Lee’s Burgers and Malts
5234 Portage RoadSo…I think we’ve established burgers, wings, pizza as my go-to food choices.
I guess that means when a new place opens and puts one of those foods in their name, I have to try it.
I was at the K-Wings hockey game Saturday afternoon. The ECHL was trying something different and started some of the Saturday games at 4:30 instead of the usual 7:00. That meant I the game got over around 7:00 and I could still grab something to eat on my way home.
I had been planning this for a while. There was a new burger place in Portage and I hadn’t found time to get to it yet. It’s not very far out of the way home when leaving Wings Event Center so I finally got my chance.
Lee’s Burgers and Malts opened up on Portage Road and Byrd Road just south of the I-94 interchange back in January. The space they took was Turbo Chicken’s old space next to Pizza King and On the Wings. The restaurant is owned by a family that owns several Subway’s in the area.
Read more…Krispy Krunchy Chicken (Paw Paw)
60902 M-51 The first time I stopped at a Krispy Krunchy Chicken, I was kind of underwhelmed. It was a little weird because it was a standalone store in Grand Rapids.
I didn’t see the chain for many years after that.
It wasn’t until I was heading to my in-laws one day when I saw a sign for the chicken joint in Mendon. This was much more familiar to me as it’s in the Marathon station. They used to do their own food but switched over to the chicken chain in 2020.
Again, didn’t see the name anywhere else for a few years….until I was driving through White Pigeon. A new Amoco station went up there and Krispy Krunchy Chicken was one of the food options. Since then, another location opened in Galesburg.
There’s a gas station right off I-94 just outside of Paw Paw I stop at fairly often when I’m in that area. They’ve always had some kind of food options but guess what I found last week when I stopped there for a Pepsi? Yup. A Krispy Krunchy Chicken.
The Paw Paw location of Krispy Krunchy Chicken is inside the Marathon gas station on M-51 just to the south of the I-94 interchange in Paw Paw Township. The travel plaza has undergone quite a bit of rehab over the last few years including a much needed repair of the parking lot that used to be filled with huge pot holes. You can actually drive in now without having to dodge them.
Royal Swine BBQ
802 W. Michigan AvenueAnother day. Another trip to Lansing.
I had to meet a co-worker for a fairly quick job assignment in the afternoon near downtown Lansing. Those days are pretty easy. There’s just a lot of driving involved.
I had nothing in the morning so I took my time getting over there. I always look for places to eat when I’m out of town but I’ve been in Lansing so much recently, I’ve exhausted most of the places I’ve had queued up.
Instead of going all the way to Lansing to eat…and writing another blog about a Lansing restaurant, I had another idea.
How about I stop in Marshall? There are a couple of places there that have been on my list for a while and it’s been a couple of months since I’ve been in that area. Plus, it’s not much of a detour off I-69 on the way to Lansing.
I picked a place that I’ve been trying to find a reason to go to Marshall for.
Royal Swine is on Michigan Avenue and Plum Street west of downtown Marshall. The building and parking lot are really small. I had the same problem when I stopped at this place several years ago when it was a Speedy Chick. You just kind of have to make a parking spot. I pulled as close to the building as I could so a car could still drive behind me to get back to Michigan Avenue.
Tacos El Jefe
FOOD TRUCK- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (773) 332-1488
- No Known Website
- Menu
Last Monday was a weird day. I had a lot of back and forth between Vicksburg and downtown Kalamazoo. I think I did the drive three times. Every time I’d get back to the office, I had to go back to where I was working in Vicksburg.
I was surprised to have passed more than one food truck on my travels up and down Portage Road/Street. I had to make a decision on what I wanted for dinner because I knew I was going to stop at one of them.
Tacos won out. As soon as I passed the taco truck, I knew what I was getting for dinner.
Tacos El Jefe was parked in front of Rocket Comics on the corner of Portage Street and Bloomfield Avenue in Kalamazoo just to the north of I-94. The red food truck was parked pretty close to the road so I found an open spot in front of the comic book store to park then walked back to see what they had.
I Heart Mac & Cheese (East Lansing)
4790 Hagadorn Road, Suite 158Day two at the Howard E. Van Camp Invitational at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube in East Lansing was brutally long. We got the rink at 7:00 AM and left at 9:00 PM.
L had over eight hours between her two skates for her Saturday event. She had 7:30 AM practice. The first segment was at 11:30 AM. Another practice at 5:30 PM just to get her legs back warmed up. And finally the second segment at 8:00 PM. B also had is only skate of the weekend in there with a practice at 10:30 AM and competition at 12:45 PM.
My parents stuck around for L’s first segment and B’s skate before they headed home. Staying until 9:00 PM would have put them home in Illinois well after midnight.
L didn’t want to leave the rink. She never does. She really wants to sit there all day and watch her friends skate. B didn’t really either. He had clung on to a couple of older girls on his team and wanted to hang out with them. They didn’t seem to mind so I didn’t drag him away….but I’m sure that’s something we’ll have to do eventually.
Once B got his medal (a 1st place!) we needed to get lunch. Everyone said Jimmy Johns…which isn’t too surprising.
That’s boring though.
I put in a mobile order for the Jimmy Johns right next to the rink on Hagadorn road for J and L (B had conned someone else in to buying him lunch if he won and he did) but I had other plans.
In the same shopping plaza as the Jimmy Johns on the corner of Hagadorn Road and Hannah Boulevard just outside of the Michigan State University campus is a I Heart Mac & Cheese franchise. This is one of two locations in the state, the other is in Saginaw and one of eighteen nationwide. The franchise is based in south Florida and specializes in “customizable, made-to-order macaroni and cheese bowls and grilled cheese sandwiches.” This East Lansing location just opened right at the beginning of 2025.
Read more…The Old Bag of Nails Pub (Lansing)
210 Cascade BoulevardGetting done at the rink before 3:00 PM on a competition day is a rarity.
We were in East Lansing for the Howard E. Van Camp Invitational at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube. Both kids were skating at some point over the weekend but Friday was just the first of L’s two events.
Each of L’s events has two segments. On Friday, the segments were fairly close together. There was only a couple of hours in between so she was done for the day by 3:00.
We had decided just to get a hotel in Lansing. We had to be back at the rink at 7 AM on Saturday and we knew that L was going to want to stay at the rink all night to watch her friends.
My parents had also made the drive up from Illinois like they usually do for this competition. J and I used to live in Lansing so they’re familiar with that drive and like to be able to watch the kids skate. My brother still lives in the community we grew up in so my parents get to see my nieces play sports pretty much every night of the week. Obviously, a three hour drive makes it harder for them to see my kids but they do make it to four to five of their competitions every year.
Everyone was hungry by the time L got done…but of course, she didn’t want to leave the rink. We decided to just leave her there and go get something to eat.
This also happened to be St. Patrick’s Day weekend and MHSAA Boys Basketball State Finals at the Breslin Center so East Lansing was packed. I knew we had to get away from Grand River Avenue but I didn’t want to go too far.
I found the Old Bag of Nails Pub in Lansing. The small Ohio chain has one location in Michigan. This one on Cascade Boulevard just off East Michigan Avenue across the street from the Frandor Shopping Center. This building, along with all of the hotel and apartment buildings around it, are new within the last couple of years. When J and I lived in Lansing (16 years ago), this was just a wide open field with green grass and trees. Not so much anymore.
The building is kind of on an island. There is an oval shaped road that kind of goes between the AC Hotel and the University Edge Student Living Building. The Old Bag of Nails is in between them. Parking was kind of confusing at first. There are some spots on Cascade Boulevard and some angled spots by the hotel. J drove separately from my parents and me. She found a spot by the restaurant. We found a spot by the hotel. There is also a surface lot we didn’t really see right away accessible from Red Cedar Parkway to the south or Dori Lane to the west. Like I said, the restaurant is on an Island between the two one says that make up Cascade Boulevard.
Read more…Dunkin’ (Battle Creek)
14301 Beadle Lake RoadI get asked all the time. When does figure skating season end?
The answer? It doesn’t.
We go straight from synchronized skating in to individual season then back in to synchronized season.
The first individual competition of the season was this past weekend at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube in East Lansing. The Howard E. Van Camp Invitational is always the kick off to the season for our skaters.
L had really early practice Friday morning so J decided to take her and one of her friends over Thursday night. B and I stayed home because my parents were coming up from Illinois Friday morning so the plan was for them to pick us up along the way.
L’s first event wasn’t until 11:45. My parents picked B and I up in Kalamazoo around 9:00 then we started towards East Lansing.
When I got B out of bed, I promised we’d stop and get breakfast. We usually back track a bit and go to the Dunkin’ on 9th Street in Texas Township but I told him he’d have to wait a little bit but we’d stop at a Dunkin’ along the way.
We pulled off I-94 at Beadle Lake Road to stop at the new Dunkin’ inside the new Amoco gas station in Emmett Township. This roadside stop has only been open a few months. It’s a brand new build that includes the Dunkin’, the gas station, and a Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken.
Read more…Capo’s Cheesesteak Hoagies and Grill
219 E. Grand River AvenueFrom fast food posts to Mid-Michigan posts.
I apologize. It’s figure skating competition season now and we got some traveling to do this summer.
This isn’t one of those posts though. I got sent to East Lansing on Tuesday of last week for work.
I was meeting a colleague at Michigan State University at 3:00. I didn’t have much to do in the morning…just a couple of housekeeping things around the office, so I had time to leave early and grab lunch before heading to campus.
Last time I was in the area, I passed a place on Grand River that I had never noticed before. It was time to check it out.
Capo’s Cheesesteak Hoagies and Grill is on Grand River Avenue near M.A.C. Avenue in downtown East Lansing. The restaurant is right on the busy stretch of road so parking is a huge challenge. There is very little street parking in this area and the ramps are all a couple of blocks away. It’s really difficult to make a quick stop to pick up a sandwich (or anything on Grand River as I would find out a few days later trying to pick up Dunkin’ at 7 AM). I ended up just parking in the Grove Street Garage and walked back.
Read more…Taco Bell (Texas Township)
5076 S. 9th StreetI feel like I need a name for this series…like I’m a YouTuber or something. A series of blog posts on I’m too lazy to cook but too cheap to get something good.
J was in Traverse City for a conference last week and I was home with the kids. That’s kind of opposite of how things usually go for us.
I work Monday nights and that wasn’t going to work with the kids. I wasn’t going to ask my in-laws to watch them until I got home at 11:30 so I just took the day off. I could use a recharge day anyway.
There was a lot of skating to be done that day. B had his first ice dance test in the morning. We did that then I took him to school for the rest of the day. I then had to pick L up from school and get her to Wings West before going back home to wait for B to get off the bus.
There was actually a gap in their skating times. L was done around 5:00 but B didn’t start until almost 7:00. I wasn’t going to make them sit at the rink for two hours so I left B at home playing video games and went to pick L up.
As I was leaving the house, B asked if I would pick up Taco Bell. I was kind of craving it too so I said yeah. I told L I was going to be a few minutes to pick her up because I was grabbing tacos and she texted back saying she was going to ask if we could do that too. So it worked out for everyone.
I hit up the Taco Bell on 9th Street just south of N Drive in Texas Township. We go to this one all the time but I don’t think I’ve ever been inside. We always do the drive thru. This one has the double drive thru that they put in a few years ago when they did a remodel to update the branding but the second drive thru lane is never open. Like I’ve been trying to do when I do this fast food blog posts, I parked the car and went inside to see how much Taco Bell has changed from my childhood.
Read more…Kalako Pizza
10420 Portage RoadI love it when new pizza joints open. I’m always looking for something new.
There are some really great pizza places in the Kalamazoo area but J spoiled me on pizza when we started dating. She grew up in the Chicago suburbs and one of the first time I stayed at her parents house, she was super excited to get pizza from the place her family always ordered from in Oak Lawn.
I took one bite of thin & crispy Italian beef pizza from Palermo’s 95th and I was never the same. It was life altering. Even growing up near the city, I always thought of Chicago style pizza as Deep Dish. I had never had the Tavern Style pizza before and now it’s all I want.
The point of that story is to say, I’m pretty hard on pizza. I love pizza. I’ll eat it for every meal but ever single pizza I eat is compared to Palermo’s….whether it’s the same style or not.
Portage used to have a Chicago style pizza place aptly named Chicago Style Pizza. We ordered from there a couple of times but it really never did much for us. It was fine and it was something different but it wasn’t the Chicago style pizza we liked.
That restaurant closed a few years ago and it didn’t really make much of an impact on us but I know people in the area loved that place and it was a hard hit to take. It’s always a bummer when you lose the pizza you grew up with.
The building didn’t stay empty long though.
Late last year, the Kalako Street Cuisine food truck moved in to the small building near the corner of Portage Road and Osterhout Avenue on the far south side of Portage. The business has been Chicago Style Pizza for almost 45 years and was a staple in the childhood of Kalako’s owner. He told the Kalamazoo Gazette ‘I just saw the restaurant was vacant and this used to be my favorite restaurant when I was a kid.”
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 