Stateside Deli & Restaurant (Okemos)
3552 Meridian Crossing DriveIt’s been a while since I’ve pulled a job in East Lansing. I’ve been to the City of Lansing a few times recently but never really get past downtown. Last week, I got assigned to work in East Lansing on a Friday night.
I was meeting a co-worker from Grand Rapids. She wanted to drop her car somewhere on the east side of town and just ride together to our job site. She was heading east for another assignment on Saturday while I was heading home.
I got to town pretty early and found a park and ride right off I-96 at Okemos Road. I sent her a pin to meet me there. I still had about an hour until we were supposed to meet so I went looking for food.
I lived in Lansing about 13 years ago and wrote a blog while I was there too. I was pretty familiar with the Mid-Michigan dining scene while we lived there but it’s been over a decade. Some places are still there but a lot of the places I really liked are long gone.
The place I remembered really liking in this part of town was Stateside Deli. The restaurant is still there and wasn’t too far from where I was sitting so that’s what I decided on for lunch.
Stateside Deli & Restaurant has a Meridian Crossings Drive address but you will likely see it from Okemos Road just north of Jolly Road in Okemos. The deli is part of a pretty large shopping center known as Meridian Crossing. There are entrances to the restaurant on both sides of the building…the Okemos Road side and the Meridian Crossings Drive side. I parked on the Okemos Road side but that’s actually the back of the restaurant. The main entrance is actually on the Meridian Crossings Drive side..just like the address implies.
Read more…The Tangy Crab (Kalamazoo)
4320 S. Westnedge AvenueContinuing my week of eating out alone while my family was gone, I was really in the mood for wings.
We had a gift card from Buffalo Wild Wings but every time I’ve tried to order online, I get to the cart and it tells me wings are “unavailable.” I thought about just going and sitting at the bar but I wanted to get home. The Kalamazoo Growlers were playing for the Northwoods League championship that night on ESPN+ and I wanted to watch some of it.
I have a couple of usual places for wings other than B-Dubs. Main Street Pub is good. So is Jac’s. I like Waldo’s every now and then too. I considered all three….but something got me thinking. Do all those crab places that have popped up around town also do chicken wings?
Turns out, they do.
I picked The Tangy Crab on South Westnedge because it wasn’t too far out of my way home…and they have online ordering.
The Tangy Crab is on South Westnedge near Pratt Road in the South Westnedge Neighborhood of Kalamazoo. The restaurant is in a building that used to be an Outback Steakhouse right next to The Root Beer Stand.
Read more…Holy Taco
6942 West Q AvenueI was going to take advantage of being home alone for the week and eat out every night. We have so much going on between my daughter’s ice skating and my son starting baseball again that most meals are whatever we can pick up through a drive through or what we can cobble together at home.
I decided to go a little fancier than I did the night before. I was a big fan of the dive bar burger but I had another place in mind I wanted to check out.
Holy Taco is a tequila bar and taqueria in Texas Corners that opened last fall. The small restaurant shares a building and parking lot with the new Fletcher’s Pub near the intersection of Q Avenue and 8th Street in Texas Corners. The building is kind of tucked in to a corner and is a little hard to see at first when you pull in to the parking lot. The blue facade in the middle of a sea of brick and the outdoor patio with string lights hanging overhead mark this taco joint.
Read more…Youz Guys Dog
312 S. Kalamazoo MallI wasn’t planning on eating out when I went for a walk on my lunch break the other day. I was actually heading towards City Centre Market to get my afternoon Pepsis (yes, unfortunately, that plural is intentional).
I decided to just kind of go for a walk first. I had been cooped up in the office all morning and I really didn’t have much going on that time so I headed away from City Centre figuring I would just kind of do a loop around The Mall then grabbing my pops before heading back to the office.
When I got towards South Street, I could see people sitting outside near the walkup window next to the MLive office. I realized there was a hot dog stand there now and I keep forgetting to walk down there and get lunch. Today was going to be that day.
Youz Guys Dogz is pretty simple. It’s in the walk up window that was last Kelvin & Co’s second attempt at having a downtown presence. The window is between the door to Peregrine Plaza and the Mlive office on the corner of South Kalamazoo Mall and South Street.
Read more…Nob Hill Bar & Grill
4218 S. Sprinkle RoadHome alone for a few nights. J and L area in Wisconsin for a figure skating camp and we don’t have daycare or camp this week so B is at Nana and Grandpa’s. I still had to work so I’ve spent the week checking out restaurants I’ve been wanting to go to and watching Kalamazoo Growlers baseball on ESPN+.
I’ve had some places I’ve wanted to go to for a while and I figured this week was as good as any to see which one of those places I could get to.
My first night I got off work a little late. I wanted to keep it simple and there’s a couple bars I’ve been wantingon to hit but didn’t know if they were places I could take the family.
The first place on my list was Nob Hill Bar & Grill. We’ve driven by this place on Sprinkle Road just north of Kilgore for years. It’s close to Wings Event Center and we used to take B to preschool in the area. I’ve wanted to stop at this place for quite a while but the lack of menu online…even though they have a website, has always scared me away.
Read more…Craig’s Cruisers Family Fun Centers (Wyoming)
5730 Clyde Park Avenue SW>Only a few more weekends left in summer.
We’ve spent a lot of our weekends at the ice rink. L is really getting in to competitive figure skating and wants to spend every opportunity she can skating. Wings West does public open skates on Saturday nights all summer long for $8. We’ve spent almost every Saturday night there because there are usually less than 10 people skating and it’s cheaper than club ice.
Sunday’s have been club days for her and time with her coach. That ice time is the middle of the afternoon so between those two skating times, it’s limited what we can do on weekends.
A few weeks ago, my work sent out an e-mail about a family day at Craig’s Cruisers in Wyoming. It was right during L’s Sunday ice skating time but we decided we needed to do something different. One day away from the week wasn’t going to hurt her.
Craig’s Cruisers “Grand Rapids” location is actually on Clyde Park Avenue in Wyoming. The large metal building is just south of 54th Street. When you pull in to the large parking lot, the place really doesn’t look like much…it’s just kind of a big warehouse looking thing…. but it’s pretty amazing what’s behind those drab, grey, metal walls.
Read more…Blinker’s Diner
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54462 M-43I have been driving to South Haven for years. I end up over there quite a bit for work. Sometimes my colleagues in Grand Rapids forget that it’s actually an hour drive from Kalamazoo to South Haven but I usually don’t complain. It’s an easy drive and we always end up with a little bit of a beach day.
J and I haven’t been to the beach in quite a while. In fact, we realized B doesn’t even remember the beach. The last time we went, he was pretty little and really didn’t like the cold water.
We have brought up the idea a few times this summer. Going over for sunset or maybe an early beach day before the crowds. We hadn’t pulled the trigger yet until a couple of Saturday’s ago. It was a nice day and the green flags were flying.
Like I mentioned just a few paragraphs ago, I’ve driven to South Haven hundreds of times over the years. Every time, I pass a little diner just east of Bangor. Our kids love breakfast so we got up early and offered breakfast and the beach as something to do.
Blinker’s Diner is on M-43 just to the west of the intersection with 54th Street. The small diner gets it’s name from the blinking yellow light at that intersection.
Read more…Joezano’s Pizza (Grand Rapids)
340 State Street SEAnother night in Grand Rapids.
This one was a little unexpected. A colleague called in sick and I was asked to fill her shift instead of working my normal day shift. I didn’t have anything planned so I said yes.
Friday night is pizza night and while J went ahead and did our usual Cottage Inn delivery, I didn’t want to wait until I got home.
I drove by a pizza place I have been to many times under many different names over the years and noticed yet another new name. New name means I need to try it out and see if it’s any different.
Joezano’s Pizza has a couple of locations in West Michigan. The original location appears to be in Hamilton. The second location is in Grand Rapids Heritage Hill neighborhood on the corner of State Street and Prospect Avenue. The building across from the little triangle park on a weird intersection has been many pizza places over the years including Grand Rapids Pizza & Delivery and Heritage Hill Pizza.
Read more…Teresa’s Kitchen
Food TruckIf you follow this blog, you’ll know this isn’t my first blog post about Teresa’s Kitchen.
This Mexican food truck quickly became my favorite truck at Lunchtime Live a couple of years ago. At the time, they were just getting started. They had a pretty small truck and were doing a few events plus setting up in the Edison neighborhood. Things have changed in two years.
Teresa’s Kitchen now has a much bigger truck. They still do their events including Lunchtime Live and setting up in the Milwood Neighborhood in front of Milwood Quick Stop. I thought I should probably do another blog since they’ve upgraded their ride.
Read more…Conner’s Kitchen + Bar
350 W. Maryland StreetI know I’ve talked about how much I enjoy work trips on this blog. Every so often, I’ll get asked to go on an overnight trip and I almost always jump at the opportunity. Those days are always some of the longest…clocking in at 14+ hours working but it’s work doing something I really enjoy so I like taking them.
A co-worker and I were sent to Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. Long days were an understatement. We both worked until 11:30 PM Monday night then had to be on the road by about 5:30 AM Tuesday morning. We worked until almost 7:00 then headed for the hotel.
We were staying at the Marriott downtown. We got checked in then went our separate ways for the night. Co-Worker had some friends also in town so she met up with them. I just wanted to grab something for dinner then go to bed because we had another 14 hour day with a four hour drive home ahead of us.
I chose Conner’s Kitchen + Bar for dinner. It was right inside the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown on Maryland Street at South Missouri Street. The backside of the hotel is right across the street from Indiana Government Center and it’s pretty close to the Indiana State Capitol building as well. There is a parking garage available for both overnight guests and for restaurant patrons off of Missouri Street.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 