White Castle – Joliet
1803 W. Jefferson Street- Joliet, IL 60435
- (815) 725-1310
- Website
- Menu
I just wasn’t ready for the night to be over. J and I headed back to the hotel pretty early after the wedding reception at The Grand Ballroom at Joliet Union Station. She was exhausted and ready for bed. L was actually with my parents in a room down the hall, unbeknownst to us, fast asleep. J wanted me to go get her and bring her back to our room, but I was hungry. I decided to go grab something to eat before getting L from Grandma and Papa.
I spent my college years in Joliet, so I kind of wanted to look around a little while we were there. It’s been eleven years since I graduated from college and there’s not much in Joliet that looks familiar to me. The one thing that did look familiar was the corner of Larkin and Jefferson Streets.
I know there are a lot of you shaking your heads right now knowing about my hatred of onions. I have to admit, I’m a little surprised myself. I was starting to get tired and I didn’t want to go to a bar by myself, so I gave in and went with the slider.
The Joliet location of the Ohio based fast food franchise. Growing up, and even when I lived in Peoria, this location in Joliet was the furthest south in Chicagoland. A lot of my friends used to make road trips (a la Harold and Kumar minus the weed) just to pick up a huge pack of sliders.
To be completely honest, I’m not sure I’ve actually ever been inside a White Castle before. The few times I have been, I usually went through the drive through. I don’t know if all White Castle’s are like this, but the set up seemed somewhat odd. Read more…
The Grand Ballroom At Joliet Union Station
50 E. Jefferson StreetIt’s been a long time since I’ve been to Joliet. I actually spent four years there in college. I chose to attend the University of St. Francis due to the prospect of getting to play college baseball. I played a year and a half before finding out I wasn’t good enough then, just being lazy, decided to finish my degree there instead of transferring to a larger university.
This past weekend, J, L, and I returned to Joliet for a wedding. I was looking forward to it because it was at a really neat venue downtown and I was hoping to take a little time to snap some pictures of L at this gorgeous backdrop.
The Grand Ballroom at Joliet Union Station is part of the 100 year old train hub that serves Will County. The two story building leads up to two train platforms. One platform is for Amtrak. The other is for the Rock Island Line of the Metra. Sounds like an odd place to have a wedding, but they actually have an enclosed ballroom on the second floor just a few steps from the platforms.
The ballroom was designed as part of the original structure in 1912. The classic architecture building was designed by Jarvis Hunt and features huge, 24′ palladium windows, a large balcony overlooking downtown Joliet, and crystal chandeliers. While the rest of the train station is not air conditioned, the ballroom is. Still, the room can get pretty warm because those huge windows face the west and the sun shines right in to the ballroom as it’s setting.
Technically, they claim the ballroom has enough room for 350 people. That may be the fire code number, but I would argue that’s way too many. The wedding we were at had approximately 300 and that was way too many. It was a little hard to move around freely with that many people in the space along with the tables and come dance time, there was just no room. The small dance floor was nowhere near enough space and people started spilling over into the tables. The unfortunate thing is there’s really no space outside of the ballroom to congregate. The balcony was used for smoking plus the sun was beating right down on it so it could be a little uncomfortable until the sun set and the space outside of the ballroom is not air conditioned. Read more…
Ranch House Ribs
23090 M-140- South Haven, MI 49090
- (269) 637-3589
- No Known Website
- Menu
How unfortunate is this? My brother and his family are in Covert this weekend camping at the KOA Campground just south of town. J and I have a wedding in Chicago. There just isn’t a way for all of us to get together for an afternoon and hang out while they’re in our neck of the woods.
Not wanting to pass up this opportunity, I decided to get my butt out of bed Friday morning and take L over to Covert to see her cousins. J was at work and couldn’t join us, but I’d at least to get to hang with my nieces for a little bit and L loves running after the older girls.
We hung out at the campground for a while then went in to South Haven to spend the rest of the morning at the beach before I had to head back to Kalamazoo and eventually Grand Rapids for work.
On our way in to town, we passed a little BBQ joint that I have been wanting to get to for a long time. I saw on their sign that they opened at noon, so I intentionally timed it so L and I could pull back in just as they were open….and my plan actually worked.
Ranch House Ribs is a very tiny, sort of run down looking shack on M-140 between South Haven and Covert in South Haven Charter Township. My brothers in-laws said they had actually drove by it last time they were in town and didn’t realize the place was even still open until I suggested they pick up BBQ the next time they were in town and tell me how it is.
On Thursday, before my brother and his family made it, his in-laws went to pick up dinner so it’d be there waiting for them. They told me by four o’clock, there was already short supply of some of the favorites, but they were still able to get samples of almost everything on the menu before deciding on picking up a big pan of spare ribs, rib tips, and BBQ chicken for dinner at the campground. As I soon as I got tot he campground Friday morning, they couldn’t wait to tell me how great it was and how grateful they were I pointed the place out to them. Read more…
Dogs With Style
410 S. Burdick StreetHas anyone else noticed how hot it is this week? No? It’s just me? OK…sure. Anywho, I wanted to get out of the house and do something with L in the morning, but there’s really not a lot of places to take here where we can cool off.
My idea was the fountain at Arcadia Creek Festival Place, but when we got down there, it wasn’t on. I saw a post near the fountain and wondered if that was a switch to turn it on. It was, but when I pushed the button, nothing happened. The fountain never turned on, so I was out of luck.
We couldn’t splash in the water, but I figured we could pick up lunch while downtown. My first plan was to finally check out K Street Eatery on the Kalamazoo, but I believe that little take out window may have closed. There is still signage in the window and I was there during a time they were supposed to be open, but the place was dark.
Luckily, I passed a place just down the street last Saturday on our way to the Epic Theatre. Again, I had to park down the street from my destination on the mall, so again, I walked right passed it on my way back to my car.
Dogs With Style is a very small hot dog shop on South Burdick just south of the Kalamazoo Mall in the State Theater building. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t like hot dogs. I know, I’ll say it again, I’m weird. Who doesn’t like hot dogs? Read more…
Epic Theatre
359 S. Kalamazoo Mall- Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- (269) 342-5059
- Website
L loves to dance. We watch a lot of The Wiggles at home and she’s starting to pick up on some of the dances they do. We have tickets to their show in September at the Fox Theater in Detroit and can not wait to see how she reacts once she sees her favorite characters live.
While hoping she will get up and dance in the aisles, we really don’t know how she will react. She’s never been around large crowds and never watched any kind of show live.
To test things out, J got the idea from one of her friends to take L to a Crybaby Concert here in town. It gave us the perfect chance to see how L would react to live music.
The Crybaby Concert Series is put on by the Fontana Chamber Arts three weekends this summer. The first concert was this past Saturday downtown at the Epic Theatre.
The Epic Theatre is on the second floor of the Epic Center on the Kalamazoo Mall in the heart of downtown. Neither of us really knew where the theater was, but we sort of followed the parade of strollers after finding a parking spot about a block away on Burdick Street. Read more…
Sweet Mellisa’s
2404 Eastern Avenue SEIce cream for dinner. As a society, we don’t do that near enough, so when a co-worker suggested it for dinner Friday night, how could I say no?
I let her pick the place because she knows Grand Rapids better than I do. Without hesitation, she suggested a place in Alger Heights.
Sweet Mellisa’s started life as a cupcake business with no store front. Last summer, that changed as Sweet Mellisa’s opened up a walk up window near the corner of Eastern Avenue SE and Alger Street SE.
The area where the little cafe opened is the commercial anchor of the Alger Heights neighborhood. Parking is along the street where you can find it. We found a spot just down the block on the opposite of the street and walked back to Alger Street to make our way to deliciousness.
The original business was cupcakes and, according to an article in The Rapidian, the owner decided nothing goes better with cupcakes than ice cream. Read more…
Fox’s Pizza Den – Battle Creek
12898 Beadle Lake RoadThe best thing about a membership to Binder Park Zoo, is going to the zoo. J and I decided to buy a membership this year in hopes that it would force us to be less lazy and take L more often.
I had a little bit different of a schedule this week. I had to work Sunday which gave me Tuesday off instead. J texted me from work and asked if I wanted to go to the zoo. Yup. Sure did.
On our way to Binder Park, we started talking about post zoo trip dinner plans. We usually find a pizza place somewhere in town and take it home. As we were passing the intersection of Beadle Lake and B Drive North, we passed a pizza joint. I made a mental and on the tram to “Africa,” I looked up a website to call in an order.
Fox’s Pizza Den is a national chain with over 300 locations in 28 states. Of those 300 locations, only one is in Michigan. The Emmett Township location in a small strip mall across the street from Harper Creek High School.
As J was strapping L back in to her car seat in the parking lot at the zoo, I pulled out my cell phone to call Fox’s. I had looked through the menu and knew exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, I was put on hold for several minutes…almost to the point I was ready to hang up and go for tacos instead.
I ended up sticking it out and putting in an order for the Big Daddy which is a rectangle 21-cut pizza. I got pepperoni on half and just plain cheese on half for J. I was told it would be about 25-30 minutes. That kind of sucked because we were literally less than five minutes away. Read more…
Apple Knockers Ice Cream Parlor
115 W. Prairie StreetI’ve said it many times in the past, the best way to find great restaurants is from friend recommendations. For several weeks now, J has been bringing up an ice cream parlor in Vicksburg that has come very highly recommended. Hell, MLive called it the third best ice cream joints in the state.
The problem is, we don’t usually have business in Vicksburg, so any trip to Vicksburg is a special trip just to eat. This past Monday, we had nothing else going on and J really wanted to try it out.
Appple Knockers Ice Cream Parlor is on W. Prairie Street in Downtown Vicksburg. It shares a parking lot with a small pharmacy just outside of the main drag. The building itself is tiny which is pretty common for great ice cream joints. There’s only room for two tables in a very small dining room inside, but there is a counter with chairs looking out over Prairie Street as well as some tables outside on a patio.
While ice cream was the main reason we drove to Vicksburg, we also saved this as lunch stop as well. The menu is pretty simple with fresh hamburgers, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and authentic Pasties among other things.
I decided to start with the 1/2 lb. Vicksburger. This fresh meat hamburger comes with choice of toppings on a bakery soft bun. I stuck to just a plain cheeseburger which came topped with what J and I lovingly refer to as “sprinkle cheese.” I didn’t have high expectations for a burger from an ice cream place, but the fact they used fresh meat made for a favorable first impression.
To compliment my my sandwich, I also got an order of waffle fries which come with a small container of “fry sauce.” Before eating at Apple Knockers, J was beginning to wonder if they fry sauce she loved while living out west was really just something that tasted better in her imagination. The few places that have attempted this very regional dipping sauce made of a mixture of mayo and ketchup in Southwest Michigan always disappoints. J said Apple Knockers fry sauce was dead on. We had a couple extra containers with our meals because I don’t eat it and J actually contemplated bringing them home they were so good. Read more…
Pig Out Take Out BBQ
Corner of Drake Road and Stadium Drive (Food Truck)There are two things Kalamazoo can never have too much of. BBQ and food trucks.
On Monday, J sent me a link from a story in the Gazette about a new food truck that opened up right near our house on the Kalamazoo/Oshtemo line. Somehow, neither one of us had failed to drive down Drake Road in the week it had been open, but she sent the story with the word “lunch?” and all I had to say was, “yes.”
Pig Out Take Out BBQ has set up shop in the parking lot of the old K-Mart on the corner of Drake Road and Stadium drive in Kalamazoo just north off the Kalsee Credit Union. As you drive on Drake, the truck is hard to miss. It’s a brightly colored van that stands out in the abandoned parking lot where K-Mart used to be.
The menu is pretty small focusing on sandwiches and sides. There was a couple in front of us when we got there, but we really didn’t need the time to look over the menu. We both zeroed in on something right away. Read more…
Horse Thief Hollow Brewing Company
10426 S. Western AvenueOne more meal on our short trip home and of course, I’m going to pick a brewery.
Saturday night, J, L and I spent the evening with one of J’s friends from high school. They have a four-year-old L and play with and her husband is a craft beer guy. He has “stashes” all throughout his house that he cellars some beers and stockpiles some for trades. Lucky for me, I sort of talked him in to sharing a Heady Topper with me and I shared a Kalamazoo IPA with him. Win-win in my book.
During the course of the evening, he asked me if I had been to a fairly new brewery in Beverly. I had heard of it, but never been there. My in-laws had and when I suggested it for lunch on Sunday afternoon before driving back to Kalamazoo, no one had any objections.
Horse Thief Hollow is on Western Avenue between 104th and 105th Streets in Chicago’s Beverly Neighborhood. The brewery is a store front on a very busy street so parking can be a little tough during peak hours, but we were lucky enough to be there on a slow Sunday afternoon. There was parking available in a small lot right next to the building.
There’s an interesting story on the website about how the brewery took it’s name. Apparently, that part of Chicago was sort of the center of a black market for horses back in the 1850’s.
The building Horse Thief Hollow now occupies, I’m told, used to be a carpet store, so it was a complete redesign when they moved in. The large, open space sports a large bar with several taps of in house brewed beers as well as several regional craft brews.
Right inside the door is a hostess station. We were met right away and shown to a table in the back of the space near the kitchen and fermentation tanks that are out in the open. We all took turns looking over the beer menu while our waitress grabbed a high chair for L.
As is the case many times at small breweries on Sunday, they were out of quite a bit of stuff. I originally asked for the Annexation Ale (IPA), but was told they were out. I ordered the 6410. Untappd calls it an American Pale Wheat Ale. I believe their menu called it a hefeweizen. Whatever you want to call it, it was pretty tasty. Light, crisp, and refreshing. Not too hoppy, but it did pack a lot of flavor. My Mother-In-Law also ordered this beer. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 