Full City Cafe – Kalamazoo
2026 Parkview AvenueBack in November, J and I got up for breakfast and headed to Full City Cafe in Portage. We loved the place. Great food. Great atmosphere. Didn’t have one complaint about the meal. Since then, we’ve wanted to try their lunch. If breakfast was that good, we were excited to see what they had to offer in the way of sandwiches.
J came home from work and since it’s Friday, it’s almost assumed we’re going out to eat. I asked where she wanted to go and she didn’t hesitate. Usually, I get a “I don’t know. Where do you want to go?” Today, it was “Full City Cafe.”
We chose to go to the Kalamazoo location on Parkview Drive at Oakland. This spot is much smaller than the Portage location, but it still has an intimate, cozy feel. When you enter the door, you come right to the coffee counter. There are tables spread around the rest of the space. A lady working the coffee counter told us to grab a seat anywhere if we coming in for lunch, so we took a two-top against the wall on the right side of the space. It was just after the lunch rush, so most people were finishing up, but even at 1:30, there were still people coming in with their laptops and newspapers to enjoy a meal.
J wanted an iced coffee drink, but really couldn’t decide what she wanted. She found a drink on the menu called a Peppermint Patty. She loves peppermint and it was an iced drink, so that’s what she ordered. I just got a Coke. Read more…
Papa John’s – S. Westnedge
5140 S. Westnedge AvenueThere’s something about Snowmageddon that makes me want pizza. The last big snowstorm we had, I ordered Domino’s new pizza. This time, I craved something from my childhood.
Papa John’s is a Louisville based chain that has four stores in the Kalamazoo area. As you can probably guess, there are stores near where I grew up too. Yeah, it was a half hour away, but so was everything else. I grew up in a tiny town in eastern Illinois. How tiny, you ask? 750 people….no, I didn’t forget a zero.
Needless to say, there weren’t many options when it came to dining out. There’s a family restaurant located near the Interstate. There was an Italian place on Main Street and the gas station in town cooked up some pretty unspectacular pizzas. The closest McDonald’s was twenty minutes away as was the nearest mega-mart, so it was nothing to drive a half hour for a pizza. It’s just what we did.
Anyway, back to today. I saw an ad on the Super Bowl for Papa John’s, but it wasn’t specific. I got on the website and found out that if you ordered a large cheese pizza, you got three free toppings…the same as the number of touchdowns the Saints scored.
This time, I called J over to the computer to ask her what toppings she would like on the pizza. I made that mistake last time and just got her plain cheese. Read more…
Kalamazoo’s Best Bartender Contest
I was surfing WWMT’s website tonight and came across this link. The contest has already started, but there are three weeks left.
Help choose the best bartender in Kalamazoo!
Watch local bartender’s compete to become “BEST BARTENDER IN KALAMAZOO” every Thursday in February @ 6pm at the Wine Loft at 161 E. Michigan Ave. There is a $5 Cover Charge and there will be LIVE Music.
Save the dates:
2.4.10 – 5 bartenders will compete….Vote top 2
2.11.10 – 5 bartenders will compete…..Vote top 2
2.18.10 – Semi-Finals…top 4
2.25.10 – Finals…..Winner will be announced “BEST BARTENDER IN KALAMAZOO” and receive $500 cash prize.
There is a list of competitors and a little about about each one on WWMT’s website.
Leona’s Restaurant – Oak Lawn, IL
6616 W. 95th StreetFor quite some time now, I’ve been casually mentioning to J and her parents that I wanted to try Leona’s one day. I never really pushed the issue because it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was playing with the Yelp app on my iPod Touch when I got up this morning and one of the higher rated restaurants in the area was Leona’s. Again, I casually mentioned it after J asked if I wanted to go to breakfast. By the time we got moving, it was after noon, so her parents decided Leona’s was a better idea than a breakfast joint.
Leona’s Restaurant is a small Chicagoland chain. There are a dozen stores spread around the city and suburbs. Each location has a different speciality with the Oak Lawn location on W 95th Street near I-294 specializing in lasagna.
Since it was Super Bowl Sunday, most people were picking sports bars over casual dining restaurants. There were only a few other groups in the actual restaurant, but I did notice quite a few people doing carry-out. Leona’s also serves both a thin crust and Chicago deep dish pizza and there seemed to be a lot of them going out.
The restaurant is set up like an Italian Trattoria. There are a couple large LCD TV’s on the walls, but they’re not tuned to ESPN. Instead, they provide the background music. The screens show classic music videos and the sound is pumped through the restaurant’s sound system.
J’s mom asked for a booth and we were taken to one along the outer wall. The booths were very tight and we all had a little trouble withe the closeness of the table. The back of the booth is very straight, so it really wasn’t all that comfortable…at least for me. I wold have been more comfortable at a table, but we didn’t know that when we walked in, so I didn’t say anything. Usually a booth is fine, but these booths just seemed small.
The menu at Leona’s is ginormous. While we looked it over, we got drinks. I got a Pepsi. J’s step-dad got a Sierra Mist. J got a Raspberry Lemonade and I don’t remember what J’s mom got. Thinking tea, but for some reason, it’s completely slipped my mind. Read more…
The Copper Grille
854 S. Kalamazoo Street- Paw Paw, MI 49079
- (269) 657-9955
- Website
- No Online Menu
J had to work a little later than normal, so it was a little after one by the time we loaded up the car to get on the road. We still were planning on lunch, but the stop in Benton Harbor I was planning on was scrapped. We were both hungry and needed to stop someplace much closer.
We pulled off in Paw Paw again and right near the exit was a family restaurant with a full parking lot. Seems like a lot of locals were stopping in for lunch, so why shouldn’t we. Read more…
Up In Smoke BBQ
321 N. Grand Street- Schoolcraft, MI 49087
- (269) 679-5333
- No Known Website
- No Online Menu
There’s no Chrysler dealership in Kalamazoo. Is it just me or is that odd? A few weeks ago, I went to look up the local dealership, so I could go get an oil change. Didn’t find one in town, but I did find one in Vicksburg, so I set up an appointment.
I headed out to Vicksburg Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep to get the service done. Afterwards, I decided to explore a little more of Southwest Michigan. Instead of taking Portage Road home, I headed west to pick up 131. When I got to Schoolcraft, I headed downtown to see what was there.
As I was driving down Grand Street, I had to do a double take. Did that sign say BBQ? It sure did.
Up in Smoke BBQ is just on the edge of downtown Schoolcraft on Grand Street between Cass and Clay Streets. It’s a very plain looking building, but the sign near the road really makes it jump out.
There was only one other car in the parking lot, but it was almost four in the afternoon. Not quite lunch time. Not quite dinner. The set up is somewhat cafeteria style. You don’t get your own food, but it’s all laid out in front of you in hotel pans. There was one guy behind the counter doing a crossword puzzle and watching the History Channel. He jumped up to greet me when I walked in. Read more…
Press Release – Chocolate Soiree
From wellspringdance.org
Chocolate Soirée
Calling all chocolate lovers! Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers is hosting our third annual Chocolate Soirée on February 4, 2010. This sweet extravaganza is the event of the season. Master of Ceremonies, Ken Lanphear, will keep the event moving and grooving with this year’s entertainment, the Merkel Jazz Trio and DJ Chris Pappas. Please join Wellspring for an evening you won’t want to miss!
Chocolate Soirée will feature signature hors d’oeuvres and chocolates from more than 15 of West Michigan’s top chefs and chocolatiers, wine, music and a silent auction. On a date or on-the-town, Chocolate Soirée is the perfect way to warm up a winter evening. Find that perfect Valentine’s Day gift among our fabulous silent auction items – which include restaurant gift certificates, handmade jewelry, original art from local artists, theatre tickets and gift baskets – and bid! It all supports Wellspring, West Michigan’s only professional modern dance company for nearly 30 years.
Chocolate Soirée
Date/Time: Thursday, February 4, 2010; 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Wellspring Theater at the Epic Center
Admission: $40/person or $70/couple
For ticket information CLICK HERE
Maggie’s Campus Cafe
2715 W. Michigan AvenueIt’s Sunday. You know what that means. It’s OK to eat breakfast all day and that’s just what J and I did.
When I got up at noon (yes, I’m a late sleeper), right away J wanted to go out for lunch. Hell, she drug me out of bed so we could go eat lunch. Since I was still groggy and waking up, my mind went right to breakfast food.
Maggie’s Campus Cafe is on Michigan Avenue just west of Howard Avenue and the Western Michigan University campus. It’s a really small building with parking in the rear. While there is an entrance in front, there’s also a back door. We walked around front not even seeing the back door.
Right away, we could tell this was a joint that catered to the college crowd. You know that smell that permeates from your body the morning after drinking a little too much? Yeah, everyone in the place had the smell. It reminded me of college and my first job in TV. So many Sunday mornings where we struggled to make it to a diner for breakfast. J went to college in the city and didn’t live on campus. She missed out.
The small diner was packed. There were a few people waiting in line in front of us and to make things even more crowded, you paid at a cash register right next to the front door. There was a mix of people trying to get in and out and we had no clue who was trying to do what. Read more…
Conrad’s College Town Grill
101 E. Grand River Ave.Well, it only took three months. For three months, I’ve been trying to stop in to the place that used to be Johnny’s Lunch in downtown East Lansing. Their open hours always seem to elude me. They say they’re open at 11:00 AM during the week, but I’ve tried to stop on several occasions and found the doors locked.
Anyway, Conrad’s College Town Grill is right on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbot Road. When J and I first moved to Lansing, it was the 50’s-Style diner Johnny’s Lunch. That closed up some time ago and we never did stop in to try it out, so I have no idea if much has changed since Conrad’s moved in.
I never could figure out from the street if it was a fast food place or a sit down restaurant. It’s kind of a cross between the two. There is a fast-food style order counter near the back of the space with a giant menu board hanging from the ceiling.
I found burgers on the menu, so I put in an order for the BBQ Cheese Burger and added on an order of fries for a buck. I didn’t go for a pop because they had Coke and if I’m going to drink a no calorie Coke, I’ll just stop at gas station and get a bottle of Coke Zero (which I did after I left). The sandwich and fries only cost little over six bucks. I opted to just eat it there. Read more…
Chicken Coop – Portage
109 W. Centre StreetJ and I were planning on going out for dinner tonight, but when I looked over at her laying on the couch around 7:00, she had a hard time keeping her eyes opened. Instead, I opted to go get dinner and we’d just veg on the couch.
Since I had pizza for lunch, I didn’t really want that again. I turned to my other go-to, fried chicken.
A month or so ago, we did carry-out from the Chicken Coop on Westnedge in Kalamazoo. We really liked the chicken we had that night, but I had a coupon that was good at the Portage Chicken Coop. I could get more chicken for five bucks less than I paid last time, so I went that way.
The Chicken Coop in Portage is on Centre Street at Westnedge. It’s one of four locations owned by the same person. The others are the Kalamazoo Sprinkle Road location, Paw Paw, and Watervliet. The Chicken Coop on South Westnedge is not part of the group. I point that out for a reason which you will see in a little bit.
The store is a small building in a huge parking lot. It sits a little way off both Centre and Westnedge. When you enter, you come in to the order counter. It’s a very small area that was packed with people waiting for carry-out orders. Since I had a coupon, I knew what I wanted and handed it to the cashier. My order was for 10 pieces mixed, two sides, and six rolls. I got fries for myself and baked beans for J. The total cost was a little over $15. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 