Best Coast Provisions
Food TruckThis is wild. Two weeks in a row that I’m in my office on a Friday afternoon during the summer.
Two weeks in a row I get to try out a new (to me) food truck at Lunchtime Live.
I could see from my office window that one of the trucks I haven’t tried yet was there this week but I still did my “walk the line” to see what else was parked along South Street.
The smells coming from the BBQ trucks were almost enough to get me to change plans but I resisted….for this day at least…and headed back to the truck I was planning on getting lunch from all along.
That truck is Best Coast Provisions. The large white delivery truck turned mobile kitchen was parked close to Rose Street this week which is how it initially caught my eye. The truck specializes in “food inspired from around the Great Lakes.” The truck is fairly new. They launched last fall and have become a fixture at events and parties in the Kalamazoo area.
Read more…Universal Coney Island (Pontiac)
850 Perry StreetLate night on the other side of the state.
I got sent to work one night last week in the Pontiac area. It was me and a colleague and I had to pick her up in Grand Rapids. The company offered us hotel rooms instead of having to drive back after midnight.
Usually, I wouldn’t take the room because it’s hardship on J to get everyone out of the house in the morning but adding the extra hour plus to go back to Grand Rapids then to Kalamazoo seemed like a lot.
B is at a day camp that J can drop him off at 7:00 AM so she can actually get to work on time unlike during the school year when she has to work from home for a couple of hours to get him on the bus when I’m out of town.
Our jobsite was in Lake Orion and our hotel was in Auburn Hills. We got back to that hotel just before midnight. I desperately needed a shower and I hadn’t had much to eat all day. I took care of the shower first then worried about the food.
I put in a search for 24 hour restaurants nearby and a couple of Coney Island places came up.
The one I picked was Universal Coney Island in Pontiac. The small restaurant is on the corner of Perry Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard on the northeast side of Pontiac. The restaurant is a standalone building in an odd corner lot in a small commercial area surrounded by houses.
Read more…John Ball Zoo
1300 Fulton Street W- Grand Rapids, MI 49504
- (616) 336-4300
- Website
We used to go to a lot of zoos when the kids were little.
Zoos were our summer vacation destination. We took trips to Milwaukee, Chicago, Fort Wayne, Toledo, Detroit, South Bend, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Michigan City, Naubinway, Alto, Lansing, Columbus, and Cincinnati just to go to zoos. We were also members at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek and would go there a few times every summer.
Then, the kids grew up.
Figure skating dominates our lives right now. The sport is insanely expensive so vacations nowadays revolved around skating competitions. We also don’t really have a ton of time. It’s hard to take a week off from the rink and go somewhere even if we had the extra money to do a proper vacation.
I know things change as we all get older but I do kind of miss our zoo vacations and the excitement the kids would get from seeing the animals.
J and L were out of town last week for a figure skating camp leaving B and I home alone. I had an opportunity for some free tickets to John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids and I thought, we haven’t done this in a while. Let’s go.
John Ball Zoo is located in John Ball Park on Grand Rapids west side. The entrance to the zoo is on Fulton Street just before it merges with Lake Michigan Drive and interchange with I-196.
We got super lucky and found parking pretty close to the entrance. I pulled in to the spot and we walked past the administration building and up to the entrance.
Read more…KP Cinemas
180 Portage Street- Kalamazoo, MI 49007
- (269) 360-8912
- Website
One of my favorite things to do with the boy is go to movies. I seem to have passed my love for the theater experience to him.
J and L were in Wisconsin most of last week for a figure skating camp. J’s mom had to pick B up from his day camp all week so by the time I got home at night, he had already grabbed his iPad, his VR and headed to the basement until bedtime.
I wanted to get out of the house on Saturday and Sunday for a while. He only gets four hours a day on his VR anyway so I was doing him a favor.
He had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to see Harold and the Purple Crayon. It just so happened that the movie came out the week J and L were gone. We had some plans in the afternoon on Saturday so I grabbed B and we went to the 11:00 AM show.
I chose KP Cinemas this time because we haven’t been there yet.
KP Cinemas is on the corner of Portage Street and South Street in the southern part of Kalamazoo’s Central Business District. This notorious theater was first a Rave Motion Picture, then the super popular Alamo Drafthouse that was kicked out to make way for an AMC. The theater sat dark a couple of years before a local group bought it and reopened it as an independent theater.
Read more…Pizza Parliament
Food TruckFinally. I finally had some time to get over to Lunchtime Live in downtown Kalamazoo.
The food truck event every Friday at Bronson Park in the summer is great but I’m almost never in the office on Friday afternoons.
I had what turned out to be pretty much a catch up day and working on some tasks remotely with a colleague in Grand Rapids so I was actually able to take a lunch break and walk across the street.
There are several new food trucks I’ve seen this year and several of my favorites. Whenever I do get a chance to head to the park for lunch, I always do a complete loop to make sure I’m not missing anything.
I thought I had my mind made up but I walked all the way to the end of South Street near the intersection with Westnedge where the last truck was parked. The name sounded familiar and I’ve heard people talking about this one. Plus, it was Friday so I made my pizza night a pizza lunch instead.
Pizza Parliament is a group of three food trucks based in Wyoming. I’ve heard things about this one because I’ve heard co-workers talk about it. I’ve never seen it in Kalamazoo before but there they were. They brought what looks to be their smaller truck but they still had a great pizza menu to choose from.
Read more…Long Island Cafe (Springfield)
256 Helmer Road NorthSome days I do nothing at work. Some days I’m so busy I wonder if I’m even going to get time for a lunch break.
Last Tuesday was one of the busier days. I came in early for a job assignment. Got sent to something unexpected that almost tied up the rest of my day then headed to Battle Creek to meet a co-worker to help him out with something.
It was when I was in Battle Creek that I realized I was hungry. I was out by the airport so I just punched that in to Google to see what was around me. I was being kind of lazy and looking for places with online ordering. I found more than one that was close by but the lure of a diner burger won out.
My pick was Long Island Cafe in Springfield. The restaurant is on Helmer Road and 6th Avenue in the small enclave of Springfield. The restaurant is right across the street from the Western Michigan University College of Aviation. This is the OG Long Island Cafe. There is a second one in Portage on Portage Road near…well, the airport…these guys really like setting up next to airports.
Read more…Dunkin’ Donuts (Texas Township)
5200 S. 9th Street, Suite AMy main responsibility at figure skating competitions is making sure everyone is fed.
I’ve mentioned before, my family calls me DadDash. Yes, we could just use DoorDash but everyone wants something from different places so it’d get even more expensive than DoorDash already is.
Having the competition being at our home rink Wings West doesn’t get me out of food delivery duties. Everyone still needs a couple of meals throughout the day.
B was the only one skating at this year’s Skate The Zoo. We made L sit it out due to a knee injury. She’s still in the running for a shot in the National Finals of US Solo Dance and this is just kind of a competition for fun and to improve skills.
We got to the rink around 8:00 for B’s first practice session. I got his skates on and got him on the ice. J was actually the public address announcer for the morning session so once I got him going on the ice, I left to go get everyone breakfast.
It wasn’t surprising at all that B and L wanted different things for breakfast. L wanted Starbucks. B wanted Dunkin’
There are two Dunkin’ Donuts, or just Dunkin’, restaurants in Kalamazoo. The first one opened is on the corner of Whites and Westnedge. The one we usually go to is on 9th Street just south of N Avenue in Texas Township. The restaurant is part of a small shopping plaza right next to the Speedway before you get to I-94. The Dunkin’ takes up the first spot in the building as you come in to the parking next to the Speedway. It’s a pretty narrow space that includes a small outdoor dining area and a drive thru around on the backside past the Jimmy Johns.
Read more…The Little Store
6586 122nd AvenueI don’t think it’s much of a secret I find a lot of new restaurants on Facebook. I feel like a lot of people do that.
I’m in a lot of different community groups in Southwest Michigan so I see a lot of posts for places that aren’t easily accessible to me but places I really want to try.
I had to make a run out to Saugatuck last Thursday for work and it gave me a chance to find a pizza place along the way that I’ve been really wanting to get to.
The Little Store is more than just a pizza place. It’s a whole grocery store with a really great kitchen.
The shop is on the corner of 122nd Avenue and 66th Street in Ganges Township southwest of Fennville. This is really one of those you’ll never know it’s there if you’re not looking for it kind of places. It’s about a mile of M-89 and unless you’re heading to the Ganges Baptist Church, there’s really nothing else in the area that would bring you to the store.
Read more…Kelvin & Co Urban BBQ
UPDATE 7/29/24: This restaurant contacted me on Facebook and said there were some errors in this post but haven’t told me what exactly is wrong so I can’t fix it. I’m leaving the post up as is for now and if they contact me (swmichdining@gmail.com) with what I got wrong, I will fix and make sure to note where the corrections are made. I had originally given them a Charter.net email address I just found out I no longer have access so they may have emailed that address over the weekend. Hopefully they’ll see this or the updated Facebook comment to get the right email.
8340 Portage RoadThey’re back! They’re back!
I can not tell you how much I’ve missed Kelvin & Co Urban BBQ. One of my family’s favorite dinners used to be brisket (for me), pulled pork (for J) and mac & cheese (for L) from Kelvin & Co when they were on West Main Street. It was great because I could also walk next door and get fries from Five Guys for me and then next to that get a sandwich from Jimmy Johns for B. It was the best dinner ever. Everyone got what they wanted and everyone was happy.
Then Kelvin & Co closed. Again.
They’ve had four different locations in Kalamazoo (and one in Grand Rapids) and I’ve been disappointed every single time they’ve had to close. First it was the original location downtown. Then the Portage location by Sams Club. Then there was a walk up window on the Kalamazoo Mall. And of course my beloved Oshtemo Township location.
But they’re back with a new Portage location and I can get that amazing brisket again.
The new Kelvin & Co Urban BBQ location is actually one I’m quite familiar with. It’s on Portage Road just north of Zylman Avenue. It’s the building next to Erbelli’s that was Via Gelato then Roll Up Ice Cream and Tea. It sits back off the road a bit and shares a parking lot with Erbelli’s.
Read more…Wax Wings Brewing Company
3480 Gull RoadYou know how the other day in a blog post for Harvey’s on the Mall I mentioned I’ve been writing this blog/journal for a really long time?
Well, sometimes I forgot which places I’ve actually blogged about.
This is one of those times. I’m going to get in to my story about why I went to Wax Wings Brewing last weekend but preface by saying, I totally forgot I wrote a blog about it in 2019. That seems so long ago.
We went to Wax Wings so many times during the pandemic to pick up beer that I totally forgot I actually did go sit in the tap room once before the pandemic.
I took pictures and pretty much had figured out what I was going to write before I realized it so I’m gonna go ahead and write a new blog post. There have been some changes since 2019 so maybe it’s time for a new one anyway.
I actually made a special trip to the brewery because of a Facebook post I saw. One of their brewers is a discus throwers and will be representing the United States in Paris coming up in the next couple of weeks. He brewed a beer for the occasion and I wanted to get a couple of cans.
Wax Wings Brewing Company is on Gull Road just to the west of Nazareth Road on Kalamazoo’s east side. The brewery shares a building with a few other businesses including Mi Pueblo a few doors down. The tap room part of the brewery was one of those predatory cash lender places before Wax Wings moved in and transformed the place in to what it is today.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 