Starbucks Coffee – Downtown East Lansing

29 01 2009
  • 401 E. Grand River Avenue
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 332-0398
  • Website
  • Menu
Starbucks Coffee on Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing

Starbucks Coffee on Grand River Avenue in downtown East Lansing

When we were hanging out in Chicago Thanksgiving weekend, we tried four or five times to stop in a Starbucks so J could try their Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate.  None of the Starbucks we passed had any tables and the lines were out the door, so we ended up settling on a Dunkin Donuts and just got some regular hot chocolate.  It didn’t hurt my feelings.  I loathe Starbucks and everything it stands for.  Back in Peoria, I had a co-worker who stopped every morning and if we happened to be in a car together, I knew she was going to wine until I stopped so she could get an overpriced coffee.

After dinner at Brother’s Grill, I was standing outside taking a picture for the blog.  When I turned around, J was gone.  I thought maybe she started walking back towards the car.  Fortunately for me, she wears a bright colored coat.  I happened to catch a glimpse of that coat out of the corner of my eye in line at the Starbucks that sits right next door. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Coffee, Downtown, East Lansing, Reviews

Brother’s Grill

29 01 2009
  • 403 E. Grand River Avenue
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 333-6939
  • Website
  • Menu
Brothers Grill in downtown East Lansing

Brother's Grill in downtown East Lansing

A few weeks ago I was watching the 11:00 news and saw a story about the Michigan Business Tax.  The reporter took the angle of what a new business has to deal with when starting up in Michigan.  The business they chose to talk to was Brother’s Grill in East Lansing.  Before that story, I had never heard of Brother’s Grill….and with good reason, they had just opened their doors that week.

The later it gets in the week, the less I feel like cooking dinner.  Before J left for work, I asked what she wanted and she didn’t really come up with anything.  Before walking out the door, she asked if I just wanted to pick her up and we could go out to eat.  I didn’t argue.  I suggested Brother’s Grill in East Lansing.  The menu looked good and there’s not much info on the place on the web yet.  She liked the idea so that’s what we did.

Brother’s Grill is on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing in the old Big Ten Burrito location.  It’s sandwiched between Starbucks and SBS.  I knew it was on Grand River, but I didn’t know where.  As we drove along the stretch of road in the downtown area of East Lansing, I asked J to keep an eye out for it.  Neither one of us saw it, so I turned around and headed back the way we came.  I finally noticed it as we came up to the stoplight at Charles Street.  They don’t have a lighted a sign.  Just a painted window and a small wooden sign above the door.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Burgers, Downtown, East Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Restaurant Openings!

12 01 2009

Hey, here’s some good news instead of the usual “guess what closed today.”  I’ve noticed a couple new restaurants in the area recently.

First, we noticed a taco stand in the abandoned coffee place between Holt and Mason sort of near the skating rink.  I didn’t catch a name and it was closed by the time we were heading back to Lansing.  I can’t even tell you what used to be in the building to try and help pin down the location because whatever it was had been closed since we’ve been in the area.   One night when I’m on my own for dinner I’ll probably run down there and give it a try.

The other is Brother’s Grill in East Lansing.  I saw a story on WLAJ last week about the Michigan Business Tax and they talked to this place which I had never heard of.  I did a quick Google search and found a website at http://www.brothersgrillmsu.com.  It looks to be in the old Big Ten Burrito location on Grand River Avenue.  It also looks like the kind of place J and I would enjoy, so I would expect a reveiw from there fairly soon. 

Anyone else seen new places opening up in Mid-Michigan recently?


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Categories : East Lansing, Food News, Holt

Harrison Roadhouse Goes Smoke Free

1 01 2009

Saw this story on WLNS’ noon show today. 

An East Lansing restaurant is making it’s New Year’s resolution very public… it’s going *smoke free.*

The Harrison Roadhouse will officially make the move Thursday.

Just in time for it’s New Year’s day Bowl party for Michigan State University.

The operations manager says he’s been an opponent of the statewide smoking ban for a number of years and adds at this time…there’s enough people in the East Lansing area that want smoke-free dining.

All I can say is good for them.  We ate at Harrison Roadhouse back in the spring (review HERE) and really liked the place.  Going smoke free makes a second visit even more appealing.


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Categories : East Lansing, Food News, Michigan

Free Food For a Year?

16 12 2008

I get an e-mail this afternoon that was forwarded to me by a source. 

Toppers Pizza at 1219 E Grand River Ave, East Lansing is giving away free
food for a year to the first 50 walk in customers this Saturday. They open
at 10:30am.

And of course, I thought, “no way.”  Free food for a year?  For 50 people?  I did a little digging.  There was a phone number attached and the area code of that phone number was for the Madison, WI area.  I found the Topper’s website and they are based in Madison.  While I’m at the website, I click on the “news” link to see if they have anything and what do you know?  They do!  Free food for a year for the first 50 walk in customers starting at 10:30 AM on Saturday morning. 

I’m heading to Illinois this weekend for work, but maybe I can convince J to freeze her ass off for free food 🙂


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Jack Breslin Student Events Center

7 12 2008
  • 1 Birch Road
  • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • (517) 432-1989
  • Website
The view from our seats for a Michigan State basketball game at the Breslin Center

The view from our seats for a Michigan State basketball game at the Breslin Center

A year ago, when I stood in the Peoria Civic Center and watched Bradley University almost upset Michigan State, I never imagined that I would see this year’s Bradley/MSU from a seat in the Breslin Center.  Earlier in the week, J and I made sugar cookies like we do every year from my grandma’s recipe.  She took a few to work and one of her co-workers said he’d like some more.  He’s got access to MSU basketball tickets and I offered up a trade.  Two dozen home made sugar cookies for two tickets to the Michigan State vs. Bradley basketball game.  I lived up to my end of the bargain and two days later, J came home with a pair of tickets.

I have been to a number of college basketball games, but surprisingly, never as a spectator.  I do a lot of work for sports networks that broadcast these games and that’s how I usually go…including last year’s MSU/Bradley game that was aired on ESPNU.  I had been to the Breslin Center one other time, but that was for a volleyball game earlier in the year, so I was really looking forward to getting to go to a game.  J had never been to a college basketball game either, so it was a treat for both of us.

Before we ever got inside the Breslin Center, I already had a sour taste in my mouth.  Parking sucks.  Really sucks.  I tried looking online for a parking map before we left, but couldn’t find anything.  There were no signs directing you to a public lot and everything near the arena had a temporary sign out front that said those lots were for passes only.  I finally found a paid lot on Kalamazoo heading back towards Lansing and by the time we got there, it was almost full.  We were one of the last cars they let in and one of the parking attendants had to move their car to create more parking spaces.  The spaces were really tight and my mid-size truck didn’t want to fit very well.  Had we not left the game five minutes early, leaving would have been a mess. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Big Ten Tour, East Lansing, Live Entertainment, Michigan, Reviews

Cosi

7 12 2008
  • 301 E. Grand River Avenue
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 332-6500
  • Website
  • Menu
Cosi on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

Cosi on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

Cosi is another one of those places that remind me of Chicago.  It was about eight years ago that a DJ friend of mine introduced me to the chain when he took me to a store on the north side of Chicago.  I went back to that store on Clark and Belmont a few times, but I also made several stops at a location in the Loop while I was interning at Fox Sports Net Chicago.  When I moved away from the Chicago suburbs, it was four years before I saw another Cosi.  Not long before I left Illinois, Cosi opened a location in Uptown Normal (home of Illinois State University).  I took co-workers there after talking up their flat bread sandwiches.  Most of them didn’t agree with me, but it was still a sandwich that I really liked.

J and I had walked past Cosi several times in East Lansing.  The store is located on Grand River Avenue across the street from Michigan State.  We had tickets to the Michigan State vs. Bradley University basketball game and wanted to grab lunch before heading over to the Breslin Center.  Since we gorged ourselves yesterday on pasta, bread, pizza, and gingerbread cookies, I decided on a healthier option than bar food.

It was J’s first time ever going to a Cosi, but this was the fourth different shop I had been in.  The others I’ve been in have all been very cramped and designed really awkwardly.  The shop in East Lansing was very spacious.  When you walk in, you have the option of going to a coffee bar or to go order sandwiches.  We headed to the right where the sandwich order line was.  The menu board was above the counter and was a little hard to read.  It was so far way from the front of the counter and a little high.  I found three or four sandwiches that looked good, but I always let J pick first. No sense in us getting the same sandwich.  That way we can share with each other and taste more of the menu.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Downtown, East Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Crunchy’s Burgers and Pizza – Revisited

17 11 2008
Crunchys in East Lansing. Picture taken in the spring of 2008

Crunchy's in East Lansing. Picture taken in the spring of 2008

I first reviewed Crunchy’s back in the spring not long after moving to Mid-Michigan.  That was the beginning of my quest for the best burger in Lansing.  I wasn’t overly impressed, but really liked the bar.  There were a few other things on the menu we were wanting to try and figured we’d get back there some day.  Fast forward six months.  I was working at Munn Ice Arena and J and I decided to meet up for dinner after the hockey game.  There’s not a whole lot of options after 10:00 other than pizza so J suggested we meet at Crunchy’s.

Saturday night is probably not the best night to go to a college bar if you’re not in college, but we knew that heading in.  J called ahead to see when the kitchen closed.  I was expecting to get done with work around 11 and the kitchen closed at 11:30, so we knew it was going to be close.  Turns out, I got done before 11 so we made it in plenty of time.  We were carded at the door and a waitress pointed out a table just inside the dining room that we could take.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Munn Ice Arena

16 11 2008
  • 1 Chestnut Rd.
  • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • (517) 353-4698
  • Website
One of the endzones at Munn Ice Arena. The view from my camera position.

One of the endzones at Munn Ice Arena. The view from my camera position.

I like hockey.  I like going to hockey games.  I like watching hockey.  I don’t do enough of either, so when I got a phone call to shoot CCHA hockey at Munn Ice Arena, I was pretty psyched.  I was just in Munn for the first time a week ago when I shot football across the street at Spartan Stadium and I thought then Munn would probably be a pretty good place to watch hockey.  I was right.

Munn Ice Arena is located on the campus of Michigan State University between Spartan Stadium and the Jack Breslin Student Events Center.   It’s a really interesting looking building.  Most of the arena is actually built into the terrain.  All you can see from the street is the roof of the building.  When you walk in, you’re at the concourse level and have to walk down to get to your seats.

Munn is a pretty good sized stadium for a hockey only arena.  The stadium holds almost 6500 people and most of those seats were pretty full the night I was there.  There are also suites on either side elevated above the seating area.  Most of the seating is bench seating, but the closer you get to the ice, there are some individual seats.  The interesting design thing, to me anyway, was the location of the team benches.  I don’t know if it’s unique to Munn or if it’s a college hockey thing (I come from an area where college hockey isn’t big, so I’ve never been to a game before). Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : East Lansing, Entertainment Venues, Michigan, Reviews

Spartan Stadium

9 11 2008
  • 248 Jennison Fieldhouse
  • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • (517) 355-1610
  • Website
A full endzone at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing

A full endzone at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing

Finally!  When we moved here, I was really hoping to shoot a football game at Spartan Stadium and Michigan Stadium.  Spartan Stadium finally happened.  Michigan Stadium will have to wait and hopefully happen next year.  I’ve now shot games at six of the eleven Big Ten football stadiums (Memorial Stadium (IL), Ross-Ade Stadium (Purdue), Ryan Field (Northwestern), Kinnick Stadium (Iowa), and Camp Randall (Wisc)).  From a working standpoint, Spartan Stadium doesn’t rate that high.  Lack of elevators and access knock it down a lot.  Putting the camera deck in a location that’s not cut off totally from the public knocks it down too.  Parking, however, is one of the best.  They let us park not far from the truck which is outstanding.  I don’t have to carry all the stuff I may need two miles.  I can leave my rain gear until it rains.

So, as most of you know, Spartan Stadium sits on the campus of Michigan State University near the other sports facilities on MSU’s campus.  The first thing I noticed is that it looks much bigger from the outside than it does inside.  The luxury suites and press box tower make it look huge, but that structure also takes away a lot of seats.  Still, the facility hold close around 75,000, so it’s not small either.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Big Ten Tour, East Lansing, Entertainment Venues, Michigan, Reviews

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