Old Hat Brewery & Grill
This sucks. I’m just gonna say that right up front. I really wanted to like Old Hat Brewery. I still do actually.
J and I decided to head out to Lawton for dinner. I had come across the restaurant a few weeks ago and it actually caught my interest when I saw a Groupon for it last week.
I had a really rough day at work and I had a problem with lunch at a place I was really looking forward to eating at. When J asked what I wanted to do for dinner, I suggested Old Hat because I sort of wanted a beer.
Old Hat Brewery & Grill is in downtown Lawton on a street that has a surprisingly abundant number of restaurants. The brewery is housed in a very cool old brick building. Parking is a little rough. A competing restaurant across the street sees a large number of people for dinner on weekends and parking in the small downtown area is a couple surface lots and what ever you can find on the surrounding streets.
We actually found a lot behind the brewery and parked there. I really don’t know if it was a municipal lot or if it belonged to the business next door, but we weren’t the only ones parking there. Read more…
Bones & Butts
I wish I was going to these beach towns and not working. A co-worker and I got sent up to Ludington for an assignment. Even from Grand Rapids, that’s a pretty good drive. The whole drive there, I was really hoping we were going to have time to sit down and eat. I really wanted to try the Jamesport Brewing Company, but alas, we didn’t have time. Probably a good thing because not being able to drink at a brew pub might have killed me.
Instead, we parked along M-10 which is the main drag through town. When I got out of the car, I saw a shop owner standing in the doorway and started chatting him up. I mentioned we were looking for a place to eat and didn’t have a lot of time. Without hesitation, he pointed us around the corner to a BBQ joint.
Bones & Butts is on James Street to the north of Ludington Street. It’s a very small, carry out out restaurant that’s on a closed portion of James Street. The building is brightly painted yellow and red which makes it hard to miss. Missing it really isn’t a problem though as long as you have any sort of sense of smell. Read more…
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen – Battle Creek
One of the really cool things about traveling along the I-80 corridor are the service plazas that dot the highway through Indiana and Ohio. I know they’re there just because the highway is a toll road, but it would be so nice if all of the Interstate system had these plazas. They make it so easy to get off, get gas, use the restroom and pick up something to eat.
The thing that I really like about the whole system is there are different restaurants at each of the plazas. If you’re traveling for quite a while on the toll road like we were, you would actually have a choice of restaurants instead of having to settle for McDonalds.
We didn’t actually eat at any of our stops between Cleveland and Kalamazoo, but it did give us an idea for dinner. At the Middle Ridge Service Plaza, we noticed a sign for Popeyes Chicken. J said something about it being too early to eat, but she really wanted chicken. Even though it was still almost four hours away, I suggested stopping in Battle Creek and taking chicken home for dinner.
I’m really bummed there are no Popeyes in Kalamazoo. The closest is the Battle Creek location which is on Columbia Avenue about a mile west of I-196. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as the structure goes. Typical Popeyes with the typical fast food set up. Read more…
Lola Bistro
When it came time to plan our trip to Cleveland, I already had one restaurant picked out that would be a must eat it. The tough decision was lunch or dinner. Since we’re more lunch people, I made early lunch reservations on Monday just before we were about to leave town.
The restaurant? Michael Symon’s Lola Bistro. Symon actually has a couple restaurants in the Cleveland area. In addition to Lola, there’s Lolita, and B-Spot which is a burger joint…something I would be interested in, but J, not so much. We checked out menus at both Lola and Lolita and decided Lola’s lunch menu best suited us.
Our trip to Lola is not our first encounter with a Michael Symon restaurant. We ate at Roast in Detroit a few years back. We both loved the place and would love to make it back sometime for dinner. We already had high hopes for Lola since it’s sort of the flagship restaurant for the celebrity chef.
Lola Bistro is on 4th Street in downtown Cleveland’s Gateway District. 4th Street is a really neat area. At one time, it looks like it was a through street, but now it is closed off and there are a number of restaurants and shops. The restaurants spill out on to what used to be a roadway with their patios. We were about twenty minutes early for our reservation, so we walked around this area wishing we had seen this the night before. The Chocolate Bar is visible from Lola’s patio and had we walked down 4th Street last night, we may not have had to endure the disappointing meal that we did. Read more…
Progressive Field
2401 Ontario Street- Cleveland, OH 44115
- (216) 420-4487
- Website
I think we’ve made it pretty clear. J and I are baseball fans. Being from Chicago, most people assume we’re Cub fans. If you’re one of those people, you just made an ass out of u.
We’re both White Sox fans. J grew up on the south side and I grew up with a dad who is a White Sox fan.
Being a Sox fan in Michigan isn’t always fun. Since they play in the same division as the Tigers, we put up with a lot of grief. Of course, it’s fun when the Sox beat the Tigers, but it sucks when they lose…which happens more often (but not as I’m writing this, ironically.)
I’m fortunate to have a wife that enjoys baseball. We’ve been to several games since we’ve moved to Michigan. Mostly at Comerica Park which we both really like. Earlier this year, we watched the Tigers beat up on our Sox at CoPa.
At the beginning of the season, I looked at the Sox schedule and penciled this weekend in for a road trip. The Sox were playing in Cleveland and I have always wanted to go to The Jake….er….Progressive Field. A few weeks ago, we made the decision to book a hotel and get tickets.
Since it was a day game, we got up just before 7:00 AM. I work until midnight in Grand Rapids so it was a very short night for me. Still, this was something I wanted to do, so I didn’t complain too much. Read more…
Rose’s Express
2224 Wealthy Street SE- East Grand Rapids, MI 49506
- (616) 458-4646
- Website
- Menu
I wasn’t planning on eating out tonight. I had my lunch packed and everything, but my co-worker, who actually knows I write this blog, wanted to eat out. I wasn’t against the idea, but I wasn’t really craving anything either. She knows the Grand Rapids dining scene a little better than I do so I differed to her.
She thought about it for a few minutes as we drove around the southeast side of Grand Rapids then asked if I had ever heard of Rose’s on Reed’s Lake. Of course, I had. It was one of the first recommendations J and I ever got for the Grand Rapids area. We actually ate there one night when we still lived in Lansing and drove to Grand Rapids for a concert at Van Andel Arena.
Rose’s on Reed’s Lake is a little too fancy for us while at work. We didn’t really have time for a sit down menu and I was a sweaty mess in my plain gray t-shirt and jeans. I had to take my hat off last time I ate there so I’m sure they wouldn’t have really liked me there the way I was dressed.
Just down the street from the main restaurant, there’s a little take out place right in downtown East Grand Rapids where you can still get the delicious food from Rose’s. Read more…
West lake Drive-In
9138 Portage Road- Portage, MI 49002
- (269) 327-5985
- No Known Website
- Menu
J and I were in Portage for an appointment and a trip out always means a stop for lunch. At 12:30, I was yet to have my wake-up Pepsi and my head was starting to hurt. I was thinking at all. I didn’t have a taste for anything, but I knew I had to eat.
I deferred to J and she asked about that drive-in we always pass and say “we need to try that place.” I knew exactly what she was talking about and started heading towards Portage Road.
West Lake Drive-In is on Portage Road right on the banks of West Lake. It’s actually on that little strip of land between West Lake and Austin Lake, but the drive-in actually faces West Lake which is where it gets it’s name.
The drive-in is a throw back to the drive-in’s of our parents era. There is a walk up building painted white with orange accents. There are Coca-Cola menu boards above the building that is mainly used as a kitchen and an area for the car hops to pick up food.
The main feature is the large awning with several individual stalls. We pulled in just before one on a hot Wednesday afternoon and all but a couple of the stalls were being used. We squeezed in to one next to another SUV then went to work looking over the menu that that hangs from a stand on the side of each stall. The one we pulled in to had the menu on the driver’s side. The stalls alternate between driver’s side and passenger side so the menu and order speaker share a stand between two stalls. Read more…
From a Unity Vibration press release….
Unity Vibration Releases Kombucha Beer at Michigan Summer Beer Fest
(Ypsilanti, Mich) – Attendees at the 14th Annual Michigan Summer Beer Festival will have the opportunity to sample the nation’s first pure Kombucha beer – crafted locally by Tarek and Rachel Kanaan of Unity Vibration Living Kombucha Tea. The festival will be held this weekend, July 22-23, at Riverside Park in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town.
Relatively new on the American scene, Kombucha is a raw, living, fermented, naturally-carbonated, unpasteurized beverage – with a long history in Russia and China. The lightly sparkling beverage is made by fermenting black or green tea and sugar with a culture of various bacteria and yeasts (often referred to as a SCOBY: Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast).
“You feed the Kombucha mushroom the black tea and sugar and it converts most of the sugar,” says Tarek. “This process creates many beneficial acids, enzymes and viable probiotics.”
Kombucha also contains anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and more, which help people to balance their metabolism, aid in digestion, raise energy levels, detoxify and alkalinize the body and is even said to help prevent or heal cancer.
Unity Vibration will have three flavors of brew available at the Summer Beer Festival, including plain, pineapple/ginger and the current seasonal: strawberry rhubarb.
Triple Goddess Kombucha Beer will also be available. Described as a marriage of 30 day brewed Kombucha, featuring organic dried hops and either organic raw ginger or organic fresh raspberries, the brew is open air fermented in a Lambic-style, then oak barrel aged and bottle conditioned.
“Our Triple Goddess yields a unique refreshing exceptional fruit beer,” says Rachel. “The refreshing and slightly vinegar character of Kombucha is a perfect complement to the bitter hops and aromatic fruit. We are an all organic and gluten free product that contains 8-9% alcohol by volume.”
Each batch is brewed by hand and infused with healthy, fresh organic ingredients, as well as positive and loving intentions.
Unity Vibration has been in business for about two years – producing non-alcoholic beverages. Last summer, the federal government issued testing for all Kombuchas on the market. Many came in over .5% alcohol – as they are all raw and viable living creations – changes were required.
“We decided to go the route of ‘microbrewery’ to keep all of our products authentic and to not be forced to dealcoholize, says Tarek, who has experience in brewing wine and beer from wild edibles, as well as more traditional ingredients.
What makes the Kombucha from Unity Vibration different? It’s homemade, meaning the full potency of the enzymes is apparent. The couple began experimenting and brewing their own Kombucha in 2007, playing around with the various unique formulas and flavors. Their products were first introduced to the marketplace in 2009.
Now, under distributorship with Imperial Beverage, their products are found in more than 50 retail outlets statewide. They will also be offering for the first time a single serving bottle and new labels for all of their products created by Flow Design out of Northville. Rachel says: “It is like New Years Eve for us and we are coming in with an incredible BANG! This is really going to take off for us and we are ready!”
In the not too distant future, the Kanaans will be living on their own family farm, growing much of what they infuse into their flavored Kombuchas.
From a Fair Food Matters press release…..
Fair Food Matters’ Can-Do Kitchen to host grand opening in new location
The Can-Do Kitchen, the region’s only food business incubator, will host a grand opening on Saturday, August 6, from 2-7 p.m. The event, free of charge and open to the public, will take place at the kitchen’s new location: 511 Harrison Street, Kalamazoo (in the same building as the People’s Food Co-op).
A program of Fair Food Matters, the Can-Do Kitchen offers would-be food entrepreneurs a low-risk, low-cost environment to test their products.
It also is designed to function as a community asset, a place where adults, teens and children gather for classes and meetings on cooking, canning, nutrition and other food-related topics – with a focus on serving the underserved.
A number of current Can-Do Kitchen clients will provide treats at the grand opening, including Ageless Pantry (iced tea), The Green Lunch Box (kids’ lunch box meals), The Gathering Bread (dry bread and dip mixes), and The Adventures of Barb & Tammy (granolas, fruit/nut mixes).
Two local chefs will use the kitchen’s two-station food preparation area in a “chef showdown.” Howie Peak, executive chef of the soon-to-opened fuel (“Kalamazoo’s only completely vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurant”) and Allen Worman, executive chef of Mangia Mangia will shop in the adjacent People’s Food Co-op for fresh ingredients, then face off beginning at 3 p.m. for “best presentation,” “best use of mystery local ingredient,” and “most entertaining to watch.” Visitors are encouraged to vote at around 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Can-Do Kitchen staff and volunteers will also offer tours of the new space and answer questions about food entrepreneurship.
Although the new space has been operational for nearly two months, Fair Food Matters hopes to complete a capital campaign to raise funds to purchase appliances, fixtures and utensils for the kitchen. The campaign stands at 80 percent of its goal ($131,658 raised toward a goal of $165,410). Supporters of the Can-Do Kitchen are encouraged to help close the final gap of $34,265 before August 6 with a tax-deductible donation.
The Can-Do Kitchen grand opening takes place the same day and time as the grand opening celebration for the People’s Food Co-op (www.peoplesfoodco-op.org), which will feature local music, kids’ activities, food samples and more.
114 N. Main Street
106 N. James Street
91 Columbia Ave. East
2058 E. 4th Street
347 Euclid Avenue

