The Manhattan Firehouse
195 S. State StreetWhenever we go home for a weekend, it’s always a challenge to fit everything in. We need to see both families plus do whatever it is we actually made the trip home for. This time, it was for a Bears game.
J’s uncle is a season ticket holder and for the last couple of years, he has offered us a game. Last year, it was against the Lions on Monday night. This year, we originally planned for the Lions game in November, but November is hard for J and I to take time off.
A while back, her uncle e-mailed and said he had the Saints game come open and asked if we wanted to go that one instead. Being in October, it was much easier for us to take a relaxing trip home where I could take off Saturday and she could take off Monday.
Once I got off work on Friday night, we headed to my parents house about an hour south of Chicago. The plan was to spend the day with them. About a week ago, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was going to be mini-photo shoots the weekend we were home. We wanted to take advantage to get Christmas card picture, but we didn’t want to cut time with my family short either.
We ended up taking the last time slot for the photo shoot and invited my parents to tag along. It was about a 45 minute drive, but the plan was to go to dinner afterwards before heading to J’s parents for the night.
The original plan was pizza, but all three pizza places in the small town of Manhattan, Illinois looked to be carry-out/delivery only. That sort of threw a wrench in our plans, but on the way in town, we noticed a hand written side along Illinois 52 that sounded too good to be true. Read more…
Jaspare’s Pizza and Fine Italian Food – Portage
5965 S. Sprinkle RoadI’m a little surprised we did it. J and I ditched cable. A couple of years ago, I couldn’t have lived without it. Recently, all I’ve been watching is PBS and a few broadcast network comedies, so there is really no reason for me to keep cable.
Still, I wasn’t actively looking to get rid of it….that is until I got my most recent bill. Charter upped my bill another $20 a month and didn’t add anything. That was the last straw. At this point, it just wasn’t worth it. Sure, they eventually offered to drop it by $50 a month, but I’m not playing games. If you can charge me $50 less a month, just do it without me having to threaten you.
So, this past weekend was spent on the roof setting up an OTA antenna and running new cable in the house. We were still keeping Charter for Internet, so I couldn’t just splice in to their line. After I got all of the wires routed and amplifiers and boosters on the TV, I asked J to call and tell Charter we didn’t need their cable TV services anymore.
After that was done, J was heading to a class and L and I had nothing to do, so I told J we’d just take the DVR’s back to Charter and get that out of the way. I looked the address up and saw it was on Sprinkle Road. As we were both walking out the door, I asked J if she wanted pizza for dinner. She said she wasn’t really hungry, but she might eat a slice or two. Read more…
Tacos El Cunado at the Downtown Market
435 Ionia Avenue SW, Stall 112Hungry and early for work. What’s a guy to do? I was contemplating fast food, but as I was getting off US-131 at the Wealthy Street exit, I was struck with an idea.
I’ve been to the new Downtown Market in Grand Rapids a few times for work, but I’ve never really had a lot of time to look around. I did, however, remember that there is a taco place and I can never turn down tacos.
Tacos El Cunado has a couple restaurants in Grand Rapids, but their newest venture is at the Downtown Market. They have a kitchen set up right next to the Ionia Avenue entry doors.
The taqueria has a simple menu of tacos, quesadilla’s, burrito’s, and tortas. Even at almost three o’clock on a Saturday, there was a little line at the counter.
When it was my turn, I ordered four Carne Asada tacos with just cilantro. The tacos also come standard with onions and the option to add cheese for a small fee, but I love simple tacos. Read more…
Arctic Cafe
8450 W. Ten Mile RoadAbout halfway through our trip to the Detroit Zoo, we all started getting a little hungry. It just so worked out that we were leaving the Arctic Ring of Life Exhibit at about this time and whad’ya know, there happened to be a restaurant right in front of us.
The Arctic Cafe is one of two cafeteria style restaurants at the Detroit Zoo. The setup is pretty similar to Beulah’s Restaurant at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. What makes it unique…and by unique I mean unique to any cafe in a zoo across the country, is that the Arctic Cafe is Green Certified by the Green Restaurant Association.
The large restaurant can be divided in to two lines on busy days, but since it was a Monday after school was back in session, there was only one service line open.
The food is all pretty simple. They have burgers, pizza, salads, some chicken and vegetarian options, and of course, meals for the kids.
J was intrigued by the Artisan Sandwich from the Carved Deli. These sandwiches are made somewhat fresh. They’re not quite made to order. The sandwich is made on a large submarine-esque bun then it’s cut in to smaller pieces. They don’t cut until you order it though, so it gives you the feeling of being fresh carved. The sandwich comes with chips, but you can upgrade to fries. J passed on the chips and ended up passing on the fries as well. Not sure if she forgot or just didn’t want them. Read more…
Detroit Zoo
8450 W. 10 Mile Road- Royal Oak, MI 48067
- (248) 541-5717
- Website
We decided a few weeks ago that if we were going to go to Detroit, we were going to make a weekend out of it. Sunday was a concert downtown at the Fox Theatre, but on Monday, we were going to spend some quality family time outdoors at the zoo.
The Detroit Zoo is a few miles north of the Detroit city limits on the corner of 10 Mile and Woodward in Royal Oak. It’s just off of I-696 and easy to get in to and out of. There is a parking garage accessible from either 10 Mile or Woodward and there’s a large surface lot at the 10 Mile entrance.
Being a Monday, there wasn’t a whole lot of people there, so we just parked in the garage and walked to the main gate where we were the only ones in the non-members line. Everyone else was lined up to get in the members entrance.
J and I are members at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek and that worked to our advantage at Detroit. We got 50% off our admission, so instead of paying $28 for the two of us (L was free because she’s still under 2), we got in for $14 plus $5 for parking…a total of $19.
Once inside the gates, we didn’t really know where to go. The zoo is setup so you can walk a path and see all of the animals. The zoo is divided in to eleven habitats. I pulled the map out of my back pocket and we sort of planned our route. It’s a little bit of a walk passed a lot of green space to where you start getting to animals, but we found a peacock near the bathrooms and that grabbed L’s attention right away.
The zoo is set up so there are a couple of paths you could take and see all of the animals. We chose to go counter-clockwise around the zoo which just seems more natural. The first animal exhibit we came on where we actually found an animal was the camels. We walked past the beaver and river otter habitat…which was really cool looking, but we didn’t see any animals in that area. Read more…
Union Woodshop
18 Main StreetPretty much anyplace we go, there is going to be a restaurant I want to go to. Our recent trip to Detroit was no exception. After seeing a show at the Fox Theatre, we decided to stay the night in the Detroit area. I found a nice place pretty cheap in Madison Heights, so that’s where we booked.
After relaxing at the Hampton Inn for a while, J suggested we go to dinner. For the longest time, I’ve wanted to go to the Union Woodship in Clarkston and we were only about 20 minutes away.
We assumed…and assumed wrong, that Sunday night would be a pretty low key at this BBQ joint in downtown Clarkston. I started to get a little worried as we drove in to the downtown business district. There were a lot of cars in the parking lots and on the streets. I didn’t see a lot of other places open as we drove by the Woodshop, so I had a fear that everyone had the same idea for BBQ that J and I did.
We found a parking spot about a block from the Union Woodshop on Washington Street. We made the walk back to the restaurant and saw people sitting outside with buzzers in their hands. Crap…we really didn’t want to wait.
J made her way in to the shop and found the hostess station right up front. She was told the wait would probably be an hour and fifteen minutes. With a 20 month old, there was no way we could do that.
Dejected, we started walking back to the car and J asked if they did carry-out. I had no idea, so we looked up a phone number and called. The bartender that answered the said they did and the wait would be less than a half hour. Read more…
Fox Theatre – Detroit
2211 Woodward Avenue- Detroit, MI 48201
- (313) 471-3200
- Website
Two years ago, you never would have convinced me that I’d be going to see a concert that involved four Australians singing children’s songs. They’re not kidding when they say “Everything changes.”
About a year ago, J accidentally stumbled upon The Wiggles on a Saturday morning when she just turned the TV on for noise. L loved it from the get-go and it immediately became her favorite thing to watch. One of the first things she was able to communicate to us was that she wanted Wiggles. She would shake her hands just like they do and make a grunt that sort of sounded like “Wiggle.” It’s evolved now in to “party” because we have WIggle Dance Parties with her in the living room. J and I keep joking we’re “Sweatin’ To The Wiggles” we do it so often.
Earlier this year, the group was reformed with three new cast members as three of the originals retired. The new group launched an Australian tour in the spring and we waited patiently for the announcement of a US/Canada so we could take L.
In May, they finally announced that tour and somehow we got lucky. The show in Detroit was on a Sunday…my day off. We could take L there and not have to burn any vacation days…we gladly would have, but this worked out well.
The show was this past Sunday at The Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. I was excited because I couldn’t wait to see L’s face light up but also because I’ve been wanting to check out the theater itself. I’ve always heard it was a really neat place and I love that we were going to get to experience it in person. Read more…
Hockeytown Cafe
2301 Woodward AvenueThis is a day we’ve been looking forward to all summer. L somehow became a huge fan of The Wiggles and has enjoyed WIggly Dance Parties in our living since she’s learned how to walk. Last Spring, The Wiggles announced a North American Tour with a stop in Detroit. Of course, we snatched up tickets as soon as they went on sale.
We made it to Detroit about an hour before the show started at the Fox Theatre. It was easiest to just park in the Fox Theatre ramp because there was also a Tigers game going on at the same time. Once parked, we walked around front to Woodward and decided we should probably eat before the show.
Out of convenience, we chose Hockeytown Cafe right on the corner of Woodward and Montcalm Street. The building is connected to the parking ramp and right across Montcalm Street from the Fox Theatre. It’s actually owned by Olympia Entertainment which also owns the theater.
As you would assume from the name, Hockeytown is a large sports bar. It’s location right near both Comerica Park and Ford Field draws big crowds before and after games. The Tigers game was already in progress when we got there, so we didn’t run in to much of a sports crowd. Nope. We ran in to a children’s band crowd.
The three level sports bar is covered with LCD TV’s and hockey memorabilia. There’s a lot of red and white in the decor but they do have hockey items from other teams in the form of autographed jersey’s and the like. Read more…
Boston Square Fried Chicken
1559 Kalamazoo Avenue SE- Grand Rapids, MI 49507
- (616) 248-0285
- No Known Website
- Menu
I always like finding new chicken places, so when I saw a place go in to an abandoned building a few months ago in Grand Rapids’ Boston Square, I knew I’d be back someday.
It took me longer than I wanted to to finally get there, but Boston Square Fried Chicken sits on the weird corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Boston Street. The building sits back off the road a little bit, but there’s no parking in front. There appeared to be a lot in the back, but I just pulled up next to the curb on Boston Street which is the closest place I could see to the front.
The small restaurant is mostly kitchen. There are two tables that each have a booth type seat next to them, but I would venture to guess almost all of the business is done via carry out.
I went to the cash register and the lone employee came up from around the fryer to take my order. He had the radio up pretty loud, so he had a hard time hearing my order for #2 on the menu.
The meal consisted of five pieces of fried chicken, fries, and a Pepsi. The cost was just a little under eight bucks and the cook told me it would be about ten minutes. It didn’t take nearly that long. It was less than five minutes before I was handed a plastic bag with deep fried chicken. Read more…
Twisted Tail
Various Locations (Food Truck)- Battle Creek, MI 49017
- (269) 963-9690
- Website
- Sample Menu
More food trucks rolling in to Kalamazoo. There’s no way that can be a bad thing. The funny thing about this one is that it’s home base is Battle Creek which is in the midst of fighting over food trucks at the City Commission level. I’ll just go ahead and stay out that conversation…because, you know…Battle Creek is like the first city that has tried to do this or something.
Anyway, yesterday I saw a tweet from Arcadia Ales announcing their new food truck would be at the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market this weekend. I pointed it out to J and she made sure to wake me up so we could get to the Farmers’ Market before all the good food was gone.
The Twisted Tail made it’s debut at the Farmers’ Market this weekend. The trailer from Arcadia Ales specializes in “smoked meats, handcrafted sausages, and farm fresh meats in distinctive BBQ flavors.” J and I both took that to mean BBQ and we love Arcadia’s BBQ, so we couldn’t get to Bank Street fast enough.
We found the truck parked right out in front of the Market on Bank Street. We walked around to the front and were a little taken aback by the menu. It’s not the kind of BBQ we were expecting. It’s not really BBQ at all. There were three items on the menu which was written on the side of the truck. We kind of looked at each other for a minute seeing if there was something each of us wanted to try. After a few seconds we decided to give it a go and never looked back. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 