BurgerFi (Pembroke Pines)
15910 Pines BoulevardFinally, a day I didn’t have to work from 9:00 AM to 12:30 AM. My Saturday was a little lighter. I only had to work 2:30 PM to 12:30 AM. It was almost a normal day but more importantly, a day I got to sleep in.
My co-worker needed to run back to Miami Beach to pick something up so he took the car in the morning and did that while I stayed in bed. He got back to the hotel in Pembroke Pines around 1:00 and started working on stuff for that evening. He asked if I wanted to take the car and go get something to eat.
We were staying in an area of Miami that was very commercialized. There was nothing really close to our hotel other than a Cracker Barrel so I hoped on I-75 South to go back to the next exit. There were plenty of choices there plus, I needed to stop at the Publix to pick up some cold medicine…I had been fighting a cough all week.
I noticed a burger place across from the Publix, so I went through the intersection to check it out. It’s a chain…but one we don’t have really close to us in Southwest Michigan, so I gave it a try.
BurgerFi is fast casual burger chain headquartered in Palm Beach. There over 105 locations in five countries. The only Michigan location is in Northville.
The Pembroke Pines location is in the Fountain Square shopping center on Pines Boulevard at West Fork Plaza Way. It takes up the corner of a large building anchored by Total Wine and More.
Waffle House (Miami Gardens)
19675 NW 2nd AvenueWednesday was another absolute brutal day on our eight day trip to Miami. Our day started at 9:30 AM in Miami Beach and ended at 12:30 AM in Miami Gardens with barely enough time to stop for a bathroom break. We survived the day on snacks and Pepsi.
I got lucky on Tuesday night and found alocal 24 hour diner in Hollywood. We could have just done that again, but I got the idea to look for my favorite southern staple. I mean, there had to be a Waffle House somewhere nearby, right?
Turns out, there was one a little over a mile from Hard Rock Stadium where we were working. I convinced my colleague that he needed another night of greasy diner food so off we went.
The Miami Gardens Waffle House is on NW 2nd Avenue just south of NW 199th Street. It’s a little hard to get to because of the way the road is configured with State Route 7 but I eventually figured it out. They have kind of a weird set up here with people sitting outside the door taking and handing out take out orders. I said we were dining in so she opened the door for us and we went looking for a table.
Jack’s Hollywood Diner
1031 N. Federal HighwayI knew the hours were going to be long when I signed up for this trip to Miami. I don’t think I realized just how long they were going to be and how little time for breaks I would have until our first night there.
Day two in Miami saw our day start at 9:30 AM in Miami Beach. At 2:00, we had to make the drive to Miami Gardens by 3:30. Shouldn’t be a problem, but Miami traffic is awful. We barely made it which meant no time to stop at a drive thru for lunch.
My day concluded at 12:30 AM. We still hadn’t eaten. there was no time for breaks between 4:00 PM and 12:30 AM. There was very little around our hotel so I started looking for 24 hours nearby…and wouldn’t ya know it, I found one.
Jack’s Hollywood Diner is on Federal Highway near Hayes Street in Hollywood, Florida. The retro diner is exactly what I was hoping to find when I put in the address. The 60’s style diner has been in Hollywood for over 50 years.
The Original Steve’s Pizza
5866 S. Flamingo RoadIt wasn’t just my colleague and I in Miami for a few days…we were meeting a group of people from the company from all over the country.
Sunday was kind of a hectic day as everyone was getting in to town and making their way to the hotel. My co-worker and I had some errands to run when we got to to town and some of the others had things they had to do to.
We set a meeting for about 7:00 at our hotel. This was the first time we were all meeting each other and it would give us an opportunity to go over our assignments for the week. It’s always a little weird working with people you don’t know even if you all have the same objective.
We decided to make it a pizza night. My co-worker was kind of the guy in charge so he grabbed a couple of menus from the front desk for local pizza places. We randomly picked one and he put in an order for three pizzas and a couple of salads. I volunteered to go pick them up since my presence at the meeting was totally necessary.
The place we randomly picked was Steve’s Pizza in Cooper City. The small take-out/delivery pizza place is on the corner of Flamingo and Sterling Roads in the Countryside Shops shopping plaza.
Firebirds Wood Fired Grill (Pembroke Pines)
304 SW 145th StreetI’d be a fool to turn down a trip to Florida in January….so I didn’t.
Work offered me a pretty cool opportunity to work in Miami during Super Bowl week. It meant long hours, short nights, and eight days away from my family, but J was on board because it was such a unique opportunity for me and a chance for a lot of overtime.
A co-worker and I flew in to Miami International Airport pretty early on Sunday morning. We got our stuff, picked up the rental car, then headed to our hotel in Pembroke Pines about a half hour outside of Miami.
The hotel was having issues with their computers so we couldn’t check-in. They got a maintenance person to let us into our room to drop our stuff so we could go do what we needed to do that day.
We were going to have to make a trip down to Miami Beach to pick some things up for the week ahead but first, lunch.
My co-worker just wanted to go to the Cracker Barrel next to our hotel but there was over an hour wait. I was actually pretty glad about that. I wanted to find something we don’t have in West Michigan.
He put it on me to find a new place. As you will see over the next few blog posts, we were in a suburb of Miami that was very in to chain restaurants. I did my best to find local or regional chains and stayed away from places we could eat at back here in Southwest Michigan.
I settled on a place called Firebirds Wood Fired Grill. The restaurant is a chain of casual dining restaurants in twenty states. The closest locations to Michigan would be in either Indiana or Ohio.
This particular Firebirds is on the corner of 145th Street and Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines. There are a lot of of chain restaurants in the cluster of buildings surrounding The Shops at Pembroke Gardens open air mall.
Finley’s Grill & Smokehouse (Oshtemo)
5160 W. Main StreetOpen skate at Lawson Arena the last weekend of Winter Break was nuts. We had just got L her own pair of skates that she really wanted to try out and B really wanted to try to skate for the first time so we went. Wings West doesn’t have open skate until 6:00 on Saturday’s so Lawson it was.
L got used to her new figure skates and B had a blast. He was so happy being out on the ice with all of those people instead of having to sit in the stands and watch like he usually does. We never made it all the way around the rink but he would skate a few feet by himself before falling down, getting up, and doing it all over again.
Our time ran out just before 3:30. We got the kids packed up and started heading for home. J asked about dinner right as I was coming to the corner of Drake and West Michigan so I took a quick turn north. I figured we could decide along the way where to go.
The kids intially picked Applebees (they have tablets on the tables with games so they always want to eat there) but there was a wait already at 3:30 in the afternoon. I’m not gonna wait at Applebees. We have tablets at home they could play.
We walked back to the car and across the parking lot we see a restaurant that we’ve blown off for quite a while. J suggested we go there and I figured why not.
Finley’s Grill and Smokehouse has rebranded since the last time we ate there. They’re no longer just an American Grill. They’re now also a smokehouse.
The longtime restaurant is in the Target shopping plaza on West Main in Oshtemo Township. The parking lot is pretty small and most people were parking across the road in the plaza lot. We saw a place next to the building so I pulled in the lot so we didn’t have to cross with the kids.
Cosmic Candy Company (Kentwood)
3195 28th Street SE- Kentwood, MI 49512
- (616) 888-5085
- Website
What to do while we’re waiting for a table at The Cheesecake Factory? Walk around the mall….duh.
We took a trip to Grand Rapids to get a new pair of ice skates for L. I got her first pair of figure skates. We’ve been using the rentals at Wings Westand she’s progressed enough I told her I’d buy her a used pair. Kalamazoo doesn’t have a Play It Again Sports so we took a trip north.
I suggested eating at The Cheesecake Factory because I’ve never eaten at a Cheesecake Factory. There was about an hour wait and we decided to wait. The kids weren’t going to sit and wait though so we took a walk out in the mall.
Cosmic Candy Company is inside the Woodland Mall on the corner of 28th Street and East Beltline right on the edge of Kentwood. The easiest way to get to the store is through The North Face entrance on the southeast side of the mall.
The Cheesecake Factory (Kentwood)
3195 28th Street SEL needed a new pair of skates. She’s been taking skating lessons through the Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association and is starting to get pretty good. She’s been just using the rental skates at Wings West but she’s at the point she wants her own pair.
She’s not quite at the point where I’m willing to shell out the money for a new pair yet. I had just gotten a pretty good pair of used skates at Play It Again Sports in Grand Rapids and since we don’t have a PIAS here, we took a trip to GR to get her a pair of skates.
J just assumed we were doing this because there was someplace in Grand Rapids I wanted to eat. Truth is, there was…but I was a little embarrassed to mention it. It wasn’t some great new local place with an amazing beer selection…it was a chain… but a big chain that I’ve never eaten at before.
The Cheesecake Factory moved in to Woodland Mall in Kentwood just a few months ago. The restaurant is located on the southeast side of the mall near 28th and the Beltline with a few other chain restaurants near the Barnes and Noble entrance. The space was occupied by Bar Louie for several years before closing last spring and switching over to The Cheesecake Factory.
Yolks & Berries
505 N. Kinzie AvenueBreakfast is required after a night at Grandma and Papa’s. It’s usually a walk to the gas station to get donuts but my mom had offered to bring the kids to us instead of making J and I going an hour out of our way to pick them up.
We did Christmas with my family in Illinois a couple weeks before actual Christmas. I decided to get a hotel room this year instead of listening to everyone complain about the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements at my parents (they only have one extra bed now). My mom still wanted the kids to sleep over with their cousins on Saturday night so J and I got the hotel room to ourselves. We were staying about a half hour north of my parents so they offered to just bring the kids to us in the morning.
We decided to meet at a breakfast restaurant not too far from I-57 which we would take to start our trip back to Michigan. My niece actually recommended her favorite breakfast place and my mom agreed with her. I wasn’t going to argue because my mom didn’t recommend IHOP like she usually does.
Yolks & Berries is on Kinzie Avenue north of North Street kind of on the edge of the Village Square Shopping Center. The restaurant sits out near Kinzie (which is also US-50). I spent a lot of time at this shopping center as a kid. One of the original Monical’s Pizzas used to be there and there was a department store called K’s Merchandise that we shopped at quite often before the mall was built a few miles north of here. This restaurant has always been sometime of family breakfast joint called VIPS but I had never eaten there before. My parents were always more chain restaurant people growing up so we weren’t as adventurous then as I am now. Read more…
Hoppy Pig
135 N. Kinzie AvenueIt was our turn to head to Illinois for Christmas. My family just came to Michigan for B’s birthday over Thanksgiving weekend and we needed to do Christmas with my family early because L was having her tonsil’s out and wouldn’t be able to travel.
We did something a little different this time. We got a hotel instead of staying at my parents. It’s at the point there’s just not enough beds so a hotel was really the best way to go.
We got in to town late Friday night then headed to my brother’s house about 20 minutes south of Kankakee, IL Saturday morning. We spent the day with my family, opened presents, and ate Italian beef for lunch.
My mom wanted all the kids to spend the night at her house. My brother needed a babysitter that night anyway and J and I could use a night to ourselves every once and a while too so we gladly let them go to Grandma’s.
J and I headed back to our hotel on the south side of the Kankakee metro area around 5:00. There are no hotels near my parents or brothers…so this was the closest. We had eaten a pretty big lunch but we also weren’t going to pass up the chance to go out for a meal with no one whining about when their food was going to get there.
Pretty much all of my family was pushing us towards The Hoppy Pig. I mean, beer and BBQ. That pretty much sums up my life.
The Hoppy Pig is in Bradley, IL on Kinzie Avenue just north of Broadway Street. We have actually eaten at this restaurant before…a few years ago when it was known as Ale House Pub & Eatery.
SW Michigan Dining 