Free Range Pancake House
15421 US Highway 27 NorthI realize I treat my body poorly. I don’t get nearly enough sleep. I don’t eat right. I rarely exercise. Because of that, it’s not unusual for me to be able to function normally if I don’t get a lot of sleep or enough to eat.
Tuesday was one of those days. It was a wild day at work. I got called in for an emergency assignment overnight. Got home at 4:30 AM. Got up at 7:30 AM to get my kid to school then headed in to work for my normal dayshift at 8:30 AM. I had gotten about an hour and a half of sleep and had to function for a day that didn’t see me clocking out until 9:30 PM.
A co-worker and I were in Marshall. We were working out of our car that day and not driving back to the office to finish up the work. We needed to find a gas station for a bathroom, gas, and some drinks and we ended up at the Johnny’s right off the Interstate.
We decided to park there for a couple of hours for the work we needed to do on our computers.
It was about 1:30 and I hadn’t eaten anything other than some candy and snacks from the gas station. I have to wait for my colleague to do what he needs to do before I can do what I need to do so I was just kind of sitting in the car scrolling through Tik Tok.
Right next to us was a diner. I was kind of hungry so I looked them up to put a to-go order in.
Free Range Pancake House is right off the I-94 interchange at US Highway 27 in Marshall. The free standing building is on the north side of the highway heading away from town. The building shares a parking lot and the big highway sign with the large gas station next door so it’s easy to spot even before you get off the Interstate.
Langel’s Pizza (Highland)
2833 Highway AvenueSunday morning was rough. B and I were at my parents house in Illinois. J and L were at a figure skating camp in Dallas. I had planned on leaving Illinois fairly early. My mom was at work and our plan was to go say goodbye to her on her lunch break then head back to Michigan.
I woke up around 9:00 and the first thing I noticed was that it was quiet. I had assumed B would get up and go right to playing his VR. He doesn’t stop talking when he’s playing and he’s really loud.
I thought maybe he and my dad went to get breakfast but when I got downstairs, my dad was sitting at the kitchen table watching TV. He told me to go check on B.
B was passed out on the air mattress in the living room with his tablet laying beside him. I had a feeling on Saturday he wasn’t feeling well but as I got close to him Sunday morning, I could feel the heat coming off him. I ran to the Dollar General to get some Motrin then we started packing up. We still waited until my mom’s lunch break to say good bye but we got on the road right after that.
The Motrin kicked in about a half hour up the road. B asked for Taco Bell and I needed gas. My plan was to stop at the exit we were coming up to anyway. I didn’t want Taco Bell though. I wanted pizza. I asked B if he was feeling ok and he said yes. I decided to put in an order for a pizza about another half hour up the road and we’d pick it up along the way.
I picked Langel’s Pizza in Highland, Indiana for a couple of reasons. 1.) They were open on a Sunday. 2.) They had Italian beef and giardiniera as topping choices. 3.) They had online ordering.
Lagnel’s Pizza has three locations in Northwest Indiana. The original is on Highway Avenue just west of Kennedy Avenue in what I assume is downtown Highland. The building serves a dual purpose as a sports bar and a pizza joint. I found a parallel parking spot right across the street when I got there. My pizza was done so I told B to sit tight and ran across the street to pick it up.
Read more…Wally’s (Pontiac)
1 Holiday Road- Pontiac, IL 61764
- (815) 844-8690
- Website
It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a weekend and gone to my parents. Life is busy and while I love that we’re involved in so many things, I hate that getting home has taken a back burner.
We still see my parents a lot. But they make the effort to come to us. They come for the kid’s events and will spend a day or two in Michigan as long as the weather is nice.
J and L flew to Dallas this past weekend for a figure skating camp. I can’t work and pick B up from daycare on time so I usually have to take the days off when J is out of town.
Our plan for Friday was to pick B up directly from school, drop J and L off at AZO (they had a late flight so they wouldn’t miss work/school that day) then B and I were going to Illinois for the weekend.
My parents live in a really small town. There’s not much to do there. We usually just end up at my brother’s house in the next town over so the kids can play. My nieces are quite a bit older than him but they still enjoy hanging out and playing video games with him.
Saturday my mom wanted to go see my aunt. She’s in a nursing home in Pontiac. She was diagnosed with ALS a year or so ago. We used to Facetime with her but she can’t talk anymore so that’s gotten difficult. Since I was home, we went over there to see her. We all get more out of face to face interactions.
We spent about an hour with her then we headed back home. We had plans to meet at my brother’s again for dinner later that evening.
I hadn’t eaten lunch though. Again, not a lot of options where my parents live and they didn’t really have anything ready to eat in the house.
My mom suggested we stop in Pontaic. I didn’t want a big meal but she said there was a gas station that we could grab sandwiches from….and you know how much I love a gas station sandwich.
Wally’s is quite the gas station. It’s located on Holiday Road just off I-55 on the west side of Pontiac. To say the place is huge is an understatement. Opened in 2020, the property is 30,000 square feet and has 76 pumps and 4 electric vehicle charging stations. There’s no comparison to Wally’s in the Midwest but I hear this place has a similar concept to a chain of gas stations with a beaver for a mascot in the south.
Read more…Butler’s Breakfast & Lunch
3610 S. Sprinkle RoadYay. A Kalamazoo area blog post!
J and L are heading to Dallas tonight for a figure skating camp. I have a hard time getting off work in time to get B from after school care so it was just easier for me to take the whole day off. I had some things I wanted to do and I decided B and I were going to drive to Illinois tonight to see my parents.
I still had to get my butt out of bed to get B to school. Normally, I’d just go back to bed but I’ve been wanting to go out for breakfast. I’ve tried the last couple of weekends to go out Sunday morning before the kid’s needed to be at Wings West for skating but I sleep too late and it’s really hard to get people motivated to do things in the morning.
I got B to school then hopped in my truck. I had the time and no one to argue with me so I was going to go get breakfast.
I drove across town to Butler’s Breakfast & Lunch on the corner of Sprinkle Road and Vanrick Drive near Wings Event Center. The restaurant has been a breakfast joint for as long as I can remember. It was Derks Restaurant when we first moved here 15 years ago. After that, it became a Michelle’s. Just like Roxie’s Breakfast and Lunch, the restaurant was sold to an employee of Michelle’s and they made it their own.
Dave’s Hot Chicken (East Lansing)
194 Albert StreetI know. Another blog post from the Lansing area. I really have spent a lot of time over there the last few weeks. I promise this will be the last for one….for a couple of weeks anyway.
I got sent to East Lansing last week to do some work on my own. I was around the Michigan State University campus for a couple of hours then had to head back to Battle Creek to meet a co-worker.
I was hungry and had a little bit of time so I drove through downtown East Lansing to see if there was anything I could grab quickly. I was shocked to find another chicken place that I have been wanting to go to for a while had recently opened.
Dave’s Hot Chicken is a chain of Nashville-style hot chicken restaurants that have grown from one store in California to over a hundred stores in 30+states. The East Lansing shop is on Albert Street near Grove Street in downtown East Lansing across from the MSU campus. The store is on the street level of a newer mixed use building right next to Beggar’s Banquets.
Read more…Smoke ‘n Pig BBQ
908 Elmwood RoadAnother day in Lansing.
I actually started my day with a drive to Lansing, had a quick assignment there, then headed back to Kalamazoo to finish my day.
Of course, I had time to stop for lunch.
I was out by the airport on the northwest side of town. I started looking around me to see what was in the area that I could grab quickly. I saw a BBQ place by the mall. That was my place.
Smoke ‘n Pig BBQ is on Elmwood Road north of Saginaw Highway across the street from Lansing Mall in Delta Township. The restaurant is in the back corner of a shopping plaza next to Lansing City Arena. The restaurant opened in late 2019 in the space that underwent a major transformation from a dance studio to a BBQ joint.
Slice by Saddleback (South Lansing)
3135 S. Pennsylvania AvenueI’m sorry. This blog seems to be turning back in to Midmichigandining.com.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Lansing recently and this won’t be the last blog post from the Capitol.
I was the Lansing area for a full day a couple of weeks ago. I got there early and picked up lunch from Raising Cane’s in East Lansing then needed to go to downtown Lansing to meet a colleague. We finished up a little after 5:00 and I figured I would order a pizza before I headed back to Kalamazoo.
I lived in Lansing for about a year and a half. We never really found a good pizza. We found pizza that was fine…but never anything that we would crave once we left.
I didn’t really know where to start looking so I just googled it thinking maybe something had opened up since we left 14 years ago.
I got a lot of results for places that I remembered but also got one for a newer place that caught my attention.
Slice by Saddleback has two locations in Lansing. One is on the west side in Delta Township. I chose the South Lansing location on Pennsylvania Avenue and Alden Drive. The restaurant was most recently a Halal Food Grocery store that also had a pizza and sandwich operation. Before that, when I lived in the area, it was a liquor store.
Read more…Raising Cane’s (East Lansing)
301 E. Grand River AvenueI keep getting sent to Lansing for work.
I had to meet a colleague at the Capitol last week just after lunch time. I had nothing else to do in the morning so I headed over a little early. I figured I could grab lunch and I had a place I’ve been wanting to hit up for quite a while.
Raising Cane’s East Lansing location is, for the time being, the only Michigan location. The restaurant is on the corner of Grand River Avenue and M.A.C Avenue in downtown East Lansing. The restaurant is right across the street from Michigan State University on the bottom floor of a mixed use three story building. I was first in this space many, many years ago when it was Cosi.
Fletcher’s Pub (Texas Township)
There’s always a plan. And there’s always a monkey wrench that gets thrown in to that plan.
J and L flew to Wichita for a figure skating competition leaving me and B at home. I work too late at night to pick B up from daycare so I always have to come up with something else.
My mom offered to come up from Illinois for two days so she would be here when he got home from school and I would take two days off from work.
Then we got a snow day. My mom wasn’t planning on leaving until Tuesday morning so she wasn’t going to make for me to go to work. I ended up taking a PTO day to stay home with B because J and L had to get to Detroit to catch a flight.
I texted my mom and told her not to rush. It was still icy out so I told her to take some time and just come later in the afternoon. I would still need her Wednesday so I didn’t have to take another PTO day.
She got to town around 2:00. We hung out at home for a while then I got hungry. I figured since I was home, we may as well go out to eat.
I knew I wanted to go to a pub but nothing was really sticking out to me. I thought about University Roadhouse because it was close to home and that, in turn, gave me another idea.
I picked Fletcher’s Pub in Texas Township. It’s still pretty close to home and it’s a little bit more of a relaxed atmosphere than University Roadhouse.
Fletcher’s Pub is part of the Houz Restaurant Group which also operates the Main Street Pubs, Old Goat Tavern, and University Roadhouse. There are two Fletcher’s Pub locations. One is on Oakland Drive in Kalamazoo. The other is in Texas Corners on Q Avenue near South 8th Street. The pub used to be just down the street where Louie’s Corner Bar is now. They moved to this location a few years back when this little shopping plaza was built. Fletcher’s takes up the space furthest from the road.
Jersey Giant Subs (Stadium Drive)
3321 Stadium Drive #BNew location. New blog.
You’ve all read this story many times. I have a soft spot for Jersey Giant Subs. They’re so freakin’ delicious and so filling. Sometimes it’s one meal. Sometimes it’s two. It just depends on the day.
I’ve had it pretty easy at work the last couple of weeks. I’ve traveled a little bit and I’ve worked alone a little bit. When I work alone, my day is typically easier …not always but it was during this stretch.
I had a few tasks to complete in the morning late last week. I went back out to Oshtemo then to Portage then back towards Kalamazoo. I was hungry for a sandwich and didn’t want Jimmy Johns so I went a little out of my way and came back to Kalamazoo via US-131 and Stadium Drive.
This brought me right past the newest Jersey Giant Subs location. True, there has been a JGS in this area for a few years but it moved down the street in to a new store front.
The new Stadium Drive location of Jersey Giant Subs is just down the street from the old one. It’s in the small shopping center with Jet’s Pizza between Los Amigos and Sweetwater’s on Stadium Drive at Adios Drive in the Oakland/Winchell Neighborhood. This space was not a restaurant prior to Jersey Giant moving in. It was actually a AAA Insurance office.
SW Michigan Dining 