High Dive Kitchen + Bar
214 E. Michigan AvenueI hate it when I have to miss my kids’ events.
L had a figure skating competition in Bloomfield Hills last week. It was a late addition to our schedule and I’m running out of days off. J and L went on their own. Since I had to work and we don’t have daycare for B during the month of July, he went to J’s parents for a couple of nights.
That left me alone at nights. I decided to take advantage of that and hit up a couple of restaurants I’ve been wanting to get to. The kids haven’t really been into eating out like we used to and sometimes, it’s just not worth the fight to do what I want to do.
I still had to run to the ice rink after work because B had practice. Once he was done, we had to do a lot of car swapping as J’s car needed to get to the shop and I had my truck downtown (it’s a long story). I had J’s parents follow me to the shop to drop off J’s car then take me downtown to get mine.
I was downtown again and I had a number of places I wanted to eat at downtown. I’m going to have another week here in a few weeks were J and L are gone and B will be at NaNa’s so I’m going to get to all of them eventually.
On this night, I chose High Dive Kitchen + Bar.
High Dive Kitchen + Bar is on Michigan Avenue just to the east of Portage Street. The restaurant takes up what used to be two different spaces across two different three story brick buildings. The main part is in the building that previously housed Fuze Kitchen and Bar. The second part of the space is in the building next door which was previously Grand Traverse Distilling.
Read more…Grab N Go Pizza
4317 W. Dickman RoadFriday is pizza day, right?
My co-worker and I had to make a quick trip to Battle Creek sort of late in the afternoon a couple of Friday’s ago. I wasn’t planning on eating anything but he forgot his lunch (or just didn’t want what he brought..I didn’t really ask) and asked me if I was planning on stopping somewhere.
I told him I wasn’t but if he saw something or if there was something he wanted, we could stop on our back to Kalamazoo,
We drove in to Battle Creek on M-96 because our stop was on that side of town and it’s quicker than taking the highway.
I was kind of looking around as we were driving to see if anything new had popped up since the last time I was in that area….and sure enough, something caught my eye and I ended up stopping for a lunch I didn’t plan on.
Grab N Go Pizza is on Dickman Road near Army Street in Springfield just outside of Battle Creek. The small pizza shop shares a building with the Custer Party Store. Prior to becoming a pizza joint, this part of the building was a Burmese Grocery Store
Read more…Kitchen Tribes
555 Phoenix StreetOK, so this is a little unusual. It’s not unusual that I will write a blog post for a restaurant I’ve already been to if it’s been a couple years and there’s been some changes.
But I just wrote a blog post on Kitchen Tribes about a month and a half ago! But there’s been A LOT of changes in a month and a half.
We decided to go to the beach a couple of Sunday’s ago. We tend to go later in the evening as the tourists head back to their beach houses and head out for dinner. There’s not as many people on the beach and it’s easier to find parking.
We planned to only be there for an hour or so and that’s about what we did. Before leaving town, one of the kids wanted ice cream and the rest of us wanted something to eat. McDonalds is always an option…but South Haven has places way better.
J suggested Kitchen Tribes. We didn’t realize the menu had changed so drastically, but that didn’t really matter. They still had what we were looking for.
Kitchen Tribes is in the old Dairy Queen building on the south side of South Haven’s downtown. Th building is on Phoenix Street just north of Broadway. The thing that you immediately notice is the parking lot that used to be between Dairy Queen and City Hall is gone…and for good reason.
Read more…Hau’oli Shave Ice
544 E. Morrell StreetA few years ago, the kids got a snow cone machine from Santa. We don’t use it all that often. It’s not really a pain to use the machine itself. We just have a dozen of those big bottles of flavors and the kids have to mix like every color which leaves a mess all over the counter. I don’t love cleaning it up.
L has kind of forgot about it but B asks all the time. “Can we make snow cones? Can we make snow cones?” We almost always tell him no and then he gets sad and then I feel bad.
He asked J last Friday if they could make snow cones. She said no, but she told him after dinner, maybe we could go some place that does shaved ice and he could get a big one with whatever flavors he wanted.
That place is Hau’oli Shave Ice in Otsego. It’s a little shack set up in a parking lot on Morrell Street and East Allegan Street (M-89) on the east side of Otsego. The small building is tucked along the fence next to the H & R Block and B & C Trophy.
Read more…Café Rica
62 E. Michigan AvenueOne more day of working without my Kalamazoo colleague.
I actually had to run to Grand Rapids for something in the morning but then I had an appointment set up in Battle Creek after noon. It was the best way to plan my day but I figured I needed to make a trip to the Grand Rapids office then I could take my time getting to Battle Creek.
My appointment in Battle Creek was for 1:00. I got to town a little after noon. I got gas and something to drink then decided to grab lunch before I did what I was in Battle Creek to do.
I was near downtown and there’s a café in the area I keep meaning to try.
Café Rica is on East Michigan Avenue north of Division Street in downtown Battle Creek. The coffee shop actually got it’s start at BC Cargo, the cargo containers set up in the parking lot behind Full Blast on the corner of McCamly and Hamblin a few blocks away. From there, they moved to share space with Simply Sensational Berries before finding this permanent spot on the ground floor of a century old two story brick building right on the edge of downtown.
Papa’s Italian Sausage
543 E. Ransom StreetHoliday weeks at work are always interesting.
My co-worker was off for the week and we’ve had some management changes so getting through last week was just that…getting through last week.
I didn’t really have a lot of direction on what I was supposed to be doing so I kind of took it on myself to stay busy and contribute.
That left me with some time to actually grab lunch.
I was done pretty early on Tuesday and I was at the office in downtown Kalamazoo. There are plenty of options around me but there’s a new place not too far away that I wanted to get to.
Papa’s Italian Sausage moved from their longtime home on King’s Highway to the corner of Ransom and Harrison to the Harrison Circle Apartment building right on the roundabout. The sandwich shop takes up the corner space on the Harrison Street side of the building right next to Brewery Outre.
Family Affair Restuarant
148 W. Main StreetI was the unlucky one that didn’t get the five day weekend for the 4th of July. I had the weekend off, and the 4th itself, but I had to work Monday night (3rd).
I worked a pretty late shift Monday night. It was almost 2:00 AM before I got to bed. I told J I wasn’t going to go back to her parents house on the lake after work. If I felt like coming back, I’d come back in the morning.
I woke up around 9 AM Tuesday morning. I knew if I was going to go back to the lake, I should do so before the parade in Schoolcraft shut down US-131. I got myself up and moving then started the drive towards Centreville.
J and I typically weave through the back roads as we make our way to the lake. The most direct route is to go through Three Rivers and Centreville but we chose a route that misses those towns and goes through Mendon instead.
I was coming through Mendon a little after 10:00 and I was hungry. I knew there was a diner on Main Street but being the holiday, I didn’t know if it would be open. I didn’t tell anyone I was stopping or asked if anyone wanted to join me. With my luck, the whole group would have been there and the place would have been closed.
Family Affair Restaurant is right on Main Street in downtown Mendon near the intersection with Nottawa Road. The brick building with red awning is one of several buildings like it in the small town business district. All of the buildings are connected to each other and have probably been there as long as most people in town can remember. The buildings have been cleaned up quite a bit over the years. The space Family Affair is in sat empty for a while after a coffee shop moved out and the building next to it was a grocery store that had seen better days but the time it closed a decade or so ago.
Fruit Street Kitchen
Food TruckSo, I’ve been on a food truck streak lately.
Work brought me back to South Haven over the July 4th weekend. The 3rd of July is not the day you want to be in town unless you want to be in town for the fireworks. I didn’t have the 3rd off and my job required me to be in South Haven that night, so here we are.
I did my best to avoid downtown. I knew if I wanted to get dinner, I’d have to do it right as I was getting to town around 4:00. I had ideas including a food truck that I knew wasn’t near the beaches.
Fruit Street Kitchen is the food truck that pushed for new regulations in South Haven. The owners wanted to be able to operate all year round and have a little more leniency on places they could set up away from the restaurants downtown. Right now, they’re semi-permanently parked behind A & D One Stop on the corner of Indiana Avenue and Elkenburg Street right next to Elkenburg Park.
Read more…MaMazzoni’s Italian Beef
Food TruckYou know how much I love Italian beef. Every time I go to Chicago, I have to make a stop somewhere. Whether it’s for an Italian Beef pizza or for one of my favorite sandwiches from Al’s Beef.
I’m also pretty hard on any place that tries to do an Italian beef outside of Chicago. There are just certain things that make an Italian beef sandwich uniquely Chicago. You can try to recreate those but unless you really know the secrets behind a good sandwich, it’s going to come up short.
I keep seeing Facebook posts for an Italian beef food truck based in the Sturgis area. They tend to be out on Friday nights while I’m at work in Kalamazoo and not on Saturday’s when I’m at my in-laws at the lake.
Last weekend, I saw a post that they were going to be at a nearby lake on Sunday. I told J she could do whatever she wanted for lunch, but I was going to get an Italian beef.
MaMazzoni’s Italian Beef food truck was parked Klinger Lake near Sturgis last weekend across from the old Geno’s Pizza on Klinger Lake Road. They were just set up in a small gravel lot just up the street from the lake. They opened at noon and we pulled in about 12:15. Not surprisingly, we weren’t their first customers of the day.
Read more…RLM Barbecue
Food Truck- South Haven, MI 49090
- (269) 873-0176
- No Known Website
- Menu
I always spend a lot of time in South Haven around the 4th of July. It’s not that I want to. The town is nuts that weekend, but work brings me there so I have no choice.
A co-worker and I were in town the Friday before the holiday. We had a couple of things to take care of. It was going to be an easy day…but a long one.
We stopped at the gas station near the high school as soon as we got in town for potty breaks and to grab some drinks. While we were there, co-worker went to the Mancino’s and got himself a sandwich. I probably should have done the same thing but I didn’t feel like waiting in line.
I wasn’t really hungry anyway but I guess I could have gotten ahead of the hunger knowing I’d be in town all day.
Later in the afternoon, we were driving near downtown and I spotted a food truck. I didn’t know what it was, but I pulled in to the parking lot anyway to see and found BBQ.
RLM Barbecue is a food truck from Resurrection Life Ministries on Elkenburg Street in South Haven. I’ve seen the blue food truck a couple of times but this time, they were parked in the lot next to the Village Market building on Huron Street.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 