Mid-Michigan Dining

• 8781 Main Street
• Birch Run, MI 48415
• (989) 624-5860
• No Known Website
• Menu

Tony's I-75 Restaurant on Main Street in Birch Run.

I love bacon.  So much so, my favorite comedy routine is Jim Gaffigan’s King Baby show where he keeps talking about bacon (Is he still talking about bacon?). 

A few weeks ago, I was watching Sandwich Paradise on The Travel Channel and one of the places featured was a diner in Birch Run.  Sure, I’ve had a few people tell me I needed to check out and try their BLT that comes with a pound of bacon.  I thought they were just over hyping the place…..like the fish that gets bigger every time they tell the story.  I was wrong.

Tony’s I-75 Restaurant is on Main Street in Birch Run just a block or so from Interstate 75.  The restaurant has the distinction of being the only local joint in a sea of chains.  This particular area of Birch Run is very highly developed.  They have the Prime Outlets (which we of course checked out) and just about every type of chain cuisine you can imagine. 

We showed up just before noon on a Saturday.  The parking lot was packed.  There is a large lot behind the restaurant and that’s where we eventually found a spot.  When we opened the door to enter the restaurant, we were greeted with a line ten people deep.  The waiting area is actually outside the actual restaurant in a long, narrow hallway that looks like it was added on after the fact so people wouldn’t have to wait outside in the cold.  

Not long after getting in line, an employee stuck her head out and asked how big each of our parties were.  There was a group of seven, two and three in front of us.  Still, we waited in line only about five minutes.  We were asked if we would like a seat at the lunch counter.  Initially, we said no, but after reconsidering it, we took the two seats at the counter which proved to be entertaining. 

The restaurant is just packed with seating.  The aisles are very narrow and every available space has a booth or a table.  The lunch counter we at it sits right in front of the kitchen.  We got a great show of the mass chaos that takes place probably every weekend.  There were a number of cooks throwing plates up on to the counter and what seemed like a dozen waitresses trying not to run in to each other with plates of food stacked up their arms. 

When we sat down, we were asked by one waitress what we would like to drink.  She brought back our Coke’s and said another waitress would be with us shortly.  The menus were already on the table.  They were faux newspapers with a few stories from newspapers that have been done over the years.  There was a stamp up in the corner that said it was a “souviner menu” so I took one. 

The world famous BLT from Tony's I-75 Restaurant

The BLT is what got me in the door and there’s no way I was going to leave Tony’s without one of us getting it.  J wasn’t interested in a pound of bacon so I got it for myself.  Normally, I’m not a BLT fan.  The only thing I really want on such a sandwich is the bacon.  Since this one was mostly bacon, I thought, why not?  Sure enough, the sandwich was all bacon.  The waitress brought my sandwich not five minutes after I ordered it.  When they say there’s a pound of bacon on it, they aren’t lying.  It was all bacon.  Hell, there might even have been more.  The rest of the sandwich was one thin slice of lettuce, two thin slices of tomato and dollop of mayo on two thick pieces of Italian bread.  Even if it was my intention to eat the BLT as a sandwich, there was no way I could have gotten that monster of a sandwich in my mouth.  It was huge.  I just started picking at the bacon and eating it piece by piece.  Once I knocked half of the sandwich down, I pulled the tomatos off and attempted to eat the sandwich.  I got maybe one or two bites, but it actually hurt my mouth to try and open that wide.  I went back to eating the pieces.  The bread was actually very good and I would have loved any sandwich they served on it.

What was left of my BLT after a half hour of eating.

Very rarely do I get beat by a sandwich.  This one kicked my ass.  When I finally finished what was left on my plate probably would have made a helluva a BLT.  I was so stuffed, I couldn’t pull my camera out of my pocket to take another picture.  Fortunately, J was there to assist me with her cameraphone so I could get a before and after. 

Speaking of J, she ordered a grilled cheese and an order of fries.  Her sandwich came out quite a bit later after mine did.  Her grilled cheese was served on the same Italian bread with aa couple slices of cheese between the slices.  They must have used quite a bit of butter on the bread because it was really soft.  She ate most of it, but even the size of that sandwich was ridiculously big.  The waitress actually forgot to bring us the fries which was probably a good thing.  Neither of us would have been able to put a dent in it. 

Tony's I-75 Restaurant across from the Prime Outlets in Birch Run.

The waitress was pretty busy, so it was very hard for her to pay much attention to any of her customers.  Still, as she was grabbing another plate of food for someone, she noticed my empty drink and got me a refill.  Other than the forgotten fries, there really was no other problems.  Our bill was under twenty bucks and I felt like we got at least fifty bucks worth of food.  There was a lot on both our plates.  The waitress asked if I wanted to take the rest of my sandwich with me, but I declined because we had plans for the rest of the day and wouldn’t be able to get it refrigerated before it went bad.

Tony’s was interesting.  It is a classic truck stop diner that serves up humongous portions.  I’m glad we finally made the trip over to Birch Run.  I wouldn’t want to eat there every week like some people claim they do.  I’d be about a hundred pounds heavier.  Still, I hope I finally beat Guy somewhere.