Pilsners speak to me because they’re both easy drinking and complex beers if you want them to be. Luckily, Michigan craft breweries have started to embrace pilsners and lagers in growing numbers. At Revue, we decided to try several new or refreshed offerings, and those we missed in a 2016 taste-off.

For some of us, getting through a meal without any pain is just too boring. Most spice fanatics opt for Indian or Thai, but if you’re looking to expand your spice horizons, West Michigan has plenty to offer. We’ve rounded up some of the most blazing hot dishes around that don’t sacrifice flavor for suffering.

There’s a new French restaurant in the heart of Grand Rapids and frankly, it’s about time. Most western cooking dances around — if not completely bows in supplication to — classic French cookery and technique, but it is understandable, however, that a region so laden with Dutch heritage could dodge a brasserie for so long.

The top-rated selection in a blind tasting of Michigan-made coffee-themed beers happens to be from a lakeshore brewery that’s making some waves of its own. 

Darkstar Stout from Holland-based Big Lake Brewing LLC earned top honors in the Revue coffee beer taste off. The beer slightly edged out selections from Short’s Brewing Co. and Muskegon’s Pigeon Hill Brewing Co.