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…
Wingz It Iz
1257 W. 12th StreetFour years ago, I somehow found the most amazing wing place in the world. For my bachelor party, we picked up 100 wings from Wings Around the World in Chicago’s Grand Crossing Neighborhood. Those things were amazing.
Since that afternoon in September, my dad, brother, and my best friend from high school have sort of started a tradition of getting together once a year for a White Sox game preceded by tailgating and wings.
That trip was this past weekend this year and a few weeks ago, I happened to notice that Wings Around the World had closed. I Googled in vain trying to find out if they just closed or moved somewhere else.
The closing was a huge disappointment, but we were determined to continue on the tradition and I started looking for new wing places on the south side of Chicago.
I found all sorts of wing places but I couldn’t find any that offered a bulk order. We usually order a whole pan full and then just go to town in the parking lot of U.S. Cellular Field.
After several days of searching, I finally stumbled upon a place not too far out of our way.
Our replacement for Wings Around the World was Wingz It Iz in Calumet Park. The small, carry-out only restaurant is on 127th Street about half a mile east of I-57. Read more…
Baskin-Robbins – S. Cicero, Oak Lawn, IL
10801 S. Cicero AvenueThis is one of my favorite weekends of the year. It’s the weekend of our annual baseball trip. My best friend from childhood, my dad, and my brother do a lot of tailgating in the parking lot of U. S. Cellular Field then enjoy some good ol’ southside baseball.
Even though she doesn’t get to go, J always comes home with me and spends the night hanging out with her high school friends and her parents. Usually we do this trip in September, but the weekend that worked for us this year was at the end of June….which is always my Mother-In-Laws birthday.
J had thought about ordering some cupcakes from the Cupcake Zoo, but things don’t always travel well with us. We decided to hit up a Baskin-Robbins on the way home and bring ice cream cake instead.
Baskin Robbins is a Massachusetts based global ice cream parlor. The name is very familiar in Chicago and you can find shops all over the place. They’re not as popular in Michigan with the only shop within 50 miles of Kalamazoo being in St. Joseph. Recently, they’ve been teaming up with Dunkin Donuts stores so you can get coffee, donuts, and ice cream all in the same place. Read more…
Zoup! Fresh Soup Company – Cascade Road
4021 Cascade Road SEA co-worker and I were out on Cascade Road when she said she was hungry. Huh. What a coincidence…so was I. We didn’t want to go to far and the only thing I really knew of was sandwich places. She chose Jimmy Johns which is one of my least favorite food choices, but I figured I’d drop her off and walk to a Quiznos in the same parking lot.
As I was walking towards that Quiznos, I noticed another place I’ve been wanting to try for a long time, but always seem to forget about.
Zoup! is a regional chain with three Grand Rapids area locations. Overall, there are fifteen locations in the state of Michigan.
The Zoup! I happened upon is the store on Cascasde Road just off the I-96 interchange. There’s a small shopping center on the west side of the road and Zoup! takes up a corner storefront.
The restaurant specializes in soups, sandwiches, and salads. The order set up is sort of like a fast food joint. There is an area near the cash register which shows off their soup selection which changes daily and varies by store. The sandwiches are made on a counter behind the soups and the salads appeared to be pre-packaged.
I’m not a s0up person and it seems too hot for soup anyway. I found a coupe sandwiches on the menu board that sounded good to me, but I decided to go with the half Southwest Turkey and a half Chicken Caesar Salad. Wait. Did you read that right? Did I misspell burger S-A-L-A-D? Nope. Not a typo. I ordered a salad. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 