Ingham County Fair

3 08 2008
  • 700 E. Ash St.
  • Mason, MI 48854
  • (517) 676-2428
  • Website
Heat race during the demolition derby at the Ingham County Fair in Mason

Heat race during the demolition derby at the Ingham County Fair in Mason

I LOVE demolition derby.  I’m a total redneck at heart.  After I graduated college and before I got my first job, I spent the summer working on demo cars with some friends of mine.  I loved every minute of it and wished I was more mechanically inclined.  My girlfriend, grew up going to Team Demo Derby’s at Santa Fe Speedway near Chicago, so there’s a place in her heart for demo derby too.  A co-worker of my girlfriend and her boyfriend had never seen a demo derby, so we met at the Ingham County Fair on the final night for some good ol’ fashioned car smashing.

County fairs were really cool when I was a kid.  We didn’t start going to theme parks until I was into junior high and high school, so the county fair was where we got to go on rides and win cheap prizes.  Walking into the Ingham County Fairgrounds in Mason brought back all those feelings.  I couldn’t believe a lot of the rides were the same (like the Gravitron) and none of the games had changed.  You’d think they’d come up with something new, but nope.

Row of food vendors near the midway at the Ingham County Fair in Mason

Row of food vendors near the midway at the Ingham County Fair in Mason

When we first walked in, we ran right into a row of food vendors.  We wanted to do a lap before deciding to make sure we didn’t buy something then find something better.  One of the first stands I noticed was the BBQ.  My girlfriend had just mentioned that she smelled BBQ as I was pointing it out to her.  After a lap to the midway and back, I got a pulled pork sandwich.  Well, sorta.  They called it pulled pork, but it was more chopped and it was Texas BBQ, so the sauce wasn’t as sweet and vinegar-y as I like it.  It was alright and hit the spot though.  The whole time I was ordering, I could litteraly hear pigs squealing from the barn right behind me.  I love the irony when they put the pig barn next to the BBQ stand. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Deep Fried Food, Entertainment Venues, Live Entertainment, Local Flavor, Mason

Reno’s West Sports Bar & Pizzeria

3 08 2008
  • 5001 W. Saginaw Hwy.
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 321-0616
  • No Known Website
  • Menu (from East Lansing Location)
Renos West Sports Bar and Pizzeria on W. Saginaw Hwy in Lansing

Reno's West Sports Bar and Pizzeria on W. Saginaw Hwy in Lansing

What a day!  Everything we tried to do just didn’t want to work out.  The day started off with us getting up super early (for us) to get tickets to Barack Obama’s speech on Monday.  We made it to Gone Wired Cafe at about 8:30 and the line was four blocks long.  We jumped in line thinking, “The Lansing Center holds 5,000 people, I bet there’s not more than a couple thousand in line.”  According to the LSJ, they only gave out 1,000 tickets, so by about the time we got within one block of the front door, they ran out of tickets.  Not a big deal to me, being from Illinois, I covered Obama’s Senate run, have interviewed the Senator many times, and worked for the campaign at his Presidential Announcement in Springfield, IL on the steps of the Old Capitol…oh yeah, and I’m a Republican and probably won’t be voting for him.  My girlfriend, on the other hand, was working in a different state during that election and has never seen Obama speak live, so I was hoping to get tickets so she could see him.  Didn’t work out.

After we left Gone Wired, we figured since we just blew two hours, we’d get some breakfast.  I’ve read on Runs With Spatula about Soup to Nuts Bistro more than once.  We headed back to Kalamazoo Street only to find Soup to Nutz closed on Saturdays.  Two strikes against us and it’s not even 11:00.

Since we were at that odd time of not quite breakfast, not quite lunch, we headed out to the Lansing Mall to do some shopping for a wedding next week in Chicago.  We finally caught a break.  My girlfriend found a great dress at 60% off.  After walking around the mall, we’re both starving.  We’ve drove by Reno’s West a few times and since it was close, we headed back down Saginaw.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Lansing, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches, Sports Bar

Bell’s Greek Pizza

3 08 2008
  • 1135 E. Grand River Ave.
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 332-0858
  • Website
  • Menu
Bells Greek Pizza on E. Grand River near the campus of Michigan State

Bell's Greek Pizza on E. Grand River near the campus of Michigan State

Bell’s Greek Pizza is what I missed by going to a small private school instead of a state school.  When it got late, the only thing we had was vending machines.  There was no late night pizza place.  Whenever I visited friends at the University of Illinois or Southern Illinois University, I made sure to push for pizza at 3 am after the bars closed. 

I went looking for this place a while ago when my dad and a friend were in town, but I didn’t go far enough down Grand River to find it.  My girlfriend came home from work one Friday night and said she was hungry.  I suggested pizza so we drove across town to campus just for pizza.  I had a few people suggest Bell’s on this blog before so I was kind of looking forward to it. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Downtown, East Lansing, Pizza, Reviews

Press Release – Ella Sharp Museum Edible History

1 08 2008

Sounds cool.  From a press release….

The Edible History dinner will take place in Ella’s Granary Restaurant (in the Museum) and will feature a menu of mid-19th century fare. .

Edible History dinners are annotated meals, Each course will have a brief explanation of the food-what it is, how it was prepared, etc. The menu (a secret); for this first Edible History program is tailored to the arrival of Mary Merriman, Ella Sharp’s mother, in Jackson in 1856.

This dinner imagines what Mary might have eaten in this earlier Jackson. Museum staff combed through the Museum collection and period cookbooks and recipes to create a menu reflecting Jackson in the 1850s.

Accompanying the meal is a slide presentation of Mary Wing Farnsworth Merriman. “We are so often focused on the life of her daughter, Ella-yet Mary was a fascinating woman in her own right.

The logic is that without Mary there would be no Ella and without Ella no beautiful park or Museum. We owe a lot to Mary and the way she raised her daughter.” Upcoming meals will feature other members of the Merriman-Sharp family and other periods of Jackson history.

The Edible History: Mary Merriman dinner requires a paid reservation.

Cost for the meal, period beverage, and program is $35per person.

Contact the Museum for more information and for reservations at (517)787-2320.

3225 Fourth St.
Jackson, MI 49203

www.ellasharp.org


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Categories : Food News, Jackson, Michigan

Target – Edgewood Blvd

1 08 2008
  • 500 E. Edgewood Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-9084
  • Website
The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

Target?!  A grocery store?!  I know, I thought the same thing, but recently, I find myself drifting over towards the grocery section everytime I end up in Target.  Like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, Target has taken on the role of a hyper-market with their Super Target stores.  However, none in the Lansing area fall into this category.  They’re all just Target stores.

The grocery section isn’t very big and takes up just a few aisles in the store.  Being small, they don’t have a wide variety.  They carry all the staples and they carry brand names, but they don’t often offer more than one brand of the same product.  In reality, you could do all of your grocery shopping at a Target store.  It may not be the most cost effective, but you don’t have to deal with the mile long aisles of Meijer or Wal-Mart.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Grocery, Lansing, Reviews

Small Planet Reopens Tonight

1 08 2008

The Lansing State-Journal is running a story today about the reopening of the popular entertainment venue in East Lansing.  Small Planet, located at 16800 S. Chandler Rd., Suite 109, opened it’s doors at 3:00 for the first time in eight years. 

The first act will be Mason’s Case.  Cover is $5 for those 21 and over. 

Besides being a place for live music, Small Planet will have a full menu and bar, but they’re only open for dinner with a happy hour from 3:00 to 7:00 on weekdays. 

On the web:
Small Planet Website
Small Planet MySpace


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Categories : East Lansing, Food News

Now You Know How the Rest of Us Feel

31 07 2008

You can smoke in restaurants in Michigan, but apparently, you can only smoke approved cancer sticks at some joints.

“On Saturday my brother and I were enjoying breakfast at Fleetwood Diner (on South Cedar Street). This is our normal destination for meetings, and has been since the diner opened.

“As usual, when we finished our meal we sat and had cigarettes and talked about different issues.”

Suddenly the two men were asked to take it outside. It seems that the smoke from their peach-flavored cigarettes offended the nostrils of somebody who worked at the diner.

That’s how I feel every freaking time I walk into a restaurant that allows smoking, but I deal with it.  The Fleetwood just made a case for banning smoking in restaurants and they don’t even know it.  My nostrils are offended by all cigarettes…not just the flavored ones.  If you can you kick patrons out because you don’t like their certain cigs, you should ban smoking outright!


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Categories : Food News, Lansing, Politics

Press Release – East Lansing Taste of the Chamber

31 07 2008

Got this press release from the Lansing Regional Chamber.  I love “Taste of” events, but this one is way too expensive for me. 

Annual Taste of the Chamber Event to Showcase East Lansing’s Culinary Expertise
East Lansing Restaurants, Caterers, & Beverage Distributors to Highlight Networking Event

Area residents are invited to come et a Taste of the Chamber at the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce’s (LRCC) third annual Taste of the Chamber event held in East Lansing on July 31.  This fun-filled outdoor networking event features samples of the many culinary delights from East Lansing restaurants and caterers, as well as cold beer, wine, and soft drinks.  More than 400 Chamber members and guests are expected to attend.

Taste of the Chamber…East Lansing will be held from 5:30 PM until 8:30 PM on Thursday, July 31 in Downtown East Lansing, 230 Albert St., East Lansing.

“The Chamber’s summer networking event has always been the highlight of the summer for our members,” said Tim Daman, Vice President, Operations & Strategic Initiatives “The Taste of the Chamber event has really become a major event for the entire region to enjoy.  The fact that East Lansing has so many outstanding restaurants participating really makes this year’s even a must-attend affair.”

The list of participating businesses in this year’s Taste of the Chamber…..East Lansing event include: Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Food News

Distilleries to Sell Their Own Brews

30 07 2008

Now here’s a law that makes sense.

State distilleries can now sell their brews on site thanks to a new law.

In the past, distillers could only sell their products through a middleman. Now that they can sell the alcohol themselves, they will make more money which in turn means they will be able to try different products and offer more varieties.

Public Act 218’08 was passed by the Legislature on June 27th.  Governor Granholm signed the bill into law on July 24th.  The Michigan Brewing Company was on hand for the bill signing and sent the following press release.

PUBLIC ACT 218 BECOMES LAW – MBC SHARES THE WIN IN CREATION OF MICHIGAN’S NEW ‘MICRO-DISTILLERIES’ Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Food News, Politics

The Smoking Gun has been found…

30 07 2008

…and surprise!  The cause of the Salmonella outbreak in the US is tainted water in an irrigation system on a Mexican farm. 

“We have a smoking gun, it appears,” said Dr. Lonnie King, who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Both farms shipped through a packing facility in Nuevo Leon, raising the possibility that contamination could have occurred there.

Needless to say, tomato farmer’s are a little pissed. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Food News

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