Menna's Joint's new location in downtown Lansing on Washing Square.
“The only legal joint in town.” Nice. And what the hell is a “dub” anyway? J and I got up and went for a walk on the River Walk from the Lansing City Market to Old Town. After a walk and a quick trip through the Market, we went to Washington Square in search of lunch. As we drove by, I happened to notice the new restaurant tucked in between Tavern on the Square and Brannigan Brothers, so we found a parking spot and stopped in for lunch.
Menna’s Joint is way too nice for a typical sub shop. Put a table cloth on the table and you would think you were in a fine dining establishment. The wood panelled walls are covered with artsy posters. There’s a faux cement block motif running throughout and a couple of alcoves that offer a little bit of privacy. The chairs and tables are much nicer than you would expect. There are a number of LCD TV’s hanging on the walls and there’s even a waterfall and fireplace to make you feel like you’re not in a fast food joint.
The order counter is near the back of the space. We made our way back to order. First off, I should explain that I finally figured out what a “dub” was and I was intrigued. Apparently, it’s a grilled wrap with no beans or rice filler. Sounds good to me. I ordered the Chicken Parm Dub without the mushrooms. The grilled tortilla came filled with chicken tenders, Parmesan, mozzarella, and marinara. I was a little surprised by the size and just how filled it was. I got chicken in every bite. There was no filler and fancy folding of the tortilla to make it look bigger than it actually was. I’ve never had anything like a dub before. The dub was really filling and really good.
J got my second choice. The Buffalo Dub. When she ordered, the guy taking the order told us it would be a few minutes becuase they had to fry up some more chicken tenders. That’s ok with us. The fresher the better. Her wrap came stuffed with a spicy buffalo chicken tender, mozzarella, lettuce and ranch dressing. She said she really liked it and the chicken was hot. After she got done, I picked some of the remaining chicken out of the wrap and she was right. It was spicy.
Our bill was just over $16. It seems high for two wraps and two drinks, but it was two very filling wraps. Like they claim, there were no fillers. Menna’s was a surprise. I had seen the storefront in East Lansing, but never gave it much consideration. I didn’t know what a dub was and I’ve never really wanted to wade through the college kids looking for a quick meal. The downtown Lansing location keeps their college campus feel alive by catering to Cooley students. This is the fifth Menna’s location (two in East Lansing, one in Kalamazoo/WMU, and one in Mt. Pleasant/CMU). We headed downtown with the intention of just finding a sandwich shop for lunch after a nice, refreshing walk, but what we found was a pretty good meal.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
Have you ever tried Hobie’s? http://www.hobiesrestaurant.com/
They have decent sandwiches and I had some good soup there also…Same shopping center as Goodrich’s Shop-Rite which you should stroll through also, they have some unique items in there (i.e. Zingerman’s items, etc.)
BTW…Wasn’t sure if you knew this or not, but you can walk the entire River Trail starting at Jolly & Aurelius (7-11 parking lot) all the way down to its end in Old Town…This end is brand new and very quiet, but quite nice!!!
No, actually I hadn’t heard of that one yet.
Last time we walked the trail, we started at the zoo and walked to MSU..that’s why we walked the other way….I do like the trail going towards MSU better…I’m sure that’s the way we’ll probably end up walking from now on.
[…] the MSU campus in 2003 then added a second downtown location near the bars. They also opened a downtown Lansing location that didn’t really last. It’s now a pizza joint. They’ve also […]