New York New York Pizza (Hyde Park)
533 S. Howard AvenueI haven’t traveled in over a year. I haven’t left the state of Michigan in over a year. Even meeting my family, the furthest we’ve gone is New Buffalo. We spent a lot of times at parks this year in Berrien County hanging out with my parents. Christmas took place in early December at the New Buffalo Township Park pavilion.
Back in November, I got a call from work asking me if I was available for a big corporate trip at the end of January. I was hesitant at first but it was a good professional opportunity. J and I talked about it and decided I should go. We both secretly hoped that vaccine rollout would go better than it has and I would at least have the first shot by now (I don’t).
The plan was for a co-worker and I to be in Tampa, Florida eight days. We flew in on a Sunday night and left the following Monday. He and I did the same thing last year but in Miami (bonus points if you can figure out why we were in Florida during those times).
We got in to the Tampa International Airport a little before 5:00 on Sunday night. We were really rushed and had to hit the ground running. We had something we were really try to do before 6:00 in downtown Tampa so we grabbed our bags, our rental car, and headed for the Convention Center.
We didn’t make it by 6:00 so that task had to wait until Monday morning. We weren’t done for the night though. We still had to meet up with some co-workers from around the country at our Tampa office to get computers set up and settled in to our workspace for the week.
Our long travel day finally wrapped up around 9:30. I asked my co-worker if grabbing pizzas was OK as we headed to our hotel in Wesley Chapel. He said that was fine so I found something that was still open and not too far out of our way.
I picked New York New York Pizza on recommendations from some of the guys in our Tampa office. The local chain of pizzerias has 8 locations around Tampa. They also have online ordering so I put in an order for two pizzas and we headed out the door hoping to get to bed before long.
So…..I just mentioned they have eight locations…and I didn’t really pay attention to which one I ordered from. That wouldn’t have been a problem except I didn’t put the same one I ordered from in to my GPS first. We drove to the Ybor City location and after circling the block a few times, co-worker jumped out to go get them. When he got to the window, they said they didn’t have anything in either of our names. Crap…..I took us to the wrong one.
Read more…Round Bread Sandwich Company
7083 S. Westnedge AvenueFinding something to when traveling along South Westnedge in Portage can be difficult if you’re looking for something other than chain fast food or casual dining.
A few weeks ago I had that dilemma. I knew I was going to be on that side of town around lunch time and resigned myself to the fact that I would probably be having Five Guys. I was fine with that but I did a quick Google search for “sandwich” and found something surprising.
Round Bread Sandwich Company just opened up in November and has so far, gone pretty unnoticed online. I’m usually pretty up on new restaurants opening in town and I didn’t find this until the middle of January.
The restaurant is in that awkward little strip mall by the Sam’s Club on South Westnedge behind Texas Roadhouse. It has taken over the space that Kelvin & Co was using for their Portage location. There are some ties to the old business as this new sandwich shop is owned by Chris and Nick Slocum who are partners with Mark Nieuwenhuis (who owns Kelvin & Co.) at Burger Bros.
Read more…Mimi Sarducci’s
203 N. Front StreetAnother day. Another solo road trip to a far away land.
My co-worker and I were working on the same project again but we were doing so separately. I needed to go to Cass County to do something and there was really no reason for him to go with me. He could do what he needed to do in the office in Kalamazoo.
My travels took me to a rural patch of land between Cassapolis and Dowagiac. The GPS took me through Dowagiac so I decided that’s where I should look for lunch.
I was looking for something quick and was having a hard time finding a sandwich shop or something similar. As I was about to give up, I saw a Google listing for a place with no website or menu but it did have some tasty looking pictures attached to it. That’s how I made my lunch decision on this day. Random user photos on a Google listing.
Mimi Sarducci’s is really hard to miss if you’re not looking forward. The small restaurant is on Front Street north of Division and downtown Dowagiac. Front Street is also M-51 so it’s the way in our out of town if you’re coming from the north. I’m pretty sure I passed it on my way in to town and never noticed it.
New Leaf Delicatessen
l897 Washington AvenueAnother day with a long car trip by myself to do a task that took all of about ten minutes.
I needed to take a trip to Holland to pick something up while my co-worker in Kalamazoo worked on something else in the office. I don’t normally mind the road trips by myself. I can get caught up on some podcasts and I can usually seek out a place to eat without having to worry about whether my colleague would eat there or not.
My task for the day was out near US-31 and John Street in Holland Township. I used to work in this area a lot so I’m pretty familiar with what’s out there to eat and it’s mostly chains. I sat in the parking lot and did my usual Googling to see what was nearby.
I found a couple of things that popped up pretty interesting but I was really just in the mood for a sandwich. There are a couple of deli choices so I pretty much just flipped a coin and picked New Leaf Delicatessen.
New Leaf Delicatessen is on Washington Street near 35th Street kind of on the south side of Holland. The small restaurant is a walk up window in a strip mall along the very busy Washington Avenue.
Read more…Doll n’ Burgers (Tecumseh)
411 E. Chicago BoulevardI’ve been in Michigan about 13 years now and there are still parts of the state I’ve never been to. Lenawee County was one of those places. I’ve just never had any reason whether it be for leisure or for work.
Obviously, since I’m writing this, that changed recently.
Work brought me to Tecumseh last weekend. I picked up an abbreviated Saturday shift that was more driving than working. I completed what I needed to do for the day then picked up my phone and started looking for a place to eat.
There were a lot of great options but I didn’t really want to try to park downtown. I noticed a sign for the Tecumseh Ice Sculpture Festival and I assumed there would be a lot of people walking around downtown looking at the art.
I found Doll n’ Burgers which looked like a chain fast food restaurant from the Google listing. I originally skipped over it but eventually made my back. I realized after another glance it wasn’t a chain and the pictures on Google looked like what I was looking for. In fact, the restaurant, which opened during the pandemic, is backed by the guys who have brought us Grand River Brewiery.
Doll n’ Burgers has two locations. There’s one in Jackson and one in Tecumseh. The Tecumseh location is on Chicago Boulevard which is also M-50 and the main route through town. The restaurant is inside a Mobil station on the corner at Wyandotte Street which also makes it feel like a fast food joint…because it actually was a fast food joint. A Taco Bell previously occupied this space.
Read more…Taste of Soul by Dips
2500 Nazareth RoadI am pretty shocked at how many restaurants are opening during the pandemic. You hear a lot about the ones that are closing but there have been several restaurants that could quickly adapt to the take out model that have opened and thrived during the last year.
I don’t remember when I first saw the Chicken Coop on Nazareth had closed down but I know it wasn’t long after I saw the closed signs that I started seeing Facebook posts for a soul food place moving in. They opened up just before Thanksgiving and every time I drive by, I see several cars in the drive thru.
Taste of Soul by Dips is on Nazareth near the intersection with Gull Road. It’s in the building that was a long time Chicken Coop restaurant behind the Speedway. When I pulled in to the parking lot, there was a line in the drive thru so I parked and started to go in but the doors were locked. A quick glance inside looks like they have done some work to the place just to clean it up a little but have kept the same basic layout of order counter on the upper level and most of the seating on the garden level sun room.
Read more…Taqueria Tomatitos
595 10th Street (Food Truck)I’ve been stopping in Plainwell recently on my way to Grand Rapids to get gas. There are a lot of places I could stop, but I’ve just been craving Wesco popcorn. I’ll hop off the highway, get gas, grab a bag of popcorn then continue on my way north.
The last time I made this stop, I got frustrated with traffic coming out of the city heading towards US-131 which made it hard for me to turn left….so I turned right and went through downtown Plainwell to hit US-131 via 106th Avenue.
I don’t know why I made that decision but doing so led me to a taco truck in a place I never thought I’d find a taco truck….a party store just outside of Plainwell.
Taqueria Tomatitos sets up shop in the parking lot of Third Base – The Last Stop Before Home Party Store at the corner of 106th Avenue and 10th Street. I made a hard right in to the parking lot after seeing and seeing people in line. I didn’t really need lunch but I do like tacos…so I stopped.
Read more…Detroit Wing Company (Grand Rapids)
2004 E. Beltline Avenue NEAnother week filling in some shifts in Grand Rapids means another week of finding places to eat that have popped up since I stopped regularly working in Kent County three years ago.
Grand Rapids has always had a pretty good variety for wings. There are the many Wing Heaven locations, Wing Kings, Wing Doozy, and many more I’m probably forgetting. It was always one of my favorite things about working in Grand Rapids. I didn’t have to rely on Buffalo Wild Wings or Wings, Etc. to get my wing fix in a hurry.
I kept forgetting about a wing joint I saw advertisements for quite a while ago on the days I’ve been in the office up north. I always thought about it *after* I had eaten dinner. When I realized I was going to be working in Grand Rapids for a few nights, I put a reminder in my phone to buzz me just before dinner time.
Detroit Wing Company is a small chain of eight (so far) fast casual restaurants based in Eastpointe. The Grand Rapids location is in the newer strip mall at the corner of Knapp and East Beltline in front of the Family Fare.
Read more…Skinny Kenny’s BBQ
24901 Red Arrow HighwayMore BBQ! Yay! More BBQ!
I’ve made no secret about how much I love BBQ. Yeah, I do a lot of smoking myself in my vertical offset smoker..but that takes hours. So, yay for people who do all the hard (long) work for me.
COVID has forced us outside of our comfort zone and in to more walks around the neighborhood. J noticed a new food truck being built quite a few months ago and started following them on Facebook. Recently, a brick and morter store was announced just outside of Mattawan.
Skinny Kenny’s BBQ opened up on the corner of Red Arrow Highway and 25th Street about 1/2 mile from the stoplight that will take you in to Mattawan. The building had been a breakfast joint called Lisa’s Corner Cafe before the BBQ place moved in.
Read more…Rollup Ice Cream & Tea (Portage)
8340 Portage RoadThe chicken wars continue. Popeyes really opened up the flood gates when they let their over-hyped chicken sandwich loose on the world. A lot of other places realized they could do it too…and do it better.
I’ve already blogged about Chicken House and Turbo Chicken bringing the chicken sandwich game to Kalamazoo County. Now an ice cream shop wants to get in on it too.
Rollup Ice Cream & Tea expanded to a second shop in Portage earlier this fall. The rollup ice cream genre is pretty new to Kalamazoo. The first store was opened up on Stadium Drive right before the lockdown began in March. They not only survived the lockdown and subsequent restrictions but thrived to the point another location opened up on Portage Road next to Erbelli’s in Portage.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 