Scalawags White Fish & Chips – S. Cedar

1 01 2010
  • 6260 S. Cedar Street
  • Suite A
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 394-7700
  • Website
  • Menu

I had a real hard time finding lunch.  It seems like everywhere I wanted to go decided to close.  My first attempt was Conrad’s College Town Grill.  Since the kids are on break, they weren’t opening until 7 PM.  My next attempt was Ramon’s, but they too were closed.  I was frustrated at this point and just started driving.  Somehow, I ended up in South Lansing near where we used to live.  I was just going to hop back on the Interstate and go find fast food or something back near MSU.  As I was making my way down Cedar, I noticed a new restaurant behind the Pizza Hut.  Yay!  New restaurant.

Scalawags White Fish & Chips is a small Northern Michigan chain.  They have three stores now in the Lansing area.  The newest location is on Cedar Street in the strip mall at the corner of Edgewood Boulevard.  It has to be a fairly new joint.  It wasn’t there when we moved from Lansing three months ago and there was no indication that anything was moving in to the space.

All of the other Scalawags locations have a pretty nice looking storefront.  The South Lansing location is in kind of a rundown strip mall.  They really stand out with the blue banner that boasts their logo and name that wraps around their corner of the building.  The inside of the store is actually pretty nice.  I don’t remember what was in the location before, but everything inside is new for Scalawags.  The feeling I got was sort of like dining on an old wooden fishing boat.  It was a pretty typical quick service restaurant set up.  There were booths and tables in the front of the store.  The small order counter was in the back. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 10 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Chicken, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

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 »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Chicken, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

Chick-fil-A – South Bend, IN

7 10 2009
  • 4555 S. Michigan Avenue
  • South Bend, IN 46614
  • (574) 968-0351
  • Website
  • Menu
Chick-fil-A on Michigan Street in South Bend, IN

Chick-fil-A on Michigan Avenue in South Bend, IN

Getting closer.  The final day of our honeymoon started awfully early in the morning.  We got up and got going because we wanted to go apartment hunting in Kalamazoo.  Since it was still a four hour drive from Indianapolis to Kalamazoo, we got on the road early. 

 

Around South Bend, we started getting hungry.  All week we had been saying we needed to top at a Chick-fil-A for lunch.   We hadn’t up until this point and South Bend was probably going to be our last chance.  J took out the GPS to see if there was one close and there just so happened to be one right near our next turn

Let me backtrack a little bit with the whole Chick-fil-A thing.  For whatever reason, a couple guys I used to work with loved the place.  There was one location in Bloomington, IL on the campus of Illinois State University in one of the resident hall dining rooms.  We had a recent college grad working with us who lived in Bloomington and periodically, she would treat the guys to Chick-fil-A.  I never got it.  It’s like Sonic to me.  It looked, smelled, and tasted like fast food. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Chains, Chicken, Fast Food, Indiana, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches, South Bend

Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum – Corbin, KY

1 10 2009
  • 688 US Highway 25W
  • Corbin, KY 40701
  • (606) 528-2163
  • Website
  • Menu
Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum

Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum

Two chains in a row. I know what you’re thinking. And to make things worse…a KFC? Again, I know, BUT this isn’t just any KFC. It’s the original KFC. 

The Sanders Cafe & Museum is on US 25 West on the outskirts of Corbin, KY. It’s not in a highly developed area. It sits along a two lane road right next to a gas station. Ever since my first trip to the region in 2006, I’ve wanted to stop, but usually my travel companions aren’t as excited about it as I am. 

This time, I had J and I knew she would enjoy, so we pulled off the Interstate and followed the signs to chicken. 

From the outside, this place looks nothing like a KFC. If it wasn’t for the modern signs, it would be hard to even tell. Instead, it looks like the original cafe. The hotel and service station are long gone, but there is a lot left of the building that gave us Kentucky’s greatest gift.  Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Chains, Chicken, Corbin, Fast Food, Kentucky, Restaurant, Reviews

The Department – Joliet, IL

23 09 2009
  • 205 N. Chicago Street
  • Joliet, IL 60432
  • (815) 714-2280
  • Website
  • Menu
The Department in downtown Joliet

The Department in downtown Joliet

First day back in Chicago and J and I had a lot of errands to run.  We got up early to take care of our first major task at the Cook County Courthouse in Bridgeview.  After that, we needed to run to Joliet to see my grandma.  By the time we left her, it was lunch time. 

 

I lived in Joliet for four years and there wasn’t much reason to ever go downtown.  Things have changed a lot in the last seven years.  They’ve brought in a great Independent League baseball park and the Harrah’s Casino has invested a lot of money downtown.  With the influx of things to do, the dining scene has picked up dramatically.

In June, J and I went to a Joliet Jackhammers game with my parents.  They wanted to eat at the only reason there was to go downtown when I was there..Chicken ‘N Spice, but on our trek through town, I noticed a number of restaurants that I tucked away into the ol’ memory bank should we ever get back to Joliet.

After driving around the block a few times, the restaurant I settled on was The Department.  It was a neat looking restaurant from the outside, but what we found inside blew us both away. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Chicken, Downtown, Illinois, Joliet, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Chicken Coop – Paw Paw

11 09 2009
  • 206 E. Fadel Street
  • Paw Paw, MI 49079
  • (269) 657-6136
  • Website
  • Menu
The new Chicken Coop location on Fadel Street in Paw Paw

The new Chicken Coop location on Fadel Street in Paw Paw

Football season finally begins for me.  My first game of the season is back in Illinois, so I hit the road again to make the trip home.  Once again, it was after lunch when I was going through Kalamazoo and I was getting hungry.  I held out until Paw Paw though because there was a chicken shack I ate at last year that had relocated and I was curious to see how things changed.

My first encounter with the Chicken Coop was in the spring of 2008 not long after J and I moved to Michigan.  I was heading back to Champaign for work and stopped to get gas.  I noticed the restaurant and got chicken for the road.  Similar situation on this trip except the location I stopped at last time is now a Walgreens.

I didn’t really know where the new location was but commentors had told me it just moved around the corner.  The old location was easy to see from the Interstate.  There was a large sign and as soon as you got off, you ran into the restaurant.  The new one is a little harder to find. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Chicken, Michigan, Paw Paw, Restaurant, Reviews

Wings Around The World – Chicago

7 09 2009
  • 510 E. 75th Street
  • Chicago, IL 60616
  • (773) 483-9120
  • Website
  • Menu
Wings Around the World on E. 75th in Chicago.

Wings Around the World on E. 75th in Chicago.

Back in May when J and I got engaged, the first thing out of my brother’s mouth was, “Where do you want to do the Bachelor Party?”  I chose a baseball game.  I knew right away what I wanted to do. 

Like every other time that I go somewhere with a group of people, my goal is to bring as much local flavor to the party as possible.  We decided on pizza for after the game, but we needed some tailgate food.  BBQ was thrown around as was hitting up a bar near the park, but I eventually found a wing joint not too far away that got rave reviews on Yelp.com and Google.  It had been voted best wings in Chicago and I believe I saw the place on a Travel Channel show (although I can’t remember which one).

Wings Around the World is on 75th Street at South Eberhart Avenue.  It’s strictly a carry-out place with a small store front along the commercial district in this particular neighborhood.  My brother called on Friday to see if we needed to pre-order since we were putting in a pretty large order.  The guy he talked to said no, just call right at noon when they open. 

I was already at J’s parents, so the van of guys picked me up a little after noon in the south suburbs.  Bad news whenI got in the car.  My buddy K had been calling non-stop since noon and there was no answer.  I grabbed my brother’s Iphone and started looking for a backup plan.  Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Chicago, Chicken, Illinois, Restaurant, Reviews, Wings

Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken – Kalamazoo South

18 08 2009
  • 4441 S. Westnedge Avenue
  • Kalamazoo, MI 49008
  • (269) 345-2151
  • Website
  • Menu
Lees Famous Recipe Chicken on Westnedge in Kalamazoo.

Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken on Westnedge in Kalamazoo.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had to drive to my parents house.  It’s been a nice break that’s about the change.  This trip is the first of many between work and wedding related events. 

I waited until J went to work, but I didn’t eat much before I left the house.  I was on my way to my brother’s for dinner, but that was still four or five hours away by the time I hit Kalamazoo.  I was hungry, so I knew I needed to get off and get something.

I don’t know much about Kalamazoo, but I do know Westnedge is a pretty good bet if you’re looking for something quick.  I wasn’t going to go to far down, but I drove a little ways off the Interstate to see what was around.  Just as I was getting ready to turn around, I found a chicken place.

Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken has three locations in Kalamazoo.  The one I found is on the corner of Westnedge and Kilgore Road.  When I pulled into the lot, I had no idea this was a chain, but when I got inside and saw the signage, it was pretty obvious this place wasn’t your Mom & Pop chicken place. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Chains, Chicken, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

Fresh Fish & Fry

16 08 2009
  • 3140 S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48910
  • (517) 882-7007
  • No Known Website
  • Menu
Fresh Fish & Fry on S. MLK, Jr. Blvd in Lansing.

Fresh Fish & Fry on S. MLK, Jr. Blvd in Lansing.

Another Sunday.  Another day at work.  That’s been pretty much my whole summer.  I’ve been without J this weekend.  She was back in Chicago for her wedding shower.  I was originally supposed to at least go back to Chicago with her, but I got some work, so I stayed here.  That means I was on my own for dinner. 

Sometime in the past, I saw an article in City Pulse about the best wings in town (sorry, I haven’t had any luck finding the article in their archives).  For some reason, I thought it was best Buffalo wing, but I guess they just did best wing and mixed both Buffalo wings and regular chicken wings.  Still, chicken’s chicken and it doesn’t really matter to me if it has hot sauce on it. 

Fresh Fish & Fry is on South Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard right in front of the Logan Square shopping center.  It’s a small joint, but it was packed on the Sunday evening I was in there.  There were a couple of tables stuffed into the corner, but they seem to be more for waiting than actually eating at.  There were a couple other people waiting for their food when I got there and there were two guys on the phone taking orders from a constantly ringing phone.  Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Chicken, Deep Fried Food, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

Wild Wing Cafe

1 08 2009
  • 2085 W. Grand River Avenue
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-2321
  • Website
  • Menu
Wild Wing Cafe on Grand River Avenue in Okemos.

Wild Wing Cafe on Grand River Avenue in Okemos.

When I rolled out of bed this morning…er, afternoon, J started asking about lunch.  She was hungry.  I was hungry, so we started getting ready to leave the house.  Last night, I gave her the option of Mexican or wings.  Today, I wasn’t really in the mood for Mexican so I made the call to head to Okemos to try out the new chain in town. 

Wild Wing Cafe is on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Okemos Road in the building that used to be Bennigan’s.  The chain is an east coast franchise based in South Carolina.  The Okemos location is both the farthest north and west. 

I never went into the Bennigan’s, so I have no idea if anything has changed inside.  The dining room is anchored by a large bar in the middle that is covered with LCD TV’s.  In fact, that’s pretty much the whole design theme.  LCD TV’s everywhere.  Everywhere!  The place really has a sports bar theme.  The TV’s are accented with MSU pictures that have been blown up and hung on the walls. 

There are tables and booths that fill in the space around the bar.  We were shown to a table near the stage that hosts local bands on weekends.  A waitress came over and took drink orders while we looked over the rather large menu.  I knew I wanted wings, but there were a lot of options.  J isn’t in to the traditional wing as much as I am, so she needed a little more time to work her way through the choices.  Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 15 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Chains, Chicken, Michigan, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews

« Previous Entries