Sweet Tooth of Rockford
53 Bridge Street E- Rockford, MI 49341
- (616) 866-3033
- Website
- No Online Menu
I have one co-worker who loves ice cream break….but really, who doesn’t? We were in Rockford working on a project when we came to a standstill. We needed to kill time but we both brought our lunches and didn’t really want to incur the expense of eating out. As we were driving through downtown Rockford, she said to me, “Are there any ice cream places nearby?”
I’m not really familiar with downtown Rockford, but I assumed there had to be. As we drove down Bridge Street, I saw a sign for Hudsonville ice cream. Score.
Sweet Tooth of Rockford is a really neat, old building that just underwent renovations at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets in downtown Rockford. The family business has been around for over 100 when it started as a small operation selling popcorn, peanuts, and cigarettes out of a wagon. The recipes have been handed down for over 105 years and they still sell the caramel corn and candy apples from the original recipes.
My two coworkers and I were in the market for some ice cream, so we made our way passed the popcorn display to get to the back of the store where the ice cream case is. The two ladies I was with both went for single scoops of ice cream. Sweet Tooth sells only Hudsonville Ice cream and, according to their website, all the flavors were handpicked by the owner. I honestly don’t even know what they picked but both of them were very happy we found the place. They talked about it for the rest of the night. Read more…
Legends Sports Bar and Grille
1027 E. Michigan AvenueSurprise. I overslept again. I wanted to get up and take J to lunch before I had to go to work. It may be a long holiday weekend for most, but not for us. It’s just another weekend with the same old work schedule…although we did have plans to go to a BBQ in Marshall and my brother was bringing his family for a visit, so it was going to be a busy weekend packed in to our same old weekend work schedule.
I fell out of bed just before 11:45 and stumbled in to the living room and complained about oversleeping. I told J I was hoping to go to lunch. She said if I could give her twenty minutes to shower, we could still get to lunch and get me back home before 2:00 so I could head to work in Grand Rapids.
A few weeks ago, I saw a review on Urbanspoon for a sports bar in Paw Paw. I looked up the website and found a menu that was loaded with my favorite food….burgers.
Legends Sports Bar and Grille is on the east side of Paw Paw on Michigan Avenue east of the intersection with Hastings Street. It’s a small blue building that’s easy to pass by. You’d be missing out if you don’t give pause on your travels through Paw Paw and give this place a shot. Read more…
Urban Pizza
950 Wealthy Street SEI wasn’t planning on eating out tonight. I usually bring my lunch to work during the week, but I’ve been bad the last couple of days. I’ve been tired. Really, really tired. J actually called me at 6:45 this morning and asked if I wanted to me for breakfast. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t get out of bed. I was so tired.
When I did finally get out of bed, I headed straight for the couch. J and her mom were actually heading to Chicago today, but before she left, she made me a couple sandwiches to bring for lunch.
At this point, my plan was to stop at McDonalds on my way to work. Well, on my way to work, I got called to turn around and head back to Kalamazoo. I had an appointment that was going to be really hard to make. I had gotten to Plainwell before being turned around. It was 2:10 and I needed to be downtown by 2:30. I knew it was going to be tight.
Because of the change in plans, I didn’t have time to grab lunch, so on the way back to Grand Rapids after my 2:30 appointment, I pulled out the lunch J had made me and ate it on the way.
Around 8:00, I got sent out of the office to pick something up. While out, I decided to grab something for dinner. I wasn’t super hungry at that point, but I was thinking about pizza for later and there is a take-n-bake that I’ve been wanting to try. Read more…
Boonzaaijer Bakery
126 E. Cork StreetMy Mother-In-Law is coming to visit for a few days and it happens to coincide with her birthday. J wanted to get cupcakes or something sweet so she’d have a little birthday sweet when we got here.
Our instinct was to head downtown to Confection, but when we got there, we found the Cafe temporarily closed. That was a little bit of a surprise and put a damper on our plans. Confection has such great sweets and we were both looking forward to a chocolate ganache bomb.
As we were walking back to the car, J was kind of at a loss. She still wanted to get something, but didn’t know where to go. Confection was the only place I could think of that would do gourmet cupcakes, but I did bring up a bakery that I knew had pretty good cakes.
Boonzaaijer Bakery is on Cork Street just east of Burdick. When I was looking for a cake for J’s birthday, it’s the place that people kept suggesting to me. Boonzaaijer is owned by a Dutch family who immigrated from the Netherlands in the 1960’s. Read more…
The Electric Cheetah
1015 Wealthy Street SEI needed to get J to Grand Rapids with me one day this week. I had a situation where I had two cars in Grand Rapids and needed to get them both back home. J’s schedule makes it a little tough because when she gets home from work, she’s usually pretty tired and doesn’t want to commit to a two hour trip to GR and back. She was feeling wide awake and hungry when she got home from work today, so I offered to go out to lunch, but only if we could go to lunch in Grand Rapids.
I had been holding a place I knew she would like for the next time we went to Grand Rapids for something. She pretty much only wants to go to San Chez when we go north for shows, so I knew I would have to find a time when we weren’t going downtown for something if I was ever going to get her to try something in Easttown.
The restaurant I took her to was The Electric Cheetah on Wealthy Street just to the east of Diamond Avenue. The structure looks more like an office building than a restaurant with it’s contemporary glass front, but the inside of the restaurant looks more like what you expect on Wealthy Street.
When walking through the door, you come to a hostess station which is right next to a bar overlooking the kitchen. If you’re dining alone or just enjoy a show, this a really cool feature. Read more…
Dean’s Ice Cream
307 N. Sherwood Avenue- Plainwell, MI 49080
- (269) 685-6641
- Website
- No Online Menu
After a fantastic lunch at Walldorf Brew Pub and Bistro in Hastings, J and I decided to do some sightseeing in Barry County. We took the long way back to Kalamazoo which included a stop in Plainwell for some ice cream.
There are a couple options for ice cream in Plainwell and I hope to get to both of them eventually, but on this particular Sunday afternoon, we had to make a choice. I went with Dean’s Ice Cream even though we had to drive right by Plainwell Ice Cream to get there.
Dean’s Ice Cream is on Sherwood Avenue right next to the Riverwalk. What a great way to take a break from the trail. Anyway, the Dean’s building is brand new. The old building was the victim of an arson last September. The owners contemplated not even reopening because they are close to retirement age, but Dean’s is such an institution in Plainwell that they really had no choice.
The design of the new building mimics the old one. The building is about 90% kitchen. The public space is more like a long hallway. There are three windows that open so someone can take your order. The menu is hand written on poster board that is taped to the windows. Read more…
Walldorff Brew Pub & Bistro
105 E. State StreetIt’s been a while since J and I have eaten out at a place that wasn’t fast food or pizza. She hasn’t been feeling good lately and I’ve just been craving a good pub burger. When she woke me up this morning, she said she was feeling good and wanted to go somewhere for lunch.
Since I could pick pretty much anything I wanted, I decided to take advantage of the nice day and go for a drive. The restaurant I picked was the Walldorff Brew Pub & Bistro in Hastings.
The pub sits right on the corner of State and Jefferson in downtown Hastings. Parking is along the street and on a Sunday afternoon, we didn’t have a problem finding a spot close to the building.
When you walk in, the fermentors for beer are immediately to your right. You come to a hostess station that sort of straddles the two distinct dining areas. The right side is the pub which includes a full bar that has not only Walldorff’s own brews, but a some national beers as well. The left side is the bistro which is more of a dining room setting.
There was no one as the host station when we walked in. After waiting a few minutes, a waiter came up and was going to see us, but the host came back and said he’d take care of it. First, he had to tell the waiter that was standing there that one of his tables moved to the bar so he lost a table. He then turned to us and asked if we’d like to sit in the bistro or the bar. It didn’t really matter to us. We just wanted to sit down. He then said he had a booth but it would be just a few minutes to clean. We really didn’t care, but he seemed pretty persistent to sit us in that booth. It was the table the waiter who was just up there lost, so he was trying to replace that right away. I finally just said that was fine. He took an order on the phone then showed us to a table…but he didn’t have any menus. He sat us then didn’t go looking for menus. I had grabbed a paper menu when we walked in, so we could at least look at drinks. When the waiter came over and saw we didn’t have menus, he went looking for a couple so we didn’t have to share a small paper menu to place our order.
While he was getting the menus, he also put in our drink orders. J went with a lemonade. I couldn’t decide between the IPA or the seasonal wheat. I ended up going with the Hopnoxxxious IPA. The beer had a nice bitter flavor with a hint of a citrus. I thought about downing it and going for the Sundancer Summer Wheat, but instead decided to enjoy it and enjoy it I did. Read more…
Dallas Deli
3660 Byron Center Ave SW- Wyoming, MI 49519
- (616) 530-3399
- No Known Website
- Menu
A few weeks ago I was driving down Byron Center Avenue on my way to work and I drove by a little BBQ place just south of 36th Street. I didn’t catch the name or even if it was even open, but I saw a smoker out front with a stack of wood. I didn’t have time to stop, but I knew I had to go back.
When I did finally get a break long enough at work that I could venture back out to Wyoming, I took advantage of it. The problem was, I couldn’t remember if the shop was on Clyde Park or Byron Center, so I first drove down Clyde Park. When I got to 52nd Street, I knew I was on the wrong road, so I headed east to Byron Center and headed back north until I found what I was looking for.
Dallas Deli is a really small BBQ joint just to the south of the intersection of Byron Center Avenue and 36th Street. The building and parking lot is shared with beauty shop. Dallas Deli is primarily a take out restaurant as the public portion of the building is only big enough for four tables and they are crammed in to that little space.
There’s a counter that juts out from the kitchen and there are menus available right next to the cash register. There’s also one on the wall behind the cashier. I spotted that one when I walked in and immediately saw they had a pulled pork sandwich. I knew a sandwich wasn’t going to be enough alone, so I made it a dinner and added a side of macaroni and cheese and corn on the cob. Read more…
Goodrich Kalamazoo 10
820 Maple Hill Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49009
- (269) 345-7469
- Website
Exciting day for us. We went out to breakfast and, after a nap, went to a movie. There are several out I want to see right now and I’ve tried to get J to go for the last few weekends, but she hasn’t felt up to it. She was feeling pretty good this particular Saturday night so we decided to go out.
The movie she wanted to see was Bridesmaids. We had our choice of theaters because all three are playing it, but the choice was made to just stay close to home.
The Goodrich Kalamazoo Theater is just off Main Street on Maple Hill Drive. I drive that portion of Main Street all the time and never had any clue where the theater actually is. You can’t see it from Main Street even though it’s only a block off. As far as theaters go in Kalamazoo, I like the Rave downtown. J didn’t feel like going downtown and the tickets are a little cheaper at Goodrich.
The Goodrich Kalamazoo 10 isn’t one of the big, new fancy theaters. The outside is a pretty plain design with a small parking lot directly in front and a larger parking lot to the north. Being a Saturday night in June, the theater was pretty full yet we were still able to find a parking spot fairly close main entrance. Read more…
Julianna’s Restaurant
2105 Lake StreetWorking weekend overnights. It’s great because I’m off by 9:00 and I’ve now got the whole weekend to do what I want. It’s bad because I’m exhausted. When I got home this morning, I was a little surprised to find J still in bed. She’s usually up by the time I got home and I had figured we’d go to breakfast. Not wanting to wake her, I crawled in bed, but waking her is exactly what I did. As we laid there talking, she heard my stomach growling and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast. I did, so we got up and went.
Julianna’s Restaurant is a place we’ve known about almost since we moved to Kalamazoo a year and a half ago. We didn’t go right away because it was definitely a “wait until the smoking ban” place.
Ok, so I know the smoking ban has been in place for a while, but Julianna’s isn’t really near anything or even on a road we travel often so I would be reminded about it.
The restaurant is on Lake Street right at the intersection with Business Loop 94. When you pull in to the parking lot, you expect a greasy spoon diner and that’s exactly what you get Julianna’s. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 