Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
Bell’s has changed the way their cafe is operated. Please check out the most recent blog post.
355 E. Kalamazoo AvenueWhen J and I first moved to Kalamazoo in 2009, one of the first restaurants we went to was Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. At that time, I really hadn’t gotten in to craft beer yet. We loved brewpub’s for the food and while we liked Bell’s, we weren’t blown away by the food.
Since that time, Bell’s has drastically redesigned the Eccentric Cafe and upgraded the menu quite a bit. With a little one, we don’t have a lot of time to just hang out and drink like we did in the pre-baby days. We’ve been saying for months we need to go back to Bell’s.
Bell’s Eccentric Cafe is on Kalamazoo Avenue behind the General Store at the site of the original Bell’s Brewery. The small parking lot and entrance to the cafe is actually on Porter Street. The redesigned cafe actually gives you a choice when you walk in the door. To the right is a great outdoor patio area. To the left is the original part of the Cafe with a slight redesign.
On our first trip to Bell’s, we were really confused about how to order. It took a good ten minutes before we figured out there was no table service. That hasn’t changed, but now, you walk right by the kitchen on your way in whereas before, you wouldn’t have passed it. Read more…
Voting For Beer City USA Starts Today
After a write in campaign, Kalamazoo is in the finals for the Beer City USA title. Ann Arbor and last year’s co-champion Grand Rapids are also in the running.
There’s a kick off part tonight at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe at 5:00 and the voting opens today and runs through 11:59 Friday (Mountain Time….so, 1:59 AM Saturday here in the East). The winner will be announced May 13 at 2 PM
Kalamazoo’s beer drinkers have organized a website at http://www.votekalamazoo.com as well as a Twitter account
VOTE IN THE BEER CITY USA POLL HERE
#Beer4Kzoo
Panera Bread – Gull Road
5627 Gull RoadSaturday is swimming lessons day. L loves the water and we decided that we should get her used to the water as soon as we can. We actually started swimming lessons at Borgess Health and Fitness last fall when she turned eight months old. We skipped the next session but then decided to put her back in this spring. J mentioned to a friend of hers that we were doing it so said friend signed up as well. After the most recent session, friend asked if we would like to take the kids out to lunch. Like I’ve said many times, I never turn down lunch.
The restaurant of choice today happened to be a chain J and I are familiar with. It’s our go to when we don’t want a burger.
The Panera Bread on Gull Road is one of three locations in the Kalamazoo area. There’s also one in Portage which is always packed and one on Main Street in Oshtemo.
The Comstock location is a little bit smaller than the other two. The dining room is much smaller and the order area is a little more compact. The thing I don’t really like about the Oshtemo location is that the drinks are on one side of the cash register and the food pick up is on the other. At the Comstock location, everything is right there together so if you’re doing carry out, you don’t have to try and guess which is going to be done first.
J’s friend got a table and a couple of high chairs for the girls before we got there, so J got in line to order while I took L and put her in the chair. Something new Panera is doing is kind of a table service when you dine in. It used to be you picked up your own food from the kitchen counter, but now they give you a number and tell you to sit down. Read more…
Mr. Quick Restaurant – Norton Shores
4190 Grand Haven Road #BI’ve spent a lot of time in Muskegon County this week. Unfortunately, I haven’t really had time to explore many of the dining options that I would like to. If I got a lunch break, it was most likely a gas station sandwich (which I ate three times this week).
On Friday night, I actually got a proper dinner break. I could have went anywhere I wanted as I was by myself, but I narrowed it down to three quick service places. A coney dog shop, a drive-in, and a burger joint.
The burger joint ended up winning out because it’s connected to a gas station. I needed gas and a restock on my Pepsi supply for the night. I glanced at the menu board as I was grabbing a pop and I saw everything I needed, so I paid for the pop, moved my truck away from the gas pump and went back inside to order dinner.
Mr. Quick Restaurants is a small Muskegon area chain that specializes in burgers. There are five locations in the area. The spot I ended up stopping at is the Mr. Quick on Grand Haven Road near the corner of Airport Road in Norton Shores. The restaurant shares space with Jack’s Corner Store which is a BP gas station. Read more…
Riviera Maya
5036 S. Westnedge Avenue- Portage, MI 49002
- (269) 382-6901
- No Known Website
- Menu
When J got home from work yesterday, she asked if I wanted to go out for lunch. I never turn down lunch. The other option was a frozen pizza, so I was all for getting out of the house.
Our initial plan was to check out a new place in Oshtemo Township, but we found upon arriving at this new place that they are not open for lunch yet. That’s fine…we’ll try again soon.
As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I mentioned maybe hitting up Burdick’s. I’m always in the mood for Burdick’s, but J said she was thinking Mexican. I asked if she wanted to try out the new Mexican place in Portage. We looked at the clock and I figured we had enough time before I needed to go to work.
Riviera Maya opened within the past month or so in the building near the Speedway near Old Kilgore Road and Westnedge. A lot of things about Riviera Maya will look familiar to most Kalamazoo area residents who enjoy Mexican food. The restaurant is very similar to the Los Amigos restaurants.
We were met by a host who took us to a table in the large open dining room. The dining room has a really nice feel to it. The tables are surrounded by high back wood chairs and dark wood floors. The centerpiece of the restaurant is a large pyramid right near the center with sand surrounding it for the kids to play with.
The large menu is pretty typical for a Mexican bar and grille. J started out with a Mango Margarita while I, since I had to go to work yet, stuck with a Coke. Read more…
Press Release – Fair Food Matters Kitchen Gadget Collection
From a Fair Food Matters press release….
Spring cleaning? We’ll take your kitchen gadgets!
Kalamazoo, MI – April 1, 2013 – Fair Food Matters’ Can-Do Kitchen is collecting kitchen gadgets for sale at its second annual Kitchen Gadget Garage Sale. They are collecting gadgets until Friday, May 17th at the locations listed below (the sale is on Saturday, May 18, from 9am to 1pm at the Can-Do Kitchen). Proceeds from the Gadget Sale support food business incubation programming, which help local start-up food entrepreneurs take their business ideas to reality.
If you have the itch to clean out your cupboards, look no further. You can donate your kitchen utensils, gadgets, tools, and hoozywhatsits to the Can-Do Kitchen and forget about trying to organize that garage sale that never seems to happen. We are accepting everything from antique to funky to gently used or new utensils, bowls, pots, pans, small appliances, cookbooks, dishes and glasses.
We are collecting kitchen gadgets at these locations in marked bins:
1. Can-Do Kitchen, 511 Harrison
2. People’s Food Co-op, 507 Harrison
3. The Mercantile, 3017 Oakland Drive
Volcano Pizza
148 W. Columbia Avenue- Battle Creek, MI 49015
- (269) 962-6071
- No Known Website
- Menu
What a beautiful afternoon! We were able to spend the day outdoors at the Binder Park Zoo. Of course, after a long day of walking around and feeding giraffe’s, we needed to pick up something to eat on the way home.
As luck would have it, there’s a pizza place in Battle Creek that I have heard really good things about. The unfortunate part is that they are only open Monday through Friday and only from 4-9 PM. When we got back in the car at Binder Park, it was about 3:40. We tried to call anyway, but no one picked up the phone.
I had to get gas which would kill a little more time and it was a little bit of a drive across town. J was up for just stopping to see if they were open and when we pulled in the parking lot at 3:55, the doors were open, so I walked in.
Volcano Pizza is a pretty small, unassuming place on Columbia Avenue just to the west of Capital Avenue. There is a large pole sign, but that’s the only signage anywhere on the property. The building is just a white building with a small “open” sign in the window for those 20 hours a week that they are open.
The guy behind the counter looked a little surprised to see me when I walked in. He asked what I wanted and I asked if I could order a pizza. He looked at his watch and said, “Oh, yeah.” Read more…
Water Steet Coffee Joint – Oakland Drive
3037 Oakland Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49008
- (269) 488-0018
- Website
- No Online Menu
Fifteen months ago, when L was born, I ate three meals a day for three days at Water Street Coffee Joint inside Borgess Medical Center. That’s been the only time I’ve eaten Water Street even though there are two other locations not inside a hospital.
Our plan for Sunday afternoon was to go to the zoo, but it was raining, so that washed that idea out. For some reason, J started talking about a co-worker who brought back a really good looking sandwich from Water Street a few days ago and I asked if she wanted t0 just go there for lunch.
The original Water Street is in downtown Kalamazoo across from Bell’s, but we chose to go to the one closest to us on Oakland Drive right at the intersection with Whites Road in the Oakland/Winchell Neighborhood.
The little coffee shop is kind of in a weird spot on a triangle plot of land which makes parking a little odd. For some reason, we were both a little surprised to see a totally packed parking lot…not sure why we were surprised..it is a coffee shop and it was a Sunday afternoon. Is there a better way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon?
Neither J nor I are really coffee drinkers. She will drink one every now and then, but I don’t drink coffee at all. Water Street Coffee Joint has so much more than coffee though, so that part shouldn’t be a turn off. Read more…
Camzies Pizza
3664 S. 9th Street (Flesher Field Tu-Sa 11 – 2:30)- 7275 Main Street (Oshtemo Township Park Tu-Sa 4-8)
- Kalamazoo, MI 49009
- (269) 978-8642
- Website
- Menu
It’s O. K. to be lazy, right? For whatever reason, L decided to sleep in. I mean, really sleep in. J finally heard her moving at about 10:45. I would love this during the week, but Saturday’s are swimming lessons day. We didn’t make it. By the time J got L up and would have gotten me up, we wouldn’t have been able to make the 11:30 swimming lesson on the other side of town.
J decided to just let me sleep a little longer then got me up so she could take a shower and get laundry done before I headed to work. Part of the deal was that after laundry was started, we would take L to the park…..and get pizza.
A few weeks ago, J and her mom took L to the Oshtemo Township Park to play for a while. As they pulled up, they noticed a Jeep pulling what appeared to be a large brick oven. When they walked over to see what was going on, they were offered a couple slices of pizza. Apparently, they showed up on the first day of this new mobile pizza wagon. The weather hasn’t been very great since then so we haven’t had a chance to go back when I was around. The thing that really sucks about that is that the Kalamazoo Gazette beat me to the story and I’ve been sitting on it for a couple weeks 😦
Since it was lunch time, we headed to Flesher Field on 9th Street across from the Post Office. We like Flesher Field anyway because there is a play area more L’s size. We like it even more now with pizza.
When we pulled in tot he parking lot, Camzies Pizza had the truck set up right near the entrance. We pulled into a parking space a few spots down then headed over to check out the menu.
The pizzas come in three sizes. There’s a personal pizza, a nine inch, and an eleven inch. We chose the eleven inch. All the pizzas come with two toppings, but we chose just to go with bacon. Read more…
TJ’s Smokehouse
2365 17 Mile Road NELong car rides alone. I do that often for work. My task last night was to drive to Newaygo. Even from Grand Rapids, Newaygo is a pretty good drive, so I decided to leave early and pick up dinner.
Last fall, a couple co-workers showed up back at the office with Styrofoam containers of BBQ. Of course, I can smell BBQ from a mile away and my nose led me in to the break room where I started asking questions. The origination of this delicious smelling BBQ was quite a ways north of Grand Rapids….but as it worked out on this trip, I could make it on my way to Newaygo.
TJ’s Smokehouse is west of Cedar Springs on the corner of 17 Mile Road and Algoma Avenue in the northwest corner of Kent County. The intersection is pretty rural but it is a four way stop and there’s a party store across the road from the restaurant.
The small metal building has a pretty large parking lot and a pavilion type covering out front with picnic tables. During the warm months, this area provides the bulk of the seating. Inside, there is only one large table big enough for a party of six.
For a small, rural BBQ joint, this place was hopping on a Thursday night. There was a family taking up the table and there were three or four people squeezed in to the remaining space waiting on to-go orders.
When I walked in, I glanced up at the menu hanging above the cash register just long enough to figure out what sides I wanted. My eyes went straight to the pork section of the menu although they also do BBQ chicken sandwiches and hamburgers. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 