Press Release – 11th Annual Finlandia Vodka Cup Regional

14 10 2008

From a press release….

MICHIGAN-AREA MIXOLOGISTS COMPETE FOR CHANCE TO
REPRESENT THE U.S. IN INTERNATIONAL FINALS

WHAT:
Michigan’s 11th Annual Finlandia Vodka Cup regional competition

WHO:
Master mixologists, media and guests

WHEN:
October 27
7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

WHERE:
Club 131 @ Harpers, 131 Albert Avenue, East Lansing

WHY:
The best mixologists in Michigan will compete for one-coveted spot in the U.S. Finlandia Shake Off on November 10 in Colorado Springs. The mixologist that wins the Shake Off will represent the U.S. in the 11th Annual International Finlandia Vodka Cup Finals in Finland in early February. During the Finals, the U.S. representative will compete against more than 25 bartenders from around the globe in Finlandia’s arctic homeland.


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Categories : East Lansing, Food News, Michigan

7-Eleven – Okemos

13 10 2008
  • 3500 Okemos Rd.
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-5711
  • Website
The 7-Eleven store near I-96 in Okemos.

The 7-Eleven store near I-96 in Okemos.

It was about a month ago that I first reviewed a 7-Eleven in this area when I took an unscheduled trip to the Holt 7-Eleven (review HERE) to get a Slurpee.  In that review, I remarked how clean the store was which is something I’ve never seen at a 7-Eleven before.  I wondered if it was just that store or if 7-Eleven was working on cleaning up it’s image.

J and I were leaving Meridian Mall after a full day of shopping.  As we were heading back towards the Interstate, J asked if there was a 7-Eleven on the way.  She’s been craving Slurpee’s recently.  Even though they’re technically not Slurpee’s, we stop quite a bit at the Speedway near our house to get their version of the frozen cola drink.

I thought there was a 7-Eleven near the Interstate and I was right.  The building sits on the corner of Okemos and Jolly Roads.  THIS is the 7-Eleven I remember.  This particular store is nothing like the shop in Holt.  It’s the dirty, cramped convenience store that I remember from my childhood.  I don’t mean dirty like disgusting, but just not sparkling clean like the Holt store was. 

They were running a sale on 44 oz Slurpee’s, but that was just way too much sugar.  We both ended up grabbing a 22 oz. cup which cost more than the 44 oz, but neither of us could trust ourselves to not drink the whole thing if we bought the bigger one.  No wonder America’s so fat.  Six months ago, I would have bought the 44 oz. and drank the whole thing just because it was cheaper. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Michigan, Okemos, Reviews, Specialty Shop

Travelers Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum

13 10 2008
  • 2138 Hamilton Rd.
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-1701
  • Website
  • Menu
The Travelers Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum in Okemos

The Travelers Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum in Okemos

I had no idea what to expect dining at a tuba museum.  The Travelers Club is one of the first places that jumped out at us when we moved to Mid-Michigan.  It just sounded and looked like an interesting place.  We kept putting off dining there because we don’t make it to Okemos very often.  Now that Younkers is done remodeling, that may change. 

The Travelers Club is at the intersection of Hamilton Road and Okemos Road.  It’s hard to miss on your way to Meridan Mall.  The little corner building doesn’t look like a very big restaurant from the outside.  We found parking along Hamilton Road and walked to the red doors that open into quaint dining room with a row of booths and an number or tables crammed into the space.  When we walked in, we heard a voice from somewhere in the back tell us to find a seat wherever we liked.  We made our way to the back of the dining room where we took a table along the back wall.  For being a Sunday afternoon at three o’clock, the Travelers Club was doing pretty good business.  All the booths were full and there were quite a few tables being used as well. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Local Flavor, Michigan, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews

Melting Moments

12 10 2008
  • 313 E. Grand River Ave.
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 332-0110
  • Website
  • Menu
Melting Moments in downtown East Lansing.

Melting Moments in downtown East Lansing.

Ice cream is always a guaranteed way to make everything better.  After a not so great meal at The Small Planet (review HERE), I needed something to make J feel better.  As we were leaving Small Planet, she asked how far Melting Moments was from where we were.  An intern at J’s work told her about Melting Moments months ago, but we never thought of it until a few weeks ago when we tried to go to the MSU Dairy Store on my lunch break.  The line at the Dairy Store was too long and I was starting to run out of time when J said something about Melting Moments.

Melting Moments is situated right on Grand River Avenue and it shares space with a Backyard BBQ store.  We found a parking space on MAC Avenue and walked a block to the store.  The inside is the typical ice cream shop set up.  We found a case with a variety of delicious flavors.  They also had fresh gelato and other handmade goodies. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : East Lansing, Ice Cream, Local Flavor, Michigan, Reviews

The Small Planet Food & Spirit

11 10 2008
  • 16800 S. Chandler Rd.
  • Suite 109
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 351-6230
  • Website
  • Menu
The Small Planet at Chandler Crossings in East Lansing.

The Small Planet at Chandler Crossings in East Lansing.

I was never around for the original incarnation of The Small Planet.  Apparently, it was pretty popular and people are excited about this new version.  I get hundreds and hundreds of hits every week from people looking for information on The Small Planet so we figured one of these days, we need to go check it out for ourselves.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting old or what, but I hate paying cover charges.  There are very few places that I will pay a cover and not bitch and they’re all in Chicago.  They’re not in Lansing.  Plus, the bands that play at The Small Planet really aren’t my kind of music.  I’m a country music fan.  I’m going to see Taylor Swift in two weeks and I’m excited about it, so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go to a bar that gets a lot of rock bands.

So, instead, we decided to check out their dinner menu.  We went on a Saturday night, but early enough the nighttime crowd hadn’t started coming in yet.  It was about 6:00 and the place was pretty empty.  From the beginning, J had a bad vibe about the place.  Small Planet is not a good place if you’re just looking for a meal.  The place is huge and very open.  There’s no comfort to it at all.  When you walk in, there are short tables leading all the way to the bar.  In the back, there are higher pub tables back by the video games and pool tables.  We chose one of the pub tables all the way in the back corner.  We did this very intentionally. 

I know Michigan hasn’t passed a smoking ban yet and I know it’s up to the owners to decide how much smoke they want.  The Small Planet management must not care at all.  There was no one seated anywhere near us.  There were people at the bar smoking and on the other side of the restaurant smoking, but it felt like someone was sitting at the table next to us blowing smoke in our face.  Like I said earlier, The Small Planet is not a good place if your just looking for a meal. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, East Lansing, Entertainment Venues, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Walmart Supercenter – St. Johns

11 10 2008
  • 1165 Superior Rd.
  • St. Johns, MI 48879
  • (989) 224-8099
  • Website
The Walmart Supercenter just off of Business 127 in St. Johns

The Walmart Supercenter just off of Business 127 in St. Johns

I’ve blogged about Walmart before.  J and I hit the Walmart in Delta Township (review HERE) about once a week to get things we can’t get at Horrocks (review HERE).  The big reason we go to Walmart and not somewhere else is they are the only place in town we can find Mandarin Orange Propel.  I grabbed the last Propel out of the fridge last night so we needed to get more.  We had talked about going around Lansing to the Delta Township store on our way home, but first, we wanted to go into St. Johns to get gas.  I noticed on Lansinggasprices.com that St. Johns had gas for $3.05/gal.  We found a BP on US 127BR that had gas for that price so we stopped and filled up.

After getting gas and a potty break, we kept heading south to try and find the freeway again.  Along the way, we found gas for $3.02 and $2.99.  That $2.99 was at the Murphy’s USA in the Walmart Supercenter parking lot.  I noticed the Walmart and put my turn signal on to turn in.  Why go all the way out to Delta Township when there was a Walmart Supercenter right here?  It sounded like a good idea to me, so we went in to do some shopping.

You all know what Walmart looks like and what you can find there.  The only reason I’m writing this review is to blow off a little steam about rude, inconsiderate, and just plain ignorant cashiers.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Grocery, Michigan, Reviews, St. Johns

Uncle John’s Cider Mill

11 10 2008
  • 8614 North US 127
  • St. Johns, MI 48879
  • (989) 224-3686
  • Website
Shops and dining area at Uncle Johns Cider Mill in St. Johns

Shops and dining area at Uncle Johns Cider Mill in St. Johns

Ah, fall.  There are just certain things you have to do every fall.  When I lived and worked in Peoria, IL, I did a story every year at an apple orchard about twenty minutes outside of Peoria.  On our couple trips north to Traverse City and Mt. Pleasant, I noticed a farm just north of St. Johns.  We talked to a few people who have lived here forever and everyone told us stories of how Uncle Johns Cider Mill brought back memories of their childhood.  Since it was a gorgeous weekend, we figured what the hell.  Let’s go get some apples.

Uncle Johns is huge.  We were both shocked by what we found when we arrived at the farm on US 127 north of the City of St. Johns.  We were directed back to a huge grass parking lot where we didn’t really know where anything was at and ended up parking pretty far from the attractions.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bakery, Chocolate, Michigan, Reviews, St. Johns

The Draft House Neighborhood Bar & Grill

11 10 2008
  • 12449 S. US Highway 27
  • DeWitt, MI 48820
  • (517) 669-5206
  • Website
  • Menu
The Draft House Neighboorhood Bar & Grill on Old US 27 outside of Dewitt

The Draft House Neighboorhood Bar & Grill on Old US 27 outside of Dewitt

How many times have I said all restaurants need a website?  I know I keep harping on it, but again, we picked The Draft House for lunch just becuase I found a website and it looked cool.  We were out in Clinton Country because we wanted to go check out Uncle John’s Cider Mill, but first, we needed lunch.  I looked for places in St. John’s and didn’t find a whole lot.  My Google search then led me to Dewitt.  I found a few places there, but The Draft House looked cool and looked like our kind of place so that’s where we went.

We had a hard time finding the place at first because the GPS wouldn’t recognize the address they way it was written on Google.  We instead hit “City Center” and started driving hoping we’d find it.  There’s no way we would have had we continued on that path, but when we got to an intersection marked “Old US 27” we tried putting that in the GPS and we finally got the address right.

The Draft House is on Old US 27 outside of DeWitt.  There’s a huge sign out front, but the building itself is pretty non-descript.  There were a few cars in the parking lot, but we were pretty early.  The football games had just started so the bar wasn’t completely empty.  Things started looking good when we opened the door to go in.  Hanging next to the door is a sign proclaiming The Draft House is smoke free!  YAY!  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Burgers, Dewitt, Michigan, Pub, Reviews, Sandwiches

Press Release – Sonic open in Flint

10 10 2008

From a press release….I guess it’s a little closer to Lansing.

SONIC® Drive-In Opens Location in Flint

(Oklahoma City) – Flint residents now have a reason to stay in – stay in their cars that is. SONIC®, America’s Drive-In® today announced the opening of Flint’s first SONIC Drive-In, a restaurant where you order your meal and eat right from the comfort of your own vehicle.

“We are very excited to open a SONIC in Flint,” said Bill Wentworth, Jr., franchisee of the SONIC Drive-In. “We are looking forward to serving the community and delivering the fun Carhop service SONIC Drive-Ins are known for across the country.”

The Wentworth Group is the principal owner of the new SONIC located at 3140 Miller Road in Flint. The restaurant features 27 drive-in stalls, two walk-up ordering stations and a drive-thru.

The drive-in will open at 7 a.m. on Oct. 13 to serve customers a delicious breakfast. With the full menu available all day, customers can enjoy a Breakfast Burrito to start their morning or as a late night snack.

SONIC, which specializes in made-to-order fast food, is known for its specialty menu items and personal Carhop service. Unique drink combinations make SONIC Your Ultimate Drink Stop!® SONIC’s slow-melting ice, helps drinks stay cool and keeps them cooled longer while maintaining flavor. SONIC’s full menu is available all day, giving guests the option of eating breakfast for dinner or ordering a SONIC Blast in the morning. Favorites include TOASTER® Sandwiches (sandwiches served on thick Texas Toast), Extra-Long Cheese Coneys (hot dogs with chili and cheese), fresh hamburgers, handfresh-made Onion Rings, Tater Tots and a variety of Ffrozen Favorites® treats and Fountain Favorites® drinks. SONIC’s ever-growing menu is full of options to satisfy every taste, such as Fresh Fruit Smoothies.

SONIC, America’s Drive-In (NASDAQ/NM: SONC) started as a hamburger and root beer stand in 1953 in Shawnee, Okla., called Top Hat Drive-In, and then changed its name to SONIC in 1959. The first drive-in to adopt the SONIC name is still serving customers in Stillwater, Okla. As the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, SONIC has more than 3,400 drive-ins coast to coast. More than a million customers eat at SONIC every day; and with more drink combinations than any other quick-service restaurant – more than 168,000 to be exact – SONIC is Your Ultimate Drink Stop®. For more information about Sonic Corp. and its subsidiaries, visit SONIC at http://www.sonicdrivein.com.

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Categories : Chains, Flint, Food News, Michigan

Holt Farmers’ Market

9 10 2008
  • 2150 Cedar St.
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 930-2655
  • Website
The Holt Farmers Market in the old Delhi Twp. Fire Station on Cedar St. in Holt

The Holt Farmers' Market in the old Delhi Twp. Fire Station on Cedar St. in Holt

I’m not sure why, but J has been wanting some squash soup lately.  I needed to make a run to Kroger so I was going to pick up a squash, but for some reason, I remembered that the Holt Farmers’ Market has hours on Thursday so I decided to make two stops and pick up a few things fresh from the farm.

I first visited the Holt Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago.  It’s housed in the old Delhi Township fire house right along Cedar Street.  There’s a nice big parking lot next to it and all of the vendors are inside and out of the elements.  During peak season, there is room to move outside should move vendors sign on.  During the summer, the Market is open Thursday’s from 4-7:30, but today was the last Thursday they are going to be open this year.  From now until December, they are only open on Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm.  Since it was the last Thursday of the year, pickens were slim. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Farmer's Market, Holt, Local Flavor, Michigan

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