Potbelly Sandwich Shop – East Lansing
233 E. Grand River AvenueThe thing about college towns…..you never know when restaurants are open. I’ve tried my last three trips to eat at one of three places. Everytime I go, the buildings are locked up and dark leaving me to scramble to find something else.
On my most recent trip to East Lansing, I just wasn’t in the mood to keep looking. There was a perfectly good sandwich shop down the street and that’s what I was going to have for lunch.
Potbelly Sandwich Shop is a Chicago based chain that has been around since the late 1970’s…well, the original shop on North Lincoln Avenue has been anyway. They’ve been in the expansion game for a little over a decade.
I’ve eaten at other Potbelly stores before, but never the East Lansing location which is in the heart of downtown on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Mac. The restaurant occupies the bottom floor of the corner building.
The decor of all Potbelly Sandwich Shop’s is an homage to the original store which took over retail space formerly occupied by an antique store. Many of the decorations were leftover from that store. I always get the feeling that I’m in an old carriage house or something. The floors are antique-looking wood and there’s a wood loft that runs along the outside walls that is home to antique signs and knick knacks. Read more…
La Mexicana Market
1950 Portage Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 373-9037
- No Known Website
- Menu
Who says newspapers are dead? I’m not one of those people who are ready to give up on the printed word. I still feel like newspapers are a vital part of any community…..they just need to change their delivery method and switch to a 24/7 news cycle instead of printing yesterday’s news and delivering it door-to-door.
I bring this up because last night, I clicked on the Kalamazoo Gazette’s online paper and found something I never would have found on my own. Right on the front page was an article about a Mexican grocery store that started serving homemade ice cream. I showed it to J before she left for work and we made plans to go out when she got home.
Exactly how much did this article entice her? She got home from work and I was still in bed. She literally drug me out of bed and hurried me to get dressed. I was stumbling out of the house half asleep
La Mexicana Market is in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood at the corner of Portage and Bryant Streets. As the name implies, La Mexicana is a Mexican grocer, but it’s also a small restaurants and now, ice cream parlor.
When you enter, you come right into the grocery part of the store. We blew right through this part at first, but I would go back to look for what seems to be a very hard to find ingredient. Read more…
Uncle Ernie’s Pancake House
4005 Portage Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 349-4170
- Website
- No Online Menu
It was an early night for everyone after spending the day at the Auto Show in Detroit. My parents got up early to get here and J and I were just exhausted. It was a long day in the car, so we were all in bed before 11. Since we went to bed early, we got up earlier than usual. Not by much, but still earlier.
My mom saw a commercial for IHOP and asked if we could go to breakfast. I said sure, but no IHOP. J was online, so she googled some breakfast places and came up with one close by that got great reviews.
Uncle Ernie’s Pancake House is on Portage Street in Kalamazoo in the Milwood Shopping Center near Paddington Road. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the parking lot was packed and it was the only business open. It’s always a good sign to see a line out the door on Sunday morning. Frankly, I wouldn’t trust a place that didn’t have one.
Right inside the door is a little waiting area. It’s not quite inside the restaurant, but it’s not quite outside either. They have a couple benches and a space heater to keep you warm. J went inside and put our name on the list. The hostess said it would be about ten minutes and she was pretty right on. It was maybe closer to fifteen, but not too much. Read more…
Arcadia Brewing Company
103 W. Michigan AvenueEarlier this week, my mom called and asked if J and I wanted to meet in the New Buffalo/Michigan City area for dinner. I politely declined telling her J and I were planning on going to Detroit for the auto show. She asked if they could tag along. I, of course, told them yes. I knew my dad would love it and I had a feeling my mom might like it to.
My parents got up early so they could get to Kalamazoo before noon. Everyone was hungry, so I suggested Sonic before getting on the road. My mom has wanted to go there and I knew it would be quick.
The problem with eating Sonic is when we left the Cobo Center. No one was hungry. I was pretty disappointed. I had done my research and found a pub within walking distance that looked like it had a great menu. Instead of dragging everyone to a bar when they weren’t hungry. We headed home.
After a Whole Paycheck Foods stop in Ann Arbor, everyone started to get hungry. I had just pointed out a place in Battle Creek that I thought looked pretty good. J suggested stopping there on the way home.
The Arcadia Brewing Company is in downtown Battle Creek on Michigan Avenue in an 80-year-old building that was originally a Chevy dealership. There is a pub that goes by the name TC’s Wood-Fired Fare. We found street parking right in front of the building. It was a Saturday night at dinner time, so we expected a little wait. Read more…
Franco’s Sub-Station & Italian Pizzeria
8016 S. Westnedge AvenueFriday night. Usually a night dining out for J and I, but this Friday was a little different. My parents are coming to town this weekend so we can go over to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show. When family comes, we try to make our apartment look presentable. We’re not slobs, so it doesn’t take much, but we always seem to put it off until the last-minute. I had a restaurant all picked out and was ready to go, but I could tell J really didn’t want to leave. I asked if she’d rather get pizza. She said yes, so I went to the Internet to find a pizza place we hadn’t tried yet.
What I came up with was Franco’s Sub-Station & Italian Pizzeria on Westnedge just south of Centre Avenue in Portage. The picture on the website sold me. It looked delicious, so I picked up the phone and put in an order for a 14″ (large) pizza with just cheese on one half and their homemade Italian sausage on the other. I also got an order of bread sticks since J likes to have something other than pizza. The guy on the other end told me it would be about twenty minutes which gave me time to stop at a on my way.
Franco’s has a pretty small storefront. I think I actually parked in the parking lot of the Chicken Coop which is the business next door. There was a parking lot behind the building that was accessible by a one lane driveway that ran the length of the building.
When you walk in, there is a dining room off to the left. I didn’t walk in that far, but from what I could tell, it was pretty stereotypical pizzeria. Lots of reds, whites, and greens. Read more…
Crow’s Nest Restaurant
816 S. Westnedge AvenueLast weekend, J and I decided we weren’t going to eat out together for the whole week. We made a grocery list, went to Meijer and bought food to make dinner. Wednesday didn’t really count because I had to work in East Lansing, so we both did our own thing that day, but there was no expensive dinner out. We decided last weekend that our treat for not eating out was to go out for lunch on Friday. Early in the week, we decided on a restaurant and we’ve been looking forward to it all week.
When we lived in Lansing, we were turned on to a local breakfast joint that is worthy of Diner’s, Drive Ins, and Dives. Golden Harvest is perfect. It’s a small diner that serves amazing food. We had heard the Crow’s Nest is Kalamazoo’s breakfast place and we’ve been looking forward to trying it for a long time.
The Crow’s Nest is on South Westnedge at Vine Street. It gets its name from the fact it is an upstairs loft above Fourth Coast Coffee. We decided on a weekday lunch because neither of us really get up in time for breakfast and we didn’t want to have to wait on a Sunday for a table.
Parking was the first obstacle. The restaurant is on a very busy section of Westnedge Avenue. There are some angled spots between the building and the coffee shop next door, but only half of those are for the Crow’s Nest. I drove around back and took a right. I didn’t see it when I parked, but there are signs saying that lot is private and subject to tow. Still, I saw signs for Crow’s Nest parking and that’s why I went that way. It wasn’t until the way out I saw the private lot signs, but to my relief, my truck was still there. Not sure if I was supposed to park there or not, but I won’t do it in the future just to be safe.
We were warned that the restaurant could be pretty smokey. J works nearby, but chose to come home and change clothes before going to lunch. Good idea. We first noticed smoke as we walked by the windows for Fourth Coast Coffee. We weren’t even inside and we could already smell smoke. Read more…
McDonalds – Emmett Township
15901 11 Mile RoadI felt like I was back in Peoria again. Just out of college, working evenings, and not getting a dinner break. I chose yesterday not to leave my work site when lunch time rolled around. I needed to talk to a co-worker and that took the better part of our break. Needless to say, by the time I started heading back to Kalamazoo, I was really hungry. Not only did I skip lunch, but I hadn’t eaten anything at all. My head wa pounding. Not sure if it’s just me or if it’s typical, but when I don’t eat, I get a headache.
Since it was after 11:00, I knew there wouldn’t be many places open. I was going to stop at Taco Bell in East Lansing, but tacos are hard to eat in the car and I wanted to get home. I passed a couple McDonalds on the way hoping that wouldn’t be my only choice, but I knew it would be. By the time I got to Battle Creek, I had to pull off.
I got off in Battle Creek at the 104 Exit. There’s a Pilot truck stop there that J and I stopped at all the time on our way from Chicago to Lansing. They always seemed to have the cheapest gas for some reason. I knew there was a McDonald’s attached to the gas station so that’s where I went.
I pulled into the lot thinking I had to go through the drive-thru. It was late enough I assumed the inside wouldn’t be open. I went to the back of the building like you do at most drive-thru’s only to find a dead end. You don’t go around the back of the building. The drive thru is more of a U-Shaped drive right next to the McDonalds. Read more…
Harding’s Friendly Market – Southside
412 Howard Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 349-9686
- Website
Another day. Another shopping trip. Seems to be an everyday thing for us. What’s funny about that situation is that I grew up in a small town where the nearest mega-mart was 30 miles away. My mom was always pretty good about stocking up and buying what we needed in a couple big trips a month. Somewhere along the way, I’ve strayed. I make a lot of little trips when I need something. I always tell my family there is no way I could move back home because there is no grocery store close. I’d always be hungry!
J went to get some milk for her coffee last night and pulled an empty carton out of the fridge. Yes, I did it. I didn’t want to put an empty milk carton in a garbage that won’t go out for a couple days. I knew what I was doing. After the milk, she grabbed an almost empty jar of peanut butter. Can you figure out where the milk went?
We decided to make a grocery run just to pick up a few things. I have no idea why, but I decided I wanted to go to Harding’s instead of Meijer. I like the Portage Harding’s, but didn’t want to drive down Westnedge. The Cork Street is close, but it’s not really my favorite. Instead, I drove the other way on Westnedge to Hardings on Howard Street between Park and Westnedge. Read more…
Best. Christmas Present. Ever.
…well, second best behind my KitchenAid stand mixer.
Anyway, I sort of have to explain Christmas in my family. Even though my brother and I are both married and my brother has one little one and another on the way, my parents treat Christmas like we’re still ten years old. I’m 30 and my brother’s not far behind yet we still have to make “Christmas Lists” every year. Our wives do too. It took J some time to get used to Christmas at my house…in fact, I still don’t think she’s used to it, but my dad hit a winner this year with what he bought her.
Since J has been getting up pretty early in the morning to go to work, she’s become a coffee drinker. Not because she needs the caffeine but because she needs something warm. It’s cold out there before the sun comes up. For the first couple months, she was buying the single serve coffee packets and warming water up in the microwave. It worked, but it was kind of pain.
We saw the Black Friday ads for the Keurig Single Cup Coffeemaker and I mentioned to my dad that J would like it for the winter. He ran out and bought it that Friday morning and since Christmas, we’ve used it everyday.
I don’t like coffee at all. Can’t stand the smell of it, but I’ve made hot cocoa almost everyday since Christmas. I always hated making hot chocolate because I’d have to get out a pan, heat up the water/milk, then mix in the powder and try to pour it out of the pan without burning my hand. The Keurig takes all of that away
All we have to do is press the on button and wait for the water to warm up. It takes maybe five minutes or so. Then we just put the k-cup into the holder and press another button. A minute later, warm hot cocoa (or coffee or tea). Read more…
Zingerman’s Makes Everything Better…..
…cheap ham….cheap cheese…but oh, so delicious Zingerman’s Bread toasted slightly with a little butter….
The Perfect Lunch
SW Michigan Dining 