The Original Gonella’s (Detroit)
295 Oakwood BoulevardSunday in Chicago, Monday in Detroit.
It was another long week for me. I did technically get a day off, Sunday, but I used that day off to go to a Bears game in Chicago. It didn’t actually feel like a day off because it was still a long day with a lot of driving.
Monday I needed to meet some co-workers in Detroit around 4 PM. I didn’t have to pick them up in Lansing this time like I usually do because there were two of them coming. I do that when it’s only one so they don’t have to make a long drive, usually very late at night, home all the way from Detroit by themselves.
This gave me an opportunity to search for something to eat either in Detroit or on the way before I met them downtown. I had a few options and a few places I wanted to try but it’s a longstanding sandwich shop that won out.
I headed to The Original Gonella’s on the corner of Oakwood Boulevard and Powell Street in the Oakwood Heights Neighborhood in the far southwest corner of Detroit. The location opened over 75 years ago in this very industrialized neighborhood. The Marathon refinery is just down the street and there is very little actual housing in the area. Gonnell’s two story brick building stands alone on the corner just a couple of blocks away from the rows of storage tanks at the Marathon plant.
Read more…Nicky’s Gyros
2050 Sibley BoulevardI’m not going to leave Chicago without getting an Italian Beef.
Yes, I could have gotten one at Soldier Field. There actually was a Mr. Beef location inside the stadium. I didn’t go look at the prices but I’m sure they were a lot.
I was pretty surprised at how easily we got out of the McCormick Place parking deck after the Bears game. There was a little bit of traffic but it really was only about ten minutes of back up and we were back on the Dan Ryan Expressway heading to where my car was parked in Calumet Park.
My brother and dad dropped me off then they continued down I-57 towards home. I had make my way back to Michigan, but first a stop for dinner.
I did a pretty rudimentary Google search for “Best Italian Beef’s on the Southside of Chicago.” I got a few good hits but one of them stood out as the winner for me.
I headed about 15 minutes from where I was parked to Nicky’s Gyros on the corner of Sibley Boulevard and Madison Avenue in Calumet City. The small, barn shaped sandwich shop is about half a block from I-94 (at this point called the Bishop Ford Freeway). I had to turn around a couple of times to get in to the parking lot because I missed it at first….the GPS directions made no sense as it wanted to turn the wrong way, U-Turn and come back but I eventually got in to the small parking lot which was pretty packed on this Sunday afternoon around 5 PM.
Read more…Soldier Field
1410 Special Olympics Drive- Chicago, IL 60605
- (312) 235-7000
- Website
One of the first adjustments I had to make when we moved to Michigan 17 years ago (besides the switch to Eastern Time from Central Time) was that I no longer had easy access to my favorite sports teams.
I grew up near Chicago. My allegiances are to Chicago teams so that means I pretty much only get to see “my teams” play when they play Detroit teams.
It’s not a huge deal. Yes, I could buy the league passes but I’m not that big of a sports fan. I like sports. I like my teams, but even if they were on my TV, I’m not the guy that’s going to be sitting down in front of the TV every single night to watch a game.
Living in Kalamazoo, we have a pretty easy drive to both Chicago and Detroit. They’re about the same distance so if I want to go a game in Chicago, it’s an easy one day trip. Same for Detroit.
Every year since I got married in 2009, my dad, my brother, and my best friend from elementary/middle school have gone to a White Sox game at US Cellular Field/Guaranteed Rate Field/Rate Field. That didn’t happen this year for the first time in 15 years. We just couldn’t get our schedules to work out on a weekend that the White Sox were home.
About a month ago, that friend of ours sent a text asking if we wanted to do a Bears game instead this year. He had access to four tickets and figured we could still do a game this year even if it was in a different venue.
I had nothing going on that day so I said I was in.
The game we went to was last Sunday’s New Orleans Saints vs Chicago Bears game at Soldier Field.
Soldier Field is right off of Lakeshore Drive just south of downtown Chicago and near McCormick Place. The address is actually on Special Olympics Drive which is on the east side of the structure between the stadium and Lake Michigan.
Soldier Field has a heckuva history both in the City of Chicago and with the Chicago Bears. It was built in 1924 and opened as Grant Park Stadium It was renamed a year later Soldier Field as a dedication to soldiers who died in World War I. The stadium has hosted football for a hundred years now and has also seen soccer, motorsports, ice hockey, rugby, and hundreds of concerts over the years. The Bears first played a game in Soldier Field in 1926 but they didn’t move in full time until 1974. The stadium underwent a major renovation/reconstruction in 2003 that completely gutted the structure and essentially put a new football stadium right in the middle of it. I touched on it the last time I blogged about Soldier field in 2009. I’ll get to more of it later in this blog.
Read more…Chicken Coop (Portage)
109 E. Centre AvenueSkipping out on the Friday night pizza once again.
A few weeks ago I ordered a pizza from Franco’s Italian Pizzeria in Portage for something to eat between my normal work shift and my Friday night overtime shift. I hadn’t eaten there in a really long time so I figured it was time to go back.
When I went to pick that pizza up, I realized there was another restaurant right next to it that I haven’t been to in a really long time. The thing about writing this blog, I’ve been doing it so long, some of my observations and opinions have become dated. Going back and revisiting some of these places seems like a good idea sometimes.
I was in the same boat this past Friday night. I had a little bit of time between my normal shift and my overtime shift. I was in Portage again. I remembered I made a mental note about that place next to Franco’s and this night seemed like as good as any.
That business is the Chicken Coop on the corner of Centre Avenue and South Westnedge Avenue. The small chicken joint has been a consistent presence on this corner for many years. It used to be part of a large chain that included restaurants owned by the same people in Paw Paw, Plainwell, Kalamazoo Township, and Watervliet but it appears this location in Portage is the only one left.
Read more…Sidestreets Deli & Bakery
116 S. Cochran RoadWednesday afternoon I got a text message from one of my supervisors asking if I could meet a colleague in East Lansing on Thursday.
If it was early in the morning, that was going to be a challenge because I have to get B to school. It wasn’t early in the morning though. It was a job at 12:30 near Michigan State University.
That gave me plenty of time to get B off to school, finish up a few things in my office, then pack up and head to East Lansing.
I always try to find some place to eat when I’m in the Lansing area. This blog started 17 years ago when J and I lived on Lansing’s east side as midmichigandining.com. It started as a hobby because I moved to Michigan with J without a job.
Since then, it’s kind of turned in to a journal so I keep going.
I don’t always like finding places to eat in East Lansing because we spend time there every spring for a figure skating competition. That’s when I usually try to find new places.
Instead of looking for places in East Lansing proper, I looked for places on my drive. I’m not sure how I eventually found it but a while ago I found a deli in Charlotte that looked really good. This was my chance to take a little detour off the highway and grab a sandwich.
Sidestreets Deli & Bakery is on Cochran Street south of Lawrence Avenue in downtown Charlotte. This space downtown is actually a relocation and growth from the original deli which was about a block away in a very tiny 456 sq-foot space. The move in to a building which house a market and a cabinet making shop prior to becoming a deli gave them a lot of space to expand.
Jimmy John’s (Downtown Battle Creek)
25 Capital Avenue SWWednesday was another one of those days I really wasn’t planning on spending money on lunch. I say that a lot, don’t I?
My co-worker and I were in Downtown Battle Creek working on a couple of jobs. We were wrapping up around 2:00 with the intention of heading back to Kalamazoo after that.
I was sitting in the car waiting for my colleague and decided to check my personal e-mail. When I opened it up, I found I had a rewards for Jimmy John’s that was expiring that day.
Again, I wasn’t planning on buying lunch but I couldn’t let a cheap sandwich go to waste.
The closest Jimmy John’s to us at that time was the one in downtown Battle Creek on the corner of Capital Avenue and Beacon Street across from the Double Tree Hotel. The building was a Bank of America/Old National Bank location and it definitely looks like a bank. Jimmy John’s is in the front part of the building facing the street. They, unfortunately, don’t use the pneumatic tubes to deliver subs to the old drive through portion of the building.
Read more…Long John Silvers (Oshtemo Township)
5481 W. Main StreetSometimes I make decisions that even surprise me.
Monday night was a fairly slow day at work. We had a lot of office stuff to do and didn’t really leave for the entire eight hour shift. That’s really unusual for us.
I was hungry and I figured since we weren’t really doing a lot outside of the office, I’d take my lunch break and go find something to eat.
I have never eaten at a Long John Silvers before. I don’t like fish so why would I?
Somehow, I found myself on Long John Silvers website, noticed they had chicken, and ended up putting in an order.
The Long John Silvers in Oshtemo Township is on West Main Street just to the east of Maple Hill Drive. The business has been there for quite a while but the building is fairly new. The old style building was tore down a couple of years ago and this newer, sleeker build was erected in it’s place.
Franco’s Italian Pizzeria
8022 S. Westnedge AvenueIt seems like it’s been a while since I’ve actually had pizza on a Friday night. It’s a staple most of the year but Friday’s in the fall are overtime opportunities for me at work. I’m not home for dinner and I don’t usually want cold pizza after working a 12 hour day so I find something else to eat when I get time.
I actually had a bit of time last Friday between my regular shift and my overtime shift. I was heading to Portage so I figured I could just pick something up on Westnedge on my way.
I got an idea when I stopped at the Meijer for gas. I have time to order a pizza and there’s a longstanding pizzeria under new ownership that I have had in a long time.
Franco’s’ Italian Pizzeria is on South Westnedge just to the south of Centre Street near Portage Central High School. The small, family owned pizzeria was owned by the same family for the first forty years of it’s existence under the name Franco’s Sub Station and Italian Pizzeria. The restaurant’s namesake retired last year and sold the business to another family who altered the name a bit but kept a lot of the recipes and menu items that people have come to know over the years.
Read more…Bates Burgers (Livonia)
33406 Five Mile RoadThree days in a row I had to drive to the Detroit area for work.
I was a little surprised when I got in to work on Thursday and was told we were heading to Wayne County. I was going with my co-worker from Kalamazoo this time so I didn’t have to meet anyone in Lansing like I had the previous two nights.
I, of course, was tired after a couple of long days of work knowing that this one was also going to be a long day.
I wasn’t planning on buying lunch but sometimes you pass a building and it just strikes you. You have to eat there. That happened to me as we were driving through Livonia.
We came to the intersection of Five Mile and Farmington Roads and right across from me I saw a little white building on the corner. I knew I had to stop.
Bates Burgers has been on that corner of Five Mile and Farmington in Livonia since the late 1950’s. It kind of looks like a White Castle and serves a similar menu of sliders. Everything in the building is original and it’s still owned by the Bates family. I have actually heard of this place before but had never sought it out. The fact that it was right in front of me as I was driving through Livonia was a happy accident.
Read more…IHOP (Grand Ledge)
7800 W. Grand River Highway Wednesday was a long day in the middle of a long week. I had to go to Detroit three times for work last week which all but guarantees me at least a 10 hour work day.
We got a little bit of a later start on Wednesday. I didn’t meet my co-worker in Lansing until 11:30. That gave my time to stop at Horrocks for a couple of slices of pizza.
I didn’t eat the rest of the day. We were so busy from the time we left Lansing until the time we got back, I didn’t have time to stop to get anything to eat.
I was planning on just grabbing a Pepsi from a gas station and eating when I got home but then I realized, we didn’t really have anything at home either.
If I was going to eat, I was going to have to grab something.
I meet co-workers from Lansing at the Carpool lot on Grand River Highway right off I-96. That area is technically Grand Ledge and there are couple of truck stops there. It was after 9:00 by the time we got back so I figured my best options would be something from one of those truck stops.
I chose the IHOP at the Flying J Truck Stop on Grand River Highway west of the interchange with I-96. The restaurant is part of the trucks stop but you can really only see it from the east side of the building. I had to get gas and when I pulled up to the pumps, I actually didn’t even see it. I knew it was there because of the signage. I just assumed it was totally inside but once I drove around the building, I saw the entrance on the side of the building.
SW Michigan Dining 