On-line petitions are worthless. They are succeptable to fraud. If you want to be taken seriously, paper petitions are still the only way to get any kind of respect. The Michigan United Conservation Club has posted an on-line petition encouraging the expansion of Michgan’s Bottle Bill to include bottled water and juice. While I agree with the position, I hate on-line petitions. I have five e-mail address that I still have access to, so I can sign this petition five times…all under different names and some of them not even real names. The goal of their campaign is 1000 signatures. So far, they have 89, but the petition was just posted today, so with little media expsosure they’ve got a good start. Read the rest of this entry »
MUCC Online Petition for Bottle Bill Expansion
23 06 2008Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Bottle Bill, Legislature, Michigan, Politics
Categories : Michigan, Politics
The Firm Food & Spirits
23 06 2008
Finally! In our third attempt at eating at a downtown restaurant, we finally had a pleasurable experience. Last week at the BWL Chili Cook-Off, we grabbed a $5-off coupon from The Firm’s booth. It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve been grocery shopping, so there’s not a whole lot of food left in our cupboards. Instead of shopping this morning, we decided to just head out for dinner. When I got in my truck, I noticed the coupon still sitting in the console, so that’s where we went.
The Firm is located on Washington Sq in downtown Lansing. We stopped in on a Monday night for dinner. The place was deserted. There was a sign that said wait to be seated. The bartender noticed us and seated us at a booth in the dining room. The dining room is a pretty good size with a row of u-shaped booths along the walls with tables in the middle. There’s a cut-out in the wall that lets you see into the bar. I spent most of the meal watching the two LCD TV’s above the bar that were showing the College World Series. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Downtown, Lansing, Lounge, Restaurant, The Firm
Categories : Downtown, Fine Dining, Lansing, Local Flavor, Restaurant, Reviews
Brewpubs Could Be Allowed to Participate in Beer Festivals
23 06 2008I just noticed that HB 6187 and 6188 passed the House on June 11. In reading the analysis for the bills, it looks to me like there has been a problem with brewpubs participating in beer festivals. The way the law is currently written, brewpubs can only sell their product to be consumed at their licensed facility.
These two bills would do two things. Allow brewpubs to sell their beer and special liscense holders to buy the beer. The bill was crafted for the Michigan Brewers Guild which holds two beer festivals a year. Over 200 beers from 30 breweries will be featured, but none from a brewpub. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: Beer, Beer Festival, Food News, Home Brew, Legislature, Michigan, Micro-Brew, Politics
Categories : Food News, Politics
Don’t Forget to Tip Your Waitress
23 06 2008My mom waits tables three nights a week at a very small bar/restaurant in Illinois. She also works a regular nine-to-five in an office. She makes more waitressing three nights a week than she does working forty hours in an office. That’s why this article in the LSJ is a little distrubing.
At the Corner Pub on Cincinnati’s west side, bartender Melissa Metz can count the cost of the economic hangover in the stack of bills she has at the end of a shift. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Economy, Food News, Tips, Waitres
Categories : Food News
Press Release – Grand River Connection
23 06 2008From the GRC Website:
For our 4th Tuesday networking night in June, GRC will be returning back to where it all began. In June of 2005, a small group of 28 people gathered at Harper’s for what would become the first-ever Grand River Connection event! On June 24, 2008, from 6pm to 8pm, GRC will be returning to Harper’s (131 Albert Avenue)for our 3rd Anniversary Event. Bring a friend and come on out and spend time with people you’ve met at previous events, and meet new people! Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: East Lansing, Food News, Micro-Brew, Press Release
Categories : Food News, Press Releases
Frankie’s Beef, Pasta & Catering – Oak Lawn, IL
23 06 2008
I love Italian Beef and there’s really only one place in the world to get it. Italian Beef is a Chicago specialty. Other places will try it, but the only places that get it right have roots in the Windy City. My girlfriend and I did some grocery shopping for a cook-out we were going to later that night and needed to find something quick for lunch. Her family eats at Frankie’s quite often and she knew it would be something that would be right up my alley. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Chicago, Food, Italian Beef, Reviews, Travel
Categories : Chicago, Chicken, Italian, Oak Lawn, Restaurant, Reviews
White Palace Grill – Chicago
23 06 2008
Guy Fieri let me down. That’s painful to say out loud. My girlfriend and I first heard of the White Palace Grill in downtown Chicago on an episode of Diner’s Drive-In’s and Dives about 24 hour diners. I was working in Chicago this past weekend and since my girlfriend’s parents live in a Chicago suburb, she decided to come with me and take a long weekend. We left Lansing around midnight on a Thursday night and got to Chicago a little after two a.m. We took a detour into the city instead of just heading to her parents. We’ve been to a handful of places featured on Triple D including two others in Chicago and figured if Guy went there, it must be good. We were wrong. Really, really wrong.
White Palace Grill is located just south of the Loop on Roosevelt and Canal Streets. According to a friend of my girlfriend’s, venturing into this neighborhood at this time of night five years ago would have been scary. It wasn’t quite a walk in the park now, but it wasn’t really bad. We parked about a half a block from the diner and walked back. There’s a huge mall with a lot of high end stores right next door. The scary thing was all the people just loitering in the street and around the restaurant. We made our way to the front door and someone behind the counter acknowledged us and told us to sit where we want. There are two dining rooms. When you first walk in, there’s the traditional diner setting with a counter and a row of booths along the wall. Keep going back and there’s more of a dining room with tables and booths. We sat in the front dining room in a booth along the wall. The menus were already on the table, so we grabbed a couple and started looking over them. A bus boy came by with water and wiped the table down. After that, it was quite a while before a waitress noticed us. This was just the start of possibly the worst service we’ve ever gotten at a diner. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: 24-Hour Diner, Chicago, Diner's Drive Ins and Dives, Guy Fieri, Loop
Categories : 24-Hour Diner, Chicago, Restaurant, Reviews
Mid-Michigan Dining 
Recent Comments