White Castle/Church’s Chicken – S. Cedar

27 06 2008

I hate White Castle.   That’s not necissarily a slam on the business.  I just don’t like thier slyders.  I’m not a huge onion fan and I really don’t like them on or in my burgers.  I’m well aware that people travel hours just to get to a White Castle, but I’ve never bought into it.  So when my girlfriend said she wanted something greasy for lunch, I was kind of surprised that she said White Castle.  I went along with it because this particular location also has a Church’s Chicken.  I figured I could get some chicken and she could get whatever greasy concoction her heart desired. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : 24-Hour Diner, Burgers, Chicken, Fast Food, Lansing, Restaurant, Reviews

KFC – S. Cedar

9 06 2008
  • 6600 S. Cedar St.KFC
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-9781
  • Website
  • Menu

I was all ready to fire up the grill and cook myself a nice, big T-Bone for dinner when, for the third night in a row, the Lansing area got pounded with heavy storms.  As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, I’m a former news photographer, so my girlfriend and I grabbed a camera and went storm and damage chasing.  Unfortunately for my T-Bone, the storm came during dinner time, so we needed a back-up plan.  We were on our way home, tired and wet when we remembered the KFC on the corner of Cedar and Pennsylvania.  A few days ago, we walked to Meijer to get some stuff and talked about trying the new Smoky Chipotle Crispy Chicken.  Since it was getting late and we were tired, this was as good a time as ever to give it a shot.

I’m not really a fan of Mexican food, but the one thing I use all the time in my own cooking is chile’s, dried chile’s and chile powder’s.  I have bags of Chili De Arbol and Ancho Chile Powder in my spice cabinet and there’s usually a can of chipotle’s in adobo in my fridge, so I was really looking forward to this chicken. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Restaurant, Reviews

Carlin’s Catch

6 06 2008
  • 1979 Aurelius Rd.Carlin's Catch
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 694-4020
  • No Known Website
  • Menu

I wasn’t planning on eating out, but an outbreak of severe weather late in the afternoon kept me glued to my scanner and Accuweather.  Being a former news photographer, I’m a weather junkie.  I’m still learning my way around Mid-Michigan, so it was hard trying to keep up with where the spotters were located, but that adrenaline that used to flow everytime the storm clouds built up started flowing again.  Because of that adrenaline, I wasn’t able to concentrate on cooking dinner.  My girlfriend called about the time she normally comes home and said she wasn’t going to be able to make it home for dinner so I figured, screw it, I’ll eat out.  I heard about Carlin’s Catch by reading about it on another blog.  It’s fairly close to my place so I jumped on Cedar St towards Holt. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicken, Holt, Local Flavor, Reviews

Ann Arbor to allow chickens in backyards

3 06 2008

How bad do you want fresh eggs?  In Ann Arbor, you’ll be able to actually keep chickens in your backyard.  No roosters.  Just hens.  I know most of you city folk are scratching your head right now wondering how you can get eggs without roosters.  Unlike mammals, eggs are fertilized AFTER the hen lays them, so no rooster is necessary to actually lay the eggs.  Rooster’s are not necessary to produce the egg.  They are necessary to produce a fertilized egg.  The eggs you buy at the store are usually unfertilized eggs.  The only place you would ever get fertizlized eggs would be a farm.

I don’t know if this is a good idea or not.  The ordinance will not allow the slaughter of the chicken and there’s no way for your chickens to reproduce so it would be a challenge to actually save money by raising chickens.  Most likely, you’re going to end up losing money.

Still, there are those in Ann Arbor who are excited. 

“I’d like my children to understand where food comes from. This is Ann Arbor, we’re different and we like it. We have dairies that deliver and community gardens. I’d would love to have this local food connection,” said Jennifer Hall.

Other comments during the public hearing that preceded the vote focused on the value of locally grown food and compatibility of backyard chickens with broader ideas about environmental sustainability.

Take your kids to a farm then.  I just can’t see why anyone would want to raise chickens in an urban environment.  Yes, the fresh eggs would be nice, but you’ll never be able to afford enough chickens to meet your demand.


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Categories : Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Food News

Chicken Coop

19 05 2008
  • 848 S. Kalamazoo St.Chicken Coop
  • Paw Paw, MI 49079
  • (269) 657-6136
  • No Known Website
  • No Online Menu

I was on my way back towards the Chicago area one day when I needed gas.  I got off in Paw Paw to stop at a Speedway and I noticed a sign across the street.  All it said was “Chicken.”  I looked down and saw a little restaurant that looks like it was a chain store at one time converted into a little chicken shack.  I figured what the heck.  I was hungry and not sure when I’d actually get a chance to eat again, so I stopped in.

When you walk in, you walk up to a counter and order.  The menu is is pretty much chicken and fish.  Off to the right there’s a dining room that didn’t look very inviting.  There’s a few booths then a few tables scattered in the remaining open area.  Behind the counter are the deep fryers so you can see your chicken getting fried.

I ordered the popcorn chicken basket.  You have a choice of a la carte, baskets, and meals (I think that was the word used…might have been platter or something similar…the point is, you get three choices).  Baskets Chicken Coopcome with a side and the meals get the side and a pop.  The popcorn chicken was dropped into the deep fryer when I was standing there, so there was a five minute wait.  It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but that’s not a bad thing.  Usually, popcorn chicken is little bite size pieces.  In this case, they were more like chicken chunks.  The order only came with five pieces which when you think popcorn chicken, doesn’t sound like a lot, but for the “popcorn chicken” that I got, it was actually a pretty substantial meal.  The side I got was fries, but they were what you’d expect.  The cook did take a little extra effort and dump the fries that were sitting under the warming light back into the fryer, so the fries were warm and crispy.

I found an article in the local paper that says The Chicken Coop won’t be at this location much longer.  Pretty soon there will be a Walgreens there.  That kind of sucks for the restaurant. I never would have found it and definately would not have stopped if it hadn’t been located right off the Interstate.  The food was alright, but it isn’t something that’s memorable. 


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Categories : Chicken, Fast Food, Paw Paw, Restaurant, Reviews

PETA Test Tube Chickens

24 04 2008

There are very few things in life I hate more than PETA.  Animals are food.  Just because you like eating weeds doesn’t mean I do.  Now, PETA is offering $1 million to anyone who can grow a “chicken” in a laboratory to be eaten.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the money would go to the first scientist who could create and market such a meat by the summer of 2012. The group said the scientist had to be able to produce the meat in large enough quantity so it could be sold in 10 U.S. states — at a price competitive to the prevailing chicken price.

Further, the meat had to have “taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat eaters and meat eaters alike.”

A taste-test panel would determine if the lab-produced meat fitted the criteria.

People already throw a fit about cloned meat, so why in the hell would they eat a chicken made in a test tube?  There are actually some good things about cloning.

For farmers, cloning is a way to preserve the genes of their best animals, Muir said. A farmer may breed a bull with several of his cows, but won’t know how well the offspring will perform until they are grown, at which point the bull may be gone.

In this way, cloning acts as an “insurance program” for breeders, Muir says, allowing them to preserve the genes of cows and bulls to create a clone for later breeding.

PETA, on the other hand, is selfish and just wants to make sure that food isn’t actually used for food.

Of course, humans don’t need to eat meat at all—vegetarians are less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, or various types of cancer or become obese than meat-eaters are—and a terrific array of vegetarian mock meats already exist. But as many people continue to refuse to kick their meat addictions, PETA is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn’t cause suffering and death.

You’re also more likely to be a douche.


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