Crunchy’s Burgers and Pizza

19 04 2008
  • 254 W. Grand Ave.Crunchy's Burgers and Pizza
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 351-2506
  • Website
  • Menu

I found Crunchy’s by doing a Google search for the phrase “Best Burger in Lansing”  What I got was a link to Crunchy’s Burger’s and Pizza who, according to their website, was voted the best burger in Lansing by the Lansing State-Journal.  We made two trips to Crunchy’s.  The first time, we popped in late on a Friday night because my girlfriend wanted to do karaoke.  It was late so we didn’t get food.  We went back a second time on a Saturday afternoon after we went to a Lugnuts game.

It was also the same day as the Green and White game at Michigan State University, which is right down the road, so the bar was pretty packed by 5:00.  We found a booth located in the room off of the main dining room.  A waitress eventually came over for drink orders and found us a couple menus.  I had to go with the Famous Crunchy Burger.  A 1/2 burger comes with American cheese, lettuce, tomatos and pickles.  So, was it the best burger in Lansing?  It was definately the best burger I’ve had since moving to Lansing, but not the best burger I’ve ever had.  The meat was fresh and very juicy.  The bun was a mega-mart poppy seed bun, so nothing special there.  The sandwich came with chips, but I upgraded to fries and for the second meal in a row, they were fresh cut.  My girlfriend chimed in on the fries saying despite being fresh cut, they were crunchy like the out of the bag ones (which I hate and she likes) usually are.  So for once, we were both happy with the fries.

Speaking of my girlfriend, she went with the Traverse City Cherry Burger.  We had seen this on the menu at a few restaurants here in Michigan, so she decided to finally try it.  The waitress warned her it wouldn’t taste like cherries which must be a misconception to out-of-staters (she saw our drivers license when we ordered drinks).  She it pretty much tasted like a burger, but she did say she probably put a little too much ketchup and mustard on the sandwich because she forgot to order cheese.

Both of us ate for under $20 with drinks.  I was actually shocked when I picked up the bill because I figured it had to be wrong, but it wasn’t  Crunchy’s wasn’t quite everything I hoped it would be.  The burger was good, but not knock my socks off good.  The atmosphere is unique.  Being a college bar, they decided to just encourage vandalism instead of trying to stop it.  Patrons have been writing on the walls, tables, and any other surface with Sharpie’s for quite a while. 

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Oldsmobile Park

19 04 2008
  • 505 E. Michigan Ave.Oldsmobile Park
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 485-4500
  • Website

Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon at the ballpark, so that’s what my girlfriend and I decided to do.  The Lugnuts were home and the weather was beautiful.  I had been to many games at O’Brien Field in Peoria where the the Chiefs play.  Once at the ballpark, nothing beats ballpark food.

The reason I chose to write a review on Oldsmobile Park is because of the selection of food available.  Of course they’ve got the standard hot dogs and cotton candy, but the first thing I noticed when I walked in was a push cart where a vendor was cooking pulled pork on a flat top.  We go down a little bit farther and there’s another guy doing Philly Cheesesteaks the same way. 

Oldsmobile ParkWe stopped at the pulled pork guy’s stand but all we got were a Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi.  We had just eaten so it wasn’t time for lunch just yet.  Vendors were constantly going up and down the aisles….almost to the point of annoying.  I missed a few hits because I had three vendors following each other down the aisle.  When we finally did grab something to eat, my girlfriend just got an ice cream sandwich from one of those annoying vendors.

I’ve been to a couple different minor league ballparks and it’s usually the same ol’ same ol’ when it comes to food.  More and more places are trying new things and I was pretty impressed with the way the items were set up.  For the most part, all the vendors had their backs to the field, so you could actually watch the game while waiting in line.   Oldsmobile park didn’t have the atmosphere that I’ve grown used to at Midwest League games, but that probably won’t be enough to keep me from going back.  It’s still baseball.