The Green Door Blues Bar & Grill

1 05 2009
  • 2005 E. Michigan Avenue
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 482-6376
  • Website
  • Menu
The Green Door Blues Bar & Grill on Michigan Avenue in Lansing.

The Green Door Blues Bar & Grill on Michigan Avenue in Lansing.

Have I mentioned that I love when J e-mails me from work and says she’s hungry for greasy bar food?  Man, I love that!  I was not in the cooking mood again as we were packing up for a trip back to Chicago.  For J’s birthday, I got her and her family tickets to see comedian Joel McHale at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN.  We were going to see McHale in Detroit back in January, but I had to work.  Since Hammond is about 15 miles from her parents south suburban home, I made up for missing the January show with four tickets to this show.

I’m starting to run out of ideas for greasy bar food, so I started looking at menus on Allmenus.com.  One of the places that came up that I never really thought about was The Green Door.  I ran it by J and she thought we would have enough time on her dinner break.

The Green Door Blues Bar & Grill is on Michigan Avenue at Clemens Avenue.  If you can find street parking along Michigan Avenue, there is a front door, but there’s also a City of Lansing lot behind the building.  If you park in back, there’s a door that leads right in to the bar on the backside of the building.

We parked in back and trekked through the alley which, like most of the streets in Lansing, has seen better days.  When we got inside, we were faced with a choice.  The Green Door is set up for live music which is really the main draw.  There are some tables in front of the stage, but there are also some higher pub tables on the other side of the room.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Lansing, Live Entertainment, Michigan, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Mama Bear’s – A Conscious Cafe

30 04 2009
  • 1224 Turner Street
  • Lansing, MI 48906
  • (517) 485-6262
  • Website
  • Menu
Mama Bears - A Conscious Cafe in Old Town

Mama Bear's - A Conscious Cafe in Old Town

It’s the end of the month again which means J and I head to Delta Township to get her hair cut.  While she’s doing that, I drive around town, run errands, and of course, scout out new places to eat.  In City Pulse’s Top of the Town Awards, I noticed a cafe in Old Town that racked up a few awards.  I couldn’t find much other than a Myspace page on the place, but it sounded good to me.

Mama Bear’s Cafe is on Turner Street in Old Town half a block off of Grand River Avenue.  I drove by the building four times trying to find it.  It’s a big grey building with a black awning.  There is a logo on the awning, but it’s hard to see from the street.  I did finally find it and after I picked J up, headed back to Old Town for lunch.

We parked on the street a few doors down from the cafe and walked back.  The cafe is pretty small, but very cute.  The order counter is near the front.  The dining room are heavy wood tables which are scattered throughout the space.  Next to the counter on either side is a pastry case with all sorts of goodies including some that are vegan. 

We stopped in closer to 1:30 which would have been after the lunch rush.  The lady working told us they had a pretty busy lunch and they were out of a few things.  There was no turkey left and they didn’t have everything to make the creole wrap which I think is the menu item J was looking at.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Cafe, Lansing, Michigan, Old Town, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Handy’s Food Market

30 04 2009
  • 424 W. Willow Street
  • Lansing, MI 48906
  • (517) 482-1156
  • No Known Website
Handys Food Market on Willow Street in Lansing.

Handy's Food Market on Willow Street in Lansing.

Handy’s Food Market is on Willow Street at the corner of Chestnutt.  It’s a really small building with just a little bit of street parking.  There were already three or four cars parked out front, so I had to go down the street a little ways to find a spot. 

Like I already mentioned, there isn’t a lot of room in the store.  There’s one shelf that runs through the middle of the store and divides the space in to two.  With the aisles that are left, there’s not enough room for two people to pass by comfortably. 

I found the spice section I was looking for, but again, couldn’t find what I was looking for.  I found whole ancho chile’s, but no powder.  Before I left, I also noticed some hanging above the counter, but still, no ancho chile powder. 

I didn’t look around too much, but the rest of the store was filled with staples of the Mexican pantry.  There was also a case up front that had some prepared food that looks like it just needed to be heated up again.  I didn’t ask questions and there wasn’t a whole lot of room to move. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Grocery, Lansing, Mexican, Michigan

Logan’s Roadhouse – Lansing

27 04 2009
  • 5800 W. Saginaw Highway
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 327-4751
  • Website
  • Menu

Logans Roadhouse in Delta Township

I never know what to do when my parents come to town.  They’re not very adventurous eaters so I always hesitate bringing them to someplace I’ve never eaten at.  Chains are always safe because the menus are usually big enough to have something they will eat. 

Saturday, my parents decided to come to town for the weekend.  They hadn’t been here since last fall due to the weather and since my mom had the weekend off, they made the trip north.  They timed it so they got here about a half hour before I got home from the spring football game.  J entertained them while I finished up.  After a quick shower, we headed out to find dinner.  I don’t think my parents had eaten yet and my mom was hungry.  We wanted to make a stop at Babies-R-Us anyway and since we’ve eaten at a Logan’s Roadhouse before (in East Peoria, IL), I thought it was a safe bet. 

Logan’s Roadhouse is in Delta Township near the Lansing Mall on Saginaw Highway.  The parking lot looked pretty full when we pulled up, but we noticed the same for most of the restaurants along this strip, so it’s not like we’d be better off going somewhere else.  Fortunately, the dining room is big. Actually, it’s pretty large.  We were met by a hostess who took us to a non-smoking table in the middle of the dining room near the kitchen. 

Logan’s really pulls off the Roadhouse theme.  The dining room has a tall ceiling and the rooms are spacious.  The floors are distressed woods that creak a little when you walk.  Those floor boards are covered with peanut shells.  Yup, Logan’s puts buckets of peanuts on the table and the shells end up on the floor.  I love that.  It reminds me of the place my mom works at in Illinois.  My mom did mention that the peanuts actually tasted fresh.  At her restaurant, they go through a lot, but they buy them in big 50 gallon drums, so it takes a while to go through them.  By the time you get to the bottom, the peanuts have a little bit of a staler taste.  Not these. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Burgers, Chains, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Rally’s Hamburgers – Oakland Ave.

24 04 2009
  • 505 E. Oakland Avenue
  • Lansing, MI 48906
  • (517) 482-6464
  • Website
  • Menu
Rallys Hamburgers on Oakland Avenue in Lansing.

Rally's Hamburgers on Oakland Avenue in Lansing.

If you follow this blog, you know my feelings on fast food and drive-thru’s.  I’m not a big fan.  So, it surprised even me when I decided to stop at Rally’s Hamburgers for a pre-Lugnuts game meal.

Rally’s Hamburgers is a drive-thru fast food chain with two locations in Lansing.  I chose the Oakland Avenue location since it was close to downtown.  It took me FOREVER to get there.  I really feel sorry for the businesses at the Oakland Avenue/Cedar Street intersection.  With the construction from the CSO project, there is really no easy way to get there if you miss the turn at Oakland Street like I did.  It was a long way around, but I finally did make it back.

There is a walk up window, but I decided just to do the drive thru.  There was a guy standing there who was leaning halfway through the window and talking to one of the workers.  I’m guessing he knew the lady working since he didn’t move the whole time I was there.  I turned in and headed right for the first drive up window.   Rally’s is a unique concept because there are actually two windows.  There is one on either side of the building.  Stupid me.  I just chose the one closest to where I was.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Burgers, Chains, Fast Food, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews

KFC Grilled Chicken

22 04 2009

Well, I didn’t plan on being home again last night, so I had nothing prepared for dinner.  Stupid rain screwing up my work schedule.  I started going through the cupboards to find food when J e-mailed me and said we should try KFC’s news grilled chicken.  It sounded good to me, so about a half hour before she’d be home for dinner, I headed to the KFC on South Cedar Street to pick up a bucket.

A fairly empty bucket of KFCs new grilled chicken

A fairly empty bucket of KFC's new grilled chicken

When I walked in, I was met by a clerk yelling from behind the counter that they were out of dark meat.  Yes, KFC, a chicken place, was out of chicken.  She just said they were out of original and extra crispy and didn’t say anything about the grilled chicken so I waited in line while a few other customers yelled at this poor girl for not having chicken.   I mean, really, it’s not her fault.  She’s not a manager.  She’s not a cook.  She was the poor girl who got stuck at the front register.  Apparently, KFC is running a special on an all dark meat bucket and they got swamped at dinner time and couldn’t keep up. 

When it was my turn to order, I asked if they had the grilled chicken.  She said she’d check and mistook that I wanted an all dark meat bucket.  She told me there wasn’t enough, but when I said I’d rather have the mixed bucket anyway, there was actually enough so I put in an order for the 8-piece meal which included two sides and biscuits.

I paid and waited for my chicken to come up and again, got the pleasure of seeing a number of @*&holes yell at this girl for something she had no control over.  Yeah, it sucks that you’re dinner plans just got ruined, but don’t be a jerk about it. 

Anyway, I grabbed my chicken then went home to wait for J.  I opened up the bucket and was a little disappointed.  It didn’t look anything like it does in the commercial.  The bucket was mostly empty.  At first, I thought I got shorted, but as I pulled the pieces out, I counted eight.  I didn’t get cheated, but the grilled chicken pieces are much smaller than the fried pieces.

A KFC grilled chicken breast

A KFC grilled chicken breast

While I was waiting for J, I ate the whole box of potato wedges which were much better than I remembered.  I felt bad about not waiting for J, but they were good and I was hungry.

When she finally did get home, we dug into the chicken.  It did have a nice grilled flavor, but it seemed a little greasy or slimy to me.  The size was the biggest disappointment.  I ate a whole breast in two bites.  J really liked it and didn’t seem to notice or mind the faults I found with it.  It’s definitely something we would order again, but it’s not going to replace fried chicken.  The healthier option is nice and I hope it sticks around, but it’d also be nice if they could find an efficient way to grill bigger pieces or, at the very least, charge a little bit less for the grilled chicken.  The two sides (I got potato wedges and mac ‘n cheese), biscuits (which are good, but not as good as Popeye’s) and eight pieces of chicken set me back just over $13.  Not a bad prices for a meal that left us with lunch for tomorrow, but not as good of a deal as the fried chicken.


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Categories : Chicken, Lansing, Michigan

Pizza Hut/WingStreet – Lansing

19 04 2009
  • 6200 S. Cedar Street
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 393-1565
  • Website
  • Menu
The Pizza Hut/WingStreet in South Lansing.

The Pizza Hut/WingStreet in South Lansing.

When I was growing up just south of Chicago, there was always a fight in my house about where to go for pizza.  I always wanted to go to Pizza Hut because I loved their bread sticks.  My dad and brother always wanted to go to Monical’s (a regional chain which I’ve blogged about before).  I usually lost. 

To this day, I still really like Pizza Hut’s breadsticks.  The pizza is alright, but nothing I really crave.  J and I have been saying for a year we needed to check out the Pizza Hut Italian Bistro on Cedar Street.  The commercials always made the pasta look really good.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed the “Italian Bistro” signs coming down and “WingStreet” signs going up.  I do like me some wings, so we finally got around to trying something other than pizza at Pizza Hut.

The Lansing Pizza Hut is on the south side of town on South Cedar across the street from Meijer.  It sits in the corner of a strip mall that also has an Applebees and Finlay’s.  We decided to hit up Pizza Hut for a Sunday night dinner.  It was about 5:30 when we pulled in to the parking lot.  That’s important to remember.

When you enter the store, you come in t the carry out counter.  There were a few people in front of us picking up pizza and we didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, so J went right up to the hostess stand and waited.  Fortunately, we were noticed right away and taken to a booth.  Later in the night, we may have had to wait several minutes until someone noticed us. 

The dining room was much nicer than any Pizza Hut either of us remembered.  J can only faintly eating at one a long time ago, but what she remembers is that everything was red except for the lights which were green.  This dining room had a more intimate setting like….wait for it….an Italian bistro.  All kidding aside, the dining room was actually pretty nice and not what I think of when I think of Pizza Hut. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

LeRoy’s Classic Bar & Grill

18 04 2009
  • 1526 S. Cedar St.
  • Lansing, MI 48910
  • (517) 482-0184
  • No Known Website
  • Menu
LeRoys Classic Bar & Grill on South Cedar Street in Lansing.

LeRoy's Classic Bar & Grill on South Cedar Street in Lansing.

You know how there’s always a place you drive by but never stop at?  LeRoy’s was that place for us.  In fact, we drive by it so much, J actually thought we had eaten there before.  It just seemed familiar because we take that route to downtown Lansing quite often, but it’s a place we had neglected.  There wasn’t a reason we never stopped.  I just never thought of it when it came to dinner time.

J and I left downtown after spending the afternoon at Oldsmobile Park.  By the time we hopped back in the car, I was really hungry and wanted something really greasy.  I heard somewhere that LeRoy’s had a pretty good burger and it was on the way home, so we finally stopped neglecting the little neighborhood bar.

LeRoy’s Classic Bar & Grill is on South Cedar Street at Baker.  There’s a parking lot on the north side of the building and behind the building.  It was still pretty early on a Saturday night, so parked in the lot on the north and entered through the front door which opens out to Cedar Street.

We didn’t make it to far past the bar once we got inside.  It took my eyes a second to adjust as it was pretty dark.  There are a couple booths along the wall just inside the door and I suggested we grab one of those so we’d be noticed by the bartender. 

There was only one menu on the table, but since no one was sitting in the booth behind us, I reached back and grabbed the one off that table so we didn’t have to share.  The bartender noticed us right away and came over for drink orders.  We were both a little dehydrated from sitting outside all day, so we stuck with soft drinks.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Burgers, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews

Quality Dairy – Saginaw & Cedar

17 04 2009
  • 500 E. Saginaw Street
  • Lansing, MI 48906
  • (517) 319-4120
  • Website
The Quality Dairy on Saginaw Street at Cedar Street in Lansing.

The Quality Dairy on Saginaw Street at Cedar Street in Lansing.

Guess what?  I needed a Pepsi.  I left Oldsmobile Park after a heartbreaking Lugnuts lost and I was really thirsty.  I knew there was a Quality Dairy close that I hadn’t been to so I turned the truck around and headed to the Quality Diary.

This Quality Dairy is on the corner of East Saginaw and North Cedar Streets.  There is actually an entrance off Larch Street as well, but you have to go through a large parking lot to get to the building.

The building is weird.  The Saginaw Street side sits pretty close to the road.  There’s just enough room to park along side the building and the door looks more like a back door than an entrance.  There are no windows along that side of the street, but it is actually an entrance.  The Cedar Street side looks more like the main entrance with the typical store front.

I didn’t know any better and that’s where I parked.  When you go inside, the liquor section is off to the left and there’s a cash register back there as well. The fountain pop machine was just off to the right, so I grabbed my cup and filled up. 

I didn’t eat anything at the ballpark, so I was also really hungry.  I had considered just getting a cold meat sandwich like I did a few weeks ago at the QD in Charlotte, but as I was walking to the register, I noticed some pizza that was being sold by the slice.  The price was only $1.25 a slice, so I grabbed a paper boat and put a couple slices in there. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Grocery, Lansing, Michigan, Pizza

Work at Charlie Kang’s II?

16 04 2009
Workers painting the old Charlie Kangs II on South Cedar in Lansing.

Workers painting the old Charlie Kang's II on South Cedar in Lansing.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that there was a couple large dumpsters outside Charlie Kang’s II on Cedar Street in Lansing.   We assumed someone was doing so renovating to open a new restaurant, but weren’t 100% sure.  There were no signs or anything, so I didn’t say anything. 

Today, I stopped at the Speedway next door to get a Frozen Coke and noticed some pretty big changes.  There were four guys outside the building painting it bright orange.  I would say that we should be seeing some pretty big changes over the next few weeks.  If anyone knows anything, some info would be appreciated…if not, I’ll keep you updated on what I see.


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Categories : Food News, Lansing, Michigan

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