Silver Beach Pizza
410 Vine StreetAs soon as I found out we were going to Silver Beach, I told J we were getting pizza. We ended up trying to go for lunch, but there was quite a wait. We didn’t want to sit around with three kids so we went somewhere else.
Still, I was determined. I wanted Silver Beach Pizza. I’ve heard so many good things about the place, I had to judge for myself.
After playing in the Whirlpool Compass Fountain for a while, the time came for us to say goodbye to J’s parents and J’s friends. I asked J if could order a couple pizzas to take home. She was on board, so I looked up the menu on the phone and placed the call.
Silver Beach Pizza has a pretty amazing location right at the base of the bluff at the corner of Broad and Vine Street in St. Joseph. The restaurant is in the old depot and shares some space with the still active part of the depot which serves the Amtrak route that runs through St. Joseph.
I never actually made it inside which is actually pretty disappointing. I love restaurants in old train depots. In addition to seating in a large bar area, there is an outside patio that overlooks the train tracks and gives you a pretty good view of the lake just down the road.
I’m not usually the person who orders specialty pizza, but damn near everything on their specialty menu sounded amazing. Instead of my typical half cheese, half pepperoni order, I ordered a medium Palladium pizza for J and a large Fiery Chicken for myself. Read more…
Mimi’s Cupcakes
Broad Street between State Street & Lake Blvd.Yes, we ate lunch at an ice cream shop. But, on the way to that ice cream shop, we passed a cupcake food truck….and as we sat looking out the window of that ice cream shop, we saw a cupcake food truck. Yeah…..we didn’t get ice cream for dessert…we headed outside to said food truck.
Mimi’s Cupcakes was parked in a lot on Broad Street between State Street and Lake Street in downtown St. Joseph. The brightly colored truck taunts passerby’s with the tasty cupcake creations you just know are waiting for you behind that hunk of metal. For J and I, the temptation was too much. I was the last one done eating lunch yet I was the first one to get up and walk out the door. I wanted that cupcake!
I almost went super simple and ordered the Plain Jain, but just as J was walking up to place the order, I saw the Chips Ahoy. I didn’t really know what it was, but I had a feeling it involved tiny chocolate chip cookies. Yay, for me! I was right. The super most chocolate cupcake was topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting, mini chocolate chips, and a tiny Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookie. The buttercream frosting just melted in my mouth on this hot June afternoon. The bad news is the cupcakes were mini cupcakes, so I downed the treat in two bites. The good news is, it was incredibly delicious. Read more…
Cabana’s
512 Broad StreetAfter a couple of hours of playing at the Discovery Zone and riding the Carousel, we started getting hungry. Our first idea was to just go to Silver Beach Pizza, but there was quite a wait. There’s also a burger place downtown I really wanted to try, but I knew with three kids, we’d probably run into someone being bored.
Our next idea was a little hot dog stand right at the top of the stairs, but not everyone wanted to sit outside and eat. It was then that J’s friend noticed an ice cream place just down the street that had signs for burgers and pizza in the window.
Cabana’s is a little ice cream place on Broad Street just to the northwest of State Street in downtown St. Joseph. Their main business is an ice cream joint but they also have a small selection of sandwiches to go along with it.
J went in to order for me and her while I took a seat at a picnic table out front. After she ordered, J came out and said there were two tables available inside, so I pushed the stroller with a sleeping baby inside to the air conditioning. Read more…
Curious Kids’ Discovery Zone
333 Broad Street- St. Joseph, MI 49085
- (269) 982-8500
- Website
After a ride on the Silver Beach Carousel, we headed out to use the restrooms. Upon exiting, we noticed the Curious’ Kids Discovery Zone was right there. There were a couple older boys with us whom we thought might enjoy the hands on museum. Just like the Carousel, L was still too young, but we figured we could splash in the water with her or something so all eight of us went inside to explore.
The Curious Kids’ Discovery Zone is part of the Curious Kids’ Museum although they are in different locations. The museum is actually up on the bluff at 415 Lake Boulevard. On a nice day, it’s just a short walk up a flight of stairs.
We chose just to go to the Discovery Zone. Admission is $6. If you’re interested in doing both museums, you can get the combo for $10. The thing I liked is that once you pay, you can come and go as long as you keep your sticker on. You can play in the museum for a while, go the beach, then come back and chill in the air conditioning once the kids get tired.
I haven’t been to a lot of childrens’ museums, but Curious Kids’ Discovery Zone is pretty similar to the once I have been to. There’s a lot of hands on activities that all have a lesson to teach your child. Since I had L, I went straight to the water table. I’ll admit, I’m kind of a bad dad because I don’t even know what we were supposed to be learning. I just got down on a knee so I could hold L right on the edge. She reached over and started grabbing for one of the toys. When she couldn’t reach it, she resorted to just splashing in the water and screeching. Read more…
Silver Beach Carousel
333 Broad Street- St. Joseph, MI 49085
- (269) 982-8500
- Website
Last week, J got a call from a friend who was going to be in St. Joseph today. Knowing it’s my day off, she asked if J and I would bring L and meet her and her family. You don’t have to ask me twice to go to the beach.
I did some work for Whirlpool a couple years ago and spent a little time at Silver Beach so I knew there was more than just sand and water. The other adults had no idea what we were walking in to and boy, were they surprised when we got there.
Our first stop was at the Silver Beach Carousel…well, our first stop was finding parking on a 90 degree Sunday in June. The parking lot behind the carousel was closed and I didn’t know how to get to the lot for the Whirlpool Compass Fountain so we ended up going back up the bluff and parking next to Schu’s.
After getting down the stairs with a stroller (we didn’t see the ramp) we met up with our friends in front of the carousel.
The history of a carousel at Silver Beach dates back to 1910. Unfortunately, this is not the same carousel. That carousel is in Washington state undergoing a restoration and will be installed there.
This carousel was built by hand and opened in 2010. There are 48 animals including recreations of six horses from the original carousel, twenty unique horses, and twenty three other creatures. Read more…
Grand Traverse Pie Company – Kentwood
3224 28th Street SE #1I have this thing with cheesecake. I really like it, but West Michigan isn’t exactly teeming with cheesecake restaurants.
I had to run a few errands before heading to work on Saturday that took me down 28th Street near the Woodland Mall in Kentwood. There are a number of dining options in the area including almost any chain your heart desires.
When J and I lived in Lansing, I could always get my cheesecake fix at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. There were two locations in the Lansing area (there are three now). One in East Lansing and one in Okemos. Statewide, there are sixteen Grand Traverse Pie Company locations with the Kentwood location being the most convenient one for me now.
The restaurant is on 28th Street directly across the street from the Woodland Mall Entrance. It shares a building with a couple other businesses, but GTPC is right out front.
The large parking lot was fairly empty, but it was almost 3:00 before I headed in for lunch. You are immediately assaulted with pie as soon as you walk in the door. There’s also a refrigerator case steps inside the door with the cheesecake I was looking for. Read more…
Bellacino’s Pizza & Gridners – Muskegon
1871 Holton Road #BGuess who I worked with tonight? I was with the same co-worker who has had an insatiable appetite for Mancino’s. I wasn’t even planning on eating out tonight. I brought my lunch, but as I was doing something else, my co-worker Google’d “grinder” and found Bellacino’s.
Bellacino’s Pizza & Grinders is on Holton Road on the north side of Muskegon not too far from the U.S. 31 interchange. The restaurant is in a small strip mall next to an Eye Care One. While I grew up eating at Mancino’s, I frequented Bellacino’s quite often when I lived in Central Illinois. I never could tell the difference, so I told my co-worker they were the same thing.
She headed straight for the order counter once we got inside. She knew she wanted a pizza grinder, but she is also a fan of the Steak grinders. She got a 4 1/2″ of each plus a cookie and a drink.
I stuck to what I know best. Since I wasn’t super hungry, I got the 9″ pizza grinder. It’s like all the other places that do pizza grinders. Oven baked white bread with pepperoni, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese. As far as I’m concerned, it tastes just like Mancino’s. It was delicious and I loved every bite. Read more…
U.P. North Sandwich & Pasty Co. – Richland
8140 N. 32nd StreetRichland is not quite on the way to Grand Rapids, but it was for me today. I got sent on a little mission just outside of Richland before I made my way to Grand Rapids to start my work day.
After completing my task, I headed north on M-89 to the Circle K to get gas, and , of course, a Polar Pop. I wasn’t really looking for something for lunch, but when I passed U.P. North Sandwich & Pasty Co., I turned around and headed back.
Before eating at the original U.P. North location in Allegan, I had never had a Cudighi sandwich before…..and I liked it. I heard a few months ago that they opened a second location in Richland, which is really almost as inconvenient for me as the Allegan location. Both are places I just don’t go that often.
The Richland U.P. North is right on M-89 just to the north of downtown…or, south of the Circle K. The restaurant takes up a rather large space is a very odd building. They share a parking lot with the business next door, but there is also a pretty large lot behind the business if finding a spot is a little tough.
There are entrances right off the front of the building which butts up to 32nd Street, but the side entrance brings you right to the order counter. Read more…
Greenbush Brewing Company
5885 Sawyer RoadJ and I had been planning a quick weekend trip home for quite some time. L decided to throw a little bit of a wrench in the plans when she started getting really cranky. We had to call in the reinforcements. J’s mom came to stay with us for a couple days last week.
This actually worked out really well. J and her mom headed back to Chicago Friday afternoon while I still had two more days of work.
Sunday morning, I got up just before 11 and started driving south to meet up with my wife and baby.
We were going to a birthday party on Sunday around 1:00 CT. I decided to leave early enough so that I could stop and eat lunch along the way.
There are several places not far off I-94 that I really want to stop at eventually. It was hard to pick, but I decided to go with a brewery. That narrowed it down to two. I then decided to go to the one still in Michigan.
Greenbush Brewing Company is in downtown Sawyer about a mile east of I-94. You can’t miss it. Just past the railroad tracks is an old brick building with the word “Brewery” in large letters on the roof. Read more…
Angelo’s Italian Eatery – Kalamazoo Township
3320 Ravine RoadThe co-worker who has been craving grinders has rubbed off on me. Mancino’s is on the other side of town though and I wanted to pick something up before I went to work.
Last night, I got one of those Good Deals magazines in the mail filled with coupons. One of those coupons was for Angelo’s Italian Eatery.
Angelo’s has two locations in the Kalamazoo area. One is near the airport on Portage Road. The other is inside the BP station on the corner of Ravine and Nichols in Kalamazoo Township.
It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for me to drive all the way to Portage when I could sort of make the Ravine Road location on my way to work.
The restaurant takes up a very small space inside the gas station. I wasn’t 100% sure at first if it was even still there. There is minimal signage on the outside. I noticed later that the door on the west side of the building has the Angelo’s logo, but that’s the only marking on the outside.
Inside, you have to make your way through the somewhat cramped gas station to get to the Angelo’s kitchen. There are paper menus available at the counter and there is also one taped down next to the cash register. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 