Saugatuck Brewing Company (Kalamazoo)
200 E. Michigan AvenueSo..this is the week I was pretty much home alone all week. J and L were in Wisconsin for a figure skating camp. B was at J’s parents because I can’t get off work in time to pick him up from a daycare. Since they live in St. Joseph County, it doesn’t make sense for me to go pick him up and bring him home just to sleep then have to take him back down there in the morning.
You knew I was going to take advantage of being home alone and go out to eat pretty much every night….right?
J and L left Monday night but I work nights on Monday and we had leftovers from the weekend. I just heated those up.
Tuesday night was my first night alone where I could go out for dinner. And I went to a brewery.
Saugatuck Brewing Company has been around in Kalamazoo for a while now but they’ve moved. The moved out of the old Gonzo’s BiggDogg Brewing a while ago and moved in to the former Olde Peninsula Brewing space on the corner of East Michigan Avenue and Portage Street in downtown Kalamazoo.
Read more…Krispy Krunchy Chicken (White Pigeon)
813 W. Chicago RoadI didn’t plan on working last Sunday….but something came up and I ended up in St. Joseph County again.
The job was only a couple of hours but needed to be done. I did what I needed to do then rushed back home. I still had to cook for a pot luck L was going to later that night….but first, I needed food.
I really needed to grab something quick so I was headed toward the Speedway in White Pigeon. Their sandwiches or Tornados are good enough when I’m in a hurry.
As I got close to US-131, I noticed a new gas station near the corner. It had been a while since I’ve been to White Pigeon so I was surprised to see it. Even more surprised to see a better option than reheated gas station burgers.
Krispy Krunchy Chicken is inside the new Amoco station on Chicago Road (US-12) east of the intersection with US-131 on the western edge of White Pigeon. I have no idea when this was built but it has to have been within the last year or so. It still looks and feels brand new.
Read more…Brown’s Slappin’ BBQ
FOOD TRUCKI actually had two days last week I didn’t have a co-worker in the Kalamazoo office. Friday, I ended up working alone. I had a couple of easy tasks to complete and the Grand Rapids office was short staffed. It was stuff I could handle by myself so I did.
I was in Battle Creek most of the day on the west side of town. I finally got done with what I was doing just before 2:00. I needed to head back to Kalamazoo to finish some things up but I was hungry and I knew there was a food truck not far from where I was at.
I stopped at Brown’s Slappin’ BBQ which is parking on the corner of Columbia and LaVista Boulevard in Battle Creek. The black food truck with red accents sets up shop in a parking lot near the Katie Plaza Liquor sign. The building their next to isn’t being used right now so there is plenty of parking.
Read more…The Mobile Crave
FOOD TRUCKI was unexepectadly without a co-worker one day last week which meant I got to meet someone from the Grand Rapids office to work with instead.
Our assignment for that day was in Allegan. We had a morning job then the rest of the afternoon for office work. She went back to Grand Rapids while I headed to the Kalamazoo office.
It was around lunch time and I knew there are a couple of food trucks that set up between Allegan and US-131 in Plainwell. I skipped stopping somewhere in Allegan to eat hoping I would find a food truck I’ve been looking for along the way.
I did end up finding that food truck. It’s the Mobile Crave and it was set up at the old Allegan Street Elementary in Otsego. The bright orange taco truck parks some days right next to the intersection at Allegan Street (M-89) and North Street just to the west of downtown Otsego in the old school parking lot.
Read more…Wings West
5076 Sports DriveEarlier this summer, I started including the ice rinks we spend our weekends at on this blog. There’s usually a concession stand..some are better than others, but I still try to center it around food.
I haven’t done “our” ice rink yet because I was waiting for the competition that is hosted here. I’ve done all the other ice rinks on competition weekend so I figured I’d do our home rink that way as well.
L got in to ice skating a few years ago. We started her in Learn to Skate…then the pandemic hit. Once we felt comfortable going back, we went back to Learn to Skate. She was determined to get through the levels because she wanted to get in to the club. That happened last spring. We’re just wrapping up our 2nd year of competition and now B has joined her in the club as well.
Our home rink is Wings West in Texas Township. The two sheet ice rink is on Sports Drive just off 9th Street near the I-94 interchange. Built in 2002, the rink has two rinks, a restaurant, pro shop, and a gym.
Read more…The Twirl
220 S. Broadway StreetIt’s not often I get sent to Cass County for work. I was telling a co-worker who was meeting me there I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to Cassopolis on an assignment in the 13 years I’ve been in my job….but last Friday, I got sent to Cassopolis.
The job wasn’t hard and wasn’t going to take a long time. The drive there would eat up more of my day than the actual work I did.
We got to town around 11:00, did what we needed to do, then had to head back to Portage for a different assignment. We had a little bit of wiggle room and since I was in a city I don’t get to very often, I had to stop somewhere for lunch.
We passed a little restaurant right on Stone Lake. I looked them up and saw online ordering, so without hesitation, I put in an order before leaving town.
The Twirl is a small restaurant on South Broadway Street at Water Street. The brick building sits right along the access to Stone Lake Beach. There’s a small parking lot next to the building for restaurant patrons and it’s an easy walk up the path from the beach to grab a quick meal or some ice cream.
Read more…Barista Blues Cafe
91 W. Michigan AvenueThere are a lot of days where I tell myself when the day starts that I’m not going to eat out. Then I do.
That happened one day last week. We were in downtown Battle Creek and had a lot of time to kill before assignments. We were sitting on the north end of Michigan Avenue so I had a few options.
My pick was a little cafe that has been in downtown Battle Creek for well over a decade and yet somehow, I have never walked in to.
Barista Blues Cafe is on Michigan Avenue just north of McCamly Street in Downtown Battle Creek. The two story brick building has four storefronts on street level. Barista Blues takes up one of those.
Read more…Flash Flood Water Park
35 W. Hamblin StreetI’m not gonna pull any punches. I hated water parks when I was a kid. The rest of my family loved them.
Our vacations all centered around water parks. We went to Wisconsin Dells several years. We went to Indiana Beach a couple times a summer. I sorta got my way one year when we went to King’s Island in Cincinnati….but we only got to do the amusement park one day and the water park three days.
I wore glasses up until about 5th Grade when I got contacts. I hated water parks because I couldn’t see. I’d have to store my glasses somewhere then run around the park blind. I hated it.
My kids are nothing like me. They love water parks. We don’t really do vacations anymore because…you know, sports. We’ve done Great Wolf Lodge a few times but no big trips to go to a water park.
Last summer, J needed something to do with the kids and a couple of her friends. She suggested the water park in Battle Creek. Turns out, the kids had a ton of fun. We promised to do it again this summer.
Flash Flood Water Park is part of the Full Blast recreation complex on the corner of Hamblin Avenue and Capital Avenue in downtown Battle Creek. The water park part of the complex has an entrance from the parking lot on Hamblin so you don’t have to go inside the rec center.
Read more…Big Moe’s BBQ Express (Food Truck)
Food TruckI have missed Lunchtime Live a lot this year. It seems like every Friday, I’m out of the office during the two hours the food trucks are set up at Bronson Park.
I finally thought I could sneak over there and grab something to eat last week…but I was a little too early. Most of the food trucks were still setting up and not ready to open. I didn’t have a lot of time to wait around.
There was a truck that was ready to go though…and it’s a restaurant that I’ve known and enjoyed for several years….and it’s BBQ.
Big Moe’s BBQ Express has restaurant out on Gull Road but they also have a food truck they can hall around for catering and special events. In this case, the special event was Lunchtime Live.
Apoptosis Brewing Company
3811 S. Westnedge AvenueJ and L were still in Bloomfield Hills for a figure skating competition and B was still at Nana’s so I had another night to eat out on my own.
I’m trying to find some places around town that I’ve been wanting to go to but didn’t want to take the kids. I had two days this particular week to do that and I’ve got a few more days coming up soon that I’ll also get to do that.
My pick this night was a newer brewing company in. I was planning on stopping for drinks anyway but I noticed they started a small sandwich menu so I could make it my dinner stop too.
Apoptosis Brewing Company is on South Westnedge Avenue at Parker Avenue in Kalamazoo’s South Westnedge Neighborhood. The building was previously a Big Apple Bagels that closed a few years back. This building was built specifically for that Big Apple Bagels after the previous location further north on Westnedge closed to become J. Gumbo’s (also now closed).
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 