Super Chicago Subs & Grill
1408 Portage Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49001
- (269) 382-6871
- No Known Website
- Menu
I had two major complaints when I lived in Lansing. There were no BBQ joints and we were too far from Chicago for good, close to authentic Italian beef.
I still haven’t found (if there is one) a BBQ joint in Kalamazoo, but I crossed the other thing off the list today.
Last night at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, I picked up a copy of Revue. I had never seen it before, but independent magazines and newspapers are usually good places to find information n things that aren’t mainstream. They don’t have a lot on Kalamazoo, but they had one section on Kalamazoo restaurants. One of the places mentioned was a Chicago style place in the Edison neighborhood.
Super Chicago Subs and Grill is on the corner of Portage Street and Stockbridge Avenue. The building is almost what I would expect to find in one of Chicago’s neighborhood’s. It’s not the most inviting place in the world and maybe even a little scary. I don’t know much about Kalamazoo neighborhood’s yet, but it didn’t look like one of the best parts of town’s.
Inside the shop isn’t much better. It’s a little rundown, probably hasn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in many years, and something most people would look at and think twice about. It’s a strictly carry-out place. There’s an order counter as you walk in. To the right is a bench in case you did like we did and place your order on site. The menu board is hanging above the counter and there’s a small ice cream case with Hudsonville ice cream.
Sounds like I’m not digging the place, doesn’t it? Well, if you knew me, you would know these are the kind of places that I love. I love dives and what most people don’t realize is this is the kind of hot dog stands you’re going to find in Chicago….and they’re going to be the ones with the best food. Read more…
Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
Bell’s has changed the way the cafe is operated. Please check out my most recent blog post.
335 E. Kalamazoo AvenueWhen I started telling people we were moving to Kalamazoo, the most common reaction was, “Isn’t that were Bell’s Brewing is at?” Of course, I had heard of Bell’s, but I’m not a big micro-brew guy, so I really had never had any of Bell’s brews.
I figured if we were going to really see everything Kalamazoo has to offer, stopping by Bell’s was a must. I get lazy on Friday’s and really don’t feel like cooking. When J got up from her nap (she works overnights), we decided to head out for dinner.
Bell’s Eccentric Cafe is on Kalamazoo Street in the Central Business District. We found the General Store pretty easily, but the Cafe didn’t jump out at us when we drove by. I was in the wrong lane anyway, so we had to go back around the block to try again.
On the second attempt, I saw a sign painted on the building that pointed to the back. There was a small parking lot back that way that was full and quite a few cars parked on Porter Street so we knew it had to be back that way somewhere. There was a green door at the top of a flight of stairs that we saw another couple entering. That had to be it even though there was no signage.
We entered the door and immediately realized we were in the right place. Like most brew pubs, Bell’s Eccentric Cafe has a unique charm. The first foyer area leads into the main pub. Once you enter the door, you go down a step or two. In front of you is the bar. There are tables scattered throughout the space and all but one of them was full. We found the one empty table and grabbed it before anyone else could. Read more…
World of Spices
5911 S. Westnedge Avenue- Portage, MI 49002
- (269) 381-2913
- No Known Website
My spice cabinet is pretty full. It takes up almost a full cabinet in my undersized kitchen. When my family was in town to help us move, my brother opened up the cabinet and his jaw hit the floor. He’d never seen that many spices before and has no idea what to do with most of them. Obviously, if I was buying all these spices at a grocery store, I’d be paying through the roof.
When we lived in Lansing, I had a great place to stock up. There was a place called American International Bulk Foods which sold all sorts of spices in bulk which made it much, much cheaper. My hope is that I can find something similar here in Kalamazoo.
My first attempt at finding a new spice outlet was at World of Spices on South Westnedge in Portage. It’s a tiny store that claims “Authentic Spices” on their sign. Upon further inspection, it’s also an Indian grocery store, so when I actually made time to stop, I didn’t have high hopes.
There were no cars in the parking lot when I pulled in, but the “open” sign was lit. There was a man walking down from the next store which looks to be a sister business. The sign on the door of World of Spices says to go next door if the door is locked during business hours. He stopped right in front of the door to talk to a guy who was coming out of the spice store. I just stopped. I couldn’t tell if they were open or what. The guy blocking the door finally saw me standing about two feet from him and told me to come in. Read more…
Root Beer Stand – South Westnedge
4400 S. Westnedge AvenueIt’s hard to let summer go. Really, it’s hard to accept that winter’s getting closer. Fall is actually my favorite time of year, but this fall has been pretty brutal so far. It seems like we went from summer to winter overnight.
You know winter’s getting really close when the ice cream stands start to close up for the season.
When we moved here a couple weeks ago, one of the first things J noticed was the drive in just down the street had a “Closing Soon” sign. We found out “soon” was October 31, so we had to hurry if we wanted one more shot until spring.
After J got home from work, we made a run to the Social Security Administration office. J picked up our marriage certificate from Cook County when she was home last week, so we could finally start changing her last name. Boy, I am glad we don’t have to go to that place very often.
On the way home, J suggested we stop for some root beer floats. We had already eaten lunch, but who doesn’t like an ice cream snack in the middle of the afternoon?
The Root Beer Stand has two locations in Kalamazoo. There’s one in the Milwood Neighborhood on Portage Avenue, but the one closest to our house is on South Westnedge near Kilgore Road. It’s an old drive in that looks to me like it used to be an A & W. Read more…
Panera Bread – Okemos
4738 Central Park DriveYou’ll hear me say this a lot. I’m not a breakfast person. I don’t normally get out of bed earlier enough to eat breakfast. It’s one of the nice things about being a freelancer. I don’t work everyday. That’s also one of the bad things about it.
Anyway, in East Lansing. This time, very early in the morning. Work started at 6 AM on Sunday. Fortunately, I still had keys to my Lansing apartment, so I was not making the drive at four in the morning. That will happen a few times this fall/winter.
Our lunch break came around nine o’clock. Typically, I just go to McDonald’s for breakfast. I like the bacon, egg, and sausage biscuit. Add that to the fact that it’s cheap and quick. When J could meet me, we’d actually go to a good, sit down place, but now that J’s in Kalamazoo, I’m on my own and there’s not a lot of quick breakfast choices. There just aren’t many places that do a good breakfast sandwich.
So, I’m heading down Grand River towards my usual McDonald’s stop when I hear a commercial for Panera Bread’s breakfast. It sounds really good plus it will be something a little different. Since I’m already on Grand River I keep going to the Panera in Okemos.
The Okemos Panera Bread is on Central Park Drive in a small strip mall on the corner with Grand River Avenue. On a Sunday morning, it was the only place open, yet there were a lot of cars in the parking lot. Seems like I wasn’t the only one that had this idea. Read more…
I’m A Little Scared….
I was really excited to see in my Twitter newsfeed that the Kalamazoo Gazette’s Reader’s Choice Awards were in today’s paper…right away, I click on the dining link and scroll down to the two categories that I like the most. Best Hamburger and Best Fries. Imagine how mortified I was to see the winner’s in these two categories….
Best hamburger
Red RobinBest French Fries
McDonald’s
That’s a joke, right? That’s the best Kalamazoo has to offer? Chains?! My optimism has quickly faded. Please, someone tell me there’s a better burger than Red Robin…..and a better fries than McDonald’s?!
Menna’s Joint – East Lansing
115 Albert AvenueAnother weekend, another trip back to East Lansing for work. Fortunately, we still have control of the apartment in Lansing, so I could bring an air mattress, the laptop, and a little TV and be comfortable for a couple days.
My weekend started early Saturday morning amongst the gloomy, rainy conditions. By the time lunch rolled around, I needed to get someplace warm.
I was working near the IM West Building at MSU which means there isn’t many options within walking distance. That’s my only complaint about the MSU campus. I work mainly at the athletic facilities and I can’t walk anywhere to get a sandwich, so I hopped in my truck and headed to Grand River Avenue where I found lunch.
Menna’s Joint in East Lansing is on Albert Avenue near Abbot Road just a block of Grand River Avenue. It took a long time to find parking. There isn’t much street parking in this part of downtown and the public lot across the street was full. I finally doubled back to the public lot near Dublin Square Read more…
Lou & Harry’s Greek Grill – Downtown East Lansing
245 Ann Street- East Lansing, MI 48823
- (517) 351-0066
- No Known Website
- Menu
You’ll see that this blog is not exclusively Southwest Michigan restaurants. It’s more like a food journal. So, when I travel, you’ll end up reading about it. That may be traveling somewhere else in Michigan, Chicago, East-Central Illinois, or anyplace else J and I might go.
I’m still doing some work in East Lansing, so there will definitely be some Lansing/East Lansing area reviews like this one.
I was back in East Lansing for a volleyball game at Michigan State. When lunch time rolled around, I headed downtown to find a sandwich. I was actually looking for Menna’s Joint, but I couldn’t find parking close. By the time I got up to someplace I could park, I was a couple blocks away and there was another joint right around the corner.
Lou & Harry’s Greek Grill is on the corner of Ann & MAC in downtown East Lansing just a block from Grand River Avenue and MSU’s campus. There’s a little mall area with a couple restaurants and shops. Lou & Harry’s takes up what could probably be a couple storefronts. Read more…
Firekeepers Casino
11177 Michigan avenue E- Battle Creek, MI 49014
- (269) 660-5722
- Website
OK, so I’m doing this a little out-of-order. I’m kind of a stickler about at least having one or two exterior pictures with my posts and I forgot my camera on Sunday, so I held off until my next trip back to East Lansing when I could hop off the highway real quick and snap a few shots.
Anyway, a few years ago, my brother and I created a monster. As a Christmas present, we decided to get my parents tickets to Las Vegas. They had never really gone on a vacation other than the family trips we took in my youth. We thought it’d be nice if they could get a way for a few days. The Vegas trip has now become a twice a year thing for my mom and aunt and whenever my dad wants to do something special with my mom, he takes her to a casino.
Let me preface by saying they’re not problem gamblers. My mom comes with her money and she doesn’t care if she wins or loses. It’s not about making money. She just has fun gambling. She has no ATM card or credit card to get more cash so when she’s out, she’s out, but she’s pretty good about stretching her money out for several hours. It doesn’t bother her at all to play penny slots. Like I said, it’s not about winning big. She just enjoys the slots for some reason.
As a treat to my mom, we decided to head out to Firekeepers Casino in Battle Creek after we finished unloading the U-Haul. I’m not a huge fan of casino’s and really, neither are my brother or dad, but we know it makes mom happy and she’s been itching to go to Firekeepers since she saw the sign erected and lit up last summer on her way to see us in Lansing. Read more…
Miller Auditorium
2200 Auditorium Drive- Kalamazoo, MI 49008
- (269) 387-2300
- Website
I know this doesn’t fit into the “dining” category, but when J and I go out for a night on the town, I like to write about some of the entertainment venues we visit.
Both J and I have always been theater fans. It actually started in 8th grade with me. My class took a trip to the Chicago Theater to see Cats. To this day, I still love the show. A few years ago, I took J to see Cats at the Center for the Performing Arts in Bloomington, IL. She didn’t like it nearly as much as I did.
J’s been around theater her whole life. She was involved with her high school theater group and went to many shows in Chicago with her family. One of our first dates was a night out in Chicago where we saw Wicked at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, so seeing a show together is nothing new for us.
Unfortunately, Broadway Series shows are only a once in a while thing for us. Ticket prices are usually pretty high and it’s not something we can do every couple months.
Right after moving here, I found Miller Auditorium on Twitter. Last week, I noticed a tweet about a contest to win free tickets to see The Wedding Singer. I liked the movie with Adam Sandler and just about I’ve enjoyed just about every movie turned musical. I entered the contest and what do you know, I got a DM last night telling me I had won!
The James W. Miller Auditorium is on the campus of Western Michigan University. It’s a large brown building that really has no distinguishing features. It took me a little while to find because the address I initially found was a Michigan Avenue address. I noticed on their website after I got home that if you’re using a GPS, the physical address is actually on Auditorium Drive. Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 