From a Fair Food Matters press release….
Can the burgeoning urban gardens of Detroit provide a model for Kalamazoo – and other “post-industrial” American cities?
Find out when “Eat Local, Kalamazoo” presents “The Greening of Michigan: A Vision for Post-Industrial America.” The presentation will take place Thursday, July 1 at 7 p.m. at the Douglass Community Center (1000 W. Paterson). It is free of charge and open to the public.
In the late 19th century, Detroit was called the Paris of the West for its architecture and open public spaces. Its industrial muscle soon made it one of the nation’s most populous and affluent cities.
Since 1950, Detroit has lost nearly half its population and more than 15,000 businesses. Some 70,000 vacant lots now cover one third of the city’s 139 square miles, and Detroit is now viewed as an icon of post-industrial America.
However, hope is blooming today in numerous community gardens and urban agriculture projects taking place throughout the city.
The Greening of Detroit, for example, has planted 60,079 trees, cleaned 1,379 vacant lots, and established 800 family, community and school gardens growing more than 130 tons of food since the organization began in 1989. The Detroit Free Press recently named this non-profit organization one of 16 “Michigan Green Leaders.”
For the “Greening of Michigan” event, Greening of Detroit Director of Urban Agriculture Ashley Atkinson will join local activist Olga Bonfiglio and some of Kalamazoo’s urban farmers for a look at how communities can make the transition from manufacturing to agriculture.
Detroit’s gardens produce thousands of pounds of fresh, nutritious (and typically organic) produce for its residents. A recent study from Michigan State University found that Detroit could grow 76 percent of the vegetables and 42 percent of the fruits it needs to feed its entire population. Local food production could also generate $200 million in sales and at least 5,000 jobs.
In addition, urban gardens address larger social issues, such as reducing crime, cleaning up blighted or vacant lots, connecting people to nature, nurturing leadership in citizens young and old and improving property values.
“Detroit is growing food and growing hope,” said Bonfiglio. “I haven’t seen such pride in that city since my younger years in the 1950s and early 1960s.”
“Eat Local, Kalamazoo,” a program of Fair Food Matters, is a season-long series of events designed to increase the community’s awareness of and appreciation for local food. It is led by a committee of area businesses and non-profit organizations, and is sponsored by Bravo Restaurant & Café and the People’s Food Co-op.
For the latest information on upcoming events, please visit www.eatlocalkalamazoo.org.
Drink Beer, Taste Cheese Event at Food Dance
From a Food Dance e-mail
Local Beer. Local Cheese. Local Fun.
If you haven’t tried it, you’ll be surprised how well beer goes with cheese. Besides, wine shouldn’t get to have all the fun. Cathy Halinski from Evergreen Lane creamery in Fennville and Jon Wojtowicz from Short’s Brewery in Bellaire will pair 3 cheeses & craft beers in a casual, hands-on social event. Come talk to the producers and see if you agree that beer and cheese have a natural harmony. $25 per personBeer tasting customers receive a 10% discount on Food Dance Market purchases made the night of the tasting. (excludes sale items)
Make reservations at Food Dance or just click here.
Celebrate Father’s Day at Bravo!
From a Bravo! e-mail….
The Perfect Father’s Day Celebration
Dine In or Carry Out
Steak is always a Father’s Day favorite! The chefs at Bravo! recommend our uniquely cut rib eye as this year’s Father’s Day treat. The special cut grills very easily and provides a really great flavor, especially when rubbed with our custom steak seasoning. Make reservations at Bravo! to celebrate with Dad or pick up the same great steak used at the restaurant to grill for Dad at home.
The rib eye pairs well with our in-house grilled vegetables and any one of our soups or salads. Of course, do not forget to get one of our handcrafted beers to top off the celebration. We are currently pouring Amber Ale, Summer Daze and Raspberry Wheat, all of which are available by the glass in house or by half-gallon Growler to go.
Father’s Day Special Menu
Soup or Salad
The Bravo! Cut Rib Eye
Grilled Vegetables
$35 per person
(Carry out $20 per person)Growler to go: $15
Offer available June 14 through Father’s Day on Sunday, June 20.
Call 269.344.7700 to make a reservation or place your carry out order.
Clementine’s Too
1235 Broad StreetFor quite a while now, J’s parents have talked about meeting us halfway between Kalamazoo and Chicago for lunch. Today, J calls me while she was still work and told me to find a place to eat. Her parents wanted to take a Harley ride.
Since J was running late, we picked a place in St. Joseph figuring her parents would get a head start on us. It’s about an hour drive for us and a little under two for them on the bike. The place I wanted to eat at closes before we could have made it there and I forgot about a place in Benton Harbor I’ve been wanting to go to, but I did remember Clementine’s had a St. Joseph location. We liked the South Haven Clementine’s and St. Joseph has the same menu.
Clementine’s Too is on Broad Street in St. Joseph a few blocks from downtown. It sits right on the Pier 33 Marina. From Broad Street, there’s a parking lot, but the building actually has the backside facing the street. The frontside of the building faces the marina, but the Marina is private and there’s no access to the Marina from the restaurant that I could find. The front door is off to the side of the building. Read more…
Little Caesars – Milwood
911 E. Cork StreetFinding a quick dinner after 9:oo PM isn’t always easy. The choices are pretty limited to fast food or pizza. I was out in search of something..anything to eat after a couple hours of work. I stopped first at a gas station that has chicken, but they were done selling it for the day. I headed down the street driving somewhat aimlessly thinking if nothing else, I’ll end up at the Chicken Coop on Sprinkle.
Before I got that far, I came across a Little Caesars on Cork Street about a block west of Lovers Lane. I had actually thought about just going home and cooking a Jack’s, but this sounded better. No cooking for me.
I made a quick left hand turn in to the parking of the building which is oddly connected to a string of buildings that really don’t look like they belong together. The Little Caesars is on the corner and, like most Little Caesars restaurants, it’s a take out only.
During peak hours, you have a somewhat decent selection when it comes to Hot-N-Ready pizzas. During off peak hours, your choices are pepperoni. That’s fine with me. I was eating alone and pepperoni is my pizza of choice. The clerk offered up some Crazy Bread, but I didn’t need it. I just needed a pizza. He grabbed one from the warming shelf and rung it up. Read more…
Colonial Kitchen Pancake House – Portage
7617 S. Westnedge AvenueI’m pretty sure J enjoys waking me up on Sunday’s. Early this morning…at a little after 11:00, J bounced back into the bedroom screaming “Wake up! I wanna go to breakfast.” Eventually, I gave in and dragged my lazy ass out of bed before noon.
The thing I love about Sunday is you can eat breakfast all day and not feel bad about it. I have no idea why, but Sunday’s are the day that I can order eggs at noon and actually be hungry for them.
There’s still a lot of breakfast places we haven’t been to because, well, I don’t get up for breakfast and J works during breakfast time. I had a list of places to choose from and I chose the Colonial Kitchen Pancake House.
Colonial Kitchen has two area locations. One is on Drake Road in Kalamazoo next to Big Deal’s Sports Bar. That seemed far for a half asleep me, so I took the one closer to home which is on South Westnedge in Portage in the Portage Plaza. Read more…
Fricano’s of Alamo
7454 N. 6th StreetSeveral months ago, when J and I still lived in Lansing, a follower of Mid-Michigan Dining emphatically suggested a pizza joint in Grand Haven. He said it was worth the drive and really thought the pizza fit the style of what we like. He’s from the East Coast, so his take on pizza is a little different than ours, but when we started hearing from other people about this place, our interest perked up.
Unbeknown to us, there are actually a couple West Michigan locations of this restaurant and one of them happens to be in Kalamazoo.
Fricano’s of Alamo is one of five Fricano’s Pizza locations. It’s on 6th Street in the northwest corner of Kalamazoo in Alamo Township. It’s somewhat in the middle of nowhere. Since I wasn’t familiar with the place, I plugged the address in the GPS. It took us Main Street to 6th Street. For five miles on 6th Street we drove through the hilly countryside. All of a sudden, the GPS was saying, “Destination on the right,” and we were not seeing anything. Once we got past the treeline, we found the restaurant out in the middle of the country all by itself.
The parking lot was packed and there were people waiting outside underneath the awning. We figured then there might be a wait. It was 7:30 on a Friday night, so it wasn’t completely unexpected. I had heard the place was good and seeing that many people just reinforced that. Read more…
The Real Deal: Classic Burgers & Shakes – Portage
3774 W. Centre AvenueA few weeks ago, I saw a job posting for a new burger joint. I sort of glanced over and forgot about it. Last night, one of my Twitter friends asked me if I knew anything about it. Apparently, the place just opened. I hadn’t but planned on checking it out ASAP. He beat me to it and put a review on Urbanspoon that made me want to try the place out even more.
The Real Deal: Classic Burgers & Shakes is the newest foray into my favorite foodstuff in the Kalamazoo area. They just opened two stores this past week. One is in Campus Pointe near WMU. The other, and the one I chose to go to today, is in the Woodbridge Shopping Village on Centre Avenue near US-131 in Portage.
Word of mouth travels fast. I showed up at the tiny store that used to be the Spicy Pickle on Portage’s West Side around 1:00. There were a number of people enjoying burgers both outside at a few metal tables and inside.
When you walk through the door, you’re immediately met by a wall with a large menu board. This is key because the space is so cramped that there isn’t a whole lot of room at the order counter. If you need to look over the menu, this is actually a good place to do it because you’re not in anyone’s way. Read more…
Treat Street
3023 Oakland Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49008
- (269) 388-5505
- No Known Website
- Menu
I made a mistake this afternoon. A couple nights ago, I DVR’d Ice Cream Paradise on The Travel Channel. Since I couldn’t really find anything worth watching this afternoon, I decided to catch up on some of my recorded shows. J happened to be not taking a nap while I was watching the show and started craving ice cream. I wasn’t craving, but I wouldn’t argue if she wanted to make an ice cream run.
The first place I thought to fill that ice cream craving was Treat Street in the Oakwood Plaza on the corner of Oakland Drive and Whites Road in Kalamazoo’s Oakland/Winchell neighborhood. The store is sort of a throwback to an old fashioned ice cream parlor set in the modern strip mall. They have the traditional ice cream case and soda fountain, but there’s also a walk up window so you don’t have to tie your dog to a pole outside. Read more…
Bell’s Brewery Voluntary Recall
I saw this message on Bell’s Brewery Twitter…
http://tinyurl.com/2emgjmp. We stand behind all of our beers in fair weather or otherwise. Contact us @ the brewery if you have questions.
Which led me to the following statement on Bellsbeer.com
Two Hearted Ale Withdrawal – Batches 9663 & 9674
June 01, 2010
Bell’s Brewery, Inc. is announcing the voluntary withdrawal from the market of two specific batches of Two Hearted Ale, 9663 and 9674. Bottled on 4/5/10 and 4/12/10, respectively, these two batches of Two Hearted Ale have become sour and unpalatable. There is no food safety concern: the flaw only affects the flavor of the beer. We have identified & isolated the problem that affected these two bottling runs. No other packaging runs were similarly affected.
Our distribution partners are working closely with our own sales staff to remove all of this beer from the market. Consumers who have purchased Two Hearted Ale from batches 9663 or 9674 are encouraged to return them to the retailer for an exchange or, where legal, a refund. The four digit batch number is printed on the back label of the bottles in a rectangular white box.
Customers who experience difficulty returning beers or have questions should e-mail us at quality@bellsbeer.com. We stand behind all of our beers and will do what we can to resolve the situation on your behalf.
We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. We strive to exceed expectations with our beers, and we are deeply sorry that we came up short in this instance and allowed these batches to slip through our quality control measures. New procedures have already been put into effect to prevent repeat incidents.
Sincerely,
Bell’s Brewery, Inc.
You’d never see the large brewers do that for a taste issue. Kudos to Bell’s for putting customers first.
