Vinnie’s Italian Sub Shop
7300 Middlebelt RoadI’m going to be spending a little time on the road over the next few weeks. It started this past weekend and will kind of be off and on until the middle of June. Some of it is for work. Some of it is for skating.
I started my travels last Thursday with a day trip to Detroit. A co-worker and myself needed to run over there to take care of something ahead of a bigger job we have there comin up later this week.
We spent about two hours in downtown Detroit then headed back to Kalamazoo. As we were leaving the parking garage, I told her I was going to stop at a sandwich shop by the airport to grab something. I told her we could stop somewhere else if she wanted something different but she seemed to be on board with what I was doing.
That sandwich shop is Vinnie’s Italian Sub Shop. It’s located on Middlebelt Road just north of the I-94 interchange. The long time deli is a stand alone building right on the corner of Charles Street and Middlebelt. The surrounding area is mostly residential but the small cement block building doesn’t seem to out of place along the very heavily traveled road.
New York Fried Chicken (Benton Harbor)
610 E. Napier AvenueI feel like I’ve been in Benton Harbor a lot recently. That’s weird but it’s outside of the area I’m responsible for at work. Occasionally, something will pop up and I’ll need to take care of it but Benton Harbor isn’t a place I’m supposed to be working at.
I got sent to Benton Harbor pretty late in the day last Wednesday. The task I was assigned to do took longer than I had hoped and I actually ended up working past my scheduled out time.
I had been in Battle Creek earlier in the day and kind of had to rush across on I-94 to get to my job assignment on time.
I worked past my scheduled out time and with no chance for a lunch break so I was pretty hungry when I was done.
My in-laws were at my house watching the boy as J and L were out of town prepping for a figure skating competition. I figured 20 more minutes wouldn’t make much of a difference so I passed on the fast food and grabbed some fried chicken instead.
New York Fried Chicken is on Napier Avenue just to the west of Union Avenue on Benton Charter Township. The standalone building was a Domino’s Pizza many years ago and a Load-A-Spud after that. It’s been a late night fried chicken and sandwich stop since 2016.
Mr. Corned Beef (Jefferson Ave)
11000 E. Jefferson Avenue, Suite BIt’s not very often I get to sent to Detroit for an afternoon gig but that’s what happened late last week.
I was meeting three other co-workers so instead of meeting somewhere and driving in to the city together, I just met them downtown at our work site.
It was a pretty long day. I left Kalamazoo at about 6:30 AM and got done with work about 6:00 PM. We packed up our stuff then headed our separate ways.
I hadn’t eaten much all day. The job site we were at brought in some Little Caesars in the afternoon but I only grabbed a couple of slices. I was still pretty hungry and wanted to eat before I got back on the road to Kalamazoo.
There are still a lot of places in Detroit I want to eat at but I didn’t feel like sitting down for a meal downtown. The Tigers game had just gotten over and there was a Red Wings game later that night….so downtown was pretty packed.
I started Googling sandwich places nearby so I could get something quickly and get something I could eat quickly. A lot of what was coming up was already closed but then, two words caught my attention. Corned Beef.
Mr. Corned Beef is a small chain of sandwich shops in the Detroit metro area. There are two in Detroit itself then locations in Ferndale, Pontiac, and Westland. I was closest to the location on the east side of Detroit on Jefferson Avenue near Lillibridge Street in the Marina District. The restaurant is part of a shopping center anchored by Parkway Foods.
Read more…Fazoli’s (Kalamazoo)
4615 W. Main StreetI always thought that I had been to all of the chain restaurants in Kalamazoo but while I was looking for pictures or one a few weeks ago, I realized I was missing one.
As weird as it may sounds, it’s a chain that I also have a history with.
I moved away from my small town near Kankakee, IL for college in the late 90’s. I chose a small private school in Joliet, IL so I could play baseball.
Joliet is only about an hour and a half from where I grew up so my parents would come see me fairly often. During baseball season, they’d come to games on weekends. The rest of the year, they’d randomly pick a Saturday to come hang out.
I hadn’t started doing the whole dine local thing yet. There were a few places that some of my friends who grew up in Joliet would recommend but 7 out f 10 times, we’d end up at Fazoli’s.
I eventually moved to Peoria, IL after college, then Lansing, and now here to Kalamazoo. We continued to eat at Fazoli’s in Peoria and even a few times when we lived in Lansing, but apparently, I’ve never eaten at this one in Kalamazoo in the 15 years I’ve lived here.
The Fazoli’s in Kalamazoo on West Main Street near the corner with Drake Road. The restaurant is kind of on a hill so it’s really easy to see as you’re coming up to the very busy intersection. There is parking along the west side of the building and that’s where the door to get in is located.
New York Fried Chicken (44th Street)
777 44th StreetI just wrote a blog post on gas station chicken earlier today and guess what?
I’m doing it again.
This one’s a little different though. Yes, it’s in a gas station but they actually have a couple other locations. It’s a full blown restaurant, not a glass warming case with chicken next to the cash register.
First, a little set up. I was in Grand Rapids working but I was on my own. I had a couple of tasks to complete and a bit of time in between them. I clocked out for lunch and went looking for some place to grab a bite quickly.
I was driving down 44th Street and I saw a familiar sign. I also needed gas…funny how that keeps happening.
New York Fried Chicken has three Grand Rapids area locations. I’ve eaten at the original location on Division Avenue and MLK Jr Street many times. Our Grand Rapids office actually orders catering from there quite often. The chicken is really good.
The New York Fried Chicken I spotted as I was driving aimlessly is on the corner of 44th Street and Eastern Avenue on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The restaurant is in the back of the Marathon Station. The restaurant, with it’s own entrance on the 44th Street side of the building, has been several different restaurants over the years. Most recently, it was a burger shop, but before that, it was a chicken and fish joint. I think the owner kind of makes their own parking spot right in front of the door…there’s not a parking spot there and I almost missed it because it was hiding the entrance from the road.
Read more…Cooper’s Express (Battle Creek)
321 E. Emmett StreetIs it possible for me to pass up gas station chicken?
I don’t think it is.
I was in Battle Creek earlier this week kind of driving around aimlessly. I needed gas, a bathroom and a Pepsi. Not sure how I found all of those things plus a chicken place.
Cooper’s Express is a “branded food program” based in Missouri….like so many other gas station chicken places. The only places in the area that has a Cooper’s Express is the Marathon C-Store on Emmett and McKinley in Battle Creek. This Marathon underwent a major overhaul over the last couple of years taking it from a small run down building to a large new building that dominates the corner.
Read more…Cottage Inn (Ohstemo Township)
5038 W. KL AvenueYou’ve seen me write a lot about “Pizza Friday” in our house. It’s just kind of become our thing. It was always a thing for J growing up and it’s an easy dinner that actually lasts us a couple of days with leftovers.
Everyone has their favorite pizza place. If you grew up in a small town, it’s probably the only pizza place in town. If you grew up in a city, you’re willing to go to war over who has the best pizza.
J grew up in a Chicago suburb and their pizza place actually is a hill worth dying on. Palermo’s 95th in Oak Lawn is no doubt, the best pizza I’ve ever had.
I grew up in a small town. Our only pizza option in town was the gas station pizza. My family actually fought between Monical’s Pizza, an East Central Illinois chain, and Pizza Hut. My bad…I loved the breadsticks from pizza hut. But I appreciate Monical’s a lot more now.
There aren’t really any good local pizza places on the west side of town where we live. Well…there’s Kazoopy’s, which we really like, but they have like a two hour delivery window on Friday night so it’s not really an option.
Our go-to is actually one of the first pizza places we found when we moved to Lansing over 15 years. Yeah, it’s a chain…but it’s a Michigan chain and they have some mighty fine pizzas.
Our go-to pizza joint and has been for years, Cottage Inn.
The only Cottage Inn Pizza left in Kalamazoo is on KL Avenue near Drake Road in Oshtemo Township. The restaurant shares a building with The Big Burrito and Bronco Liquor. This location has been open as long as we’ve lived in the area….in fact, the last time I blogged about it was pre-kids in 2011. It was still our go-to but our order has changed quite a bit since then.
Read more…Duck Inn-Waddle Out Lounge
3214 Brookfield AvenueI love a good dive bar. I grew up in a small town going to the bar with my dad on Friday nights. All of his friends with kids my age would get together at the bar on Main Street. They’d drink some Old Style’s and Strohs’ while the kids would play shuffle board, pool, darts, and get pop from the bar fountain dispenser that looks like some kind of toy gun.
When I moved away from my hometown, I started leaning more towards sports bars. The food was more important than the atmosphere because I didn’t have a group of friends like my dad does. I didn’t care to hang out with many people and the ones I did hang out with were all city dwellers and not used to the dank and darkness of a good dive.
I’m still kind of that guy. I don’t have a group of friends I hang out with and I still prefer to go places with good food.
There are some really great dive bars in Kalamazoo though and some that have some really good food. Over the last couple of years, I’ve blogged about CJ’s Pub, The Sugar Bowl, Waldo’s Campus Tavern, and Nob Hill to name a few. All which had that laid back atmosphere with a group of regulars but also had some pretty tasty food.
There was still one more place I’ve really wanted to get to over the last 15 years. It has the best name. I knew they had food but I didn’t really know what. The Facebook page was sporadic and there wasn’t really a good menu I could find online.
Then Mlive did a story on it a few weeks ago. The food looked good in the pictures so I decided I needed to give it a try.
The Duck Inn-Waddle Out (great name, BTW) is on Brookfield Avenue at Olmstead Road kind of across the street from the Kalamazoo County Expo Center in Kalamazoo Township. The small, metal building doesn’t really look like a bar. There are no window, the metal siding is pretty beat up and dirty, and the entry door looks like it was put there as an afterthought. There’s an old Metro bus stop shed right outside the door so people have a place to smoke and get out of the elements.
Read more…Gumps BBQ
1105 River StreetI’ve talked about it a lot recently. I’ve lost my colleague in Kalamazoo and until a new one is hired, I’m kind of on my own.
That means I’m eating out a lot more because I don’t have to worry about someone else complaining about where I want to eat.
I ended up in Lansing a few days ago for a morning assignment. I met a co-worker from Grand Rapids. Once we were done, he headed back to Grand Rapids while I headed back to Kalamazoo. We both had work yet to do but we didn’t need to be in the same building to do it.
We were leaving Lansing just before 11:00. I was hungry and, of course, I had some place nearby I wanted to eat.
I made my way to Gumps BBQ. The small restaurant is not one you would likely find unless you were looking for it. It’s on River Street. which dead-ends just past the restaurant at the Red Cedar River, and Elm Street just a couple of blocks south of I-496. The BBQ joint is tucked in between a number of commercials buildings that make up fabric of this area.
Read more…Clutch Time Grill
1219 King Highway I’ve been eating out way too much lately.
I’ve been without a colleague in the Kalamazoo office for a few weeks so I’ve kind of been on my own when it comes to work. I feel like I’m not as rushed and I can try to stop at new places since I don’t have to worry about if someone else is going to like my choice for lunch.
I was coming back from Battle Creek earlier this week and had no intention of stopping to grab something to eat.
But then, I saw an open sign on a restaurant that had recently opened along my way and couldn’t pass it up.
Clutch Time Grill is on King Highway just past Crosstown Parkway in Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood. The restaurant is at the longtime home of Papa’s Italian Sausage in a fairly industrial area of Kalamazoo near the river. The building was painted in the transition from Papa’s green and red to Clutch Time’s blue and white.
SW Michigan Dining 