Chicken Frenzy (Portage)
7025 S. Sprinkle Road- Portage, MI 49002
- (269) 329-1270
- No Known Website
- Menu
You know me and gas station chicken.
There’s kind of a theme going here. I wasn’t planning on stopping for lunch, but…..
We were in South Portage and I needed something to drink. I stopped in to a gas station and the smell of chicken was overwhelming. I grabbed my Pepsi and sauntered by the chicken. It was too much to pass up.
Chicken Frenzy is in the Sprinkle Road Citgo on the corner of Sprinkle Road and Romence Road/Bishop Avenue in Portage. The gas station has been there for as long as I can remember but the chicken is pretty new. Chicken Frenzy also seems to be pretty new. I assumed it was one of those chains like Chester Fried but there is absolutely nothing online about it that I could find.
Read more…Fiesta Burrito
3774 W. Centre AvenueThis was another one of those days I didn’t really know what my plan was. I got off work around 7:00. B was with my in-laws because we didn’t have childcare for the last week of summer and L was at the rink skating. J was also at the rink but she had a meeting. I didn’t really know what to do for dinner.
I thought I needed to go pick L up and while I love Burdick’s, it can get kind of expensive so I decided to grab something before heading to Wings West.
I ended up going a little out of the way. I wanted to stop at the Crossroads Mall to check on something but they close at 7 so that wasn’t an option. I was in Portage already so I started trying to think of something I hadn’t eaten at yet in Portage. I came up with tacos.
I chose Fiesta Burrito because they had online ordering which makes my life so much easier.
Fiesta Burrito is on Centre Avenue in Portage near US-131. The restaurant is in the Woodbridge Shopping Village near Moorsbridge Road. The shopping center has undergone some extension renovations in the last couple of years. I had been to this shop before when it was The Big Burrito and The Real Deal: Classic Burgers and Shakes. If you look at the pictures from those blog posts, you’ll see almost an entirely different exterior from what is there now.
Read more…Smokin’ 8s
FOOD TRUCK- Augusta, MI 49012
- (269) 352-9272
- Website
- Sample Menu
My co-worker gets me somedays.
We were in Decatur for an assignment and needed to just hang out for a while and kill some time. We ended up parking near downtown at the Village Market.
I wasn’t really hungry and had no intentions of buying lunch when I stopped. My co-worker looked across the street and saw a food truck. He looked at me and said, “You’re going to get lunch from that food truck, aren’t you?”
I said no. I wasn’t really hungry and I wasn’t planning on buying lunch that day.
He ran in to the grocery store to use the restroom. When he came out, I drove the car across the street and bought lunch from the food truck.
The food truck was Smokin’ 8s. A veteran owned truck that specializes in BBQ but also brings some smash burgers, brats, and hot dogs depending on the day. The truck is based out of Augusta, but on this day, it was parked at the Citgo Station on Delaware Street (M-51) near Phelps Street.
Read more…WP Diner @ Washington Square
1324 Portage StreetWorking Sunday usually means I get the following Friday off. I trade a one day weekend for a three day weekend. While the one day weekend is annoying, the payoff of a three day weekend is sometimes worth it.
I had a lot to do on my Friday off. B had a day camp in Portage that I had to drop him off at, L had figure skating at Wings West that I had to drop her off at, and I needed to run some errands so I could work on some home improvement projects in the afternoon.
But first, breakfast.
I dropped L off at Wings West a little after 8:30 and didn’t have to pick her up until after 11:00. I needed to run to Lowes and Pearle Vision on West Main at some point but I wanted to get breakfast first. I had some time so I decided to go out of my way a little bit to a place I haven’t been to yet.
WP Diner @ Washington Square is part of KPEP’s (Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program) Hospitality Program. The diner is in Kalamazoo’s Washington Square Neighborhood near the corner of Portage Street and Washington Avenue. The building underwent a pretty major rehab after the building was purchased in 2018. It was last home to Kalamazoo Color Lab.
Read more…Fuego Verde
1070 Arcadia LoopSo, Western Michigan University’s new student center finally opened.
It took a while with some construction delays but the student center opened just a few weeks ago in time for the fall semester.
I don’t spend a lot of time at WMU but I am there occasionally. I would always try to make my way to the basement of the Bernhard Center when a new restaurant opened there. There were some interesting places that came in and out of there almost every year. Nothing seemed to stick around.
The new student center seems to be going for longevity. They have a few dining options that are kind of copycats of pretty well established brands. I was in the area last week and went a little out of my way to check the first one off my list.
Fuego Verde is the Mexican restaurant set up in the new student center. Like it’s predecessor, the restaurants are on the bottom floor but in this case, it’s not has hard to get to. There’s an entrance that’s easily accessible as you’re coming from the Library back to the Sangren Mall. Unlike the Bronco Mall entrance, this is one students will walk past daily and it’s also where the book store is located.
Taco John’s (Caledonia)
6722 Broadmoor Avenue SEJ and L got home early Sunday morning from their trip to Wisconsin for figures skating camp….then I left mid-afternoon Sunday to go to work.
I don’t have a lot of weekends free so when shift coverage comes up, I try to volunteer on the days I don’t have anything planned so I don’t get forced in to working the days that I do. I didn’t have anything planned for this Sunday so I took the shift hoping that would defer from a future forced overtime scenario.
When I work weekends, I have to work out of the Grand Rapids office. I left Kalamazoo a little early because I was hungry and Grand Rapids has a chain restaurant we dont’ have in Kalamazoo. Taco John’s.
There are now three Taco John’s locations in the Grand Rapids area and none of them are near US-131. There’s one on 28th Street in Wyoming, one in Hudsonville, and one in Caledonia. I’m a little extra and wanted to write a new blog post so I picked the one in Caledonia despite it being a little out of my way.
The Taco John’s in Caledonia is on Broadmoor a couple of miles south of the interchange with US-6. The small taco joint sits on the corner of Broadmoor and 68th Street surrounded by gas stations. Like most fast food chains, Taco Johns aesthetics have modernized a lot in the last couple of decades. Gone are the yellow and red signs and in is a more clean almost antiseptic look of greys and whites with pops of red.
Read more…Long Island Cafe (Portage)
5222 Portage RoadJust me and the boy.
J and L were still at a figure skating camp in Wisconsin. I had picked B up from my in-laws Friday after work. We went to see a movie Friday night but I told him we could do whatever he whatever he wanted to do on Saturday.
I really wasn’t at all surprised when he said he wanted to go to Airway Fun Center…in fact, it was what I assumed he was going to say.
I told him we could go to Airway and play some video games if he went to breakfast with me first. He protested a little bit but he really wanted to go to Airway so he gave in pretty quickly.
I didn’t want to go too far out of the way so I picked a spot along the way for breakfast.
We stopped at Long Island Cafe on Portage Road in Portage. This particular spot on Portage and Fairfield Roads has been a lot of different restaurants over the years. The first time we were there it was Fat Tony’s. Since then, we’ve been to this restaurant as Lindbergh’s Landing and most recently as Zoo City Beastro.
Read more…Three Rivers 6
120 Enterprise Drive- Three Rivers, MI 49093
- (269) 279-8300
- Website
It was time to go get the boy.
He had been staying at J’s parents all week. J and L were in Wisconsin for a figure skating camp and I don’t get out of work in time to pick him up from daycare/camp. By Friday, I’m sure they were ready to send him back home.
We had talked earlier in the week about meeting at the movie theater in Three Rivers to see the Barbie movie. B has already seen in by MIL hadn’t nor have I. When I texted her to make sure that was still the plan, she said they weren’t interested in seeing the movie but they could still meet me there if I wanted to go.
I figured B has already seen the movie so I wasn’t going to drag him there again. I asked if he’d be interested in the Ninja Turtles movie. He gave her an emphatic yes so that was the plan.
The Three Rivers 6 is a Goodrich Quality Theater located on the northside of town just as you come in from US-131. The theater is in The Shoppes at Marketplace North shopping center on the corner of North Main Street and Enterprise Drive. The theater takes up a large corner of the building closest to Main Street.
Read more…B-Side Social House
2727 W. Michigan AvenueI almost messed up my string of eating out while J and L were out of town.
I ended up working some extra hours on Thursday night and by the time I got done, there really wasn’t anything open that I wanted to try.
I went home and started playing Zelda again. As the clock approached midnight, I started to get really hungry. I realized I hadn’t actually had a meal all day. I had snacked a couple of times but that was about it.
The choices get a lot more limited around midnight. There are still some good options near campus and I was leaning towards a calzone….that thought reminded me of another new place that I haven’t been to yet.
B-Side Social House is on West Michigan Avenue between Lafayette and Howard Streets in the 2700 West Development. The restaurant takes up a space between Old Goat Tavern and DP Dough. The space was once Nick’s Gyros, but that closed quite a while ago.
Read more…Blue Kitchella
8211 Portage RoadI had plans to go to bars all week while J and L were out of town for a figure skating camp, but by night two, I just wanted to get home. I had my evenings to play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and I wanted to spend as much time as I could do that.
Looking back, I’m kinda disappointed in myself for not doing the dive bar thing…but I know at the time, I was happy to just get a delicious dinner and sink down in to my couch to play video games uninterrupted.
I did go kind of out of my way Tuesday night to get dinner though. A new place in Portage was calling my name.
Blue Kitchella is a new concept from the people who own Latitude 42. This new restaurant isn’t a bar though. It’s a high end fast food restaurant. The building is just down the street from Latitude 42’s Portage brewery on Portage Road. It’s in an old Burger King building just south of the intersection with Centre Road.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 