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…Dak Good
5317 S. Westnedge AvenueI have never had Korean Fried Chicken. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try because who doesn’t love fried chicken? We’ve never had a place in Kalamazoo that I know of. I’m sure if I looked at a couple of the Korean food places there might be someplace with it on the menu but now we have a place that specializes in it.
I was working an overtime shift last week and needed to grab dinner in between my regular shift and when my next assignment began in Battle Creek. I started looking for places in Battle Creek but I really wanted to try that fried chicken place. It was a little out of the way but I had time.
Dak Good is on Westnedge near Andy drive just north of the I-94 interchange. The restaurant takes up the remaining space left by BD’s Mongolian Grill. Firehouse Subs took a small part of the building and left this bigger space open. I noticed the signage go up for Dak Good a month or so ago and they opened up at the end of February. The website shows this location in Portage and a second one in Muskegon that may not be open yet.
McDonalds (Central Business District)
224 W. Kalamazoo AvenueI’m not gonna apologize for this. I told you a while ago there was going to be more fast food blog posts because I’m need to eat quick, cheap meals.
I’m not abandoning the local places that make up the majority of this blog. Just throwing some other thoughts on there on places that are more common.
Last Monday was one of those nights that I was hungry but didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I always like to see how things are going to shake out during the week to see how much spending cash we’re going to have. I had some actual cash on me but not a lot so I went cheap for dinner.
It’s kind of difficult to find something to eat downtown on Monday nights. Sure, there are the usual suspects like Jimmy Johns and Subway but for some reason, I had a McDonalds craving.
Most people will tell you to avoid the downtown McDonalds at all costs. I’ve always felt that if you avoid a place because you might have an interaction with someone you don’t want to interact with, that’s on you.
I’ve stopped at this McDonalds a few times over the years but it’s always been through the drive thru. I’ve been trying to get out of my car more often and go inside to see how the fast food experience has changed recently.
The downtown Kalamazoo McDonalds is located on the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Rose Street. It’s actually a pretty big corner lot across from the Kalamazoo County Administration Building and the Kalamazoo Transportation Center. There’s a pretty large parking to the east of the building and a double drive through around back. This location was essentially torn down and rebuilt back in 2012 to give it the newer sleeker McDonalds look.
Read more…Naples Calzone Company
5030 Gull RoadRemember when Ghost Kitchens became a thing? We’d get some new restaurant pop up on DoorDash and everyone would get excited only to find out it was just a brand working out of the kitchen at Fazoli’s.
Those places still exist but there’s also a trend where brands are just rebranding a certain part of their menu as entirely new online only restaurant. Ever see Pasqually’s Pizza? It’s Chuck E. Cheese. Cosmic Wings? Yeah, that’s just Applebees.
I started seeing Facebook posts from a new calzone place in Kalamazoo. It wasn’t listing an address anywhere and was encouraging people to order through DoorDash. I got really curious once I clicked on DoorDash and saw what the pick up location was. It’s not a national chain. It’s a local chain so I had to give it a try.
Naples Calzone Company is a Ghost Kitchen that works out of the Kazoopy’s Pizza location on Gull Road. The restaurant specializes in calzones but they also offer a few pizza options. The only way to order is through DoorDash. You can’t walk in to the restaurant nor can you call in an order. Obviously it’s through DoorDash so you can have your calzone delivered but if you pick it up yourself, you’ll have to go to the Kazoopy’s on Gull Road and Rockingham in Kalamazoo Township. When you get there, you won’t see any signs anywhere, inside or out, that you’re at the right place. You’ll just have to trust the DoorDash address and ask for your DoorDash order at the counter.
Goodfellas Bagel Deli
600 E. Michigan AvenueYes, I picked up paczki from Quality Dairy on my way to Lansing, but no, that wasn’t my lunch.
I was working a late shift in Lansing so I didn’t get to town until about 2:00. I didn’t want a big meal but I wanted something to eat to hold me over the rest of the night. I was going to be trapped in my work site for quite a while.
There’s a bagel place near downtown that I have been wanting to stop at but the last few times I was there, it was a Monday morning and they were closed. This time, it was a Wednesday afternoon and I was able to make it before closing time.
Goodfellas Bagel Deli is inside the Meijer Capital City Market on East Michigan Avenue and Larch Street. There is an entrance to the building on that corner but the parking lot is behind the building accessible from either Larch Street or a little further down past the building on Michigan. Unlike Bridge Street Market in Grand Rapids which incorporates their parking into the structure, Capital City Market has a large surface lot behind the building where there is an entrance to the Market.
SW Michigan Dining 