Honeybaked Ham & Cafe – Portage
5823 S. Westnedge AvenueEvery year for Christmas, J has gotten a gift certificate for Honeybaked Ham. We always seem to throw it on the counter and forget about it. Luckily, those certificates are always good for a year, so when we find it in November, we can still take advantage of it.
After a trip to the Secretary of State’s office to get our address updated on our driver’s license, we headed across town for lunch. Sure, we could have just went to the Portage SOS, but I wasn’t thinking and we went to the Stadium Drive location.
Honeybaked Ham Cafe is on Westnedge just to the south of I-94. If it wasn’t for the large sign and LCD display out front, you would never know this building housed a restaurant. It doesn’t have much curb appeal other than the signs assuring you that this is a retail location.
The parking lot is in the back and you enter off Westnedge and go down an one way alley to a large surface lot. The entrance to the building is along the side where the alley is. Read more…
Roma’s Pizza
1401 S. Drake RoadIt’s not very often J and I get a night where neither of us has to work or has to sleep. When one of those rare nights do pop up, I don’t think we know what to do anymore.
I called J and told her I’d be home earlier than expected and we started making plans. Should we go out? Should we order in? We both *wanted* to go out, but neither of us were in the mood. In the end, we decided on pizza and a movie….at home.
Before I left work, I walked out to the mailbox to see if our mail carrier had made his deposit yet. He hadn’t, but there was a menu in the box from Roma’s Pizza. We had never tried Roma’s, so I told J to order a pizza and I’d pick it up on my way home.
Roma’s Pizza is on Drake Road near the intersection of KL Avenue. The building isn’t really big and looks like it may have been some sort of national chain in a previous life.
Since we called in the order, I didn’t even have to go in to pick it up so I don’t even know how much of a dining room there is. Roma’s has a drive-thru pick-up window so I made my way around the building to find a very narrow access road that leads to the pick up spot. Read more…
Press Release – Round Up For Hunger
From a Loaves & Fishes press release…
EAT OUT AND DONATE CHANGE TO HELP FEED HUNGRY PEOPLE
Kalamazoo, Mich., Nov. 15, 2010 – Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes and area restaurants are encouraging diners to “round up” their bill the weekend of Dec. 10 – 12 to support Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes’ largest emergency food assistance program, the Grocery Pantry Program.
Diners will have the option to round up their bill to the next dollar, or add on dollar increments of their choosing, to benefit Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes’ 26 grocery pantries located throughout Kalamazoo County. Participating restaurants include:
- Blue Dolphin, 502 S. Burdick
- Bravo Restaurant & Café, 5402 Portage Rd.
- The Craftsman Chop Co., 6905 Sears Dr.
- Food Dance, 401 E. Michigan Ave.
- Mangia Mangia, 209 S. Kalamazoo Mall
Other local restaurants, including The Wine Loft, 161 E. Michigan Ave., and all three Theo & Stacy’s locations, will be accepting monetary donations during this weekend.
Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes’ Grocery Pantry Program provides emergency food resources to nearly 80,000 people each year. Funds raised from the Round Up For Hunger event will help procure food items to help feed hungry people in Kalamazoo County throughout the winter months.
For more information, please visit www.kzoolf.org.
Five Guys Burger & Fries – East Lansing
623 E. Grand River AvenueMy travels this weekend brought me close to Lansing. I had to drive around the city to get where I was going which is a good enough excuse for me to leave fifteen minutes earlier to check out the newest addition to my favorite burger chain.
Five Guys Burger & Fries is on Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing right across the street from Michigan State University. It’s not quite near I-96, but it was close enough for me.
The store took over a storefront that used to be Iggy’s Cafe, Roly Poly Rolled Sandwiches, and Take Two Authentics. If you’re coming from US-127, it’s near the end of the downtown stretch in a building that also has a Blockbuster, Jimmy John’s and a few other stores geared towards the college crowd.
The good thing about the location is there are actually some on-site parking spots. They’re metered, but in a parking lot that is shared by the businesses. There is also a back entrance which I believe also had some parking. Read more…
Carrabba’s Italian Grill – Portage
5690 S. Westnedge AvenueThe work never ends. After spending most of the afternoon on Tuesday raking and thinking we had it under control, I woke up this morning to find the maple tree decided it wasn’t done giving.
After a couple more hours outside we sat down to relaxing realizing neither of us had eaten lunch. I still had a gift card that was good at both Carrabba’s and Outback and since we used half of it at Outback last time, we got cleaned up and headed towards Carrabba’s to use the other half.
Carrabba’s Italian Grill is part of the OSI Restaurant Partners. The chain originated in Houston, TX in 1986. It expanded to 10 stores seven years later before OSI acquired the rights to develop the store on a national level.
The Portage location is on Westnedge Avenue just south of I-94. It actually shares a parking lot with Red Robin. We had to do a little time killing before we actually went to dinner because they don’t do lunch during the week. The restaurant opens at 4:00 and once again, we were among the first in the store at exaclty 4:00. Read more…
Wayside West
3406 Stadium DriveAnother day off. Another day raking leaves. We picked a good time to move in. Well, good time if you like raking leaves. After dropping off 58 bags of leaves at a leaf drop day this past weekend, J and I filled 12 more bags today.
We only had six bags left at home, so a trip to Lowes was in order. Before that, we decided we may as well go out for lunch too. We had a couple ideas over on the Portage side of town, but neither were open yet and I didn’t feel like waiting or driving, so I picked a spot a little closer to home.
Wayside West is on Stadium Drive near Adios Drive. It’s a building your not going to accidentally drive by and miss. It’s huge. It’s so big the only thing near it is the large parking lot that surrounds it.
I’ve been wanting to eat at Wayside West, but I never thought it would be a good idea to go for dinner. Wayside is more of a college bar and I’m way past that age. When J and I lived on the south side of Kalamazoo, we didn’t venture to this side of town much for lunch, so it’s one of those places that was always there, but we never thought of it. Read more…
Kalamazoo Foods Market Opening in December
This morning I got an e-mail newsletter from Fair Food Matters. I usually skim through it and not find much that I hadn’t already gotten from them via press release. This time, however, something caught my eye. I don’t know if I missed a release or what, but this sounds pretty interesting.
You’ll find local, hand-crafted and home-grown baked goods, vegetables, meats and more at the Kalamazoo Foods Market. This new indoor retail market, located at the corner of Burdick St. and Crosstown Parkway, opens Saturday, December 4 (9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.).
A winter market? Nice. I know I haven’t been really paying attention to things lately, but somehow, this totally slipped under my radar.
Vitale’s Grill & Sports Lounge
834 Leonard Street NEThe worst thing about working so far from home is that I don’t get a chance to be social outside of work very often. Normally, I get off around midnight and have to be back in fairly early in the morning. That combined with the fact I’m not going to drink and drive makes it difficult for me to hang out with co-workers outside of the workplace.
This past weekend, I was invited out for a little bit of a victory celebration and decided I could do a “pop-in.” When I found out there’d be pizza, I ended up staying a little longer than I had expected.
Vitale’s Grill & Sports Lounge is on the northeast side of Grand Rapids on Leonard Street between Emerald and Eastern Avenues. There’s actually three Vitale’s businesses in this location. There’s an Italian Restaurant, a Take-Out, and the sports bar. This complex is the original of the Vitale’s locations and has been open since 1966. The chain of restaurants also includes stores in Ada, Comstock Park, Zeeland, Hudsonville, and Kentwood. Read more…
Red’s Rootbeer
The owner of Red’s Rootbeer has requested I removed all pictures that I took on my visit. Apparently, they the found the pictures of their own food unappealing and requested I use their promotional shots instead. I’m not leaving a glowing review of the place up without the pictures I took, so the post has been removed.
Press Release – GR Restaurant Week Begins Today
Sorry for yet another Grand Rapids post, but this one is really cool. Restaurant week begins today and features some of G.R.’s best restaurants.
Restaurant Week Grand Rapids Kicks off with Fifty-Three Restaurants Participating in the November 4 – 13 Inaugural Event
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (November 3, 2010) – Experience Grand Rapids (formerly known as the Grand Rapids / Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau) will launch the first Restaurant Week Grand Rapid on November 4 – 13, 2010. In a city where food creativity and excitement about fresh farm-to-table cooking is growing rapidly, fifty-three of its finest restaurants will participate in Restaurant Week Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is known for its charm, walk ability and art. During Restaurant Week Grand Rapids the city’s finest restaurants will be the center of attention in this cosmopolitan setting 30 miles from the Lake Michigan shore.
According to Doug Small, President of Experience Grand Rapids, “We are excited that over 50 unique restaurants will be participating in Restaurant Week Grand Rapids. As a first time event the community and outside visitors will have ten days to experience some of the wonderful restaurants in our city for a very good value. This will be a unique opportunity to sample the fare at some of the finest Grand Rapids area restaurant at a bargain price.”
Participating restaurants will offer a 3-courses or more dinner menu for a fixed price of $20.10 in addition to their regular menu. The creative Restaurant Week menus to be offered at each of the restaurants are available for viewing at www.RestaurantWeekGR.com. Reservations are recommended.
The 53 Restaurants Participating in Restaurant Week Grand Rapids include:
- 25 Kitchen + Bar
- Aryana Restaurant & Bar – Crowne Plaza
- Bar Divani
- Bentham’s Riverfront Restaurant
- Bistro Bella Vita
- Blue Water Grill
- Bobarino’s
- Gilly’s
- Jbar
- Monkey Bar
- Bostwick Lake Inn
- Brann’s on Leonard Street
- Corez Wine Bar
- Cygnus 27
- Derby Station
- Dugan’s Pub and Grille
- Flat River Grill
- Fire Rock Grille
- Grand Woods Lounge
- Graydon’s Crossing
- The Green Well
- Heritage Restaurant – Secchia Culinary Institute
- Honey Creek Inn
- HopCat
- Louis Benton Steakhouse
- Mangiamo!
- Marco New American Bistro
- Mojo’s Dueling Piano Bar and Restaurant
- Noto’s
- One Trick Pony
- Osta’s Lebanese Cuisine
- Ottawa Tavern
- Peppino’s Downtown Grille and Pizzeria
- Radisson Hotel Grand Rapids Riverfront
- Red Jet Cafe
- Reds on the River
- Republic
- Rockwell’s Kitchen & Tap
- Rose’s on Reeds Lake
- Rush Creek Bistro
- San Chez
- six.one.six
- Spinnaker Restaurant
- Stella’s Lounge
- Sundance Grill
- Tavern on the Square
- The 1913 Room
- The Acorn Grille at Thousand Oaks
- The Grille at Watermark
- The Melting Pot
- Tre Cugini
- The Viceroy
- Z’s Restaurant & Bar
Each restaurant will donate $1 from each 3-course Restaurant Week Grand Rapids meal purchased to create a scholarship for Secchia Institute for Culinary Education students at Grand Rapids Community College.
The idea for Restaurant Week began in larger cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami. Grand Rapids, which has nearly 1 million residents, decided to launch Restaurant Week Grand Rapids to highlight great restaurants in this city, which has one of the top 20 culinary schools in the nation. According to Doug Small, “The Secchia Institute for Culinary Education produces some great talent that stays in the community. Combine that with the fact that Grand Rapids is just 30 minutes from the Lake Michigan shore and includes a cosmopolitan environment within a “not too big, not too small” geographic area. It’s a compelling mix.”
Many younger residents have chosen Grand Rapids over bigger cities to the east and south – Detroit and Chicago – due to its unique quality of life offering, including an innovative art culture and numerous culinary opportunities.
SW Michigan Dining 