Fat Boys Pizza & Subs

16 06 2008
  • 2040 Aurelius Rd.Fat Boys Pizza & Subs
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 699-2400
  • Website
  • Menu

After a long day at Michigan International Speedway for the Nascar Sprint Cup race, my girlfriend and I were exhausted and just needed food.  As I’ve mentioned many times before in this blog, I’m looking for that “gotta have it” local pizza.  Fat Boys may just be it.

The store is located in a shopping center on Aurelius Road in Holt.  They do delivery, but I drove by the store one other time and it looked like there were tables, so we deiced to go to the shop with plans on eating there.  I was wrong about that.  There’s a counter with some bar stools that we probably could have eaten at, but I’m assuming those are used more for lunch.  My girlfriend isn’t much of a meat eater, so we pretty much always get a cheese pizza, so there’s not too much of a reason to look at the menu.  We ordered a large cheese then sat down and read a copy of the LSJ that was sitting on the counter while we waited.  The guy that took our order said it would be about ten minutes, but I don’t even think it took that long. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Holt, Local Flavor, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews

The Beach Bar

16 06 2008
  • 3509 Ocean BeachThe Beach Bar
  • Clarklake, MI 49234
  • (517) 529-4211
  • Website
  • Menu

The Beach Bar is one of those places that is really off the beaten path.  We left Michigan International Speedway after the Craftsman Truck Series race hungry and needing a place to eat.  The Beach Bar is one of the suggested places on MISpeedway.com, so I found a website and was impressed (again, I reiterate, restaurant owners, YOU NEED A WEBSITE if you want to be found).  We left the track and the GPS took us back into Brooklyn to Clarklake Road.  After winding through the Irish Hills and down what seemed like some country roads, we came upon Clark Lake.  My companions in the truck with me were starting to wonder if we were going the wrong way until we hit the lake which is a beautfiful site.  All of a sudden, I looked to the right and there was this big building right across from the docks.  I was almost expecting a little hole in the wall, but this was a big, nice looking building.  I was also somewhat expecting it to be packed since we were still fairly close to MIS.

When you walk in, there’s a little area for carry-outs.  I think it’s pretty safe to assume they do a pretty good carry-out business with the lake across the street.  People come in for food, but want to sit on their boats.  You go through that room and enter the bar.  The hostess station is almost in the middle of the room and it took us a while to notice it.  I almost suggested just grabbing a station when my buddy saw the hostess.  We were shown to a table in the non-smoking section near the back of the restaurant.  the space is divided by a game room area with the smoking section in the front of the space near the bar. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Clarklake, Local Flavor, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches, Sports Bar

Theio’s Restaurant

16 06 2008
  • 2650 E. Michigan Ave.Theio's
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 487-3955
  • No Known Website
  • Menu

I love 24-hour restaurants.  My dad and a buddy of mine came to town for the NASCAR races at Michigan International Speedway.  My buddy had to work until 5:00 (CST) back home in Illinois, so they got a pretty late start to the three and half hour drive.  After getting a little lost getting to my place, they were both pretty hungry.  It was after 10:00 (EST now) and neither had eaten dinner.  I figured the choices were either fast food or a diner.  So, of course, I chose the diner.

I had drove by Theio’s a few times, but never stopped.  I knew at some point it would make a great late night stop.  We drove through downtown East Lansing first to see if there was a pizza-by-the slice place, but when we couldn’t find one, we headed back down Michigan.  It looked like there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but most of them must have been at the bar next door.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : 24-Hour Diner, Burgers, Lansing, Local Flavor, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Big Boy Restaurant – Okemos

11 06 2008
  • 2221 University Park Dr.Big Boy
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-9570
  • Website
  • Menu

Ah, one day sales.  After being woke up by a lawn mower, my girlfriend and I decided to make a trip to the Meridian Mall in Okemos.  Younkers was having a one day sale and as it turns out, so was Macy’s.  We shopped for about an hour and then started back towards home since my girlfriend still had to go to work.  When we got in the car, she asked about lunch and I said, “What about Big Boy?”  Before moving to Michigan, my only knowledge of Big Boy was gained from watching Austin Powers.  Heck, at first I didn’t even know Big Boy was real.  Funny thing.   Big Boy is real and it’s corporate headquarters are here in Michigan in the town of Warren.  Neither of us had ever eaten at a Big Boy Restaurant so we decided it was time.

I’d seen the sign from the road for Big Boy on the way in, but when we actually went to find the store, it was much harder than it should be.  Big Boy actually sits behind a Sunoco near I-96.  The problem is, if you get to the Sonoco, you’ve gone too far.  So, I made myself a traffic hazard and turned into the Sunoco to turn around and go back to University Park Dr and take a right.  After the turn, we came up on a sign that said “Big Boy” and a very plain looking building.  The trademark cartoon character was nowhere to be found and there was no marking on the outside of the building.  Again, we weren’t sure if this was the right place or not.  If you turn into the first driveway, it actually takes you to the backside of the building, so again, we were confused as to where to enter.  After driving around the building, we found the front and again, no markings until you get to the second set of doors. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Burgers, Chains, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews

KFC – S. Cedar

9 06 2008
  • 6600 S. Cedar St.KFC
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-9781
  • Website
  • Menu

I was all ready to fire up the grill and cook myself a nice, big T-Bone for dinner when, for the third night in a row, the Lansing area got pounded with heavy storms.  As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, I’m a former news photographer, so my girlfriend and I grabbed a camera and went storm and damage chasing.  Unfortunately for my T-Bone, the storm came during dinner time, so we needed a back-up plan.  We were on our way home, tired and wet when we remembered the KFC on the corner of Cedar and Pennsylvania.  A few days ago, we walked to Meijer to get some stuff and talked about trying the new Smoky Chipotle Crispy Chicken.  Since it was getting late and we were tired, this was as good a time as ever to give it a shot.

I’m not really a fan of Mexican food, but the one thing I use all the time in my own cooking is chile’s, dried chile’s and chile powder’s.  I have bags of Chili De Arbol and Ancho Chile Powder in my spice cabinet and there’s usually a can of chipotle’s in adobo in my fridge, so I was really looking forward to this chicken. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Restaurant, Reviews

Deluca’s Restaurant

8 06 2008
  • 2006 W. Willow St.Deluca's
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 487-6087
  • Website
  • Menu

Taking my girlfriend out for pizza on a Saturday night….I know. That’s classy.  We were sitting around watching TV and both of us were hungry.  I didn’t want burgers anymore and neither of us wanted to get dressed up for a fancy night out, so I suggested pizza.  I kept reading that Deluca’s has won “Best Pizza….” many times, so we gave it a shot.

Not being really familiar with Lansing yet, Deluca’s took a little while to find.  GPS is seriously the best invention of the last ten years.  We weaved through the neighborhoods until we got back to Willow St.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Deluca’s is not what I was expecting.  It’s a really nice building located on the edge of a neighborhood.  The parking lot looked packed, so we got kind of nervous about getting a table.  We parked behind the building and walked back around front.  There’s a little waiting room when you walked in filled with autographs of mostly local celebrities who have eaten there.  After that, there’s a big counter for take out and a hostess station.  Our fears of not getting a table were unwarranted.  The place is huge.  The hostess took us back past the bar to a booth along the wall.  There’s a couple different rooms with booths and tables as well as a nice big bar. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews

City Limits Sports Grill

1 06 2008
  • 801 N. Cedar St.City Limits Mason
  • Mason, MI 48854
  • (517) 244-1090
  • Website
  • Menu

City Limits was a recommendation from an avid reader and one of my girlfriend’s interns.  We were sitting around after spending all day being a tourist in our own town debating about what to do for dinner.  I didn’t really feel like cooking, so we decided to go out.  We hopped in my truck and headed down Cedar Street to Mason.  City Limits sits just on the other side of 127 inside the Mason Bowling Center.  The parking lot looked pretty full when we pulled up.  Then it hit me.  Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals had just started. 

We went inside and there was a hostess station at the door, but no one was there.  We didn’t know if we should wait or just sit down.  Finally a waitress noticed us and told us to sit wherever we would like.  The dining area is divided into a smoking and non-smoking space.  The non-smoking is down a couple stairs into a big, open room filled with tables, dart boards, and, of course, big screen TV’s.  We chose a booth along the wall near one of the huge projection TV’s.  I wasn’t super interested in watching the game, but that didn’t matter.  You can’t look up without seeing a TV somewhere.

It must have just been our luck that particular day.  Everyplace we ate we had a wait.  It took five to ten minutes before our waitress finally noticed us sitting there.  Once she did, she brought menus and got drink orders.  Saturday night is a margarita special, so my girlfriend got a strawberry margarita.  I wasn’t in the mood for alcohol so I just got a Pepsi.   The menu was full of the traditional sports bar fare.  There were burgers, pizza, salads, and chicken sandwiches on the menu, but the interesting thing was the grinders.

When I lived near Kankakee, IL, we always used to go to a pizza place called Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders (I’m still trying to figure out if the Mancino’s here in Lansing are the same thing), so we had Grinders all the time growing up.  My girlfriend had never heard the term before and was a little surprised when I got my sandwich.  I went with the half pizza grinder.  The seven inch sandwich was topped with pepperoni, ham, banana peppers (according to the menu anyway.  I didn’t taste or see them on the sandwich), mozzerella cheese and pizza sauce.  It’s like a little mini-pizza in sandwich form.  It was delicious.  I almost wish I got the full sandwich because when I was done, I wanted to keep eating.  It’s not quite the same as Mancino’s, but this one had a unique flavor with the ham.  For an extra buck, I added fries to my sandwich.  They were just typical fries…nothing special.

My girlfriend got the Southern Fried Chicken Salad with Buffalo Chicken tenders.  Again, they have the option of a half or full salad.  She asked the waitress what the size of the half was, but didn’t get a really good answer, so she ordered the full salad just to be safe.  The salad came with a bed of fresh lettuce, jack cheddar cheese, tomatoes, red onions, bacon and buffalo chicken tenders.  The chicken was hot and there was a lot of it.  Almost enough to make that a meal on it’s own.  She passed a few pieces of the chicken over to me and it really tasted like a boneless chicken wing.  She said the chicken was as hot as she likes buffalo wings and any hotter would have ruined the salad.  Her only complaint was the red onions.  They were stronger than she likes, but that’s a personal preference when it comes to onions.  Neither of us are big onion fans and there’s always the hope they won’t overpower the other ingredients.  With all the chicken, she probably finished about half the salad.

City Limits is a great space.  Yes, it’s a sports bar, but the design allows it to be a family friendly atmosphere as well.  The table next to us was a family with four kids.  They had a couple pizzas and all eyes were glued to the TV’s.  My girlfriend said her eyes got really dry from the smoke, but I didn’t notice it until we were leaving.  I think someone opened the door to the bowling alley a little too long and a huge cloud of smoke rolled in, but she said it was there the whole time.  We both LOVED the food.  My sandwich was delicious and something you can’t get at a lot of places.  We both left stuffed and only paid around $20.  Even with the crowd for the Red Wings game, our server was there when we needed her after the initial wait.


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Categories : Bar, Mason, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews, Sports Bar

Kelly’s Downtown

31 05 2008
  • 203 S. Washington Sq.Kelly's Downtown
  • Lansing, MI 48933
  • (517) 484-5007
  • Website
  • Menu

My girlfriend and I were checking out the city courtesy of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitor’s Bureau “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” (which is an incredible event and I would definately recommend you check it out next year.)  Around lunch time, we made it downtown and decided to hit up Washington Square for lunch.  At first, we stopped into Tavern on the Square, but the menu kind of sucked.  There were no sandwiches and it was pretty expensive.  We were just looking for a quick lunch so we could keep touring the town.

Across the street sat Kelly’s.  So we got up and left Tavern on the Square and crossed the street.  There was a patio outside, but we chose to go inside and found a table near the front of the shop.  There’s a huge bar in the middle of the space with seating all the way around.  We sat down and waited five to ten minutes for the lone waitress/bartender to even acknowledge us.  She yelled across the bar to get our drink orders then a bus boy actually brought them out.  After a few more minutes, she yelled across the bar to take our order as well.

My girlfriend got Kelly’s Thatsa Wrap which is listed as vegetarian, but offers options to add grilled chicken which she did.  The wrap comes standard with tomatos, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and mushrooms inside a flour tortilla.  Besides the chicken, she got ranch on the side and added fries to her order.  She seemed to really like the wrap and had some fries left over for me.  She said the cucumbers were a good addition changing the texture and the flavor of what you usually expect in a wrap like this.

I got the Bear Burger.  It was a 1/3 lb sirloin burger with crumbled bleu cheese and bacon.  The burger was obviously a frozen patty.  It was really greasy.  I picked the sandwich up and it was wet.  At first, I was afraid it wasn’t done.  There was a puddle of grease on the bottom that I almost mistook for blood.  I bit into it anyway and it was done, but it was really greasy.  Fortunately, the bleu cheese covered most of that up.  I did a double check just to make sure there was bacon on there.  It kind of got lost in all the wetness.

After the initial delay in getting to us, the waitress did a much better job.  Our drinks never got empty and she got the check to us pretty quickly.  For the two of us, it was about $20, but we ended up spending more time in the restaurant than we really wanted to.  Really it was only about forty minutes, so it’s not terrible and normally I wouldn’t complain.  I’ve read a lot of good reveiws about this place, but it didn’t do anything for me.  My burger wasn’t very good and places like this I usually expect more.  I just haven’t had much luck with the downtown restaurants yet.  I’m still looking for that place near the Capitol that is worth getting in the car and paying parking for.   Kelly’s would probably be a great night spot, but for lunch, it just didn’t do anything for me.


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Categories : Burgers, Dive Bar, Irish Bar, Lansing, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Taco Bell – S. Lansing

31 05 2008
  • 5634 S. Cedar St.Taco Bell
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 393-8639
  • Website
  • Menu

Ah, Fourth Meal.  My girlfriend came home from work and said she was hungry.  What a coincidence because I’m always hungry.  We debated for about ten minutes about where to go.  There’s a White Castle, Tim Horton’s, and Taco Bell pretty close.  For some reason, we both craved taco’s so Taco Bell won out.

Like most fast food, it has been year’s since I’ve eaten at a Taco Bell.  In Illinois, I always went to a chain called Taco John’s.  Tuesday’s were Taco Tuesday where taco’s were half price, so that was about the only time I ate fast food taco’s.  Anyway, back to Fourth Meal.  It was after midnight so only the drive-thru was open so we got in line.  Taco Bell is a pretty popular place that late at night.  There were probably five or six cars in front of us, but the people working inside were pretty efficient in getting people through the line.  We didn’t sit in line more than five minutes before ordering.

I stuck to something simple and just got four hardshell tacos.  Like most places, the tacos are really simple with just beef, lettuce, and cheese in the shell.  I’ve always thought Taco Bell’s tacos were a little dry and that’s why I don’t usually go.  These were that way too, but it really hit the spot that late at night.

My girlfriend got a softshell taco, a small nacho, and a Strawberry-Mango Fruitista Freeze.  The softshell taco was just like mine….but with a softshell.  The nachos are just…well, nachos.  The chips came with a cup of cheese on the side.  The Fruitista Freeze are kinda like a fruit smoothie.  All the advertisements show a mango smoothie with a layer of strawberries on top.  What she actually got was a mango smoothie with a dollop of strawberry on top.

Taco Bell served it’s purpose.  We didn’t order enough food beause we were both still hungry, but that late at night do you really want a big meal?  Since there are no Taco John’s that I know of in the Lansing area, I’m sure we’ll hit Taco Bell more often.  Again, not my first choice, but it’s not horrible either.  It’s one of those “you know what you’re gonna get” places and that’s not always a bad thing.


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Categories : Fast Food, Mexican, Restaurant, Reviews

Turkeyman Deli & Catering

29 05 2008
  • 5021 W. Saginaw HwyTurkeyman
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 327-8300
  • No Known Website
  • Menu

My girlfriend gets her hair cut at Etc. Salon & Spa near the Lansing Mall on Saginaw Highway.  I usually go with her then go shopping to kill time.  After she’s done, we’ll grab lunch and enjoy the rest of the afternoon together until she needs to go to work.  Last time she got her hair cut, I drove into Turkeyman Deli & Catering’s parking lot to turn around.  I thought then it looked like a neat place but didn’t want to eat without her, so I kept going.  We didn’t have time for lunch that day because she had to go to work earlier than usual.  This time, we had time so we made the stop.

Turkeyman is located in a small strip mall kitty corner from the Mall.  Inside the store are about five booths and a small deli counter.  You order at the counter and they get your food up pretty much right away.  We both went with the house special.  The Turkeyman Sandwich is very similar to a pulled pork sandwich.  They take all white meat turkey that has been smoked and pulled off the bone then marinate it in a BBQ sauce.  The pile the pulled turkey onto a whole wheat hoagie bun.  My girlfriend had them add lettuce and shredded cheese while I got my with just the meat.  For another $1.50 each we added a bag of chips and a fountain drink. Our total was just over $15, but our total time in the store was less than fifteen minutes. They were efficient in getting our food and it was so good we plowed through it.

TurkeymanThe turkey was delicious.  The texture was just like pulled pork, but the white turkey meat made it a completely different sandwich.  The bbq sauce was sweet, but not overpowering.  The whole wheat bun was another unique feature.  My girlfriend loved that, but I probably would have been happier with a white roll. This sandwich, even though it was a BBQ deli sandwich, was pretty healthy and it was healthier food that was incredibly delicious.  My girlfriend kept saying over and over that Turkeyman was a “good choice” for lunch.  I just got a bag of Lays, but she got a bag of baked Pita chips.  Something different.

Turkeyman is found all over the area.  In the parking lot they had two giant smokers that are used for fairs and carnivals.  They also have a permanent presence at Spartan Stadium, the Breslin Center, and Oldsmobile Park.  Sandwiches aren’t the only thing on the menu.  You can also find turkey drumsticks, soups, salads, and grilled sandwiches.

If you don’t know it’s there, you’ll probably drive right by Turkeyman.  Slow down, open your eyes and stop.  Turkeyman has taken a unique concept and ran with it.  Everyone can do pork or chicken, but a whole restaurant that survives on it’s turkey is something worth stopping in to.


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Categories : Lansing, Local Flavor, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches, Turkey

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