15 | September | 2009 | Mid-Michigan Dining

Bubble Island

15 09 2009

515 E. Grand River Avenue #E
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 333-3860
Website
No Online Menu

Bubble Island on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

So, why were we in East Lansing this morning? Funny story. We had Unwrapped on The Food Network last night…well, actually it was just kind of ambient noise. We weren’t really paying attention. J had just got home from work and we were catching up on the days events.

Even though we weren’t really watching, something caught J’s eye. They were doing a segment on a place called Lollicup which is a chain of stores mainly on the west coast that serves Boba Tea. She picked up the laptop to see if there was one either close to us here on in Chicago, but alas, nothing. Then, out of nowhere, she remembered a place in East Lansing that had the word “bubble” in the name. She did a Google search and found what she was looking for. We decided to get up and go see if the tea was any good.

Bubble Island is on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing right next to The Peanut Barrel. The store is kind of hidden on the bottom floor of a two story commercial building and it sits a little ways back from the road.

We had just eaten at National Coney Station, so we were just in the market for a drink. I wasn’t interested at all, but J was really stoked at the idea of trying this wierd drink. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: boba tea, bubble island, bubble tea, East Lansing, Michigan
Categories : Downtown, East Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

National Coney Station

15 09 2009

565 E. Grand River Avenue
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 351-2100
Website
Menu

National Coney Station on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

As readers of this blog know, the thing I love most about food is regional cuisine. Sure, I may not like everything that makes a region popular, but I love the idea that no matter where you grew up, there’s going to be some brand, food, or preparation technique that will always make you think of home.

In Michigan, that food is the Coney Dog. I’m not a hot dog eater, so it’s not something that I’ve been able to adapt to. I’ve tried it once and wasn’t a huge fan only because I don’t like the dog. The chili is delicious and I could eat that without the hot dogs.

There are always imitators when it comes to a region’s marquee cuisine. Yeah, you can get a coney dog here in Lansing, but up until last week, you couldn’t get it from one of the big names in Detroit coney’s.

National Coney Station opened up on Grand River Avenue in the building that was most recently Moe’s Firehouse. Before that, it was a Spartan Gyro. National Coney did a lot of work to the building to clean it up. I never got a chance to eat at Moe’s before it closed, but for some reason, the place always scared me a little bit.

National Coney Station is not quite the same as the National Coney Island restaurants you’re familiar with in Detroit. They’re owned by the same company, but they’re designed to be more of a quickservice restaurant. The menu is much, much smaller having only nine choices plus some a la cart items. Read the rest of this entry »