The sign for Olde Peninsula Brew Pub in downtown Kalamazoo
After a weekend in Chicago, I had to drop my girlfriend off in Kalamazoo for work. Before we parted ways for the afternoon, we thought it’d be nice to check out what Kalamazoo has to offer in terms of restaurants. I saw a recommendation for Olde Peninsula on chow.com, so that’s what I went looking for.
Olde Peninsula is located on the corner of Michigan and Portage in what used to be known as the Big Corner. The first brew pub opened on St. Patrick’s day in 1896. The current incarnation opened after the 1980 tornado that almost destroyed the building. We walked into the building and found the hostess station near the door as an extension of the bar. The building is divided into two dining rooms. The smoking section also has the bar. The distillers are visible through a glass wall opposite the bar. The non-smoking section is divided by a wall that serves as the bar’s back wall. We were seated in a booth which was on a raised platform on this back wall.
The waitress came over for drinks and we stopped her from leaving to place our order right away. While there were several options that looked good, we were both in the mood for our usual sandwiches. I went with the Olde Smokey burger. The 1/2 lb burger was topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and a bbq sauce. The sandwich is served with a side of beer-battered fries. The sandwich was big. I had a hard time getting it in my mouth. The bacon was nice and crispy and the burger was just slightly pink which lended itself to a good flavor. I didn’t really notice the bbq sauce until the last couple bites where it had soaked into the bun. The fries were interesting. Beer-batterd fries aren’t usually my favorite, but the breading was not overpowering which made these better than normal. Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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