Zazios
100 W. Michigan AvenueFor our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, J and I are doing a lot of things that we did for our first Valentine’s Day together. The presents are similar although there were a few extras this time and our dinner plans include an Italian restaurant.
That first Valentine’s Day was just three short years ago when we still lived in Peoria, IL….well, actually Morton, IL (yes, the home of Morton Buildings), but we worked in Peoria….well, ok, we actually worked in Creve Coeur, IL (which means heartbreak or sad heart in French…funny, huh?). Both are “suburbs” of Peoria.
We had been dating for six months and were well aware that a big move was probably in the near future. I know it sounds crazy, but I knew that J was “the one” and even though the thought of moving scared the crap out of me, I never thought twice about it.
We spent that first Valentine’s Day at an Italian restaurant in Peoria that I had wanted to go to since I had moved to town five years early. Rizzi’s on State was the name of it. It’s in this great old building on Peoria’s Riverfront. We had a late reservation and we both had to work the next day, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying what would be the first of many.
Fast forward to 2010. The first Valentine’s Day since our September wedding. Since we’re still fairly new to Kalamazoo, I didn’t really know where to book a reservation. I had seen Zazio’s on TV and seen the billboards around town. We both like Italian, so I made the res. Read more…
Celebration! Cinema Crossroads
6600 Ring Road- Portage, MI 49024
- (269) 323-0447
- Website
Ten years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been writing a food blog. I probably would have been writing a movie review blog. When I was in college, I saw everything in theaters. When I wasn’t going to the theater, I was at Family Video picking up classic movies or bad horror movies.
Things change. Movies got expensive and I didn’t have much free time. Still, I took full advantage of my Netflix subscription and still watched 15-20 movies every month.
Then J and I started dating and I actually had someone to spend my free time with. We still watched movies, but not as much. Instead, dining out became our thing. It’s something we both enjoy and in most cases, we can get a meal for the price of movie tickets and popcorn….oh yeah, and we really don’t have the same taste in movies.
Since we started dating, we have gone to a handful of movies. All romantic comedies….and The Hangover. I’m not complaining. Some of them I would have watched on my own. One of them, not a chance in hell *cough*Sexinthecity*cough*
Since she started seeing the previews, J has wanted to see Valentine’s Day. Well, it came out tonight and she brought it up. She sold me by saying, “We can have movie theater popcorn for dinner.” Eh, ok.
There are multiple theaters in town playing the movie, but we chose to stay close to home by going to Celebration Cinema Crossroads behind the Crossroads Mall in Portage. The physical address is Ring Road, but it’s easier if you just go into the mall parking lot and drive around to JCPenny. You’ll see it. Read more…
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…
SW Michigan Dining 