This month I sat down with the new owners of Bartertown Diner, Crystal Lecoy and Thad Cummings, to chat about their vegan diner’s recent transformation and revamped plant-based menu. Find out the reformist restaurateurs’ noble game plan and how they’re handling the business after taking the reins from former Bartertown owner Ryan Cappelletti.

After a long day’s work there are few things I enjoy more than curling up, Ron Swanson-style, with a thick, juicy hunk of animal meat and an equally luscious single-malt scotch. 

While my appetite for vast quantities of meat is admittedly less than the mustachioed libertarian of Parks and Recreation fame, I do possess a vigorous ferocity for cuts of all shapes and flavors.

Holland-based Coppercraft Distillery plans to make a big splash in its third year as the official spirit for the Tulip Time Festival. 

Fresh off of winning a bronze medal for its Rum and a gold medal and best in class honors for its Cask-Strength Bourbon at the American Distilling Institute Expo last month, the craft distillery partnered with 13 local restaurants on the Copper Trail, a passport promotion running from May 7-31. 

By the time you read this list, it will probably be inaccurate. Ten years ago, the arrival of a new restaurant concept in little ol’ Grand Rapids was an extraordinary, blessed occurrence. Now, it seems not a day goes by without the announcement of a trendy new brewpub, small-plate restaurant, beer garden, artisan cocktail bar, tasting room or gourmet coffee purveyor, often attached to a mixed-use development and usually accompanied by a sleek Squarespace website.

There is anxiety in Restaurant Industry Thinkpiece Land about a looming food bubble. This is the concern now trickling outward from the big cities, where some dining scenes have grown so large, so fast that there are neither enough customers nor enough qualified workers to sustain them.

If you want to see Shelby Kibler’s eyes light up, ask him about the miracle of fermentation.

His Field & Fire artisan bakery, one of the Grand Rapids Downtown Market’s original tenants, specializes in a style of baking consistent with the ethics of the “farm to table” movement, employing a two-to-three-day fermentation period for all dough awaiting its turn in one of the bakery’s two enormous wood-fired ovens.

Jenna Arcidiacono, a self-proclaimed foodie, is the owner and founder of Amore Trattoria Italiana. Arcidiacono brings authenticity and passion in every dish at Amore, having learned from her own observations in Italy, working alongside her husband and mother-in-law while studying other ristoranti e trattories. 

Amore’s specialty is simple but striking dishes. While seemingly simple in nature, her menu is packed with high quality, local ingredients.

The proud “farm-to-fork, fork-to-mouth” advocate chatted with Revue about her humble beginnings and what’s most exciting about West Michigan dining these days. Here’s what she had to say. 

We do, in fact, want fries with that.

Once upon a time, you would never be able to consume a plate of fries in public without leaving a bit of your dignity at the door. But we now live in the age of Fancy Versions of Ordinarily Inexpensive Things, so fries have gotten serious, becoming a canvas that allows chefs to play around with interesting flavor combinations and seasonings. Check out this list of must-try fries, with something in Grand Rapids for every fry craving.

Jules Winnfield, Samuel Jackson’s gun-toting character in Pulp Fiction, once famously said, “Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.” And while that was a scripted, flippant remark, a true burger addict would never turn down a mouthwatering patty at any time of day. 

Luckily for you, Revue’s staff is stocked with extreme Hamburglars. Here’s some staff picks, detailing not only their favorite burger joints, but particular must-haves on their menus. 

Maybe soon, West Michigan will finally get a Big Kahuna Burger… I hear they've got some tasty burgers. In the meantime, here are a few existing spots on Revue’s radar. —Rich Tupica

Of the pleasures that are acceptably indulged in public, few are more guilt-inducing than digging into a decadent dessert. Gluttony, after all, is the most measurably deadly of the seven so-called deadly sins.

But don’t you deserve to treat yourself? Who knows, maybe you don’t. Luckily, you don’t need our permission. What we can offer is guidance. Below is a list of top-shelf West Michigan spots that will fill the dessert-shaped hole in your life.