Happy’s Pizza – Lansing

14 09 2008
  • 6045 S. Cedar St.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 272-7777
  • Website
  • Menu
Happys Pizza on the corner of Cedar and Miller in Lansing.

Happy's Pizza on the corner of Cedar and Miller in Lansing.

What a miserable day.  It hasn’t stopped raining since Friday and that’s made it hard to work up the ambition to do anything but lay on the couch and watch TV.   Good thing there’s a NASCAR race on today.  We had talked about going to Okemos to pick something up, but ultimately, we both decided neither of us wanted to do much of anything except lay around and be lazy.

We had been watching the progress at the old BP station on the corner of Miller and Cedar that was being turned into a Happy’s Pizza.  Not being from Michigan, I had never seen a Happy’s Pizza before.  They got their start in 1994 in the Detroit area.  Since then, they have expanded a lot in Southeast Michigan.  Currently, they’re heading west and even starting to look at expansion in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana.

Lunch was becoming a problem.  We were both hungry but too lazy to actually do anything about it.  Earlier this week,  Runs With Spatula put up a post about Happy’s opening.  J and I talked about it all week.  She finally suggested if I could reach my cell phone on the coffee table, we should order pizza.  Grudingly, I got up and checked out the Happy’s Pizza website where I found a coupon for 12 wings,a  2-liter of Pepsi and a large pizza for about $16.  Since I was already up, I grabbed my cell phone and called in an order. Read the rest of this entry »


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

7-Eleven – Holt

12 09 2008
  • 1997 Aurelius Rd.
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 694-4906
  • Website
The 7-Eleven store on Aurelius Road in Holt

The 7-Eleven store on Aurelius Road in Holt

It’s not very often that J makes me crave something, but tonight, she did.  When she came home for dinner, she had to weave through the madness that was the gas stations in this town today.  Because people are stupid and will believe anything they hear, lines were forming in the streets on Pennsylvania and Cedar.  She had to weave through all this mess just to get home, so when it was time to go back, she didn’t want to mess with trying to get the Slurpee-type drink from Speedway which she was craving.  Just talking about it made me crave one.

Even though it was much later and all the rumors about $6 gas turned out to be untrue, I didn’t want to mess with trying to get to a gas station, so I went the other way and went to Holt.  7-Eleven occupies the corner of Holt and Aurelius Roads in the village.  It has been a few years since I’ve been in a 7-Eleven.  The convenience stores are prevalent in Chicagoland, but not where I grew up about an hour south.  7-Eleven was a treat when we would stop before or after a White Sox game at Comiskey Park.  We figured since they sponsor the White Sox (all home games start at 7:11 PM CST), we’d support them right back.  That’s what happens when your family watches NASCAR.  You support the sponsors of you’re favorite driver/team. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Holt, Michigan, Reviews

Pizza House

1 09 2008
  • 4790 S. Hagadorn Rd. #116
  • East Lansing, MI 48823
  • (517) 336-0033
  • Website
  • Menu
The Pizza House in East Lansing. A little slice of Chicago in Mid-Michigan

The Pizza House in East Lansing. A little slice of Chicago in Mid-Michigan

The quest for the perfect pizza took me to East Lansing after getting several recommendations for the Pizza House in Hannah Plaza.  My family was in town and we spent the day in Frankenmuth.  As we were leaving, we debated on whether or not to go in to Detroit for dinner and gambling.  That was eventually shot down and my dad said he just wanted pizza.  Since the Pizza House has been so highly recommended, I thought that was a safe bet.  If you remember my review of Pisanello’s Pizza (review HERE) in Mt. Pleasant, you’ll recall that everyone in my family likes a different type of pie, so pizzaria’s can be a challenge.

I had a little bit of trouble finding Pizza House at first.  We put the address in the GPS and it brought us the right area, but as the GPS was saying “Arriving at Pizza House on right” I couldn’t see any signs for it.  We were at Hannah Plaza, so I assumed it was in there.  I turned into the parking lot and J saw the sign for it.  The building is nothing special.  Just your typical strip mall pizza joint….or is it? Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : East Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews

Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill

1 09 2008
  • 281 Heinlein Strasse
  • Frankenmuth, MI 48724
  • (989) 652-6060
  • Website
  • Menu
Sullivans Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill in Frankenmuth, MI

Sullivan's Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill in Frankenmuth, MI

My parents have been to Lansing several times since I moved here from Central Illinois.  On I-94 going through Indiana, they always see a billboard for Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland.  Christmas is a big deal in my family and this year it’s even more special. My brother and his wife are expecting my parents first grandchild.  My mom, dad, and aunt decided to come north for Labor Day and I suggested we drive over to Frankenmuth to check out the town.  I heard it was pretty touristy and it was.

Before we did the tourist thing, we needed to find something for lunch.  My parents had been on the road since 8:00 AM CST and we arrived in Frankenmuth at about 2:00 EST.  Everyone kept saying, “Go to Zehnder’s” or “You have to eat at the Bavarian Inn.”  I did a little research and noticed the chicken dinners everyone raved about were $20/person, so that was out.  Seems pretty expensive…even for an all-you-can-eat.  I mean, really, it’s just chicken.  I didn’t get a whole lot of suggestions when I asked for one on Chowhound, but I ended up stumbling across a website for the Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill.

We ended up finding Black Forest right across the street from Bronner’s. My family was marveling at just how big the Christmas store was when I turned in the driveway for Black Forest.  They all turned around and said the same thing about the big, castle looking building we were now sitting in front of.   We hit up the brew pub during off peak hours.  It wasn’t quite lunch nor was it quite dinner.  We were right in between so there weren’t a whole lot of people in the restaurant at the time.  We were met at the door and show to a table in the dining area to the left of the bar.  Besides the bar area and the dining room, there was a four seasons patio not far from where we sitting.  Upstairs, there were big banquet rooms.  The dining room and bar area is realy spacious.  There are high exposed ceilings and lots of seating.  There is a big room enclosed in glass where the distillers sit.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Brew Pub, Burgers, Frankenmuth, Local Flavor, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

The Vault Delicatessen

29 07 2008
  • 368 S. Jefferson St.
  • Mason, MI 48854
  • (517) 676-2696
  • Website
  • Menu
The Vault Delicatessen in downtown Mason across from the Ingham County Courthose

The Vault Delicatessen in downtown Mason across from the Ingham County Courthose

I don’t remember where I first heard about The Vault, but I always have a thing for old bank buildings turned into restaurants.  The Vault sits on the corner of Jefferson and Ash in downtown Mason just across from the Ingham County Courthouse.  My actual purpose for a trip to Mason was to go to Merindorf Meats (review HERE), but since I was going that way, I thought it was a good excuse to check out The Vault.

The Vault is much more than a place to pick up a sandwich for lunch.  Besides the deli case, they offer a wide variety of gourmet ingredients from Olive Oil to salts.  They also sell the La Brea bread they use to make their sandwiches.  Inside the old vault (the actual bank vault) is their wine room.  I’m not a huge wine person so nothing in there meant anything to me, but I did step in to check out.  When I turned to walk out, some stickers plastered along the frame caught my eye.  They were the lock cleaning stickers dating back to the early 1900’s. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Deli, Downtown, Mason, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Steak ‘N Shake – Edgedwood Blvd.

30 06 2008
  • 540 E. Edgewood Blvd.Steak \'N Shake
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 272-3038
  • Website
  • Menu

I know.  I’m getting bad.  We’ve been going to a lot of fast food chains for lunch recently.  It’s not that there aren’t places we want to go, it’s just that we’ve been lazy.  We’ll be laying on the couch watching The Price Is Right and one of us will say “I’m hungry.”  Since my girlfriend needs to get ready for work, we really can’t drive somewhere and have a sit down meal, so we debate for twenty minutes on which greasy fast food we want.  Today, we were almost decided on Wendy’s when I said “Hey, what about Steak ‘N Shake?” 

Steak ‘N Shake is one of the few places that make me think of home in Eastern/Central Illinois.  Growing up, the 24-hour options were either Denny’s or Steak ‘N Shake.  I didn’t really like Denny’s.  While living in Central Illinois, I grew more found of the place because of it’s history.  The original Steak ‘N Shake was in a gas station in Normal, IL (the home of Illinois State University), so there were Steak ‘N Shake’s all over the place.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : 24-Hour Diner, Burgers, 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

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