Hub 51 – Chicago
51 W. Hubbard StreetFor the last couple weeks, I’ve been working on a pretty big freelance project in the Benton Harbor area. After three days of work there, the client wanted to make a quick trip to Chicago to work out of their office there. Of course my employer wasn’t going to argue with a trip to Chicago even if it was for just a few hours.
The best thing, as I’ve mentioned before about freelance jobs, is the lunch. Unlike my normal job, we always find time to eat lunch…and usually it’s a pretty nice place.
Our plan when we got to the city was take care of business before lunch in the office, go to lunch, then finish up some other things we needed to do in the city. Our initial choice for lunch was Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill. On the drive to Illinois, I called Frontera to see about reservations. I was greeted by a recording that told me they were closed on Sunday and Monday. Damn.
Choice number two was The Publican. I got online to find a menu and found out they don’t open until 3:00. Damn.
So we’re stuck on lunch. I threw out a couple ideas, but no one seemed interested, so when we got to the Chicago office, we asked the adminstrative assistant. Right away she threw out one of her favorite places and it was just a short walk from where we were.
Hub 51 is on the corner of Hubbard and Dearborn in Chicago’s Near North Side. It’s on the street level of a pretty large building. The revolving door that takes you into the bar area is on the Hubbard Street side. Read more…
Menna’s Joint – Kalamazoo
3501 Stadium DriveI need another vacation. After working 10 out of 11 days, I’ve spent my three days off so far this week painting, cleaning, buildings, fixing, and scraping. I’m sore as hell, but it’s a good sore.
Since we got most of the paint on the walls, we decided it was time to start moving our stuff. J wanted to sleep at our new place tonight and since we have TV, internet, and our new living room furniture, all we needed to do was move clothes and our bed and we’d have all the essentials.
We woke up this morning at our apartment and immediately started loading our cars to make the first of two trips. After we unloaded that first trip, we started heading back, but first, we thought it would just work out well if we stopped and got lunch.
Now that we’re on a new side of town, there are a lot of new places for us to try. I passed on a lot of those new places today because I just wasn’t feeling it. Instead, I opted for something I know and know I like. Read more…
Press Release – Fair Food Food Fair
From a Fair Food Matters press release….
Fifteen of the community’s finest chefs will compete for the “Golden Ladle Award,” and participants will enjoy a smorgasbord of late-harvest local food, Michigan beer and wine, musical and theatrical performances and more as Fair Food Matters presents the Fair Food Food Fair.
The event will be held Saturday, November 20, from 6-9 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (314 South Park Street, Kalamazoo).
Tickets are $35 in advance (or $40 at the door), and proceeds will benefit Fair Food Matters, a non-profit organization that supports and promotes local food throughout Southwest Michigan.
Chefs from 15 of the area’s finest restaurants and caterers will each prepare a unique “small plate” dish using the best late-harvest local ingredients. Scheduled to take part are: A.F.A. Gourmet (Jared Dellario); Bravo!; Bronson Food & Nutrition Service; the Eclectic Kitchen (Channon Mondoux); Crow’s Nest; Food Dance; Gorilla Gourmet (Noel Corwin); Oakwood Bistro; Park Club; People’s Food Co-op; The Strutt; Union Cabaret & Grill; Water Street Coffee Joint; Zazios; and Zooroona.
All participants will have the chance to vote for their favorite dish, and the winning chef will be presented with this year’s Golden Ladle Award.
A smorgasbord of performers will make the evening a lively affair from start to finish. Scheduled to appear are: Quintette à Vin, a mostly woodwind ensemble from Kalamazoo; improv and sketch comedy group Crawlspace Eviction; spoken word duo Kinetic Effect; vinyl mixologist DJ Jenna; and British songstress Fiona Dickinson.
Participants can bid on local art, food items, kitchen gear and more in the silent auction. A cash bar will feature Michigan-made beer and wine (soft drinks will be available as well). In addition, Fair Food Matters will present its “Locavore of the Year” award to the person or organization that has done the most for the local food movement in the past year.
Tickets are available online (www.fairfoodmatters.org) or by visiting Fair Food Matters (323 N. Burdick St., Kalamazoo) during business hours.
The Fair Food Food Fair is sponsored by Bronson Hospital. Updated information and a complete schedule of events can be found at www.fairfoodmatters.org.
Sophia’s House of Pancakes – Kalamazoo
4700 Stadium DriveLast week I let you in our secret. After that post, things finally became official and we actually closed on our house last Friday….a week and a half later than expected.
The delay did more than stress us out. It shortened our timeline. Our moving help is coming this Sunday so we have to get everything painted, cleaned, and ready for the move.
Quite a while ago, J took the first part of this week off so we would have some days off together. That worked out perfect for us because now we have three full days to try and get everything done.
Before cracking the whip this morning, J asked if I was in the mood for breakfast. I figured it may be the only good meal I eat today, so I said yes. Good thing because she already had the place picked out. Read more…
On The Border Mexican Grill and Cantina – Kentwood
3195 28th Street SE R-101What a crazy day at work. It’s hard to explain too much without giving away where I work which I don’t want. Mixing personal blog and professional life….not always a good thing.
I did have enough time to actually grab a lunch that wasn’t a drive thru so I started racking my brain as to where I should go. Since I’m a big fan of online ordering, I started looking for something where I wouldn’t have to actually talk anyone.
Yesterday, I was driving around the Woodland Mall area and I saw On The Border which is one of those chains that I have never been to. It’s used to be part of the Brinker International chain of restaurants which also owns Chili’s. In March, the brand was bought by OTB Acquisition, LLC which also picked up Romano’s Macaroni Grill. Read more…
Outback Steakhouse – Kalamazoo
4320 S. Westnedge AvenueSo, it’s been quite a while since J and I have actually eaten out together. We’ve been so busy with work. Both of us are doing 12 hour days and in my case, today is the only day off I have in about a week and a half.
Last week, I noticed I had enough points for a rewards card on my credit card. I started looking to see what restaurants we could get a gift card for. It had been quite a while since I’ve eaten at an Outback Steakhouse, so that’s what I went with.
The Outback Steakhouse in Kalamazoo is on South Westnedge just north of the intersection with Kilgore. It’s actually a weird location for a chain restaurant. There are some local places around it, but places like Outback are usually near a big box store or at least an Interstate. This one is near neither.
Our plan was to go to lunch when J got home, but when we pulled in to the parking lot around 1:45, it was empty. They don’t open until 4:00, so we’d have to go back for dinner. Read more…
Rainbow Grill – Hudsonville
4225 32nd AvenueSo this week has been pretty crazy. I’m working 10 out of 11 days. My normal weekends at my part-time job and three days during the week at a freelance job.
The best thing about the freelance work (other than the more than double hourly wage) is that I almost always get a free lunch out of it. Most of the time it’s a pretty fancy restaurant that I couldn’t afford on my own, but when we’re in small towns, we find what we can.
We started out the morning in Martin, but our second stop of the day was going to be in Hudsonville. We didn’t think we’d even have time for lunch, but we ended up getting to Hudsonville almost an hour ahead of schedule, so we decided to find someplace to eat.
Neither of us really knew the area, so I pulled out my phone and started looking for someplace to eat. I found the place with the most reviews and that’s where we decided to go to lunch. Read more…
Pizza Hut – S. Westnedge
4438 S. Westnedge AvenueSo it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. So crazy I got way behind on blogging again. I was hoping by now to share some pretty big news for J and I, but one of the banks that were too big to fail has failed epicly for us.
The news is, J and I are staying in Kalamazoo for a while. We’re (hopefully) buying a house. It was supposed to happen last Thursday. We had everything set to close with no indication that it wasn’t going to happen. On Wednseday, we’re told the bank is having massive “system problems” with their underwriting computer and had been for five days. They get it fixed, our file goes to the underwriter, he finds a mistake from the appraiser. Closing’s not happening when it supposed to.
Needless to say, that put J and I in a really bad mood. She’s got a car full of paint. I have a truck full of furniture and we have a bed in our living room while we’re waiting for this to now happen (supposed to be tomorrow, again, bank didn’t get everything done in time). Read more…
Nantucket Baking Company
200 Union Avenue NEYou’d think I’d have enough of pizza by now, but I just don’t. I actually had time for my hour long lunch break so I went out looking for a good pizza.
Because of some one way street issues, I end up driving down Union Street quite a bit. The first time, I was really surprised to see this little bakery in the middle of a neighborhood. It looked so out of place, but the limited parking was full and the small counter area inside the building always looks packed.
The Nantucket Baking Company is just north of Lyon Street on Union Avenue in Grand Rapids. It’s a neighborhood bakery that sits right next to the only other business in the area, Martha’s Vineyard. The building is very small and there really isn’t a parking lot. There is some space in front of the building and most people seem to just park over the sidewalk. I opted for street parking just a little bit farther down the road. Read more…
New York Fried Chicken
743 S. Division- Grand Rapids, MI 49503
- (616) 301-2800
- No Known Website
- Menu
There was no break for us after getting back from New York. It was right back to work. I made it a couple days without having to buy a meal out, but by Saturday, I was running out of food at home and could only go so long at work before getting that headache I get when I go too long without eating.
On my way into work on Saturday, I got US-131 at 28th Street because of a major backup due to construction. I decided to cut down Division to get to Wealthy. Along the way, I passed several restaurants that I want to get back to sometime, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a green and white building with two words that will always get me stop. Fried Chicken.
New York Fried Chicken has a Division address, but the storefront is actually on Franklin Street. It’s part of a small strip mall which also has a liquor store. The space the chicken place takes up is a small storefront with only a two tables in front of an order counter. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 