Imo’s Pizza (Chesterfield)
1717 Clarkson RoadThis is going to be a really hot take. A very unpopular take.
I like St. Louis pizza.
Most people will say, “St. Louis has it’s own pizza?” Yes. I’ve blogged about it before both in St. Louis and in Kalamazoo.
We had already went to dinner at Hwy 61 Roadhouse our first day in St. Louis but I was concerned I wasn’t going to have time to actually order a pizza. I was laying in my room watching Daredevil: Born Again when I decided to see how far the closest Imo’s was from me. It was just down the street and closing in an hour. I decided I needed to get a pizza while I was in town and if I ordered a large, I could eat a few pieces tonight and have some leftover for later in the week.
Imo’s Pizza is a St. Louis based pizza chain with over 100 locations in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. The original store was in The Hill where all of the best St. Louis Italian restaurants are. They were also the first delivery pizza shop in St. Louis and the one who changed the traditional mozzarella cheese topping to Provel. Imo’s is literally the inventor of St. Louis style pizza.
The store I ordered from is on Clarkson Road near Baxter Road in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield. The restaurant is part of the Clarkson Square shopping center and by the time I got there at 9:30 at night…about a half hour before closing, the shopping plaza was pretty empty.
Hwy 61 Roadhouse
34 S. Orchard AvenuePlans change.
We have been planning a trip to Nashville for a figure skating competition for a couple of months. We had the weekend pretty planned out. Where we were going to eat. When we were going to drive. Everything pretty much planned.
But plans change.
J and the kids were still going to Nashville but work through a wrench in my plans.
I had the opportunity for a big overtime week with a trip to St. Louis. We weren’t sure if it was going to be for the whole weekend or not so there was a contingency for me to bail out of St. Louis on Friday if we were done with job and meet them in Nashville.
Because of that contingency, I had my colleague meet me in Kalamazoo Tuesday morning. We left my work vehicle at home for my usual Kalamazoo area colleague that I share a truck with. We took her company car to St. Louis in case she was driving home by herself Friday morning.
It’s about a six hour drive from Kalamazoo to St. Louis. We left around 10 AM. We made a stop in the Chicago area for gas then a stop at Wally’s in Pontiac to grab something to eat. After that, we stayed on the road until we got East St. Louis where we pulled off just to get some scenic pictures for the ‘Gram because isn’t that some the kids do?
We got to our hotel in Chesterfield around 4:00. Co-worker asked if I wanted to go out for dinner. We’d get some chances to eat out later in the week but the travel day was the day we could really relax and enjoy dinner.
She suggested Italian on The Hill because someone told her she needs to do that. I had another idea with plans to go to The Hill later in the week. I gave her a couple of options and she picked cajun.
We headed to Hwy 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves to the southwest of St. Louis proper.
Hwy 61 Roadhouse is on South Orchard Avenue and Frisco Avenue backing up to I-44. I’m not familiar with the local geography but I know US-61, or The Blues Highway runs or used to run through the area. The restaurant is in the style of an old roadhouse and it’s tucked tightly on to the corner. Parking was a little confusing. The spots right next to the building were theirs but the ones in the parking lot to the north are for the business next door. We found a spot on the southside of the building then walked around front to Orchard Avenue to find the front door.
La Loma Supermercado
1791 W. Columbia Avenue, Suite CIt’s not every often J finds out about a new restaurant before I do but that’s what happened a few weeks ago.
She saw a Facebook post for a Mexican grocery store in Battle Creek that some really good looking baked goods. They also have a taqueria.
A colleague and I were in Battle Creek last Monday for a job assignment. We got done just before 7:30 and I was hungry. I decided to see how far we were from the grocery store J found and we were right around the corner.
La Loma Supermercado is on Columbia Avenue near South 28th on the west side of Battle Creek. The Mexican grocery store is in a spot that used to be a Dollar General right next to the Pet Supplies Plus.
Read more…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…
SW Michigan Dining 