Mars Cheese Castle
2800 W. Frontage RoadSometimes you just have to do the touristy crap, amirite?
How many times have I driven along I-94 in Southern Wisconsin on my way to Milwaukee or Green Bay and seen a giant castle off to the side of the road just across the border in Wisconsin.
I’ve never stopped. I didn’t need cheese while I was driving.
L’s figure skating coach really wanted to hit the Mars Cheese Castle before we went out to dinner on Friday night while we were in Pleasant Prairie for the Southport Summer Classic. L’s only event of the day was at around 5:30 and she was the last event for her coach. The Cheese Castle closed at 7 so we got L changed out of her dress and took pictures quickly so a big group of us could go cheese shopping
Mars Cheese Castle is on Frontage Road just off Burlington Road which is Exit 340 on I-94/41 in Kenosha. It’s not hard to spot. It’s a freakin’ castle. I can remember seeing the sign for Mars Cheese when I was a kid. We went to Wisconsin Dells several times for family vacations. This version of Mars Cheese Castle has only been around since 2011. They had to move the building due to the widening of I-94/41. It’s still at the original site…just a little further back.
Read more…Tenuta’s Italian Grocery & Delicatessen
3203 52nd StreetAt some point, I usually end up leaving J and L at the rink when we go to these figure skating competitions. I like to explore whatever city we’re in. L likes to stay with her friends and teammates so we usually get to the rink way before L needs to be so she can watch.
We had a pretty busy day on Thursday. L had three events then we went to the beach and to dinner. We didn’t have to get up quite as early on Friday. L’s only event of the day wasn’t until 5 PM but she wanted to be at the rink at 11 to watch some of the other skaters.
I sat around for a while but I wanted to go look for some beer. J’s mom was looking for something specific and there was an Italian deli in Kenosha that the brewery’s beer finder said had it.
I left the rink around noon. I had already eaten lunch at Kwik Trip but figured if this deli had anything at all to eat. I was going to get something. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
I found Tenuta’s Delicatessen on the corner of 52nd Street and 32nd Avenue in Kenosha. The humble, but amazing Italian Deli has been a “Kenosha Tradition” since 1950.
Read more…Blue Badger Bar & Grill
717 S. Sylvania AvenueWe got kind of lucky with this last figure skating competition. All of L’s events were pretty close together. Sure, they were spread over three days, but on the first day, she had three events. It’s not at all unusual for those events to be scheduled at 8 AM, 2 PM, and 6 PM meaning we spend the entire day at the rink.
That wasn’t the case at the Southport Summer Classic. First event was just before 9 AM and the last was done by 1:30. We had the whole evening to actually do something other than crash from exhaustion.
L’s coach wanted all of her skaters to hang out in the afternoon. It was a pretty windy day but we decided to go to Simmons Island Park in Kenosha and hang out in the beach. The waves were huge and it was cold so we couldn’t actually get in the water but the girls ran up and down the beach and looked for rocks to skip.
We spent an hour or so there then everyone was heading back to their hotel for the night. We hadn’t had a good meal yet and it was still fairly early.
We didn’t really know where to go. We had an Extra Kid with us for a couple of days and we had to take her dietary restrictions in to account to. She kept asking for Taco Bell or Culvers but we didn’t want to do fast food.
I remembered a place I saw back by our hotel that looked interesting. It was a bar but it was part of a gas station. We looked at the menu and it worked for everyone.
Blue Badger Bar & Grill is an interesting spot. The restaurant is located inside Racine Petro station on Sylvania Avenue and Highway 20 just off I-94. There are a few other dining options at this gas station that’s more of a travel plaza but the bar takes up a pretty big portion of the building.
Read more…Kwik Trip (Pleasant Prairie/72nd Avenue)
10451 72nd AvenueYou pretty much knew there was going to be at least one Kwik Trip stop on this trip…..right?
I was introduced to Kwik Trip last winter on a trip to Green Bay with a co-worker. My wife had told me about this magical place last summer after she and L went to a skating camp in Wisconsin Rapids. I figured they were overselling the place.
They were not.
Thursday was L’s big competition day at the Rec Plex in Pleasant Prairie. She had three events all before 2:00 with a little bit of a break between the second and third around lunch time.
We didn’t really have time to go anywhere for lunch but there was a Kwik Trip close. I suggested we just do that. There’s a lot of options for quick grab and go.
There are actually three Kwik Trip’s really close to the Rec Plex. I picked the one on 72nd Avenue near Green Bay Road. The gas station/convivence store looks like any other gas station you’d stop in to on your travels…until you get inside.
Read more…Pleasant Prairie Rec Plex
9900 Terwall Terrace- Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
- (262) 947-0437
- Website
L is in her second season competing in figure skating and the first season competing in Solo Dance. The dance portion has brought us to some new places this year. Competing only in free skate last year, we didn’t always go to every competition. There are a lot of competitions our coach only does dance.
Dance is score on the International Judging System (IJS) and has a national component to it. There is a National Solo Dance final held in September and if the skaters can be in the top 6 of their region (ours is the Midwest), you qualify for Nationals.
Needless to say, taking advantage of every opportunity you can to get in front of the judges is necessary.
Most of our club headed to Wisconsin last weekend for the Southport Summer Classic. L’s coach decided to stay the whole weekend so her non-dance skaters could also participate in free skate. Since we were there anyway, we stayed the weekend so L could do her dance, free skate and compulsory.
I’m gonna start by saying, I’ve driven through this area around Kenosha several times and it’s always a “drive through” type of place on our way to Milwaukee or Green Bay. I’ve never spent any time in the area until last weekend and I was shocked.
The competition was held in Pleasant Prairie at the Rec Plex. This massive recreation center is on Terwall Terrace off Lakeview Parkway not too far from I-94/41. The rec center sits on Lake Andrea and is so big, it has it’s own Wikipedia page. It’s hard to get a hold of just how big this place is (302,000 square feet) in a town of only about 22,000 people.
Read more…Rocky Rococo (Racine)
6631 Washington AvenueSorry, ya’ll. I’m about to annoy a bunch of people again.
I’ve explained on this blog many times that this has become more of a journal. I write about my own life through the lens of food. Yes, that means I’m going to blog about places not in Southwest Michigan. I’ve said it a few times. I wish I had named the blog something else, but what’s done is done.
I’ve spent all my money recently on traveling for figure skating competitions so when I am home, I have less money to eat out. That’s why you’re not seeing a ton of Southwest Michigan restaurants. Skating season is slowing down so hopefully I’ll get back on track for those of you that get angry that I’m gonna write about a bunch of restaurants in Wisconsin.
So yeah, we were in Southern Wisconsin for a figure skating competition last week. The event took place in Pleasant Prairie which is right on the Wisconsin/Illinois line. Our hotel was a little further north in the Racine area.
We got to town a little after dinner time on Wednesday night. We actually met my parents at the hotel in Sturtevant. L’s events were really early on Thursday morning and my parents wanted to come and watch but didn’t want to drive before dawn so they came up the night before too.
We didn’t have B this weekend but for a couple of nights, we had another one of the skaters. Her mom was going to meet us in Wisconsin on Friday after she got back from a work trip so the first two nights we had an extra kid with us.
When we got settled in the hotel, we needed to venture out for food. J noticed a sign for a pizza place as we got off the highway. It’s a Wisconsin chain that I was surprised she knew but she and L ate there last year when they went to Wisconsin Rapids for a skating camp. We knew pizza would be quick and easy and we all needed to get some rest.
Rocky Rococo’s is a longtime quick service Wisconsin pizza chain. The store we picked is on Washington Avenue just to the east of Warwick Way in Racine. At one point, there were close to 150 stores in the Midwest but that number is down to 40 now with all but one in Wisconsin.
Read more…Fat Mike’s Barbecue & Ice Cream
301 E. Michigan AvenueTwo days of BBQ in a row? Yeah, that sounds like something I would do.
My colleague was off a couple of weeks ago and I got sent to the west side of Battle Creek for an assignment. I was done early afternoon and didn’t really have anything else I needed to get back to Kalamazoo for. I took my time coming back and took the long way through Augusta.
I was really questioning myself on this one because I had just eaten at Flavor Town BBQ Pit in Kalamazoo the day before.
But there’s no such thing as too much BBQ.
I stopped at Fat Mike’s Barbecue & Ice Cream on Michigan Avenue in Augusta. The small walk-up restaurant is on the corner of Michigan and Water Street on the east side of town. The catering company took over the Lickety Split Ice Cream shop. They kept the ice cream and added BBQ.
Read more…Flavor Town BBQ Pit
1801 S. Westnedge AvenueWe’ve all driven by the sign for quite a while now. Flavor Town BBQ Pit. It’s been there for what seems like a couple of years but there’s never been any indication as to when it was going to open.
I think we all assumed it was a project that was never going to get off the ground.
Guess what? We were all wrong.
I had some time a couple of weeks ago to grab lunch without my colleague. I was driving near that area anyway and I couldn’t wait to stop in and see what they had.
Flavor Town BBQ Pit is on the corner of South Westnedge and Howard Street in Kalamazoo’s Southside Neighborhood. This building, across from Midtown Fresh, has been mostly a chicken joint since we moved in here in 2009. It was The Chicken Coop at that point then became just The Coop for a while before closing down.
Read more…Dark Horse Commons Market
511 S. Kalamazoo StreetI’ve mentioned before I like beer, right?
Dark Horse Brewing and I have a little bit of a history. When I moved to Kalamazoo 14 years ago, I pretty much only drank PBR.
Living in Kalamazoo, it seems like a must that you drink Oberon every spring so I did that one year and realized, hey, this ain’t too bad.
I wanted to try other beers and one of my friends had told me about a beer from Marshall they really loved. It was Dark Horse Brewing’s Crooked Tree IPA.
I tried it. I liked it a lot and from there I became the guy that always asks for the IPA. Dark Horse Brewing did that to me.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually been to Dark Horse’s tap room. Like almost 10 years…..I haven’t been to the taproom since they were bought by Roak Brewing.
A co-worker and I were in Marshall last week and I was hungry. We didn’t have time for a taproom lunch but there is another option that’s just as good.
Dark Horse Commons Market is part of the Dark Horse Brewing complex on Kalamazoo Street just south of the railroad tracks in Marshall. The Commons market is the grab and go part of Dark Horse. There’s a huge variety of food and a lot of beer. The building sits next to main taproom but has it’s own entrance.
Read more…Don’s Drive-In
2030 US-31 The Cherry Classic has quickly become one of our favorite ice skating competitions. L had a pretty successful weekend skating again this year, the Centre Ice Arena is fantastic, and, of course, it’s in Traverse City.
L had one event early Saturday afternoon. We got to sleep in a little bit then headed over to the rink. Once she was done, we were heading home. We needed to get gas and wanted to grab something to eat first.
As we were leaving the arena, J noticed a poster for a drive-in. She had no idea where it was but asked if I had looked it up yet.
I didn’t have to. I had already passed it and it’s right next to the Speedway we were heading back to to get gas.
Don’s Drive-In is on US-31 near Four Mile Road in East Bay Township just to the east of Traverse City proper. The drive-in, which has been there over 60 years, sits just across from Grand Traverse Bay in a bright pink building.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 