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.
Zingerman’s Delicatessen
422 Detroit StreetWe’ve been spending a lot of time in Ann Arbor. Well, my family has anyway. Not so much me.
L goes to work with a figure skating coach at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube Ann Arbor every so often. Those trips are usually week days so I don’t go with. It’s typically just J and L or a even just L with her Kalamazoo coach.
We also go to a couple of competitions a year there now. One for synchronized skating and one for dance/free skate.
I always say someone needs to make a Zingerman’s run when we’re there but it’s actually pretty far away from the rink so we never do.
I was in town last week for work near the University of Michigan. It still wasn’t close but I had time and it has been years since I had been to Zingerman’s and I really, really wanted to go.
Zingerman’s Delicatessen is synonymous with Ann Arbor. The large deli, which has grown in to more of a complex, is on the corner of Detroit Street and Kingsley Street in Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown District. Zingerman’s pretty much rules the block with Zingerman’s Next Door and Zingerman’s Loft across the street taking up the majority of the block. The main building is the deli and it sits proudly on the corner. Parking is kind of hassle in this area of town. I got really lucky and found a street spot right across the building but I actually drove around the block twice trying to remember how to get to Detroit Street.
Read more…Nina’s Taqueria (Augusta)
111 E. Michigan AvenueI’ve lived in Kalamazoo for 15 years. One of the first places I got a recommendation for when we moved her was for a little taco shop in a small town I still hadn’t heard of.
Over the years, I think I’ve eaten at every restaurant in Augusta except that taco shop.
I took the long way home from Battle Creek one day last week and was trying to think what I would pass on the drive. The taco shop popped in my head.
Nina’s Taqueria is on East Michigan Avenue/M-96 in downtown Augusta. The small yellow building sits on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Canal Street next to Augusta Creek. It’s hard to miss as you’re driving through town. This is one of two Nina’s location. The other is in Battle Creek. I actually ate at that one a little over ten years ago with a co-worker and we both really liked it, so I have no excuse for the dozens of times I’ve driven by this location without stopping.
Read more…McGonigles Deli West
842 Gougac Street WI met a colleague in Battle Creek last week to do some work downtown. We started talking lunch spots almost immediately since he wasn’t super familiar with the area.
I rattled off a few downtown places and he seemed intrigued. He didn’t invite me to lunch though so I hopped in my car and started heading back to Kalamazoo.
It wasn’t that big of a deal. You know I had someplace I wanted to stop anyway.
I kind of took the long way back to I-94 because I did….of course…have someplace I wanted to stop.
I ended up at McGonigles Deli West on Gougac Street near 21st Street in Springfield. The shop bills itself as a deli, market, and pizzeria. This is the second McGonigles deli location in Battle Creek. The other is on the northeast side of town on Capitol Avenue in Pennfield Township. This location used to be Kim & Lynn’s Meat and Cheese Market and a pizzeria before that.
Read more…Country Table Restaurant
714 W. Chicago RoadTuesday was a wild day. I’m without a colleague in the Kalamazoo office for a while so I’m running around Southwest Michigan by myself at the moment. Some days, that’s great. They’re easy days. Some days, it’s a lot of driving and a lot of work by myself.
I started my day on Tuesday in White Pigeon at about 9:00. By the time I clocked out at 9 PM, I had been to White Pigeon, Coldwater, Kalamazoo, Otsego, Emmett Township and Oshtemo Township. It was a long but productive day.
I didn’t realize I was going to be so much driving as I was wrapping up my assignment in White Pigeon. It was also lunch time and I wasn’t in the mood for gas station food so I decided to put an order in at one of the restaurants in town.
I picked Country Table Restaurant on West Chicago Road (US-12) to the east of US-131 on the west side of White Pigeon. The restaurant, which is designed to look like a barn has been a staple in White Pigeon for years.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 