Smoking Ban Round-Up

24 09 2008

I had planned on doing this last night, but most of the media in Lansing haven’t figured out the 24/7 news cycle.  I and the rest of the people in this City are still relegated getting news at 6, 10, and 11 PM then waiting for yesterday’s news to come in the form of a dead tree when we get.  Don’t get me wrong, WLAJ and WILX both had stories up last night, but I was hoping for a little more coverage with reaction from both sides.  The only place I could get that was MIRS which I’m not going to quote or link to since it’s a paid service.

The newspaper of record, The Lansing-State Journal, which is based in the state capital, doesn’t even cover the State Capitol.  The only article I could find on-line, and I had to do a keyword search to find it, was an AP article.  I’ve never lived in a town with a newspaper this bad.  It’s actually quite sad. 

Here’s what I found from two of the TV outlets and Detroit newspapers.

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Categories : Food News, Michigan, Politics

Clean Smoking Ban Up for Vote! – FAILS

23 09 2008

I’m a little behind on this.  I just got a phone call telling me to turn on House TV.  HB 4163 is on the floor right now and they are debating. 

3:42 PM – The bill’s sponsor, Brenda Clack (D-Flint) is urging colleagues to support because they will NOT be the first State to do this.

The board is open and they are voting on concurring with the Senate substitute.

3:53 PM – The board is still open for record roll call.  There’s a lot of yellow still on the board.  As for our local reps, Joan Bauer, Mark Meadows, and Barb Byrum have all voted yes.

4:00 PM – An announcement was made that the board will be closed in one minute.  Still a lot of Representatives haven’t voted.

4:03 PM –  Board is closed.  I’m waiting for the clerk to read the results.  It’s too close to tell by just looking at it.

4:07 PM – By my count, the measure failed, but 19 Representatives have not voted.  The Chair is recognizing those who have not voted.  Tempoarry excuses for four of the Reps have been granted and two Aye votes have been added.

4:10 PM – Two more late Ayes and two more Nay’s.  It’s going to turn out to be a very, very close vote.

4:12 PM – 50 Yes vote and 49 No votes.  However, the the majority of the members serving have NOT voted in favor.  They needed 56 Aye votes.  There are 11 Representatives that did not vote so that means, the motion was not concurred.  HB 4163 did not pass today because not everyone voted.

Majority Floor Leader Tobocman moved to reconsider the vote by which HB 4163 failed and moved to pass that motion for the day.  What that means is the Democrats have the option to bring the vote up again later in the week or the session.


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Categories : Food News, Michigan, Politics

Troppo to Move…

22 09 2008

…across the street.  The LSJ had an article yesterday about Troppo planning to move across the street so their patio would have more sunlight.

From Troppo’s patio on the south side of Michigan Avenue, Elliott said he saw potential. His patio was always in the shade because it’s on the north side of an office tower.

“We were looking across the street and saw the sun was always shining on the IBM building,” he said.

Sun is key to good patio space, he said. And good patio space is key to the restaurant business.

Interesting move.  I actually prefer a place that has some shade.  It’s nice to sit outside, but not nice when the sun is in your eyes or you’re sweating from direct sunlight. 

We’ve eaten at Troppo (review HERE) once for lunch and really liked it.  It was a great experience and the food was fabulous.  The idea after moving Troppo is to move Tavern on the Square to Troppo’s spot.  We stopped in Tavern on the Square for lunch one day and thought it was a little pricey and didn’t have a really good lunch selection, but that day, we were in the mood for sandwiches, so we got up and left.  It deserves a second chance and I’d like to get to it before they move.  They have a really cool space where they’re at


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Categories : Food News, Lansing, Michigan

Weekend Update

21 09 2008

If you haven’t been following along all weekend, there have been a lot of posts over the last three days.  So you don’t miss anything, I’ve broken down the reviews into the three cities we’ve been to.  You can either click on these links or just scroll down.

Traverse City

The Cooks’ House (awesome, awesome, awesome lunch in TC)
The Cherry Stop
Kilwin’s Chocolate Shopped
Gallagher’s Farm Market
Boone’s Long Lake Inn
Moomer’s Homemade Ice Cream

Grand Rapids

Malarky’s
The Fresh Market
The Black Rose Irish Pub
Fulton Street Farmer’s Market

East Lansing

Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe


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Categories : East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Reviews, Traverse City

Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe

21 09 2008
  • 1601 W. Lake Lansing Road
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 337-4680
  • Website
  • Menu
Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe is East Lansing

Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe is East Lansing

After two long days touring Northern and Western Michigan, we got home and just wanted to relax.  We unloaded the car then laid down on the couch and watched Michigan State beat Notre Dame while I blogged about our trip and J took a nap.  Not long after the game got over, J woke up and we started talking about dinner.  Neither one of us felt like cooking, but we neither of us really had a taste for anything either.  We talked about a few places, but one of us wasn’t interested in any of them.  Finally, I said, “What about Hall of Fame Cafe on Lake Lansing?”  We thought that may not be a good move since the game just got over, but we hopped in my truck to go give it a shot.

Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe is part of a small chain of cafes located in college towns.  The other cafes are in Columbus, OH (Buckeye HOF Cafe), Huntington, WV (Marshall HOF Cafe), and Louisville, KY (Cardinal HOF Cafe).  The East Lansing location sits just off US 127 in East Lansing near the Eastwood Towne Centre.  There looked to be quite a few parking spaces left so we pulled in to see if we could get a table.  There were a few people waiting, but they must have been parts of groups.  We were met by a hostess and shown to a booth in the dining room right away. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Cafe, East Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches, Sports Bar

Fulton Street Farmer’s Market

21 09 2008
  • 1145 E. Fulton St.
  • Grand Rapids, MI 49503
  • (616) 454-4118
  • Website
The entrance to the Fulton Street Farmers Market in Grand Rapids

The entrance to the Fulton Street Farmer's Market in Grand Rapids

We didn’t plan on going to the Farmer’s Market.  In fact, it wasn’t even on the radar when we got out of bed.  I hadn’t even heard of it.  After enjoying lunch at The Black Rose Irish Pub (review HERE), we headed out to the Frederick Meijer Gardens.  We pulled up and thought, “Wow, this looks really cool.”  We got inside thinking there’d be a little bit of an admission charge, but $12?!  To look at flowers?  No thanks.  We passed and got back in the car not knowing what to do now.  I looked at the local attractions section of J’s Garmin GPS and the words “Farmers Market” came up and it was only three miles away.  I hit go and we headed back the other direction to see what kind of Farmer’s Market we were going to find.

The Fulton Street Farmer’s Market is in a parking lot on Fulton Street.  There’s quite a bit of parking around the vendor location and we found a spot right away since we were arriving near the end.  The Farmer’s Market had a pretty cool set up.  There’s a permanent structure that extends the length of about half of the parking lot.  There’s a metal skelton all the way down to hang things from and wooden display counters that are also permanent fixtures. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Farmer's Market, Grand Rapids, Local Flavor, Michigan, Reviews

Black Rose Irish Pub

21 09 2008
  • 100 Ionia Ave. SW
  • Grand Rapids, MI 49503
  • (616) 456-7673
  • Website
  • Menu
Black Rose Irish Pub near Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids

Black Rose Irish Pub near Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids

After spending a whole bunch of time planning out meals and asking for suggestions, we threw that all out the window and decided to just wing it for lunch Saturday afternoon in downtown Grand Rapids.  I’m not sure what we were expecting, but we were kind of hoping for a little walkable shopping district.  We didn’t find it, but we did find a few restaurants near Van Andel Arena.  The circus was in town the day we were down there so all the parking lots only had event parking at $7.  We ended up driving around for another ten minutes looking for a meter.  We finally found one a few blocks away.

The Black Rose sits right across the street from arena on an old brick street in downtown Grand Rapids.  The building really sticks out.  It’s a nice corner building decorated in the typical Irish pub fashion.  When we stepped inside, we were met by a host who took us to the non-smoking section behind the bar.  The decor inside is, again, typical of an Irish pub.  There is a lot of dark woods, Guinness signs, and the such.  A waitress came over menus which were pretty thick.  We ordered drinks and looked over the menu.  It had been a few days since I had a burger, so that’s what I went with. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Burgers, Downtown, Grand Rapids, Irish Bar, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Fresh Market – Grand Rapids

21 09 2008
  • 5114 28th St. SE
  • Grand Rapids, MI 49512
  • (616) 940-1103
  • Website
Fresh Market in Grand Rapids

Fresh Market in Grand Rapids

We get to our hotel Friday night and I check my e-mail to find a couple comments telling me to check out Fresh Market near I-96.  The funny thing is, Fresh Market is right across the street from our hotel and I told J on our way in that we should check it out in the morning.  After sitting in our hotel room and relaxing for a little bit, we decided to see if they were still open.  It was 9:30 and no they weren’t so we were gonna have to check back in the morning.

After we got up and got moving, we checked out of the hotel and headed over to the Fresh Market.  It’s located in a little shopping plaza just off the Interstate.  Once again, it’s a good thing there’s not one right down the street.  This is another one of those great grocery stores.  Even though it’s a chain, they haven’t taken the human element out of it or seen how much product they can buy to try and keep costs down.  Instead, they have quality, hard to find products.  We zipped through the produce section without seeing anything really unique because I noticed the butchers in the back. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Grand Rapids, Grocery, Michigan, Reviews

Malarky’s

20 09 2008
  • 3210 Deposit Dr NE
  • Grand Rapids, MI 49546
  • (616) 808-2956
  • Website
  • Menu
Malarkys at I-96 and Beltline in Grand Rapids

Malarky's at I-96 and Beltline in Grand Rapids

After an amazing day in Traverse City, we headed back to Grand Rapids for the night.  We couldn’t find a hotel under $100 up north,so we came back as far as Grand Rapids and found a Red Roof Inn for not even half that much.  After getting settled, we both got a little hungry, so we hoped in the car and started heading towards downtown.  First, we wanted to check out Fresh Market, but it was too late and they were closed.  That would have to wait until the next morning.  For some reason, our GPS took us the long way back to the Interstate and we ended up on Beltline Road.  Just before we got to I-96, we hit this bar that looked like a chain, but wasn’t a chain we had ever heard of.  I-96 West was closed at that interchange, so we had to drive around and come back.  On the way back, we just decided to give Malarkey’s a try.  Really, all we wanted was a drink and an appetizer, so why keep driving when there was a place right here.

Once we got inside, Malarky’s again looked like a chain.  The hostess station was right inside the door in it’s own little room.  Through a doorway to the right was the bar.  To the left was the dining room.  We made our way into the bar and found a pub table along the wall, so we sat down.  A waitress noticed us and came over for a drink order.  I got a 14 oz. Bud Light and J got a frozen daquiri.  the waitress came back with a 24 oz. Bud Light instead.  It was only $.50 more so I just took it and didn’t say anything.  She tried to walk away, but we stopped her to put in an order of nachos. Read the rest of this entry »


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Moomer’s Homemade Ice Cream

20 09 2008
  • 7263 N. Long Lake Rd.
  • Traverse City, MI 49648
  • (231) 941-4122
  • Website
  • Menu
Moomers Homemade Ice Cream near Traverse City

Moomer's Homemade Ice Cream near Traverse City

Earlier this summer, I was watching an ABC program when I saw a promo for Good Morning America Weekend.  I usually tune out because who wants to get up early enough on a Saturday to watch GMA?  This time I paid attention.  Not because there was some important news item they were teasing.  What happened is that they were teasing the results for the voting for the Best Ice Cream Shop in the country.  The winner of that contest?  Moomer’s in Traverse City, Michigan.  Since we were planning a trip to Traverse City, we made sure that Moomer’s was on our list of places to go.

We knew while eating dinner at Boone’s Long Lake Inn (review HERE) that we needed to save room for ice cream.  Our plan was to eat dinner, grab some ice cream then head back to Grand Rapids where we were spending the night.  We both ate quite a bit at dinner, but we were not going to leave the area without a stop at the best ice cream shop in America.

Moomer’s sits on Long Lake Rd outside of Traverse City.  It’s a stand alone shop with a log cabin feel.  Even late in September at 7:00 at night, quite a few people were crowded into the shop enjoying some ice cream.  Since we were pretty full, we both went with a small serving which is one scoop in a cup. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Ice Cream, Local Flavor, Michigan, Reviews, Traverse City

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