They don’t make ‘em like they used to. That’s how the saying goes, anyway. And at Nick Fink’s, the oldest bar in Grand Rapids, they’re absolutely fine with that adage. While developers are continually constructing flashy, new breweries and trendy pubs across the state, other more ripened watering holes hang their hats on heritage.
Ordering your usual has gone out the window. That one drink all night routine is tired and, with the high-end craft cocktail popularity, you’d be crazy to flirt with just one flavor.
It seems like everyone’s been buzzing about the new Slow’s Bar-B-Q, one of the newest additions to the Downtown Market and the second location for the Detroit-based chain. I love good ribs and brisket as much as the next red-blooded Michigan girl, so I grabbed my barbecue-loving boyfriend and headed down to the market to see what the fuss was about.
Enjoy San Chez' seasonal cocktail, the Limonana. Made with 1¼ oz. lemongrass gin, 1¼ oz. fresh honeydew melon juice and ¾ oz. Cointreau and paired with a piece of Serrano ham anchored with a grape — it's the perfect sweet and salty drink.
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.
