Quality Dairy – St. Joseph Highway

23 11 2009
  • 6400 W. St. Joseph Highway
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 319-4124
  • Website

If you would have told me two years ago one of the things I would miss most about Lansing was Quality Dairy, I would have called you crazy.  From the outside, these stores look like the typical convenience store.  Inside?  Not much different…at least until you dive into their unique goodies. 

For me, most Quality Dairy stops were Pepsi stops.  The thing I really loved about QD is that there’s almost always one near where you are.  I could actually plan a trip somewhere and know that I could stop for a 32 oz. pop on my way and not have to deal with the gas station hassle of everyone in front of you buying cigarettes and the clerk not knowing which package is which.  It was almost always a quick in and out.

My second day of work in East Lansing ended pretty late.  It was after 10:00 by the time I started heading back to my hotel.  I thought about grabbing a pizza in East Lansing, but I was tired and not really wanting to deal with Friday night crowds in a college town, so I just drove.  I didn’t want fast food again, but I really wanted a Pepsi.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories : Grocery, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Arby’s – Frandor

23 11 2009
  • 622 N. Homer Street
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 351-6340
  • Website
  • Menu

Call me lazy.  I’m not completely proud of the fact that I’ve now eaten two fast food meals in a row, but once again, I’m trying to make as much money as possible, so going cheap on the lunch is a necessary evil.  I would much rather eat like this alone and be able to spend a little more when I go out with J.

Work day number two in Lansing started around 1:30.  I didn’t eat before going to work because I knew our lunch break was going to be pretty soon after we got to the job site.  Once we were released around 2:45, I headed to Frandor because I wanted to look at Staples for something.  After that was complete, it was on to lunch.  Sure, I had a bunch of options in Frandor, but since I was going to eat fast food anyway, I decided to go to a place I really like.

The Arby’s near the Frandor Shopping Center is located on Homer Street.  Because Homer is a one way street, there is also a back entrance from Clippert Street which is where I was coming from.  The building sits pretty close to Homer.  There is a huge parking lot in back and a few slots on the sides.  I took one of the side spots

Eating alone at Arby’s must have been the thing to do.  There were a number of solo diners in the restaurant when I got there.  Like almost every other fast food chain, I have a predictable order.  I get the sandwich they used to call “The Big Montana.”  Now, it’s just a large roast beef.  I got the combo and made it a large.  That’s not something I usually do, but I didn’t know if or when I would get to eat again, so I needed to load up.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

McDonald’s – W. Saginaw & Vermillion

23 11 2009
  • 7240 W. Saginaw Highway
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 323-2228
  • Website
  • Menu

My quest for cheap meals went on with one of the most obvious choices when it comes to dining on the cheap. 

My first day of work in East Lansing ended around 8:30.  I was exhausted and headed straight for my hotel.  As I was driving across town on I-496, I was trying to picture what I could grab quickly and eat in my  hotel room.  I was drawing blank, but I knew there were a couple options right there near the Red Roof Inn.

Like most cities, Lansing is littered with McDonald’s.  I chose the location on West Saginaw Highway and Vermillion Road in Delta Township for one reason.  It was close to where I was going. 

Being 9:00 at night on a Thursday meant I should be able to get in and get out in a hurry.  I’m not a drive thru fan.  In fact, I despise them.  Unless I absolutely have to, I never use them.  If J forces me to, she leans across the seat and yells into the speaker.  I guess I don’t speak clearly or something because I never have good luck.  I’d rather just take the extra few minutes and walk inside.  No one has ever died from getting out of their car for a hamburger. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Burgers, Chains, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Fish & Chips

22 11 2009
  • 2418 E. Michigan Avenue
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 487-5774
  • No Known Website
  • Menu

Back when we lived in Lansing (a whole two months ago), I accepted a lot of work at MSU thinking I was only going to have a five-minute commute.  Things changed suddenly and I really didn’t want to give up the work, but now, my commute was going to be over an hour.  When I work multiple days in a row, it’s not really worth driving back to Kalamazoo.  By the time I get home, it’s bed time then I have to turn around and drive back. 

I tried Pricelining hotels, but that’s impossible on a football weekend, so I just went to Hotels.com and took the cheapest room I could find.  I was staying two nights, so that was a good chunk out of my pay for the weekend.  When it came to meals, I did my best to get by as cheap as I could, but still leave satisfied. 

When lunch rolled around on Thursday, I immediately thought of a desolate shack on Michigan Avenue that I was always interested in trying but afraid to drag J to.  I didn’t really know what I was going to find, but I assumed it would be cheap, quick, and it put off one of the fast food chains for one more meal.

Fish & Chips is on East Michigan Avenue in Lansing right at the corner of Foster Avenue.  It looks like the building was a fast food chain in a previous life, but I really couldn’t tell you which one.  It’s a pretty cookie cutter building with a sun room that was a popular feature in the 80’s.  I read somewhere that it may have been an Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips from the 70’s. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicken, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

Just a reminder….

14 11 2009

Check out the new site at http://www.swmichigandining.com.


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Categories : Michigan

Dolly’s Pizza

9 11 2009
  • 719 Brookside Drive
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 327-0077
  • Website
  • Menu

Another weekend on the road back in East Lansing for work.  I was on my own for a hotel, so I was on the look out for the cheapest I could find.  That’s not an easy task on a football weekend, but I was able to find one for under $50/night.  It was the Motel 6 on Saginaw Highway.  Not a five-star hotel by any stretch of the imagination..hell, lucky if it was one, but all I really needed was a bed for a few hours and it did serve that purpose and I’m sure I’ll be staying there a lot this winter.

Before bed though, I needed food.  There aren’t many places in Delta Township where J and I didn’t eat.  That area of Lansing is one of the major shopping districts and we made trips out that way once a week.  We almost never did pizza on that side of town though, so I pretty much had my pick.  There was only one chain out there that wasn’t on the south side where we lived.  Even though I read a so-so review a year or so ago, I decided to give it a shot. 

Dolly’s Pizza is a chain out of White Lake, Michigan and most of their stores are in the Detroit area.  They were voted Best Pizza in Michigan at some point by the Michigan Restaurant Association yet they never say what year that was. 

The only Lansing location is in Delta Township on Brookside Drive.  It’s in a strip mall anchored by an Outback Steakhouse on Saginaw Highway.  Like most chains, Dolly’s is a strictly carry-out/delivery business.  The store front is mostly kitchen with a small waiting area that included a couple chairs and some old Sports Illustrated magazines.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Lansing, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews