It’s a sad day, West Michigan diners. Muskegon’s quirky and comforting Mia & Grace has closed. The downtown Skeetown bistro, which featured sensational items like the Duck PB&J sandwich and beef tongue schnitzel, shut its doors in late August so owners Jamie and Jeremy Paquin can take a day off occasionally and focus on new endeavors, including their wood-fired pizza restaurant, whistle punk.
Restaurant Week Grand Rapids kicks off today and will go through Aug. 23. For information on all the festivities and events, visit restaurantweekgr.com. Meanwhile, REVUE has taken the liberty of highlighting a list of some restaurants participating this year and giving you the scoop on what you can expect. Take a gander.
A fixture on the coast of downtown Grand Haven, the Pronto Pups stand has undergone few, if any, changes since it sold its first pup 68 years ago. And second generation owner Carl Nelson is just fine with that. “We only serve one thing, so when you walk up to the window we don’t ask you what you want, we ask you how many you want,” Nelson said. “There’ll never be anything more or anything less. The system we have right now is a well-oiled machine.”
With all of the junk food served at festivals, you might need a detox. One option is juicing. For some, the words juice cleanse conjures up an image of self-inflicted suffering, sacrifice, and near-starvation. And then there’s the price tag (not cheap), and the connotation (Gwyneth-y), and the crimp it puts in your social life (goodbye bars, hello board games). I get it, but I’ve done the juice cleanse more than once and experienced positive results.
Sitting next to a crackling hickory fire outside Saugatuck’s new fried chicken-and-barbecue joint The Southerner, chef Matthew Millar reflected on this moment in his career, which finds him going back to his roots. “I’m a blue-collar guy,” Millar said. “I never wanted to be an artist. I always wanted to be somebody who just did something well.”
We scoured West Michigan in search of sweet treats. Here's where to go for donuts, pastries, cupcakes, tarts and more to satisfy your sweet tooth. Make sure to drool-proof your keyboards before reading.
The Grand Rapids foodie scene perked up with the announcement of the impending expansion of the Social Kitchen & Bar, a Birmingham, Mich. fixture. The new addition arrives at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, 435 Ionia Ave. SW, later this year — hopefully in September.
When San Chez opened its doors 23 years ago the Heartside District was not exactly a thriving hub for grub. “In 1992 the Heartside District was very rundown, there were empty buildings,” said San Chez owner Cindy Schneider. “There were not many people moving around downtown. It’s definitely much better now.”
To the uninitiated, raw fish, rice and seaweed may not seem like the most appetizing building blocks for dinner. But when placed in the hands of an accomplished sushi chef, something magical happens. The ingredients mix into an alchemic blend of gustatory bliss. While there’s certainly no shortage of quality sushi in West Michigan, the following restaurants are must-tries for newcomers and sushi snobs alike.
If you’re looking to prepare a worldly dish without the hassle of leaving West Michigan, there are plenty of options to choose from. Here’s a shortlist of places to score everything from authentic Mediterranean to some legit kielbasa sausage.
