Leo’s Outpost

11 07 2008
  • 600 S. Pennsylvania
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 367-7755
  • Website
  • Menu
Leos Outpost on S. Pennsylvania Ave.

Leo's Outpost on S. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing

It’s time to go grocery shopping again and I didn’t feel like doing it today, so I picked my girlfriend up from work and took her out for a Friday night dinner.  We both really liked Leo’s Lodge when we ate there a week or so ago, so we decided to give Leo’s Outpost a try. 

As we pulled up to the log cabin style building on south Pennsylvania, we were concerned we weren’t going to be able to get a table.  The parking lot alongside the building was packed.  We turned down a side street next to Leo’s and found another parking lot which wasn’t as full.  There are two entrances to the building.  There’s one off of Pennsylvania and another on the side of the building.  We entered through the side door which brought us to the bar.  Just like Leo’s Lodge, the interior is decorated like a rustic cabin you’d like to find in the Upper Pennisula.  There are deer heads mounted on the wall alongside birds that have been stuffed.  The entire interior is sided with the same log cabin look that dominates the outside.  Just like it’s sister restaurant, the chairs had the wicker weave for the seat and back.  The bar and dining room was seperated by a decorative brick half wall.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Lansing, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews

Mayfair Bar

7 06 2008
  • 1585 Lake Lansing Rd.Mayfair Bar
  • Haslett, MI 48840
  • (517) 339-3880
  • Website
  • No Menu Online

I had to run some errands in the Okemos area one Saturday and had been looking forward to trying Mark’s Watershed.  Unfortunately, when we got out there, Mark’s looked closed and no one answered when we called.  I kept going down Lake Lansing to turn around and saw a brick building with a sign outside that said Mayfair Bar.  We figured what the heck.  The sign had a hamburger on it, so they must serve food.  We parked in front and ventured inside the dark bar.

When I say dark, I mean dark.  It took my eyes a few minutes to adjust.  My girlfriend just grabbed my arm and told me to find a table because she couldn’t see anything.  The bar is set-up into two rooms with a bar in the middle.  We found a booth near the bar and right on the dance floor.  There was just one waitress/bartender working the whole room.  She noticed us right away and came over with menus.  There’s not a whole lot of options.  Some hamburgers, appetizers, and sandwiches.  Some of the appetizers looked really good.  Fried ravioli.  Fried mac ‘n cheese wedges.  Some really unique options for a bar like this. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Burgers, Haslett, Local Flavor, Reviews, Sandwiches

Kelly’s Downtown

31 05 2008
  • 203 S. Washington Sq.Kelly's Downtown
  • Lansing, MI 48933
  • (517) 484-5007
  • Website
  • Menu

My girlfriend and I were checking out the city courtesy of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitor’s Bureau “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” (which is an incredible event and I would definately recommend you check it out next year.)  Around lunch time, we made it downtown and decided to hit up Washington Square for lunch.  At first, we stopped into Tavern on the Square, but the menu kind of sucked.  There were no sandwiches and it was pretty expensive.  We were just looking for a quick lunch so we could keep touring the town.

Across the street sat Kelly’s.  So we got up and left Tavern on the Square and crossed the street.  There was a patio outside, but we chose to go inside and found a table near the front of the shop.  There’s a huge bar in the middle of the space with seating all the way around.  We sat down and waited five to ten minutes for the lone waitress/bartender to even acknowledge us.  She yelled across the bar to get our drink orders then a bus boy actually brought them out.  After a few more minutes, she yelled across the bar to take our order as well.

My girlfriend got Kelly’s Thatsa Wrap which is listed as vegetarian, but offers options to add grilled chicken which she did.  The wrap comes standard with tomatos, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and mushrooms inside a flour tortilla.  Besides the chicken, she got ranch on the side and added fries to her order.  She seemed to really like the wrap and had some fries left over for me.  She said the cucumbers were a good addition changing the texture and the flavor of what you usually expect in a wrap like this.

I got the Bear Burger.  It was a 1/3 lb sirloin burger with crumbled bleu cheese and bacon.  The burger was obviously a frozen patty.  It was really greasy.  I picked the sandwich up and it was wet.  At first, I was afraid it wasn’t done.  There was a puddle of grease on the bottom that I almost mistook for blood.  I bit into it anyway and it was done, but it was really greasy.  Fortunately, the bleu cheese covered most of that up.  I did a double check just to make sure there was bacon on there.  It kind of got lost in all the wetness.

After the initial delay in getting to us, the waitress did a much better job.  Our drinks never got empty and she got the check to us pretty quickly.  For the two of us, it was about $20, but we ended up spending more time in the restaurant than we really wanted to.  Really it was only about forty minutes, so it’s not terrible and normally I wouldn’t complain.  I’ve read a lot of good reveiws about this place, but it didn’t do anything for me.  My burger wasn’t very good and places like this I usually expect more.  I just haven’t had much luck with the downtown restaurants yet.  I’m still looking for that place near the Capitol that is worth getting in the car and paying parking for.   Kelly’s would probably be a great night spot, but for lunch, it just didn’t do anything for me.


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Categories : Burgers, Dive Bar, Irish Bar, Lansing, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Harrison Roadhouse

4 05 2008
  • 720 Michigan Ave.Harrison Roadhouse
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 337-0200
  • Website
  • Menu

This is a concept I saw all the time living near old Route 66 in Illinois, but not something I’ve seen a lot of in Michigan….take an old gas station and turn it into a garage themed restaurant/bar….and that’s exactly what Harrison Roadhouse is.  The Roadhouse was originally Duke’s Shell station.  In 1981, someone had the idea to turn the building into a restaurant.  Today, the old bay doors are windows and the ceiling beams are covered with license plates from all over the country. 

Surprisingly, the actual dining room isn’t that big.  When you walk in, you come right into a waiting room.  Past the hostess station, there is a small dining room with tables on either side and just enough room for to walk single file.  To the left of that is a bar that sits elevated from the rest of the dining space.  On that platform, there are a few pub tables, the bar and then a drink bar where you can stand, but still have a place to set a drink down.  Once you get past the bar, there’s another dining room where the tables are packed in pretty tight and then a couple private party rooms plus an outdoor patio with a fire place.

We probably chose a bad day to eat at the Harrison Roadhouse.  MSU had graduations, so there were a lot of big parties.  It was raining so we couldn’t sit outside.  I ran in to check with the hostess to see about the wait.  She handed me the buzzer thing and by the time I called my parents and girlfriend who were waiting in the car to tell them to come in, my buzzer went off.  We were shown to a table in the main dining room.  I think we were the only small party other than one table behind us.  Every other table was pushed together to accomodate huge parties.

We chose Harrison because the menu looked different.  We all started with Coke’s then skipped the appetizer and went straight for sandwiches.  I got the Roadie Dip which is a French dip served on a Ciabatta roll with a side of Au Jus and fries.  I love Ciabatta bread, so that was a real treat.  The meat was good, but the Au Jus was a little heavy on onion.  Nothing overpowering, but noticeable.  I don’t know how to explain the fries.  They almost looked and felt like fresh cut fries that were breaded and deep fried.  They were alright, but definately different.

My girlfriend got the Rt. 66 Rollup.  Grilled chicken breast tenders were covered in a hot sauce that was tangy and had quite a kick then rolled with lettuce, tomatos, and bleu cheese in a flour tortilla.  Her sandwich also came with those same fries.  She likes spicy and that’s probably a good thing as the chicken was really spicy.  She’s become a big fan of bleu cheese lately and that’s what made her order rollup….and we all know how well hot sauce and bleu cheese go together.

My mom got the BBQ chicken sandwich.  She got a fried chicken breast served with lettuce, tomato, BBQ sauce, onions, and cheddar cheese served on a kaiser roll.  She had to take some of the toppings off to get to the chicken because there was so much.  She got onion rings instead of fries and was happy with them. She prefers the rings whole, battered and deep fried whereas my dad prefers bites, so you don’t pull the onion out of the breading.  Neither had a problem with these onion rings.

My dad surprised me and got the Buffalo Melt.  Surprising to me because that’s a 1/2lb buffalo burger served with sauteed onions on grilled rye bread.  I wasn’t 100% sure that he knew he was ordering buffalo meat and not hamburger meat with a “buffalo” sauce or something.  I was more worried when he called it a a “glorified patty melt”  When I asked him about it later he said he didn’t realize it at first and thought he was just getting a regular patty melt, but the buffalo tasted a lot like hamburger and he actually really liked the sandwich.  The bread was different and the meat was nice and juicy.

The four of us ate for less than $50.  The atmosphere is really neat, but the place is really, really loud and it was really full.  There were a few people at the bar just screaming at TV’s while watching the Kentucky Derby and the sound carried.  It was hard to carry on a conversation or communicate with the waitress.  The food was really good and I would suggest going back to try a different sandwich.  As long as your not going for conversation, Harrison Roadhouse is a really neat place.


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Categories : Bar, Burgers, East Lansing, Pub, Reviews, Sandwiches

Barley’s American Grill

17 04 2008
  • 727 E. Miller Rd.Barley's
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-7297
  • Website
  • Menu

I picked my girlfriend up from work on a Thrusday night for a quick dinner break.  I had drove by Barley’s a few night’s earlier and wanted to check it out.  I figured this was as good as time as any.

Barley’s is a pretty unique bar/restaurant.  When you walk in, you actually walk into a huge pool room.  It’s more of a pool hall feel than a bar.  Take a right and you hit the bar.  Go a little bit farther and you hit the dining room.  Nice, spacious area surrounded by TV’s and cut off from the pool room and the bar to make a nice cozy setting.

We took a booth near the back and got menus.  I had eaten burgers for the last three meals so I wanted something else.  That something else was the Hot Cheesey Italian.  Italian meats piled high on buttered, toasted bread.  Between that was both cheddar and provolone cheese.  This sandwich was surprsingly good.  Little things like toasting the bread just made the sandwich so much better.  The fries that came with it were actually fresh cut and had a hint of a cajun seasoning on them.

My girlfriend got the crunch chicken wrap.  Instead of grilling chicken and putting it in a wrap, they deep fry some chicken tenders, cut them up, and put them in the traditional chicken wrap which also included mayo, lettuce and tomato.  Her complaint with the sandwich was the tomatos.  The chicken was hot and crunchy while the tomatos where cold.  She said the contrast of hot and cold made the sandwich a little difficult to eat, but she made it most of the way through.  Had the tomatos been at least room temperature, there wouldn’t have been any complaints.  Like me, she noticed the fresh cut fries and appreciated the cook taking an extra five seconds.

The damage was $20 before tip.  The food was really good for bar food.  The cook/chef took the extra time to develop a menu that goes beyond grease and wings and developed a diverse collection of favorites.  We accidently stumbled upon Barley’s, but it’s location combined with the great bar sets it up for a return trip


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

Art’s Bar and Grill

13 04 2008
  • 809 E. Kalamazoo St.Art's Bar and Grill
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517)482-8328
  • No Known Website
  • Menu

Art’s Bar and Grill claims to be Lansing’s oldest sports bar serving up award winning pizza and out of the ordinary pub food. After doing some Internet research, my girlfriend and I decided to give it a shot for a Saturday night dinner.

We both had a few reservations as we were heading to the bar.  The neighborhood surrounding Art’s is full of rundown buildings and it just didn’t look that inviting…nor did the exterior of Art’s, but we thought we’d give it a chance anyway since it has been highly recommended on the web.

When you walk in, you come right to the main dining room.  There’s also a bar area to the back and video games are spread throughout the space.  We found a table near the back of the dining room near the shuffleboard table.   There was only one waitress working the entire restaurant and she was busy.  She noticed us right away and yelled over that she’d be right there.  After unloading her tray
filled with drinks, she came over with menus and took our drink order.  After coming back with drinks we were ready to order.

My girlfriend went with the chicken strip basket.  Deep fried chicken strips and fresh cut fries.  YES!  FRESH CUT FRIES!  This place already scores extra points with me.  She liked the chicken and the fries and the portion size was more than enough for her with a little left over for me so I could get a quick bite of the chicken.

I went for a house special.  Art’s Burger.  I didn’t realize what I was getting into when I ordered this.  1lb. of burger broken up into two 1/2lb patties that had a 2oz. slice of ham wedged between them.  With cheese on top, this made for one helluva sandwich.  I couldn’t even get the thing in my mouth.  The burger was nice and juicy and the ham and bun were both toasted adding this amazing flavor.  The burger came with chips on the side and a pickle.  The waitress asked me if I wanted fries and I said yes assuming that the fries would replace the chips, but they didn’t.  I got a huge side of the fresh cut fries on top of the meal. I think it goes without saying, but I definately did not leave the table hungry.

Art’s was a chance we took and we’re both so glad we did.  The clientel was all over the board including many different social groups.  Art’s has great pub food in a great atmosphere.  From my table I could see at least three different TV’s including a giant screen projection in the corner.  After a little hesitation up front, we will probably be going back to Art’s regularly.

 


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Categories : Burgers, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Reviews, Sports Bar

The Post Bar

11 04 2008
  • 213 Ann St
  • East Lansing, MI 48823-4320
  • Phone: (517) 332-7678
  • Website
  • Menu

We were walking around downtown East Lansing on a Sunday afternoon looking for lunch when we came across The Post. It was a nice day, so we decided to eat out on the patio which was a good thing because (and here’s the I’m getting old in me) the music inside the restaurant was so loud we had a hard time just communicating with the waitress that we wanted to sit outside.

We took a table next to the building and the waitress came with drinks and menus. The first thing that just jumped off the menu were the appetizers. We usually don’t do apps for lunch but my date had to try the macaroni and cheese bites. Little chunks of Macaroni and cheese breaded and deep fried served with a side of ketchup on a bed of lettuce. Three hours later, she’s still saying they were “fantastic” and asking if I could make them here at home. Surprisingly, we got quite a few in the basket and they probably could have been a meal by themselves. Definately a unique and very taste idea.

For lunch, I went with The Post Burger with cheddar. Not a bad burger, but nothing special either. It was juicy and a decent size. The fries were crinkle cuts out of the bag. Between the sandwich, fries, and macaroni and cheese bites, I left stuffed.

My girlfriend ordered the Barbecue Ranch Chicken Salad. A bed of mixed greens was topped with grilled chicken, bbq sauce, avocado, bacon cucumber, onion, and shredded cheese then served with ranch on the side. The grilled chicken had a great flavor to it and the BBQ sauce was a KC sweet style. Even after raving about the cheese bites, she had enough compliments left for the salad.

With two Pepsi’s, the bill was just under $30. The Post is a great alternative to the chains and take out places near Michigan State and they provide a great atmosphere for both dining and a night out.


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

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