Horrocks – Battle Creek

11 05 2009
  • 235 Capital Avenue SW
  • Battle Creek, MI 49037
  • (269) 966-3200
  • Website
The Horrocks store on Capital Avenue SW in Battle Creek.

The Horrocks store on Capital Avenue SW in Battle Creek.

Easily, one of things I like the most about Lansing is Horrocks.  We’ve saved so much money and gotten some great stuff at Horrocks in Delta Township.  When produce is in-season, Horrocks is a once a week trip.  During the winter, it turns in to a bi-monthly or monthly trip but still something I look forward to.

J and I met her parents in St. Joseph for Mother’s Day brunch.  On the way home, J suggested stopping by Horrocks to get some fruit for the week.  Since it was on the way, I suggested we check out the Battle Creek Horrocks.

The Horrocks on Battle Creek is near I-194 on Capital Avenue SW.  The building looks to be an old office building or something.  The store is in a pretty industrial area, so the previous tenant of the building could have easily used the building for anything.

Being regulars at the Lansing store made the Battle Creek store very confusing.  We’re so used to the layout and the flow of the store in Delta Township that we were lost when we got inside the Battle Creek store.  First, you actually have to walk through the greenhouse to get to the building.  We grabbed a cart and walked through the doors.  At first, I thought we were in the wrong store.  I thought maybe there were separate buildings for the grocery and greenhouse parts of the business.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Battle Creek, Grocery, Michigan

Kilwin’s Chocolate & Ice Cream – St. Joseph

11 05 2009
  • 217 State Street
  • St. Joseph, MI 49085
  • (269) 982-1330
  • Website
Kilwins Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop on State Street in St. Joseph

Kilwin's Chocolate & Ice Cream on State Street in St. Joseph

I freakin’ love fudge!  When we took a day trip to Traverse City last fall, we found a Kilwin’s Chocolate Shop in downtown.  That was our introduction to the Northern Michigan chain of stores. 

A Mother’s Day isn’t complete without chocolate and, as luck would have it, there was a Kilwin’s across the street from our brunch destination.  After a good meal and a quick stroll through downtown St. Joseph, we loaded up on fudgey goodness.

The St. Joseph Kilwin’s store is on State Street in downtown St. Joseph just a few blocks from Lake Michigan.  Like most of the other stores, you can watch the candy makers apply their craft in the window.  On the day we were there, one guy was making caramel apples an another was making fresh waffle cones.

The inside of the store smells so good.  Just past the candy making area are the cases of candy.  The first case has the fudge.  This shop didn’t have nearly as many options as the Traverse City shop, but still had two of three flavors I wanted.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Candy, Chains, Chocolate, Downtown, Michigan, St. Joseph

Pump House Grille

11 05 2009
  • 214 State Street
  • St. Joseph, MI 49085
  • (269) 983-0001
  • Website
  • Menu
The Pump House Grill in downtown St. Joseph

The Pump House Grille in downtown St. Joseph

J really wanted to do something with her mom for Mother’s Day.  Over the past couple months, there’s been a lot of traveling back and forth to Chicago for both us and our families.  Instead of her parents coming to Lansing or us driving to Chicago for the second week in a row, we decided to find a halfway point.  The Benton Harbor/St. Joseph area looked like a good meeting point, so the search was on to find a good place for Mother’s Day brunch.

After a quick Google search, I came up with two options.  Neither would take a reservation for less than six people, so we chose the one that opened first.  That one was the Pump House Grille on State Street in beautiful downtown St. Joseph.  State Street is a one-way cobblestone street that is lined with boutiques and restaurants.  It’s kind of touristy, but would still make a great shopping and dining district for the locals.  We actually drove by the restaurant on our first pass through downtown.  The buildings are all connecte and none of them have eye level signs that stick out from the building.  On the second pass down State Street, we noticed the building on the left side of the road.

Brunch started at 11:30 and we got there about 11:40.  Like I already mentioned, they wouldn’t take reservations and there must have been a line when the door opened.  By the time we got there, all the tables were full.  The host told us there would probably be a half hour wait since everyone just sat down to eat.  We took a buzzer and set up at the bar to wait.  The bartender told us we could eat there if we wanted to, but J and her mom couldn’t really reach the bar comfortably and it would have made eating uncomfortable.  Instead, we ordered drinks….just Pepsi’s since they couldn’t serve liquor until noon.  The half hour wait would give me time to step outside and call my mom to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Brunch, Downtown, Michigan, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews, St. Joseph

Dairy Queen – South Cedar

9 05 2009
  • 3906 S. Cedar Street
  • Lansing, MI 48910
  • (517) 882-0611
  • Website 
  • Menu
Dairy Queen on South Cedar in Lansing.

Dairy Queen on South Cedar in Lansing.

Usually when J and I discuss dinner plans, she doesn’t say anything that catches me off guard.  When I asked her what she wanted tonight, she answered “ice cream!”  OK, I like ice cream, but I haven’t actually wanted ice cream for dinner in twenty years.  I compromised…sorta.  Since we eventually decided to get a pizza from Marcos for dinner, I suggested we just pick it up then go to DQ and grab something for dessert.

I grew up with Dairy Queen.  Soft serve ice cream was actually invented in Kankakee, IL about twenty minutes from where my parents live.  The technology was then sold to two guys who opened the first Dairy Queen store in Joliet, IL where I went to college, so there’s always been a Dairy Queen close.  Just to give you an idea of how small of a town I grew up, the Dairy Queen near the Interstate was the only “fast food” restaurant within 20 miles, so we ate there often as kids.  They had the best crappy burgers and most of my friends had jobs there.  My mom even worked there part time after my brother and I were both old enough to go to school.  The saddest thing that happened to my town was when the DQ closed and moved five miles north to the next town over.  We couldn’t ride our bikes to get Blizzards anymore (good thing I had just turned 16 and got my license).

There are only two DQ in the City of Lansing.  There’s a DQ/Orange Julius at the Lansing Mall and there’s the ice cream stand on South Cedar Street.  The DQ’s I grew up with are now called Brazzier’s and they have a full menu.  The South Lansing location is a seasonal store that only sells DQ’s famous and often imitated soft serve ice cream. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Michigan

Marcos Pizza – South Cedar

9 05 2009
  • 4320 S. Cedar Street
  • Lansing, MI 48910
  • (517) 394-4444
  • Website
  • Menu
Marcos Pizza on South Cedar Street in Lansing.

Marcos Pizza on South Cedar Street in Lansing.

How lucky am I?   I finally get a Saturday off and there’s a Saturday night NASCAR race.  What’s really sad is J has seen more NASCAR than I have this year and I actually had to ask her this morning where the race was at.  Since we both wanted to hang out on the couch and watch TV (the White Sox game was on WGN America, so we could flip back an forth), we decided to find a pizza place we hadn’t tried yet. 

I drive by the Marcos Pizza on South Cedar quite a bit and we’ve been seeing a lot of commercials lately, so I pulled up a menu online to see what they had to offer.  It looked like standard pizza fare to me, so I called in an order for a large cheese pizza.

We gave it about ten minutes then headed down Cedar to pick up the pizza.  The building only does carry-out.  It’s a stand alone building, but the kitchen takes up 3/4 of the space.  There are some cheap red chairs if you have to wait, but we timed it pretty well.  When I went in to get my pizza, everyone was pretty busy.  There were two people manning phones and two making pizzas.  One of the guys making the pizzas saw me standing there and came over to take care of me.  I paid the ten dollars and change, grabbed the box and headed home. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Lansing, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews

Starbucks Coffee – Okemos

9 05 2009
  • 3552 Meridian Crossings #500
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 381-8350
  • Website
  • Menu
Starbucks at Meridian Crossing in Okemos

Starbucks at Meridian Crossing in Okemos

To some people, there’s nothing like a warm coffee or tea on a cold rainy day.  I’m not one of those people.  I despise Starbucks.  The only time I ever go in one is with J.  She likes a couple of their drinks and today, she was wanting something warm and comforting.  Since there was a Starbucks right next to the State Side Deli where we ate lunch, she asked if I would stop in with her.

This Starbucks is located on the far end of the Meridian Crossings shopping center.  You can see it from Okemos Road and there is an entrance on both sides of the building.  With this business, it doesn’t matter which side you enter.  The counter is in the middle.  That’s only if you’re not lazy and actually go in.  There is a drive-thru on the side of the building and the line wrapped back into the parking lot.  I don’t do drive thrus and it was easier just to get out and go in the store.

There’s really not much there.  There are a few tables if you want to pay for wi-fi while you drink coffee and a few displays of coffee making products.  I’m guessing they do most of the business through the window.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Coffee, Michigan, Okemos, Reviews

State Side Deli

9 05 2009
  • 3552 Meridian Crossing Dr. Suite 550
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 853-1100
  • No Known Website
  • Menu
The State Side Deli at Meridian Crossings in Okemos

The State Side Deli at Meridian Crossings in Okemos

I’m not an expert on New York deli’s.  In fact, I’ve never eaten in one.  I’ve only been to New York City once and that was a quick weekend trip to see a baseball game in old Yankee Stadium with my brother.  We ate at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, La Famiglia Pizza in Times Square, and a bar near Madison Square Garden.  We were going to find a deli to get some corned beef but we never did.

I read the message boards at Chow.com quite often and the most popular question about dining in Lansing is “Where can I find a New York style deli?”  Recently, the answer has been State Side Deli.  I’ve heard a lot of good and only one bad, so I’ve been looking for an excuse to go. 

For the first time in about two months, I had a Saturday off.  No work.  No family in town.  No trips to Chicago.  Just a Saturday afternoon where J and I could do whatever we wanted.  What we wanted to do was go to Walmart.  J had a list of things she needed and can usually get cheaper at Walmart.  Since there’s really not one close to us, we were going to have to drive somewhere.  Since I there was a Walmart in Meridian Township, I chose that one so I could finally stop at that deli everyone’s been talking about.

State Side Deli is in the Meridian Crossings shopping center somewhere between Stillwater Grill and Starbucks.  You can see a sign from Okemos Road, but your better off if you enter on the backside which is techinically Meridian Crossing Drive.  There is an entrance in front, but the counter and tables are off the back parking lot. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Deli, Michigan, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Press Release – Cafe Grand Opening In Jackson

8 05 2009

First rule of sending a press release…complete address.  I figured it out because it came from the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, but not everyone is going to take the time to put 2-and-2 together. 

Join in celebrating the Grand Opening of Wildwood Café with Frank and Jill Page, Monday, May 11th at 11:30am. 

Wildwood Café is located 2615 Wildwood Ave.  Patrons can enjoy a cozy smoke free environment with artwork from local artisans.

The Wildwood Café is open Monday – Saturday 7am-2:30pm and Sunday from 8am-2pm.  Menu selections include unique omelet’s, “the best club sandwich in town”, home-made soups, fresh baked pie and daily specials. Order breakfast or lunch anytime.  Carry-out orders welcome.


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Categories : Jackson, Michigan, Press Releases

Guy Fieri Imposter Fools KC Broadcaster

7 05 2009

This is too funny.  FSKansas City was fooled by a person that looked like Guy Fieri at Monday’s night’s game.  Someone got their ass reemed for this I bet.  The quality is not that goo, but you can tell the guy sounds nothing like Guy Fieri…

Awesome.  The REAL Guy Fieri posted this on his Twitter page.

So check this out, some cat is playin me in KC. Crazy, just for da record, I am home and was not in KC. Thanks to those keepin an eye out.


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Categories : Food News

KFC Runs Out of Chicken?

7 05 2009

Not in Lansing this time, but still, I was at the South Cedar Street KFC a few weeks ago and they ran out of chicken they had on special.  This time, a New York City KFC runs out of grilled chicken after too many people come in with free coupons.

Customers at a New York City KFC hoping to redeem coupons for a free meal were disgruntled when the fast-food restaurant ran out of its new grilled chicken, but Internet rumors of a riot were unfounded, a Kentucky Fried Chicken spokeswoman said Wednesday. “Some customers were upset because they couldn’t get their chicken, but there was no riot,” said Laurie Schalow.

Schalow said the Manhattan restaurant on East 42nd Street plans to begin honoring the coupons again Thursday after it resupplies the kitchen.

[snip]

Schalow said the grilled chicken has been a huge success, and the combination of a bad economy and Oprah’s popularity created a “perfect storm.”

“We prepared for it,” Schalow said, noting that a KFC restaurant can only serve so many people during the lunch and dinner hours. “We didn’t prepare for this extreme.”

Really?!  You’re giving away FREE chicken…hell, a FREE meal and you’re surprised about how many people are coming in?  J printed out a couple of the coupons (there’s more than one KFC in the area) and so did her co-workers.  They all went for chicken Tuesday night and with a drink, she got more food than she could eat for less than three bucks.  I got ten e-mails from friends yesterday with the subject line “Lunch is on me” with a link to the coupon. 

I’m surprised it hasn’t happened at more places.


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Categories : Food News

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