Press Release – A Taste of Louisiana in Old Town

8 08 2008

From a press release….

Old Town Lansing, Michigan – Perspective2 Studio and Gumbo and Jazz restaurant are pleased to announce the “Taste of Louisiana,” to be held Saturday, August 16 from 7 PM – 11 PM at P2, 319 E. Grand River in Lansing’s Old Town.  Taste of Louisiana wil feature an authentic Louisiana feast, live music from the Wess Anderson jazz quartet, dancing, and more.

Desi Anderson, a native of Louisiana and owner of Gumbo & Jazz restaurant, will provide an authentic Louisiana dinner complete with gumbo, cornbread, and traditional Louisiana fixins.  Since opening her doors in the fall of 2007, Desi has been overwhelmed with the positive reviews of her cuisine and the way the community has embraced her.  “I had always wanted my own restaurant.” said Deis.  “Greater Lansing’s response confirmed that I made the right choice and that they were ready for some great Louisiana food.” Read the rest of this entry »





Need Suggestions – Breakfast and Karaoke…

7 08 2008

….but not at the same place.  I had to get up early (at least early for us) for a job interview this morning.  Since I was done by a little after 9:00, we decided to go get some breakfast.  Getting up before 11:00 is pretty rare for us since my girlfriend works until almost midnight.  Anyway, we headed downtown to Soup to Nutz Bistro AGAIN since it keeps getting recommended.  Well, they hit strike three.  Stike one was on Saturday.  We waited in line for two hours for Obama tickets, didn’t get them, and needed something to eat.  They’re not open on Saturday.  Today, we get there at about 9:30…they don’t open until 10:00. Strike two.  So, we put more change in the meter and walked around downtown for a half hour to kill time.  We get back about 10:10 and go in…the kitchen.  The sign is above the kitchen/catering entrance, not the dining room entrance and the dining room isn’t even marked.  We go out and into the right door and a server comes out and says they don’t do breakfast during the week.  Then why the hell are you open at 10:00 AM?  Who’s eating lunch that early?  Strike 3.  Their website doesn’t say anything about brunch only being served on Sunday.  Sunday’s a day to relax and sleep in….not get up for breakfast.  We’re most likely done with trying to get here.  I’m not ruling it out totally, but we probably won’t make a special effort anymore.  Sorry, Amy.

So, that brings me to my question.  Where is a good place to go for breakfast in Lansing?  Since it was already 10:15 by the time we found out Soup to Nutz didn’t serve breakfast, we didn’t look for someplace else because neither of us could think of a place off the top of our heads.  Any diners that serve an outstanding omelet? 

My next question is Karaoke bars and if you say Crunchy’s, I will track you down and kick you in the shins.  Everyone keeps saying Crunchy’s.  If they’re the best Karaoke bar in town, I feel sorry for you  all never getting to experience a good one.  Crunchy’s sucks.  The accoustics are bad.  The song selection is terrible.  In our last town, there was a Karaoke theatre outside of town.  If an artist released a single on Tuesday, they had a karaoke version by Thursday.  There were literally thousands of songs and the space was set up with monitor speakers, televisions in the ceiling and a little stage complete with lights.  THAT, was a Karaoke bar.  I realize we probably won’t find anything like that in Lansing, but is there any good places that have a good song selection that includes more than classic rock?

Sorry about the rants this morning….it hasn’t been a good start to the day…..





Election Day BBQ – Final Update

5 08 2008

I hope everyone did their civic duty today and voted in all the non-races in the Lansing area.  I haven’t yet, but I do plan on it before the polls close.  It’s a little wierd.  I haven’t voted on Election Day in a few years.  Illinois has early voting or what the Reform Michigan Government Now (which I strongly oppose) calls No Excuse Absentee Voting.  Our polls were also automated, so I figured I’ll use today as a practice vote for November since I hear Michigan still use paper ballets or optical scan maybe?

Anyway, since it is Election Day, it’s a good day for a BBQ, huh?  I know that’s bad logic, but everyday is a good day for a BBQ.  My girlfriend actually isn’t going to be able to leave work for dinner, so we’re being nice and smoking some pork butts for the whole office.  I’ve never blogged about my cooking, but I thought I’d share the journey since I know some people at her office read this, it’ll just get them hungrier and then, as a negative side effect, hype up my pulled pork and give me expecatations I can’t possibly achieve.

Anyway, we got two Levandowski pork butts from L & L last night.  We went with two smaller ones instead of one big one hoping to cut the cooking time down some.  I put my rub on last night and threw them in the fridge.  I used a Bobby Flay rub and this is one of the few I don’t stray from.  It is so freakin good.  I used to use my own brown sugar based rub, but this one is so much better.  Just a little bit of heat.  I cut down the measurements so I only make what I was going to use today.

4 teaspoons Ancho Chile Powder
2 teaspoons Spanish Paprika
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground corriander
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Chile de Arbol powder

45

This is what my two pork butts looked like when I threw them on the grill at about 1:45

I used this on a pork tenderloin one time and thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I pulled the meat out of the fridge and fired the grill up about 1:30.  I use natural hardwood lump charcoal instead of briquettes so the fire got going pretty quickly.  I added some hickory chunks and chips to the coals and threw the butts on the grill.  I’m trying to keep the temperature down around 250, but it’s not always easy with a Weber Kettle grill. 

Keep checking back between now and 6:00 or so.  I’ll update with pictures as we go along.  It’s so sad that Lansing doesn’t have a real BBQ joint.  This stuff is so easy to do with a little patience and the result is incredible!

Make sure to click on the READ MORE link every hour or so for updates Read the rest of this entry »





Press Release – Greater Lansing Food Bank

4 08 2008

From a press release.

For Immediate Release
August 4, 2008

Summertime and the living is easy…….but not for everyone.
Hunger has NOT taken a summer break.

A food drive to benefit the Greater Lansing Food Bank
Saturday August 9, 2008

9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

L & L Food Center on W. Saginaw at Waverly

Sponsored by:
Trinity AME Church
WQHH 96.5 FM
L&L Food Centers

All food collected will be distributed to the Greater Lansing Food Bank pantries that feed the hungry. As the number of those in need of food continues to rise, this is a timely opportunity for the community to assist in keeping the local pantry shelves well stocked.





Press Release – New City Market Rally

3 08 2008

From a press release.

MEDIA ALERT

City Market Rally Proponents of the new City Market Project gather at Stadium District

What: Rally of supporters for the new City Market Project

Who: Supporters of the New City Market Proposal

When: Monday, August 4 at 5 p.m.

Where: Stadium District in the undeveloped retail area of the first floor

Why: To gather together all supporters of the proposed new City Market and answer questions of those who are interested in additional information on the project

Details: The public is invited to come and support the new City Market Project and get additional information before heading to the Lansing City Council meeting that evening to voice support





Reno’s West Sports Bar & Pizzeria

3 08 2008
  • 5001 W. Saginaw Hwy.
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 321-0616
  • No Known Website
  • Menu (from East Lansing Location)
Renos West Sports Bar and Pizzeria on W. Saginaw Hwy in Lansing

Reno's West Sports Bar and Pizzeria on W. Saginaw Hwy in Lansing

What a day!  Everything we tried to do just didn’t want to work out.  The day started off with us getting up super early (for us) to get tickets to Barack Obama’s speech on Monday.  We made it to Gone Wired Cafe at about 8:30 and the line was four blocks long.  We jumped in line thinking, “The Lansing Center holds 5,000 people, I bet there’s not more than a couple thousand in line.”  According to the LSJ, they only gave out 1,000 tickets, so by about the time we got within one block of the front door, they ran out of tickets.  Not a big deal to me, being from Illinois, I covered Obama’s Senate run, have interviewed the Senator many times, and worked for the campaign at his Presidential Announcement in Springfield, IL on the steps of the Old Capitol…oh yeah, and I’m a Republican and probably won’t be voting for him.  My girlfriend, on the other hand, was working in a different state during that election and has never seen Obama speak live, so I was hoping to get tickets so she could see him.  Didn’t work out.

After we left Gone Wired, we figured since we just blew two hours, we’d get some breakfast.  I’ve read on Runs With Spatula about Soup to Nuts Bistro more than once.  We headed back to Kalamazoo Street only to find Soup to Nutz closed on Saturdays.  Two strikes against us and it’s not even 11:00.

Since we were at that odd time of not quite breakfast, not quite lunch, we headed out to the Lansing Mall to do some shopping for a wedding next week in Chicago.  We finally caught a break.  My girlfriend found a great dress at 60% off.  After walking around the mall, we’re both starving.  We’ve drove by Reno’s West a few times and since it was close, we headed back down Saginaw.  Read the rest of this entry »





Target – Edgewood Blvd

1 08 2008
  • 500 E. Edgewood Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-9084
  • Website
The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

Target?!  A grocery store?!  I know, I thought the same thing, but recently, I find myself drifting over towards the grocery section everytime I end up in Target.  Like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, Target has taken on the role of a hyper-market with their Super Target stores.  However, none in the Lansing area fall into this category.  They’re all just Target stores.

The grocery section isn’t very big and takes up just a few aisles in the store.  Being small, they don’t have a wide variety.  They carry all the staples and they carry brand names, but they don’t often offer more than one brand of the same product.  In reality, you could do all of your grocery shopping at a Target store.  It may not be the most cost effective, but you don’t have to deal with the mile long aisles of Meijer or Wal-Mart.  Read the rest of this entry »





Now You Know How the Rest of Us Feel

31 07 2008

You can smoke in restaurants in Michigan, but apparently, you can only smoke approved cancer sticks at some joints.

“On Saturday my brother and I were enjoying breakfast at Fleetwood Diner (on South Cedar Street). This is our normal destination for meetings, and has been since the diner opened.

“As usual, when we finished our meal we sat and had cigarettes and talked about different issues.”

Suddenly the two men were asked to take it outside. It seems that the smoke from their peach-flavored cigarettes offended the nostrils of somebody who worked at the diner.

That’s how I feel every freaking time I walk into a restaurant that allows smoking, but I deal with it.  The Fleetwood just made a case for banning smoking in restaurants and they don’t even know it.  My nostrils are offended by all cigarettes…not just the flavored ones.  If you can you kick patrons out because you don’t like their certain cigs, you should ban smoking outright!





New Coffeehouse Coming to Downtown Lansing

27 07 2008
The Great Lakes Coffee and Chocolate Company building in Ann Arbor.

The Great Lakes Coffee and Chocolate Company building in Ann Arbor.

I noticed this a while ago while walking in front of the Stadium District building on Michigan Ave., but it didn’t click until I saw a job posting on craigslist this afternoon.  Next month, the Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee Company will open their third store in downtown Lansing.  The shop got it’s start in Sturgis, MI and they’ve expanded to Ann Arbor and now Lansing.

They do three things.  Coffee, Chocolate, and Teas.  It’s nice to see some businesses starting to move into the Stadium District.  Even better that it’s a small, Michigan-based company…and it’s not a Starbucks.





Press Release – L & L Community Commitment

25 07 2008

From a press release.

TO: Editors and Reporters

FROM: Potter Park Zoological Society

SUBJECT: Press Conference on L & L Food Centers Community Commitment

WHEN: July 29, 2008; 10:30am

WHERE: POTTER PARK ZOO

Martha Levandowski and associates of L & L Food Centers will announce a significant community commitment on July 29th at Potter Park Zoo. For more than 77 years the Levandowski family, proprietors of L & L Food Centers and Levandowski Sausage Company have built their reputation on Michigan families and the communities in which they serve. In addition to the family commitment, employees of L & L have organized a commitment of their own to be introduced at this time.

“This commitment will assist the Potter Park Zoological Society in maintaining its commitment to kids, animals and education,” said Diane McNeil, Executive Director of the Potter Park Zoological Society.

“The Potter Park Zoo is such a great community resource for area families. Many fond memories are created during visits to this zoo by young and old alike. We are proud to open up the zoo to so many in our community during L & L Zoo Days,” said Stanley Levandowski III, on the heals of exposing more than 21,000 mid-Michigan residents to Potter Park Zoo through L & L Zoo Days.