Chicken Scratch (Downtown Indianapolis)
121 W. Maryland StreetWhenever I travel to Indianapolis for work, it consists of long days and short nights. That was, of course, the deal with my most recent trip. Saturday would be a 16 hour day starting right around noon.
I slept in as late as I could. I hate a nice cold, dark hotel room to myself. I wasn’t going to waste it.
I woke up just before 11:00. Too late for breakfast but there were plenty of lunch options around my hotel. I found the place with online ordering and the one I thought I could get the quickest meal from.
My choice was Chicken Scratch on Maryland Street just to the west of Illinois Street in Downtown Indianapolis. The small chicken restaurant looks to be the third location (two in Indianapolis, one in Cincinnati). It also looks to have opened fairly recently as there are several signs in the area with “now open” pointing towards the restaurant. The restaurant is tucked in to a multi use building between a Dick’s Last Resort and a Tesla Supercharger parking garage.
Read more…Hot Box Pizza (Downtown Indianapolis)
30 E. Georgia StreetOur trips to Indianapolis don’t usually see us staying downtown. We got a new boss and he insisted on booking the rooms himself.
We stayed in downtown Indianapolis.
That opens a lot of possibilities when it comes to food…well, for most people it would. We did what we could do before 7:00 then we kind of got in to a holding pattern waiting on a couple of phone calls. We didn’t want to go sit down somewhere in case we got one of those phone calls and had to run somewhere.
My colleague went back to his room to do some work and I headed to mine. I didn’t have as much to do and I was hungry. It was Friday night, so you know what that means.
It’s pizza night!
We were staying at the Hampton Inn in downtown Indianapolis so I looked to see what was close. There were a few pizza options but there was one that didn’t have much of a wait time. The others were all pubs so there was more of a wait.
Hot Box Pizza is a chain of take out pizza places around Indianapolis. There are about two dozen locations with most being in the Greater Indianapolis area.
The one I picked is the downtown location near Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The small take out spot is on the bottom floor of the Harness Factory Lofts on Georgia Street just to the west of Pennsylvania Street. The pizza place is in the corner spot next to a conveinence store so I was able to grab a couple of Pepsi’s before I went to pick up my pizza.
Read more…Ray’s Drive In
1900 N. Courtland AvenueIt seems like we’re taking yearly trips to Indianapolis at the beginning of December. I was hesitant to say yes this year because L had a figure skating competition in Ann Arbor on Sunday morning and there was really no realistic way I could make it home in time.
Knowing how much overtime I’d get, I knew I had to say yes as long as L and J were ok with it.
They were so Friday afternoon, a colleague met me in Kalamazoo and we headed south for the weekend.
We left Kalamazoo around 11:00. I was purposefully holding off on eating and told him I had plans. I had heard about this drive in that we needed to stop at.
Ray’s Drive In is on the north side of Kokomo, IN on the corner of Courtland Avenue and Spraker Street. The small 50’s style drive in restaurant has been a main stay in Kokomo for decades and they’re claim to fame is a sandwich you think of when you think Indiana delicacies.
Read more…Hungry Howie’s (Marshall)
15252 US-27 NorthMy work takes me all over southwest Michigan (and beyond). It’s always odd to me how much time I spend in Marshall though. It seems like there wouldn’t be a ton of work for me there but it also seems like I’m in Marshall every couple of weeks.
I have some go-to places for lunch. I like Pastrami Joe’s and Dark Horse Commons for quick meals. Sometimes, those just aren’t quick enough though.
It’s almost never out of my way to stop at PS Food Mart right off I-94 on US-27. I usually need gas and a Pepsi anyway and that’s the quickest way to solve that problem before heading back to Kalamazoo.
I am the king of gas station meals. I eat a lot of crappy hamburgers, Tornados, Slim Jims and deli sandwiches.
This particular gas station has a pizza shop built in. It’s not one of those ones that are tucked in to a shelf where they reheat pizzas and throw them in a box. It’s a full on Hungry Howie’s.
The Marshall location of Hungry Howie’s is inside the PS Food Mart on US-27 just to the south of the I-94 interchange on the north side of Marshall. The restaurant has it’s own entrance plus access from the gas station. While the stores are connected, you do have to pay for anything you buy from the gas station at the gas station cash register and anything from Hungry Howie’s at the Hungry Howie’s register so you can’t get a bag of chips and candy bar with your pizza unless you make two transactions.
Read more…Pizza King
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600 S. Mission StreetNever miss a chance for pizza on a Friday night.
I worked over Thanksgiving in Mt. Pleasant. Thursday I was able to get dinner from Legends Diner at Soaring Eagle Casino. Friday, I started the day with Cops & Donuts then we had Panera for lunch at my job site.
My day ended around 4:00 and I was heading back to Kalamazoo. I still had a couple more side jobs that weekend back home and I wanted to see my family a little bit over the long (for everyone else) holiday weekend.
I can’t pass up a Friday night pizza though. I had kind of scouted places out hoping that someone would open for dinner on Thanksgiving but no one did. There was a place close to my Friday job site that had really good reviews and online ordering. As we were packing up for the day, I put in an order to grab for the drive home.
Pizza King is on South Mission Street in Mt. Pleasant at the intersection with South Maple Street. The pizzeria takes up two storefronts in a small shopping plaza on the west side of the road not too far from Central Michigan University.
Read more…Cops & Doughnuts – Central Precinct
1327 S. Mission StreetUp early on Black Friday but not to go shopping. I had to work.
It wasn’t my usual 9-5 job. I had picked up a couple of side jobs over the Thanksgiving holiday in Mt. Pleasant. I had to be in town Thursday (Thanksgiving morning) to start the job then we finished it with a 10 hour day on Friday.
I’m not one of those people that book hotels based on whether or not they have free breakfast in the morning. It’s usually crap. I actually did have free breakfast at my hotel but I had other plans.
My job site was near Central Michigan University so I left a few minutes early so I could make a stop.
My stop was at Cops & Donuts on Mission Street and Fairfield Drive on the south side of Mt. Pleasant. The small donut shop is one of four “precincts” (full stores) that branched out from the original concept in nearby Clare. There are also six “substation” where you can get their donuts. These are at various stores, restaurants, and retailers mostly in Northern Michigan.
Read more…Legends Diner
6800 Soaring Eagle BoulevardSomething rare happened to me this year. I got the entire Thanksgiving weekend off…well…at least from my full-time job.
I was scheduled to work Thanksgiving Day but a scheduling mistake worked in my favor. I was assigned to a shift that wasn’t needed and the scheduler decided to be nice and just give me the day off instead of reassigning me to busy work on the holiday.
I was really looking forward to the long weekend….then I got an e-mail about a side job. The original e-mail asked if I was available Black Friday. It pays really well so I said yes. About ten minutes later, I got another email asking me if I was available Thanksgiving Day as well. The already pays really well job just increased to holiday pay so as much as I wanted to spend Thanksgiving with my family, it was waaaaay too much money to pass up.
I begrudgingly got my butt out of bed just before 7 AM on Thanksgiving and headed north to Mt. Pleasant. We had about 5-6 hours of work to do on Thursday but would get paid (at double time) for a full ten hour day. We worked through lunch figuring there wasn’t much open anyway to get done faster and get to the hotel for the night.
We were pretty much right about nothing being open. I thought maybe a bar near Central Michigan University would open for dinner but I couldn’t find anything. Even the IHOP next to my hotel had closed at 3:00.
I wasn’t too worried though because I knew there would be at least one place open on Thanksgiving in Mt. Pleasant. The casino.
Sure enough, Soaring Eagle Casino was open and it was packed. They had a Thanksgiving Buffet going on when I got there but I didn’t really want that. Luckily, there are a few pretty decent dining options.
I pulled in to Soaring Eagle around 4:30. The entrance to the casino is Leaton Street near the intersection with Pickard Street/M-20 east of Mt. Pleasant on the Isabella Reservation. The entrance is well marked and not hard to find. You enter the property then come to parking lots where you choose to either go to the casino or to the hotel.
Read more…Tacos Yanga
1338 Division Avenue SouthMy love for Mexican street tacos started in Grand Rapids.
I was working nights and weekends at the Grand Rapids office which meant I regularly worked Friday night. I had a co-worker who would buy me dinner on Friday nights as long as I would go get it. This went on for quite a while then one night (not a Friday night), I walked in with tacos and sat down next to him to talk about something. He couldn’t get over the smell of them and asked where I got them. I told him and the next Friday night, he sent me there to pick up dinner. It became our Friday night meal until I moved to the Kalamazoo office several years later.
That taco spot was Taqueria San Jose. I loved that little taco place and would go there every time I was back in Grand Rapids.
Unfortunately, it closed at the end of 2021. I was pretty bummed. My co-worker passed away a few years prior to that but I would still go get tacos. It made me think of him every single time.
I was unexepectedly in Grand Rapids last Monday. We weren’t scheduled to work out of that office but something came up so my Kalamazoo colleague and I headed north. We finished our assignment in the field then headed back to the GR office to finish up our day. I was hungry but didn’t know what I wanted so I just started driving. I figured I’d find something along Division…or 28th Street…something…I didn’t know what or where.
I got just south of downtown on Division Street when I saw my old taco place…but it was open….as a new taco place. I found my place to eat.
Tacos Yanga is on Division Avenue and LaBelle Street south of downtown Grand Rapids. The taco joint is easy to find. It’s an old A & W Drive-In. There is no car hop service anymore but the awning is still there. so it’s easy to spot. The restaurant has actually been open about a year and a half now but I get to Grand Rapids so little anymore, I’d never really noticed it.
Read more…Pizza Katerina
635 N. 9th StreetStop me if you’ve heard this one before.
It was Friday night. And I was hungry for pizza.
I was actually alone on this Friday night. My weekly overtime has come to an end and this should have been the first week we were all home on Friday night.
Except the kids had a synchronized skating competition..that we host…and J is on the organizing committee for. She and L spend almost the entire weekend at Wings Event Center starting Friday night.
B was at my in-laws because I couldn’t get out of work in time to get him from daycare and J had to be at the arena pretty early in the afternoon. That meant, I was on my own for dinner.
I knew I was going to get pizza but I had kinda settled on just going cheap with Dominos…then I got an e-mail with a coupon for a place I really like and don’t eat at nearly enough.
That place is Pizza Katerina on 9th Street in Oshtemo. If you’re thinking, you’ve already blogged about that place (twice), you’re right, but they’ve moved, so new blog.
The new location is actually just two doors down from the old location in the Sunset Plaza strip mall in front of Walmart on 9th Street just south of West Main. They’ve moved down to the corner of the building that used to be part of Oshtemo Pharmacy. The new location gives them more room to share with another business…but I’ll get to that.
Read more…Winner Winner
3216 Bay City RoadWhen I got our kids’ schedules for Skate Midland, I was pretty excited we were going to be done fairly early. B’s last event was just before 2:00 which means we should have been able to get out of there around 2:30 and make it home before it got dark.
But, NOPE.
L wanted to stay and watch her friends skate and their events ran almost until 5:00 PM.
We did have a little bit of a gap though between when B finished his last event and when the other girls from our club were going to skate so J suggested we go get something to eat. No one had really eaten since breakfast and the concession stand at the Midland Civic Arena didn’t have a lot of “real food.”
There’s really not a lot around the Midland Civic Arena. The one place that is close I noticed last year but didn’t have time to stop. It looked like a counter service restaurant and it looked like it would have something we’d all eat.
Winner Winner is on the corner of Bay City Road and Waldo Avenue on the southeast side of Midland. The small restaurant opened a couple of years ago and also has a coffee food truck that operates out of the parking lot. The name should give away what’s you’re going to get inside….right? “Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner.” As for the building’s history…I’ve actually been there before. I’ve only been to Midland three times since we moved to Michigan 15 years ago. Twice for figure skating, but one time, we actually drove from Lansing to Midland just to eat at the BBQ place that was in this spot before….well that and see the butterflies at Dow Gardens…but mostly because I wanted to eat at Bone Daddy’s BBQ.
SW Michigan Dining 