo. I’m a big supporter or local business and there are very few instances where I would actually say a chain is better than a local joint, but options are nice and sometimes easy wins out.
The newest chain restaurant to come to the Kalamazoo metro area is Grand Traverse Pie Company. It’s new to Kalamazoo, but not new to J and I. There were actually two locations of the small, 16 store chain in the Lansing area (one in East Lansing and one in Okemos). There’s also one in Kentwood which I ate at last summer.
The new Portage store moved in to the old Pappy’s Mexican Restaurant on South Westnedge near I-94. After a total overhaul, you wouldn’t have any idea that this building had a life as a casual dining Mexican restaurant. It really doesn’t look like they saved anything other than the shell.
The restaurant just opened so interest was high when I stopped in on Tuesday afternoon. L and I had to do some Christmas shopping down the street, so J asked if I would bring home lunch.
The parking lot was completely full when I pulled in. I started to go around the building thinking it would take me back to the parking lot, but it actually took me to the lot of bd’s. Mongolian Grill. I know it’s kind of a jerk move, but I parked in their lot and trudged through a snow bank with a toddler in my arms to get back to my destination. Read more…
The Lunch Pail
1061 S. Main StreetBefore last week, I had never been to Fremont, MI. I really didn’t even know how to get there without putting an address in to my GPS. That’s kind of rare. There aren’t many places I haven’t been in the Western part of the state.
Of course, I was with C.W. who likes to eat out and find “new and exciting places.” I didn’t even know where to start in this unfamiliar territory, so I headed towards downtown.
As we were driving down Main Street, I noticed the sign for a little spot called The Lunch Pail in the West Village Center shopping center. C.W. noticed there was an open sign in the window and a Boar’s Head neon sign, so I found a place to turn around and we headed back for sandwiches.
The Lunch Pail is a small sandwich shop on Main Street (or M-82) on the west side of downtown Fremont. The restaurant has a couple booths as well some four top tables inside the small dining. The order counter has a large menu board off to one side and there is a deli case where you can pick up bulk meat to make your own sandwiches at home. Read more…
Stella’s Lounge
53 Commerce Avenue SWCrap. One of my Co-Workers knows about the blog and is actively trying to get me to as many new places as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I still love finding new places to eat and I’ve never hidden that I write this blog…but I don’t necessarily advertise it either.
Somehow we ended up with a little bit longer of a lunch break than normal. Both of us were hungry and I was sort of in the mood for a burger. C.W. is not a burger eater, but she brought up Stella’s Lounge. She’s never had a burger there…but remembered they were named “Best Burger in America” by GQ Magazine…well, to be fair, the deputy editor of GQ Magazine said it during an interview on Morning Joe while talking about things America does well. It wasn’t actually in the magazine.
Stella’s Lounge is on Commerce Avenue in downtown Grand Rapids between Weston and Oakes Streets. Parking is along the street if you can find it, but there’s also a ramp across the street accessible from Weston Street. That’s where we ended up parking. The hour lunch break cost us two bucks to park.
We walked in and found a small dining room up front with a sign that said to seat yourself. We walked through this dining room to the bar area which has a row of pub tables that share a really long bench opposite the bar. There was an open table all the way at the end so that’s where we sat down. Read more…
Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn
5100 Museum Drive- Oak Lawn, IL 60453
- (708) 423-6709
- Website
Indoor activities…becoming more and more of a necessity. L loves watching Elmo, but we really want to do more with her than just sing the Elmo song over and over.
On our latest trip home, we decided to finally check out the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn. We’re usually at NaNa’s on Monday’s, but we had an extra long weekend which allowed us to spend more time with each of the grandparents.
The Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn is on 95th Street in downtown Oak Lawn, but you’ll never figure out how to get in to it from there. Heck, my Mother-In-Law lives in Oak Lawn and we still had a hard time figuring out how to get to the parking structure. The one-way direction of the road leading to it changes depending on what time of day it is. You need to get in to the lot from 52nd Avenue. They make it sound so easy on their website, but I think I went the wrong way down a one-way and parked in a 30-minute spot for longer and got lucky I wasn’t ticketed.
There’s not much of a lobby when you walk in the door. There’s a little counter and a small store right inside that opens up right in to the first of two floors of exhibits. L was ready to take off as soon as we got in the door. Na Na took care of the $34 admission while J and and I got L’s coat off and hung up. Read more…
Monical’s Pizza of Kankakee
1155 W. Court StreetBurning off vacation. Working weekends, I tend to hang on to my vacation day in case something comes up where I need to take a Saturday off. You know…all you 9 to 5ers can make plans on a Saturday or attend a wedding or a birthday party or go to a ballgame without having to use vacation. Those are the annoying things about working weekends.
So, anyway, I hang to days just in case and come December, I end up with a few leftover. I actually had three going in to the final month of the year and they don’t carry over so I needed to burn some days. For no particular reason, I took a Friday and Saturday off while J took the following Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off and we do what we always do on long weekends…..we head home to our parents houses.
First up was my parents. We got in to town Friday night and stayed through Saturday evening. As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in a really small town and in really small towns, there aren’t a lot of dining options. New since I moved away is a Subway, but that’s it other than a family restaurant near the Interstate and a pizza place with weird hours.
On Saturday afternoon, we were hanging out at my brother’s house and I started getting hungry. J had mentioned she was hungry as well, so I finally just said I was ordering a couple pizzas. The closest pizza place is about twenty minutes away, but I was fine with the drive. I really just wanted some food. Read more…
Nina’s Taqueria – Battle Creek
248 Capital Avenue SWI have one co-worker who must really hate working with me. No, not because I’m a jerk…but because whenever he and I work together, we end up on road trips.
Our most recent road trip was to Battle Creek. Now, for most of you Battle Creek isn’t much of a road trip, but you have to remember, I work in Grand Rapids…..so I drove from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Battle Creek back to Grand Rapids then home to Kalamazoo.
Once our task was finished in Battle Creek, C.W. said he was hungry. I asked if he liked tacos. Duh, who doesn’t like tacos.
For a long time now, I’ve been getting recommendations for a taqueria in Battle Creek. Almost everyone who has eaten there has swore to me it’s the best Mexican they’ve ever had.
Nina’s Taqueria actually has two locations. There’s one in Augusta, but the one we were closest to is on Capital Avenue across from Horrocks not too far from downtown Battle Creek. Read more…
Rupert’s Brew House
773 W. Michigan Avenue- Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- (269) 337-9911
- Website
- Sample Beer Menu
J and I had planned hosting our families for Thanksgiving. J’s mom was able to make it up on Tuesday before the snow hit Berrien County. My parents, however, were not able to leave until Wednesday afternoon and by then, it was too late. They weren’t going to challenge Mother Nature to a duel. We still went ahead with our Thanksgiving plans because we had all the food and there was no sense in letting it go to waste.
I know a lot of people will tell horror stories about their in-laws, but I’m lucky. I actually have the opposite situation. My Mother-in-Law always shows up with beer. Nothing horror story-ish about that.
After working last Sunday night, I actually had Tuesday evening off. Once J and L went to bed, I asked my Mother-in-Law if she wanted to go out for a couple beers. We hit up Gonzo’s BiggDogg Brewing first because we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. After a couple beers, dinner, and hanging out with some friends, we headed down the street to check out another one of Kalamazoo’s new breweries.
Rupert’s Brew House is on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Academy Street in the odd shaped building that used to house The Strutt. The sign has been up for quite some time on the point of the building that overlooks Michigan Ave., but it seems like it took a long time for the doors to finally open. Read more…
Arcadia Ales
103 W. Michigan AvenueIt has been way too long. Way to long. J and I haven’t been to Arcadia Ales since January of 2010. There is no way it should have been that long between trips.
Last weekend, both J and I had separate business in Battle Creek. Mine task was in the afternoon. J’s was in the evening. We decided to meet up in between tasks for dinner.
Arcadia Ales is in a rapidly developing area of downtown Battle Creek. The large building houses both the pub and the brewery operations (for now anyway).
J and I walked in with L just before the typical dinner rush on a Saturday night yet the dining room was almost full. After a hostess asked if we needed a high chair, she showed us to a table near the open, wood-fired kitchen. They were out of high chairs at the time, but L is getting big enough we can put her in a booster seat now.
Last time we ate at Arcadia, I had yet to get in to craft beer. We had just moved to Kalamazoo the most exotic thing I had drank up to that point was a Budweiser. I still tried a beer….the ESB..I had no idea what it was then. Now I know that stands for Extra Special Bitter. 🙂 (I think).
This time, I was more than excited to dig in to the beer list. I walked up to the bar to see if there was anything on special, but there was no cask available that night, so I had to go with what was on the beer list. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 