Ray Ray’s Italian Beef & Sausage
1715 Miller Road- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 381-6138
- No Known Website
- Menu
I couldn’t wait. I just couldn’t wait until my next trip home to get an Italian beef. Especially after I heard about a new place in Kalamazoo that specializes in the Chicago specialty.
I was surfing the web the other night and came across a great website that lists some of the best restaurants all over SW Michigan, South Central Michigan, and Northern Indiana by city, cuisine, and specialty. There’s a blog that goes with the website that updates new places. That blog is where I found Ray Ray’s Italian Beef & Sausage.
The very small restaurant is on Miller Road near Fulford Street in the Edison Neighborhood. There are no tables inside the store, but there is something that makes it very Chicago. A counter with stools. That set up is very common at sandwich shops in Chicago. It’s where the “hunch” was made famous. The decor is all Chicago. From a White Sox banner in the window to a huge picture of Michael Jordan to various skyline shots, every piece of art used in the place reminds you where you’re eating.
The menu is all Chicago style food. Chicago dogs (with a big note that there is NO KETCHUP on the dog), Maxwell Street Polish, Italian beef, Italian sausage, BBQ pulled pork, BBQ chicken, Chicago Fire Chili, and burgers made with fresh ground chuck. Read more…
Huarache Kzoo
2838 Portage Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 382-3351
- No Known Website
- No Online Menu
Cinco de Mayo came a day early for us. J came home from work and said she had a taste for Mexican. I had a coupon from the back of a Harding’s receipt for a Mexican place, so I figured why not. I could use some tacos.
Huarache Kzoo is on Portage Street just after the Lover’s Lane/Portage Street split near Cork Street. The building used to house a Chinese buffet and the exterior hasn’t changed much. It still has a green pagoda style roof that makes you do a double take when you see the Mexican food sign.
The parking lot is a little tight. There are angled spaces along either side of the building and that’s about all there’s room for. Wasn’t a big deal because even though we stopped for lunch, there was only one other car in the parking lot.
The inside is decorated with Mexican flags. There is a buffet in the back of the space, but it wasn’t stocked. I don’t know if it’s leftover from the previous business or if they do a buffet at times. I’m sure a buffet would bring us back in. We had one in Lansing near our place that was outstanding!
We were met by a guy I assume to be a manager. He was wearing a white shirt and tie and just sort of hovered around the place. He grabbed a couple menus and handed them to the only waitress who showed us to a booth along the north side windows. Read more…
Press Release – Stamp Out Hunger This Weekend
From a press release….
Nation’s Largest Single-Day Food Drive Expected to Surpass One Billion Pounds of Donations This Year
Campbell Soup Company, U.S. Postal Service, and Feeding America join the National Association of Letter Carriers effort to Help Stamp Out Hunger™CAMDEN, NJ (April 19, 2010) – On Saturday, May 8, Campbell Soup Company will join forces with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the U.S. Postal Service to Stamp Out Hunger across America to provide assistance to the one in six Americans who struggle with hunger.
This year Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest single-day food drive, will look to surpass one billion pounds of food collected since its inception in 1993. Last year, letter carriers across the country collected a record total of more than 73.4 million pounds of food. But with hunger impacting 49.1 million Americans, including 16.7 million children, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual study measuring food security in the United States; help is needed now more than ever before.
“In these trying times it’s important for Americans to rally behind causes like the Letter Carriers Food Drive to help their neighbors struggling with hunger,” said Fredric V. Rolando, NALC president. “While we’re very proud of our success over the years in the battle against hunger, the fact remains that more Americans than ever are in need, which is why we remain committed to this drive.” Read more…
Chicago Style Pizza
10420 Portage Road- Portage, MI 49002
- (269) 323-0807
- No Known Website
- Menu
Another Sunday pizza night. As J and I laid on the couch watching our White Sox get hammered by the Yankees, we started discussing dinner. J had eaten so well three days I was gone. She and her mom hit all her favorite spots. The Strutt, The Union, Food Dance, Rose’s on Reed’s Lake, and Full City Cafe. I, on the other hand, had McDonald’s twice then two burger joints. I had a lot of ground beef, so we decided no hamburgers.
Once again, we were both thinking pizza. I wanted to try something new instead of just calling Cottage Inn again. I found some really good reviews for Chicago Style Pizza on Portage Road near Austin Lake in Portage. I called in an order for a medium thin crust cheese and a small stuffed pepperoni.
Being from Chicago, the phrase “Chicago Style Pizza” means more than just a deep dish pizza. While most people outside of Chicago think all deep dish pizzas are Chicago Style, they’re missing out on a couple important factors. The two big criteria for being Chicago style are the use of a cold sauce and a high fat crust. Just being a deep dish or stuffed pizza does not make a true Chicago Style pizza although it is a good start. Read more…
Five Guys Burgers & Fries – Orland Park, IL
15837 S. LaGrange RoadI figured I had a great burger and french fries for lunch, why not try another burger joint for dinner? What could be the harm in that? My colon might disagree, but it’s so hard to pass up a burger joint.
On my way home from Normal, IL to Kalamazoo, I decided to pull off the Interstate in Tinley Park, IL. I knew there was a Five Guys Burgers & Fries down the road a few miles and it’s a place I’ve been wanting to go for a long time, but it’s not something J would really be interested in. Like my earlier stop at Meatheads in Bloomington, IL, they don’t do a whole lot other than delicious burgers.
Five Guys is a national burger chain with eight Chicagoland locations. The Orland Park store is the furthest south. It’s on LaGrange Road near 159th Street in the Lakeview Plaza shopping area. The store fronts LaGrange, but the “front door” is actually on the backside after you enter the parking area.
The Five Guys chain hasn’t really been around that long. While the concept originated in Virginia in 1986, Five Guys has only been franchising since 2001. They now have over 500 stores nationwide including the Washington DC location that was thrust into the spotlight when President Obama and Vice President Biden stopped in for lunch in May of last year.
The store is kind of a cross between a 1960’s diner and a modern day fast food joint. The decor is all red and white. There are checkerboard patterns everywhere. The dining room is separated from the order line by a stack of potato sacks that are filled with potatoes that will eventually be used. Good solution for a storage problem? Read more…
Meatheads Burgers & Fries
305 N. Veterans Parkway #107I was back in my old stomping grounds this past weekend. It was one of those situations that worked out well. A buddy of mine had a job for me on Thursday then, at the last minute, I was offered work on Saturday. The day between the two jobs gave me time to run to my parents house and hang out with my niece who I don’t see nearly enough. She knows my name, but she still runs from me.
Anyway, I was at Illinois State University in Normal on Saturday for a baseball game. We were released for lunch around 10:45. Most of the crew headed to Denny’s or Maid-Rite for breakfast, but I had other plans. There’s a burger joint that launched in Bloomington in 2007 with the intention of going national. I actually remember opening day. Why, you ask? Because I was there.
Meatheads Burgers & Fries is on Veterans Parkway in Bloomington. It’s in an area with an abundance of strip malls packed into any available space. There are probably five buildings all hooked together by a massive parking lot. The thing about Veterans Parkway is that there is no access to any business directly from Veterans. The road is set up so you have to turn on to another street to get in to any parking lot. In order to find Meatheads, you have to drive past it and turn on Washington Street then double back through the parking lots and enter from what you would assume is the back of the building because it’s not the side facing Veterans Pkwy. Read more…
Big Deal’s Sports Bar
338 N. Drake RoadMan, was I craving a burger for lunch. Not just a any burger, but a burger I didn’t have to make. I’m going to be working the next couple days, so I was up for going out to lunch today.
Whenever I’m craving a burger, I look for a bar. If it’s a sports bar, bonus. I chose Big Deal’s Sports Bar on Drake Road near Main Street in Kalamazoo’s Westwood Neighborhood. It looks to be a newer building in a newer strip mall with a few other restaurants at a very busy intersection.
We were a little past the lunch rush so the place wasn’t all that busy. We took a pub table near the bar and the bartender/waiter/owner (?) came over to see if we were interested in lunch. We told him we were so he grabbed a couple menus and got us some Coke’s.
There was no lack of entertainment while we waited for our food. The space at Big Deal’s isn’t huge. There is enough room for a couple dozen tables, a pool table and an L-Shaped bar, but what is really impressive is the TV’s. They almost use LCD TV’s as wallpaper. There are TV’s everywhere. Literally everywhere. The spaces that aren’t taken up by the TV’s are reserved for autographed, framed jersey’s including a few from Derek Jeter. There’s also a huge painting on the wall near the kitchen of the Kalamazoo Central and WMU star. Read more…
Bring the President to K-Central
Not what I normally blog about, I know, but how cool would it be to have the President at your high school graduation? All politics aside, having a sitting President as your commencement speaker is something you’ll never forget. Hell, I can’t even remember who the speaker was at my college graduation let alone my high school.
The students at Kalamazoo Central put a video together showing the President why he should pick their school. You can vote at http://www.whitehouse.gov/commencement and the top three will be given to President Obama and he will make the final decision. Kalamazoo is going up against some pretty large schools and communities so, as we say in Chicago, vote early, vote often.
Smoke Free Day Events
You know by now the State of Michigan goes smoke free in almost all workplaces including bars and restaurants this Saturday. It’s a day I’ve been looking forward to since moving here two years ago. I won’t be able to celebrate this weekend though because I’m going to be on the road, but if your around, here are some events taking place to celebrate the day. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 