Bell’s Greek Pizza – M.A.C. Avenue

5 12 2009
  • 225 M.A.C. Avenue
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 332-2355
  • Website
  • Menu

After spending the afternoon killing time before work, I was now faced with a longer than usual lunch break.  Now, I had another couple hours to kill.  Since I had just eaten an hour or so ago, a big lunch was out of the question.  I wasn’t even really sure I wanted anything at all. 

I went to Barnes & Noble first to look for a couple things then I just started walking around downtown East Lansing.  Didn’t really know where I was going, but when I ended up on M.A.C Avenue, I figured I could use a slice of pizza..

Bell’s Greek Pizza has two locations in East Lansing and they’re  not very far apart.  I’ve eaten at the Grand River Avenue location before, but never the location on M.A.C. Avenue near Albert Avenue. 

The downtown location is a small street front building.  There are a handful of tables in the front of the space.  The order area and kitchen is in the back. 

I’m a huge fan of pizza-by-the-slice locations.  It’s one of my favorite things about college campuses.  You can get just a couple slices for under five bucks.  I love it. 

Of course, Bell’s has other options, but pizza slices was all I wanted.  I ordered two pepperoni slices.  The lady working pulled them right out of the display case and put them on a paper plate.  Now, usually, those slices would go back into the oven before being handed over, but these didn’t for some reason.  I thought it was a little wierd but I didn’t say anything.  The pizza was still pretty warm.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : East Lansing, Michigan, Pizza

Taco Bell – Grand River, Okemos

5 12 2009
  • 2030 W. Grand River Avenue
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-6451
  • Website
  • Menu

Time to kill and no place to go.  It can be a dangerous thing.  I had to check out of my hotel at noon, but I didn’t have to be to work until noon.  I decided to hit up the Meridian Mall in Okemos.  I thought maybe I could kill some time, but I was wrong.  Mall’s don’t do anything for me. 

After I left the mall, I headed to Best Buy.  Since it was the middle of the afternoon, I thought maybe I could actually play their display DJ Hero.  I hung out with a pretty popular Chicago club DJ while I was in college and he taught me a little bit about mixing.  I don’t want to buy DJ Hero, but I wanted to see how the game worked. 

 It wasn’t all that fun, so I only played a couple songs then checked out some other Wii games.  Scoped out some titles for myself and for my in-laws for Christmas. 

 After I left Best Buy, I still had over an hour.  I was a little hungry and not in the mood to go hunt something out.  In the Best Buy parking lot was a Taco Bell and a Burger King.  I picked the less of two evils.

 Okemos has two Taco Bell locations.  I was closest to the location on Grand River Avenue just in front of Best Buy near the Meridian Mall.  Nothing unusual about this location.  Typical cookie cutter building.  Typical cookie cutter menu.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Michigan, Okemos

The Original Big John Steak & Onion

5 12 2009
  • 3490 Okemos Road
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 381-2465
  • Website
  • Menu

Back in East Lansing and there’s a little bit of nostalgia this weekend.  I had to be in town a couple days, so I went looking for the cheapest hotel I could find.  Usually, the two Red Roof Inn’s are the cheapest and recently, I’ve been staying out in Delta Township because it’s five bucks cheaper.  This weekend, however, I decided to stay at the East Lansing Red Roof Inn. 

I say there’s a little bit of nostalgia because two years ago, J and I made a frantic, last-minute trip to Lansing to find a place to live.  We had been in Bristol, TN for the Nextel Cup Race the weekend before.  She got the phone call on Tuesday that she had been hired in Lansing.  We were at her parents in Chicago because we didn’t have to be back to work in Peoria until Thursday.  We packed up the car again on Tuesday and drove to Lansing to find a place to live.  We only had a week and a half to make the move. 

We had stayed in a Red Roof Inn in Johnson City, TN and were happy with it, so we found one in Lansing and we spent our first night in what would become our new home at the Red Roof Inn on Dunkel Road.  This recent trip was the first time I had stayed at that hotel since that first night.

We were given a pretty long lunch break, so I decided to go check in and drop my stuff off.  Before that, I wanted to grab a sandwich or something somewhere so I could eat while watching ESPN in my room.  I couldn’t really think of much other than fast food chains along Jolly Road so I started driving towards Okemos.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Michigan, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

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

Sonic Coming to Lansing

30 10 2009

Of course it is.  Via WLNS (can’t believe they did a package on this? Watercooler fluff is easier than hard news I guess…a testament to Sonic’s marketing strategy)

A south Lansing motel closed its doors earlier this year, and ever since then the Governor’s Inn has been falling apart. Now it’s set to come down for good.

[snip]

For the past 9 months, windows have been boarded up, but now they’re coming down and a new burger is coming to town. Sonic is finally in Lansing.

What really sucks for us is this would have been within walking distance for us.  We walked to the Meijer that will is right across the street a couple times…we would have been able to walk off the Limeades we were about to get. 

Still, good for Lansing.  I’m fairly certain I’ll stop when I’m back in town.  They’re shooting for a Spring 2009 Grand Opening.


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Categories : Lansing, Michigan

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