Guess This Means….
Real Deal is no more…..
Press Release – A Night with LeAnn Rimes at Cityscape Events
From a Millennium Restaurant Group press release…
Join LeAnn Rimes for a special night in Kalamazoo on November 17th. LeAnn is hosting a special benefit concert for “StandUp for Kids,” a charity hoping to end the cycle of youth homelessness.
Join B-93 and Cityscape Events for this one night only, intimate, acoustic concert.
Tickets are limited and only $15.93.
LeAnn Rimes at Cityscape Events
125 S. Kalamazoo Mall, downtown Kalamazoo, MI 49007Thursday, November 17, 2011
Doors at 6:30, show at 7:30Tickets are open seating, so come early!
To purchase your tickets, click HERE
LeAnn Rimes at Cityscape Events
125 S. Kalamazoo Mall, downtown Kalamazoo, MI 49007Thursday, November 17, 2011
Doors at 6:30, show at 7:30Tickets are open seating, so come early!To purchase your tickets, click HERE
Press Release – Michigan Flywheelers Museum Fundraiser
From a Michigan Flywheelers Museum press release…
SOUTH HAVEN – Supporters and friends of the Michigan Flywheelers Museum are invited to a Pasta Buffet fundraiser at Big Boy Restaurant on Sunday, Nov. 13.
Held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the buffet will feature a wide array of pasta dishes as well as soups and salads. Cost is $9.95 per person. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be earmarked for the museum’s Challenge Grant.
The museum has been working towards raising $50,000 by the end of the year for a matching grant from the Samaratan Foundation in Benton Harbor. The foundation has offered to double the money raised for an addition to the 130 year old Stephenson Barn that was moved to the museum in 2006. Since then, museum members have been renovating the structure turning it into a place for educational classes and workshops as well as a meeting place.
The next step in the renovation is the addition of bathrooms and a warming kitchen.
The Michigan Flywheelers Museum is a 501 c3 organization dedicated to the preservation of antique farm equipment. It is located on 80 acres 2.3 miles east of South Haven. It hosts one of the largest antique engine and tractors shows in the state every September.
To participate in the fundraiser, customers must purchase the Pasta Buffet.
Big Boy Restaurant is located east of South Haven next to I-196. For more information, call the museum at 269-639-2010 or Facebook.
Press Release – Fair Farm Bill Rally Thursday
From a Food and Water Watch press release….
West Michigan Rallies to Demand Stabenow’s Support for Michigan’s Small Farmers
Grand Rapids, MI—Citizens from Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids will be gathering in Grand Rapids on Thursday November 3rd to ask Senator Debbie Stabenow to support the Fair Farm Rules and Michigan’s small farmers. The rules would significantly level the playing field for small and midsized livestock farmers, yet Senator Stabenow, the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has yet to take a stand on the issue. In the past two months, community members in Grand Rapids & Kalamazoo have gathered over 2,500 postcards urging Senator Stabenow to support the Fair Farm Rules.
Nationally, nearly 27,000 midsize independent family farms have been driven out of business over the past five years, and those remaining are squeezed by a market that favors big agribusinesses. The 2008 Farm Bill included new reforms to protect small and midsize livestock farmers, but those reforms are being blocked by a handful of large companies that dominate the meat and poultry industries. Local leaders are publicly calling Senator Stabenow to lead on this issue and stand up for Michigan’s small farmers.
Where: Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids, MI
When: 4:10 PM on Thursday November 3rd
Who: Sheri Rop, Owner, Nourish Organic Market
Cynthia Price, Chair, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
Andrea Villarreal, Kalamazoo educator
Jane Wiedenbeck and Charlotte Bartter, Field Organizers, Food and Water Watch
VISUALS: Great visuals including a 6 ft. tall plywood rooster, volunteers in cow suits, an oversized (3’x4’) representative petition as well as a large group of citizens holding large, colorful posters and a petition chicken.
Background: The Fair Farm Rules, or GIPSA rules, prevent meatpackers from giving “undue preference” to large producers, like factory farms, which put small independent producers at an economic disadvantage. The new rules would:
- Stop price premiums and secret preferential contracts granted to cattle and hog factory farms.
- Prevent one buyer from representing multiple meatpackers at an auction. This practice effectively eliminates competitive bidding on livestock, which hurts small-scale producers.
- Prohibit retaliation against poultry growers who speak out about abuses.
- Protects poultry growers who make expensive upgrades and investments and prevents companies from requiring growers to make expensive upgrades to their facilities if they are in working order
Consumers lose out as small and midsize farmers are pushed out of business. They are left with fewer healthy sustainable choices and more antibiotic and artificial hormone-ridden meat and poultry. Senator Stabenow not taken a side on the issue at hand, and has not publicly advocated for their implementation or asked President Obama to expedite their approval.
Press Release – Wine Widow Wednesday at the Wine Loft
From a Millennium Restaurant Group press release…
The Wine Loft Introduces Wine Widow Wednesdays This November
Kalamazoo, MI- Free from your husband or boyfriend this hunting season? Every Wednesday starting at 6:30pm this November, join downtown-Kalamazoo’s The Wine Loft as they host an event series for the ladies whose husbands and boyfriends have abandoned them for the hunting season. While you don’t have to be affected by the hunting season to attend, this is a great excuse for women to come out and have great company, wine, and shopping.
For just $5 each week, Wine Widow Wednesday will include a wine tasting, a weekly meet and greet with different downtown Kalamazoo shop owners, and a special ‘after-hours’ shopping experience starting at 8:15pm, led by the shop owners themselves.
Each week a different downtown retail or boutique shop will be featured, and at 8:15pm the shop owners will take our Wine Widows over to their stores for a special, after-hours exclusive shopping night. Featured shops include:
- Sydney, November 2 – Sydney is an upscale clothing store for men and women featuring apparel from BCBG, Cole Haan, Alex Cannon, and more. Located in the Radisson.
- Cakes Boutique, November 9– Cakes Boutique provides affordable, fashionable clothing and jewelry to women of all shapes and sizes. Every item at Cakes Boutique is under $100! Located on the downtown Kalamazoo Mall.
- Lana’s Couture, November 16– Lana’s Couture is geared towards professional women. Carrying contemporary and missy lines such as True Religion, Citizens of Humanity, and more. Located in Mall Plaza.
- Sticks & Stones, November 23– Sticks & Stones features things you love at a reasonable price for your home, or hard to find gifts. They specialize in unique affordable design accessories. Located on the downtown Kalamazoo Mall.
Each after-hours shopping trip is exclusive to the event, guests must be present at The Wine Loft beforehand to attend.
Wine Widow Wednesday at The Wine Loft starts this Wednesday, November 2, at 6:30pm. For just $5 a person, enjoy wine tastings, meet and greets, and exclusive after-hours shopping. For more information on the Wine Widow Wednesday event be sure to visit www.facebook.com/WineLoftwmich or call 269-343-9227.
Press Release – Can Do Kitchen Product Hits Detroit Stores
From a Fair Food Matters press release…
Mike’s Famous Michigan Bean Dip now on store shelves in Detroit area
Kalamazoo-based product wins statewide product placement competitionKALAMAZOO, MI – Clara’s Kitchen, LLC, maker of Mike’s Famous Michigan Bean Dip, won the Product Placement Competition at the fourth annual “Making it in Michigan” trade show, held recently in Lansing.
The bean dip is produced in the Fair Food Matters’ Can-Do Kitchen, the region’s only commercial kitchen/food business incubator.
Mike’s Famous Michigan Bean Dip was one of three winners chosen from more than 100 food producers participating in the annual food trade show, hosted by the Michigan State University Product Center. Westborn Market, which operates three specialty retail stores in suburban Detroit, chose the winners, each of whom receives year’s worth of free shelf space at the stores.
Judges used the following criteria to select winners:
• A “good quality product” with a distinctive flavor and taste
• Attractive packaging and convenience for consumer use
• Well-defined competitive advantage
• “Retail readiness,” along with a sound business plan.Mike Kruk owns and operates Clara’s Kitchen. He began making the bean dip nearly 30 years ago for friends, family and co-workers. Kruk has manufactured it in the Can-Do Kitchen since 2009, at the same time he began selling it commercially.
The “secret ingredient” in Mike’s Famous Michigan Bean Dip – peanut butter – was never much of a secret, and has always been shown on the label’s ingredient list and allergen notice. The peanut butter adds texture and helps mellow the heat of the dip, which is available in Mild, Kinda Hot & Spicy, and Spicy.
In West Michigan, Mike’s Famous Michigan Bean Dip is available at D&W (Parkview Ave.), Irving’s Market, Natural Health Center, People’s Food Co-op, Sawall Health Foods, Tiffany’s Wine and Spirit Shoppe and Country Way Natural Foods (Otsego). It is also served at Bronson Hospital Café, Legends Sports Bar in Paw Paw and The Old Hat Brew Pub in Lawton.
East Egg – Arcadia
2628 W. Michigan Avenue- Kalamazoo, MI 49006
- (269) 381-9873
- Website
- Menu
After posting my picks in the Gazette’s Readers’ Choice Poll, I had people trying to convince me that my pick of East Egg as my favorite breakfast place was wrong. I have to say, I’ve never had a bad meal at an East Egg and the service is always fantastic.
That’s why, when J and I got up Sunday morning, I thought it was time we try out the new East Egg in Kalamazoo.
The newest addition to this ever growing local chain is in the Campus Pointe Mall on the corner of Michigan and Howard near Western Michigan University. It’s on the Michigan Avenue side of the shopping center in the space that used to be Fat Burrito.
The “front” of the building doesn’t actually face the street. It faces the parking lot. We pulled into the large shared lot and found a lot of cars there on a Sunday morning. I’m sure some of them were left there after a night of drinking at Capone’s.
Since they went in to a strip mall this time, the space isn’t quite as open and vaulted as the other locations in this chain. It’s much smaller and has booths running along one wall that I’m sure were left over from the Mexican joint that occupied this place.
We found the host who pointed us to a booth near the entrance. While the space is a little different from the others, they do try to carry some of the decor themes into the tight space. All the chairs have tennis balls on the legs and the color palate is bright and cheerful. Read more…
The Great White Fish Chicken – Eastern Avenue
2401 Eastern Avenue SEWhat the hell is a Fish Chicken? Bad English or did the “&” not fit on the sign? Oh well. Not important.
I’ve been driving by The Great White Fish Chicken for some time now. There are three locations on the South East side of Grand Rapids. Two of them used to be Sharks II Fish Chicken. The one on Eastern used to be a Wing Heaven.
Some co-workers and I had a conversation not too long ago about the location on Eastern. A few of them live in the area and were curious about not only what a Fish Chicken is, but if it’s any good. I was driving north on Eastern and had time for lunch, so I swung in to the small parking lot to check the place out.
I’m not kidding when I say the parking lot is small. There are only five or six spaces and they are in the back of the building off Alger Street. If you’re coming off Eastern, you have to go down a narrow alley between the buildings to get to the lot.
The Great White Fish Chicken is like a lot of places that serve fried fish. The surprising thing is that the inside is clean, well lit, and nicely decorated. I love places that serve up good fried food, but they always seem to have a thin coat of grease on pretty much everything.
The kitchen is front and center when you walk in with a large order counter right up front. The dining room is off to the right. There are only a handful of tables that are sort of centered around a large LCD TV. Read more…
Mancino’s of Canadian Lakes
8412 100th AvenueRoad trip! I was not expecting to be on the road for seven hours today, but I was. A co-worker and I got the tour of lower, central Michigan. We had to go to Lansing first then up to Mt. Pleasant and be back in Grand Rapids before 9:00.
After wrapping up in Mt. Pleasant, we started talking about dinner. I would have loved to have stopped at Mountain Town Station or Pisanello’s, but we didn’t have time. We started heading out of town looking for something quick.
The first, and as it turns out, only thing I came across was a McDonalds. We decided we could do better and kept driving….and driving…and driving. We found out the hard way, there’s really not much between Mt. Pleasant and Grand Rapids.
After a half hour of driving, we came up to a rural intersection in right on the edge of Canadian Lakes. I saw the sign for a Shell Station and craned my next to see if there were any restaurants down the street. I noticed the words “pizza” and “grinders” in lights next to the gas station so I turned to see what I could find.
Mancino’s of Canadian Lakes (which also uses the name Lakeside Pizza & Grinders) is near the corner of 100th and Buchanan in very rural Stanwood. On the map, it actually looks closer to Mecosta, but it has a Standwood address. It shares space with the Country Corner Shell near the Canadian Lakes in Mecosta County. Read more…
Fletcher’s Pub – Texas Township
7177 W. Q AvenueMonday was supposed to be an exciting day. We had a 3D Ultrasound scheduled for 11 AM. We cut our weekend home short to make it back in time and we showed up to the office right on time. As we were pulling in the parking lot, the office called to say the tech was going home sick and they were going to try to squeeze us in at the hospital instead…which doesn’t have the 3D machine….oh, and it would be later in the day.
At that point, we were still really excited to get to peak in at our little one again, but we were pretty bummed about not getting the 3D. Add that to the fact our day was pretty much shot now because we had to go to the hospital at 2:00 which cut in to the piles of house work that I was hoping to get done.
After leaving the office, J asked if we could go somewhere for lunch. Since we were already on Centre Avenue in Portage, I asked if she was up for pub food. She said she was up for anything.
We headed down Centre until it turns in to Q. A little farther down the road we came to Fletcher’s Pub in Texas Corners. The pub is in a small strip mall just to the west of Q Avenue and 8th Street. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 
