Press Release – Farm To Fork Dinner Series
From a Promote Michigan press release…..
FIVE TOP CHEFS TEAM UP FOR HARVEST DINNER – BENEFITTING FAIR FOOD MATTERS, KALAMAZOO
(KALAMAZOO, Mich) – Five of the region’s top chefs will team up on Sunday, August 25 (6-8pm) for a Harvest Dinner at Carlson’s Farm in Lawton – a culinary experience benefiting Kalamazoo’s Fair Food Matters. The unique farm-side dinner is being coordinated by Food Dance, West Michigan’s premier locally-focused eatery.
Exectutive Chef Robb Hammond – who has been with Food Dance for five years – has invited four of his colleagues to join him in this one-of-a-kind, on-the-farm five-course dinner, celebrating the best of the season’s offerings. These chefs include the James Beard nominated Chef Matthew Millar from Fennville; Chef Matthew Pietsch of Salt of the Earth in Fennville, Chef Matt Green of Reserve Wine & Food in Grand Rapids; and Chef Chad Miller of Soe Café in Sawyer.
Food Dance has been a long time supporter and promoter of Fair Food Matters and its various initiatives. Dinners such as this support programs that protect the stewardship of our land and strengthen our local economy by educating the next generation about food and where it comes from.
Fair Food Matters exists to improve access to healthy, local food by educating, connecting and empowering the Kalamazoo community. It’s programs include the Can-Do Kitchen (a licensed incubator kitchen facility), Common Ground (a collaborative program supporting community gardens throughout Kalamazoo County), Growing Matters Garden (a children’s educational gardening project), Douglass Farmers’ Market (featuring local producers on the north side of town) and Southwest Michigan Community Harvest Fest (celebrating local food, local farming and sustainable living with speakers, music and more).
The cost for the Harvest Dinner, including entertainment by local musicians Paul Hoffman and Joshua Davis, is $75 per person (plus tax/gratuity). Space is limited to 100 and reservations are required by calling 269-382-1888.
Other upcoming dinners in the 2013 Farm to Fork series include:
KIRKLIN FARMS … HEIRLOOM TOMATO DINNER — Thurs., Sept. 5 • 6-8pm
Celebrate tomato season with a five-course tomato dinner featuring Kirklin Farms. Seem a bit over the top? Not when you consider the flavors and versatility of thousands of varieties of tomatoes. You’ll never think of them as just plain ol’ sliced fruit again. $55 per person
COOKING CLASS – PRESERVING THE HARVEST — Wed., Sept. 18 • 6-8pm
Useful Kitchen Skills, not just recipes! Come learn how to preserve the flavors of the harvest for months to come. In this class you will learn techniques of preserving food with modern flavors. $65 per person
3-DAIRY DINNER — Thurs., Oct. 17 • 6-8pm
October is National Cheese Month. Celebrate with us at this special dinner featuring three local artisan cheese makers. Chef Robb will create four courses with Evergreen Lane Creamery, Zingerman’s Creamery and another creamery, TBA. $55 per person
To make reservations for any of the Food Dance dinners, classes or events, call 269-382-1888.
Food Dance creates opportunities for people to come together and connect through the experience of food. We passionately cook with the freshest locally produced ingredients and believe in giving great, caring service, and providing great experiences for everyone we come in contact with.
Latitude 42 Brewing Company
7842 Portage RoadBuzz is everything. For several months now, J and I have been following the progress of a new brewery as they built their tap room and hyped up their beer. By the time they actually opened for business, J and I couldn’t get there fast enough.
Opening day for Latitude 42 Brewing Company was last Monday. The areas newest brewery is on Portage Road just north of Centre Street in Portage. The restaurant/brewery is a brand new building built from the ground up.
As soon as J got off work, we got L packed up and headed out the door. A couple of J’s co-workers were going to lunch anyway and when J told them where we were going, we all decided to meet.
J’s co-workers beat us to the brewery and tried to get a table. When they told the hostess we had a baby, we were told there was going to be a little bit of a wait. By the time J and I got there, they decided to ask if we would mind one of their big tables. We said it didn’t matter, but on the way back to the table, J pointed out a four top in the corner and asked if we could take that one. It didn’t bother us to squeeze L in between the two of us so that’s what we did.
The dining room is pretty wide open at Latitude 42. There’s a nice, big 360 degree bar in the middle and some pub tables in the empty space around the bar. The rest of the building is set up a little more family style with regular sized tables. The thing i noticed is that they probably could have squeezed at least a half dozen more tables in the space, but I like that they didn’t. You don’t feel like the table next to you is right on top of you.
The really cool feature, for parents anyway, is a little play area for the kids in the back corner of the restaurant. We were actually seated at the table right next to it and L took off when she saw the blocks and the chalkboard to play with. Read more…
Stokes Homestead Farm Market
13988 County Road 215J and I are always looking for new experiences with L and berry picking is one we haven’t tried yet. One of J’s friends has a little one a few months older than L and they had been looking for a play date opportunity for a couple weeks. J and I had already talked about going berry picking this past weekend, so J asked the other family if they’d like to meet us there. They were up to it so we made the play date.
The farm that we picked was Stokes Homestead Farm Market outside of Grand Junction. We chose this farm for a couple of reasons. They have U-Pick, they have a cafe that serves lunch, and J knows one of the owners daughters and has heard good things through the grapevine.
Stokes Homestead is on the corner of 14th Avenue and 54th Street south of Grand Junction proper. The farms has been there since the 70’s, but the new Homestead Farm Market is only a couple years old.
The large building has a large gravel parking lot in front of it. J, L and I got there first and played outside a little bit waiting for our friends. Once they showed up, we went inside the building and were really surprised with what we found.
The Farm Market takes up the front of the building and it’s filled with locally grown and locally made products. The back of the Farm Market is where the cafe is.
Hazel’s Kitchen has the feeling of an old country restaurant although it’s pretty new. They have a small lunch menu of wraps, sandwiches, and salads all made with using farm fresh ingredients. There’s also a breakfast menu and a bakery menu which includes soft serve ice cream and Old Fashioned Fudge. Read more…
Mr. Pizza
553 Michigan Street NESlow Saturday nights. Love ’em at work. When there’s not much going on, there’s an opportunity for dinner. It’s the one night a week I MAY get an actual dinner break like normal folk.
For a couple years now, I’ve been driving by a pizza place on Michigan Street just to the east of College Avenue. I really can’t give you a good reason why I’ve never ordered from there, but I haven’t.
Last week, I noticed an ad on Urbanspoon for a pizza place with online ordering. I thought the name looked familiar so I clicked on.
The link took me to Mr. Pizza’s webpage. Sure enough, it was that pizza place I have passed hundreds of times and never ordered from….and since they have online ordering, you know I’m going to fit it in my rotation.
The first thing I noticed when I clicked on to the webpage was the specials. I usually just order a large pepperoni pizza to play it safe when I’ve never been to a place before. I didn’t stray far, but the special was a 12″ two topping with an order of cheesy bread. I chose pepperoni and bacon as my two toppings and got a thin crust with a garlic butter Parmesan crust.
I paid online with my credit card and received a confirmation that the pizza would be ready in about 25 minutes. The restaurant is only about five minutes away so I got there a little early. I was told my pizza was just about out so I took a seat in the small dining room filled with patio furniture. The tables and chairs are all those metal deals that you put outside because they won’t rust. Kind of an odd choice for an indoor dining room, but fairly comfortable if you’re dining in. Read more…
Taco Bob’s – Downtown
300 S. Kalamazoo MallJ had the idea to get up on Saturday morning and head to Bronson Park for The BIg Latch On. I’ve made it no secret that I like my sleep on Saturday morning, but I also love spending time with my family, so I got up to go with them.
After the event was over, L wanted to play in the park for a little while and run around with the other kids. In the almost four years I’ve been in Kalamazoo, I don’t think I’ve spent any significant time at Bronson Park and I was just kinda noticing some of the beautiful buildings surrounding the green space that make it a pretty neat feature in downtown.
Once we had enough running around, J wanted to make a quick stop at Gazelle Sports to pick up some new running shoes. Turns out, I did most of the running as L didn’t get all of her energy out at the park and wanted to run around the store while Mommy was trying on shoes.
J found a pair she liked and we started to head back towards the car which was parked near Farmers Alley Theatre. On the way, J asked if I wanted to stop at Taco Bob’s for lunch. It was on the way and quick which worked out great because we had one more event we wanted to stop at.
The Taco Bob’s downtown location is on the Kalamazoo Mall in what I’m told is the old Blimpy’s building right next to the ??? right near the corner with South Street. The two story building is surprising big once you get inside. We weren’t really sure if we’d be able to eat there or not, but seeing two surprisingly big dining rooms was a pleasant surprise. Read more…
The Crew Family Restaurant and Bakery
3810 E. Cork StreetIt’s been quite a while since J and I have went out for breakfast on a Sunday morning. She’s been letting me sleep in a little longer since L has been a better sleeper recently, so by the time I crawl out of bed, it’s closer to lunch time than breakfast.
That was the case again this past Sunday, but J wanted to go for a family walk. We debated between the Kal-Haven Trail and and Celery Flats. We ended up deciding on Portage because the trail is paved and would be easier to push a stroller.
I sort of bargained a little bit with J before going for a walk. It was a little rainy anyway, so I suggested going out to eat first. I’ve been wanting to go to the old Perkins restaurant since they reopened a month or so ago and it was sort of on the way to Celery Flats.
After the Perkins Family Restaurant closed down a few years ago, the employees went their separate ways, but they stayed in touch and eventually, a group of them decided to, to steal a phrase from my favorite movie, “get the band back together.” They reopened the old Perkins as The Crew Family Restaurant and Bakery.
The Crew sits on the corner of Cork and Sprinkle in Kalamazoo’s Milwood Neighborhood. J and I only went to Perkins once…on Christmas Day in 2010. We were really happy to find the restaurant open that day and from what I can remember about our only previous trip, The Crew isn’t a whole lot different.
The restaurant is pretty large and the parking lot was pretty full just before noon on a Sunday. The entrance leads to a counter with a hostess stand and a display case of pies. We did our best to ignore the sweets and let the hostess take us to a booth in the back of the restaurant near the private party room. Read more…
241 W. Fulton StreetSaturday’s are usually my night to actually get a full dinner break. Not always, but more often than not, Saturday night is the one night a week I get an actual dinner break. Not a eating a sandwich while driving dinner break, but one that would actually qualify as a dinner break in any other industry.
One of my co-workers asked if I would cover the last half hour of his shift. I didn’t have a problem with it, but I wanted to pick up something to eat first, so at about 5:30, I started looking for something to order that I could pick up quickly and get back to the shop.
My selection was Bagger Dave’s Legendary Burger Tavern. The small Michigan chain has opened a few stores in West Michigan in the last year including one in downtown Grand Rapids not far from where I work.
The downtown location of Bagger Dave’s is on Fulton Street just before the Grand River bridge in the Plaza Towers. There is a small surface lot with a gate between the building and the river, but on Saturday night, the arm was up and there was no charge for parking while I stopped to pick up my meal.
I really like Bagger Dave’s because they do online ordering. I was able to put my order in while I was working and set the pick up time and when I got to the restaurant, my bag of deliciousness was waiting for me.
My order consisted of a Create-Your-Own burger and a single order of fries. Last time I got the double order and that was way too much for me. The cost was a little over $12, so not cheap, but I wasn’t expecting cheap. Read more…
Panera Bread – Oshtemo Twp.
5119 W. Main StreetWell, this is embarrassing. I just realized that I’ve never blogged about a restaurant that I eat at often close to home.
J and I took L downtown again this morning to the Epic Theater for another installment of the Fontana Chamber Arts Crybaby Concert series. Afterwards, we wanted to pick something up for lunch and I started driving down West Main back towards Oshtemo. J asked if Panera would work. Of course it would work.
The Panera Bread in Oshtemo Township is right near the intersection of West Main and Drake in front of the Kohls. I really, really hate the parking lot at this particular cluster of shopping centers. The easiest way to get in to the Panera is to stay on West Main and go in through the Shell gas station. That stupid freaking corner shopping center that isn’t quite connected to the rest of parking lot complicates things.
Surprisingly, the parking lot was not packed even though it was right around noon. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Panera Bread anywhere that didn’t have a line almost out the door. There was only two people in front of us when we got in line.
J and I pretty much always stick to the same thing whenever we go to Panera, but I still took time to look over the menu. They keep adding interesting items to the menu and I always consider trying something different, but I really like my go-to sandwich. Read more…
The Coop
1801 S. Westnedge AvenueSo, this was odd. I actually got to work two days this week in Kalamazoo. Not go to Grand Rapids, back to Kalamazoo, back to Grand Rapids, back to Kalamazoo, but actually starting and ending my shift in Kalamazoo.
The second night, I was hungry. I didn’t really get a lunch break. Late night options are pretty much limited to fast food burgers, but a few weeks ago, I was driving down South Westnedge and noticed a sign that would save me from another midnight greasy burger.
The Coop should be pretty familiar to Kalamazoo residents. It used to be known as The Chicken Coop, but they seem to have dropped that franchise and are going at it on their own with the streamlined name. Even as the Chicken Coop, I always thought this location was far and away better than any of the other locations. Their chicken tasted nothing like the other locations and that was a good thing.
The Coop is on South Westnedge right across the street from the Hardings on Howard Street. Other than the name, it didn’t look like a whole lot had changed.
I pulled up to the drive up window just before midnight on Thursday. They’re now open until 3 AM Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I’ve been complaining since I got here that Kalamazoo needs more late night options, so I was happy to see The Coop staying open late for the second shifters…even if it is only a couple nights a week. Read more…
DuPage Children’s Museum
301 N. Washington Street- Naperville, IL 60540
- (630) 637-8000
- Website
One more day in the Chicago area. J had Tuesday off, so we decided to just make the trip back to Michigan Tuesday morning since I didn’t have to be to work until second shift.
Since we were spending an extra day in Chicagoland, we needed to find something to do. We have been wanting to check out the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn, but they’re closed on Monday, so that was out.
J needed to make a run to Oak Brook to pick up some makeup at Mac Cosmetics inside the Oakbrook Center. At that point, we were already half way to Naperville, so decided to hit up the children’s museum there.
The DuPage Children’s Museum is on Washington Street just to the north of Downtown Naperville. The parking lot is actually shared with the Amtrak/Metra station across the street. Part of the parking lot is numbered for pay parking while the majority of it is not an intended for the use of museum patrons.
Even from the outside, you can see the museum is huge. We were really surprised at just how many cars there were in the parking lot on a Monday afternoon, but once inside, it didn’t seem nearly as crowded as we thought it was going to be.
Admission to the museum is $9.50 per person over the age of one with those over 60 getting a $1 discount. The four of us cost $37 for a day of fun. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 