Joey’s Red Hots & Pizza (Orland Hills)
9135 W. 159th StreetI’ve explained over the last couple of posts I’ve written that we took a quick trip to Illinois last weekend for a figure skating competition and a memorial service. I’m not going to rehash too much of that but I feel like I need to give a little background.
J and L left Wednesday night for the figure skating competition in Flossmoor, IL. I didn’t want to use two vacation days and pull B out of school for two days so we came over on Friday.
My truck is really old and gets awful gas mileage. I pretty much only drive it around town as I have a company vehicle for work stuff. We didn’t want to pay for gas in that gas guzzler back to Illinois and we didn’t want to have two vehicles there.
I looked at taking a train but it was expensive and didn’t really get us anywhere near where we needed to be. I, instead, looked in to renting a car one way which was much cheaper.
I picked the car up from the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport on Thursday night then B and I drove to Flossmoor Friday morning. L’s two events had about a five hour gap so once she finished the first one, I asked my parents, who drove up from their place near Kankakee, if they’d follow me to drop it off.
I selected a drop off spot in Orland Park, Illinois. It was about 20 minutes from the rink and in a very high traffic commercial area. We used to go shopping in Orland Park all the time when I was a kid so I was somewhat familiar with the area.
I got the car returned then B was begging to go to Target because J was taking L and a couple of her friends to Target. There was one near us so I told him we’d go there but we weren’t going to go crash L’s time with her friends.
We argued for a while about what he wanted from Target and we ended up leaving with only a pair of pajama pants and some candy.
My dad mentioned lunch as we were walking back to the car. Good timing. I noticed a spot not too far from where we were on our way to the store and I’d be able to get an Italian beef.
Joey’s Red Hots and Pizza is a small south side chain features Chicago style hot dogs, Italian beef, pizza puffs, and all the good Chicago food. Some of the locations look like the traditional Chicago suburb sandwich shop being a small, brightly colored building that jumps out at you from the road. This one is one of the newer locations which looks much more like a chain restaurant is a busy commercial district. It’s on 159th Street east of 94th Avenue. I didn’t know this at the time but this building was previously one of the extra locations of my all time favorite chicken joint when I lived in Joliet. It was a Chicken-N-Spice…which has unfortunately closed all their locations in recent years. Before that, it was a Ricobene’s….another great Chicago style restaurant with locations all over the South Side.
Read more…Homewood-Flossmoor Ice Arena
777 Kedzie AvenueI wasn’t planning on going to a figure skating competition last week, but life happens sometimes.
My aunt passed away a little over a month ago. We had the funeral right away but she elected to be cremated this buried. They obviously couldn’t get that ready over night so we would have to come back for the final memorial service.
It’s hard to get a large group of people together these days. Everyone’s kids seem to have some kind of sports every week…including mine.
My mom originally proposed a date in May but that didn’t work for her sister. She then asked me what day would work in April. We were free most weekends in April so I told her to pick.
She happened to pick the weekend L and J were already planning on being in the area for a figure skating competition. L was only skating Thursday and Friday so doing the service on Saturday wasn’t an issue.
I decided to just take Friday off since I had to get to Chicago somehow anyway.
We didn’t want to have two cars in Illinois and train tickets were more expensive than we thought it would be…plus a train wouldn’t have gotten us close to Flossmoor. I ended up renting a car Friday morning for B and to make the drive. I could just drop the car off there and join J for the rest of the weekend.
The competition L was competing in last week was the annual Ladybug Competition put on by the Glenwood Figure Skating Club.
The competition is held at the Homewood-Flossmoor Ice Arena on Kedzie Avenue south of 183rd Street in the Chicago suburb of Flossmoor. The ice rink is right next to Homewood-Flossmoor High School, but the arena is owned and operated by the Homewood-Flossmoor Parks Department. The two villages are separate municipalities but they seem to do everything together.
Read more…Clutch Bagels and Spreads
444 S. Lake StreetI wasn’t planning on going to my daughter’s figure skating competition this past weekend, but life just works out in funny ways.
My wife and daughter had been planning for competition at the Ladybug Competition in Flossmoor, IL. It’s one I don’t usually plan on going to because it’s only on Thursday and Friday. She only competes in Solo Dance and not in the free skate. Since I only have so many PTO days, I typically skip this one.
That was the plan this year…until that changed.
My aunt passed away a couple of months ago. We held the funeral on a Friday night but her wishes were to be cremated then buried. Since that’s not something that can be done overnight, we would come back for the final burial later.
Schedules are hard to work out. My mom had originally wanted to do it in May but that didn’t work for her sister. My family is the only “out of town” family that would need to come in for it so they tried to work around my schedule. My mom proposed this last weekend. We had nothing on Sunday since L’s competition was Thursday and Friday.
Instead of taking two days off, I chose just to take Friday off. I rented a car so we wouldn’t have two cars in Illinois. B and I took off Friday morning to watch L skate then hang out with my family on Friday evening before the service Saturday morning.
B and I got on the road around 6:30 AM on Friday so we could get to the rink to see L’s first event at about 9:30 AM. I stopped before we left Kalamazoo to get him Dunkin’ but I found a place closer to the rink I wanted to stop at it.
I had searched for bagel shops near Flossmoor, IL and I got a bunch of Great American Bagel stores. That would have been fine but one also popped up in nearby Gary, IN with great reviews. It wasn’t that far out of the way so we made a little detour.
Clutch Bagels and Spreads is on Lake Street near 4th Avenue in the Miller Beach Neighborhood of Gary, IN. The GPS directions actually took me to the alley behind the shop for some reason and I was really confused. I did see a van with their logo on it so I knew I was in the right place. I assumed if I went around to Lake Street I’d find the entrance.
We parked on Lake Street in front of a wood entryway with a banner for Clutch Bagels and Spreads attached to the wall. I still didn’t see a building or any signs that would indicate they were open. I told B we were going to get out of the car an investigate but this might be a bust.
Read more…Vinnie’s Italian Sub Shop
7300 Middlebelt RoadI’m going to be spending a little time on the road over the next few weeks. It started this past weekend and will kind of be off and on until the middle of June. Some of it is for work. Some of it is for skating.
I started my travels last Thursday with a day trip to Detroit. A co-worker and myself needed to run over there to take care of something ahead of a bigger job we have there comin up later this week.
We spent about two hours in downtown Detroit then headed back to Kalamazoo. As we were leaving the parking garage, I told her I was going to stop at a sandwich shop by the airport to grab something. I told her we could stop somewhere else if she wanted something different but she seemed to be on board with what I was doing.
That sandwich shop is Vinnie’s Italian Sub Shop. It’s located on Middlebelt Road just north of the I-94 interchange. The long time deli is a stand alone building right on the corner of Charles Street and Middlebelt. The surrounding area is mostly residential but the small cement block building doesn’t seem to out of place along the very heavily traveled road.
New York Fried Chicken (Benton Harbor)
610 E. Napier AvenueI feel like I’ve been in Benton Harbor a lot recently. That’s weird but it’s outside of the area I’m responsible for at work. Occasionally, something will pop up and I’ll need to take care of it but Benton Harbor isn’t a place I’m supposed to be working at.
I got sent to Benton Harbor pretty late in the day last Wednesday. The task I was assigned to do took longer than I had hoped and I actually ended up working past my scheduled out time.
I had been in Battle Creek earlier in the day and kind of had to rush across on I-94 to get to my job assignment on time.
I worked past my scheduled out time and with no chance for a lunch break so I was pretty hungry when I was done.
My in-laws were at my house watching the boy as J and L were out of town prepping for a figure skating competition. I figured 20 more minutes wouldn’t make much of a difference so I passed on the fast food and grabbed some fried chicken instead.
New York Fried Chicken is on Napier Avenue just to the west of Union Avenue on Benton Charter Township. The standalone building was a Domino’s Pizza many years ago and a Load-A-Spud after that. It’s been a late night fried chicken and sandwich stop since 2016.
Mr. Corned Beef (Jefferson Ave)
11000 E. Jefferson Avenue, Suite BIt’s not very often I get to sent to Detroit for an afternoon gig but that’s what happened late last week.
I was meeting three other co-workers so instead of meeting somewhere and driving in to the city together, I just met them downtown at our work site.
It was a pretty long day. I left Kalamazoo at about 6:30 AM and got done with work about 6:00 PM. We packed up our stuff then headed our separate ways.
I hadn’t eaten much all day. The job site we were at brought in some Little Caesars in the afternoon but I only grabbed a couple of slices. I was still pretty hungry and wanted to eat before I got back on the road to Kalamazoo.
There are still a lot of places in Detroit I want to eat at but I didn’t feel like sitting down for a meal downtown. The Tigers game had just gotten over and there was a Red Wings game later that night….so downtown was pretty packed.
I started Googling sandwich places nearby so I could get something quickly and get something I could eat quickly. A lot of what was coming up was already closed but then, two words caught my attention. Corned Beef.
Mr. Corned Beef is a small chain of sandwich shops in the Detroit metro area. There are two in Detroit itself then locations in Ferndale, Pontiac, and Westland. I was closest to the location on the east side of Detroit on Jefferson Avenue near Lillibridge Street in the Marina District. The restaurant is part of a shopping center anchored by Parkway Foods.
Read more…Fazoli’s (Kalamazoo)
4615 W. Main StreetI always thought that I had been to all of the chain restaurants in Kalamazoo but while I was looking for pictures or one a few weeks ago, I realized I was missing one.
As weird as it may sounds, it’s a chain that I also have a history with.
I moved away from my small town near Kankakee, IL for college in the late 90’s. I chose a small private school in Joliet, IL so I could play baseball.
Joliet is only about an hour and a half from where I grew up so my parents would come see me fairly often. During baseball season, they’d come to games on weekends. The rest of the year, they’d randomly pick a Saturday to come hang out.
I hadn’t started doing the whole dine local thing yet. There were a few places that some of my friends who grew up in Joliet would recommend but 7 out f 10 times, we’d end up at Fazoli’s.
I eventually moved to Peoria, IL after college, then Lansing, and now here to Kalamazoo. We continued to eat at Fazoli’s in Peoria and even a few times when we lived in Lansing, but apparently, I’ve never eaten at this one in Kalamazoo in the 15 years I’ve lived here.
The Fazoli’s in Kalamazoo on West Main Street near the corner with Drake Road. The restaurant is kind of on a hill so it’s really easy to see as you’re coming up to the very busy intersection. There is parking along the west side of the building and that’s where the door to get in is located.
New York Fried Chicken (44th Street)
777 44th StreetI just wrote a blog post on gas station chicken earlier today and guess what?
I’m doing it again.
This one’s a little different though. Yes, it’s in a gas station but they actually have a couple other locations. It’s a full blown restaurant, not a glass warming case with chicken next to the cash register.
First, a little set up. I was in Grand Rapids working but I was on my own. I had a couple of tasks to complete and a bit of time in between them. I clocked out for lunch and went looking for some place to grab a bite quickly.
I was driving down 44th Street and I saw a familiar sign. I also needed gas…funny how that keeps happening.
New York Fried Chicken has three Grand Rapids area locations. I’ve eaten at the original location on Division Avenue and MLK Jr Street many times. Our Grand Rapids office actually orders catering from there quite often. The chicken is really good.
The New York Fried Chicken I spotted as I was driving aimlessly is on the corner of 44th Street and Eastern Avenue on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The restaurant is in the back of the Marathon Station. The restaurant, with it’s own entrance on the 44th Street side of the building, has been several different restaurants over the years. Most recently, it was a burger shop, but before that, it was a chicken and fish joint. I think the owner kind of makes their own parking spot right in front of the door…there’s not a parking spot there and I almost missed it because it was hiding the entrance from the road.
Read more…Cooper’s Express (Battle Creek)
321 E. Emmett StreetIs it possible for me to pass up gas station chicken?
I don’t think it is.
I was in Battle Creek earlier this week kind of driving around aimlessly. I needed gas, a bathroom and a Pepsi. Not sure how I found all of those things plus a chicken place.
Cooper’s Express is a “branded food program” based in Missouri….like so many other gas station chicken places. The only places in the area that has a Cooper’s Express is the Marathon C-Store on Emmett and McKinley in Battle Creek. This Marathon underwent a major overhaul over the last couple of years taking it from a small run down building to a large new building that dominates the corner.
Read more…Cottage Inn (Ohstemo Township)
5038 W. KL AvenueYou’ve seen me write a lot about “Pizza Friday” in our house. It’s just kind of become our thing. It was always a thing for J growing up and it’s an easy dinner that actually lasts us a couple of days with leftovers.
Everyone has their favorite pizza place. If you grew up in a small town, it’s probably the only pizza place in town. If you grew up in a city, you’re willing to go to war over who has the best pizza.
J grew up in a Chicago suburb and their pizza place actually is a hill worth dying on. Palermo’s 95th in Oak Lawn is no doubt, the best pizza I’ve ever had.
I grew up in a small town. Our only pizza option in town was the gas station pizza. My family actually fought between Monical’s Pizza, an East Central Illinois chain, and Pizza Hut. My bad…I loved the breadsticks from pizza hut. But I appreciate Monical’s a lot more now.
There aren’t really any good local pizza places on the west side of town where we live. Well…there’s Kazoopy’s, which we really like, but they have like a two hour delivery window on Friday night so it’s not really an option.
Our go-to is actually one of the first pizza places we found when we moved to Lansing over 15 years. Yeah, it’s a chain…but it’s a Michigan chain and they have some mighty fine pizzas.
Our go-to pizza joint and has been for years, Cottage Inn.
The only Cottage Inn Pizza left in Kalamazoo is on KL Avenue near Drake Road in Oshtemo Township. The restaurant shares a building with The Big Burrito and Bronco Liquor. This location has been open as long as we’ve lived in the area….in fact, the last time I blogged about it was pre-kids in 2011. It was still our go-to but our order has changed quite a bit since then.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 