Carnivores Only!! Meat Southern B.B.Q. and Carnivore Cuisine - Lansing,Michigan

  The menu tells the story of this place.  You look under vegetarian choices and listed is the soft drinks they serve. That is it!  This place is for meat eaters with no apologies!!  Located in Old Town in Lansing Michigan, This place has been on Diners, Drive Inns and Dives.  They serve pork ribs, burgers, pulled pork, and something called a meat mountain.  The meat mountain has layers of smoked brisket, bacon gravy, creamed corn, and gooey cheese.  Their sandwiches are called meatwiches which offers a choice of a 7 oz burger,beef brisket, pulled pork or smoked turkey.
  We sat at the bar because the place was filled on the Saturday we chose to go.  We went with a half rack of ribs, chili, the chin - gorilla burger, and mac and cheese.
 The ribs were meaty although my wife took points off because they were not baby back ribs. The chili was a Texan no bean type with their smoked brisket.  I wish it would have had more of the brisket.  the mac and cheese was not the best we ever tasted, but it was very good.  The burger Rebbel got was really off the charts. It had pineapple, house made pimento cheese spread, and crispy onions. A very tasty burger that has become one of Rebbel's favorites.
 If you want to try Meat, they are located at 1224 Turner St, Old Town, Lansing,Mi.  Find them on the web at: http://meatbbq.com/

Stack 'Em Up! - Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, Ann Arbor, Micchigan

We have had a burger at Krazy Jim's before, but that was the old location.  We had gone there after watching them on a t.v. show.  Then they closed because the Uof M had bought their building.  They later re-opened again in downtown Ann Arbor so we decided to try them again. We found parking on a side street next to Ashley street where the restaurant is now located.  After walking up the mountain tht they placed the side street on, we entered the door.  The waitress was giving people menus.  Right away, I told my wife we were in the wrong place.  Sure enough we had gone to the Fleetwood Diner and not Blimpy Burger.We quickly exited and wen next door to Blimpy.
  At Blimpy there are rules.  First you go to the counter and order what you want from the fryer. They offer fries, onion rings and other vegetables fried in canola oil. Don't forget to grab a tray if you are eating there, and no cell phones in line. Next you tell them how many patties you like. They also have a veggie burger and chicken ,  The hamburger patties are small and squished on the grill. The meat is ground from western chuck..We ordered three which the chart said brought us to a quarter pound, Would you like any grilled items?  You are then asked what bun you would like. They have several to choose from.  You are then asked if you would like cheese and what kind of cheese. Lastly you are asked what condiments you would like,,  They claim there are over 2 billion combinations.  I chose 3 patties on a kaiser bun with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, mayo and mustard.  Eebbel had an onion bum with American cheese, but other than that, same as me. I tried the rings.
  While I liked all the choices, we found themeat to be on the bland tasteless side. The rings were looking home made,meaning no batter at all, just what flour managed to stay on during the frying process.  The kind of rings that make you not to do rings at home, they serve,  I would go there once to try but now thatwe went twice, we had our fill.  If ypu would like to try them for yourself,  you can find them at 304 Ashley Street in Ann Arbor or on the web at:http://www.blimpyburger.com/index.html

Historic Burger - Louis Lunch New Haven Ct.

As we pulled into New Haven, it was already getting dark and hard to see. We had come from Philly, past New York City via the expensive George Washington bridge, fighting construction traffic all the way.  It's always exciting when your I phone is dictating the route.  I was kind of surprised to see that the hamburger joint was located next to some college. I asked my wife if she knew of a college in this town. Neither one of us knew.

We had come to New Haven to visit the hamburger's birthplace, or at least one of the first. Louis' Lunch.

Located on Crown St  in an old small building, we were surprised it was open until 2:00 am. Louis lunch is one of those places that have rules. They do not like ketchup in that place, or any other condiment. You order your hand ground burger and it is cooked in an old fashioned broiler type vertical mechanism. Same way they have been cooking them all along. You can add sliced tomatoes and onions and cheese spread if you want it. It is served on toast. The same way it was way back. 

Is it the best burger I ever had??? No. Probably wouldn't even rank in my top 10.  But you have to eat here because it's where it all started. Oh and that college we didn't know, turned out to be a little school called Yale. I really need to read up on these cities before we go there. You can find them unlike the way it was way back, on the web at, http://www.louislunch.com/index.php

The Best Chicago Pizza Jackson, Michigan - Klavon's Pizzeria and Pub

Klavon's Stuffed Chicago Style Pizza

Chicago Style Pizza has been described as being a casserole instead of pizza. A deep dish pie loaded with meat fillings cheese and sauce. Klavon's Pizzeria  and Pub would have to be one of my favorite places to eat this dish outside of the windy city.
Klavon's has a modern, clean look.  They have tablet menus instead of the paper variety. Its a Sports bar, so beware, there are televisions with sports on them everywhere you look.  It's not a quiet place by any means.
Klavons has a menu with Chicken Wings,Sandwiches, Burgers and wraps, but the star of the show is the Chicago Style Stuffed Crust Pizza. To start with, every stuffed pizza has a pound of mozzarella in it. You can choose five toppings to stuff your pizza. We got steak,red onions, black olives sausage and ham.  Those were stuffed between two crusts. On top of the pizza is their pizza sauce. Very good quality pizza. The crust wasn't as good as Lou Minalti's in Chicago, but I don't know of anybody that does have a crust as good as Lou's.
  The pizza is very filling.  You will need a box after a couple of slices and you might have to employ a young strong person to carry the box and maybe yourself to your vehicle. You can choose different cheese if you prefer, and extra fillings are available at a cost.

Bacon Cheddar Burger

We also tried the burger when we were there.  It was picked as one of Jackson's top burgers in MLive's contest.  It was made of Black Angus Beef.  I had the Bacon Cheddar Burger and I found it to be good, and juicy. The brioche bun was o.k., but if I were to order at Klavon's, I would order the Chicago Deep Dish and a strong person on the side!
Klavon's  has two locations. The one we visited is located at 1361 E McDevitt Ave, Jackson Mi.  The other location is at 6010 Clinton Rd in Jackson, Mi.  Find them on the web at..http://klavons.com/index.php

Pineapple On A Burger?? - Studio Grill, Kalamazoo,Michigan

bronco burger

"You're really going to get a hamburger with a pineapple on it??"  I once again had thought my wife had lost her mind.  My wife who once took a poll to see if people liked pineapple because she thought I was nuts for liking them.  I reminded her it was spicy. It had pepper jack cheese and Serrano sauce.  She wanted to try it but she told them to leave the pepper sauce off.  I went for the Bronco Burger, billed as a grilled cheese burger and belt all in one, with thoughts of trading my wife meals when she realized she had made a big mistake.                            

We were in the process of checking out some of the food in Kalamazoo and had chose the Studio Grill downtown.  They have quite a variety of stuffed burgers that caught my eye. They offer a burger stuffed with bbq sauce and cheddar cheese topped with bacon more cheddar cheese and more bbq sauce called the BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger. They also have A Watson Burger,  that is stuffed with chorizo sausage, topped with chipotle pesto and pepper jack cheese.  Another "interesting" burger is the Nutty Butter Burger topped off with bacon and lots of peanut butter.  They have more stuffed burgers or you can freestyle and create your own. They also serve breakfast featuring various omelets.  

And pancakes.

It turned out that Rebbel made an excellent choice. The combination of savory spicy and sweet along with the juiciness of the pineapple slice was a great combination. My selection, though pretty tame, was good too.  The place was clean and service pretty fast.

pineapple burger

You can find the Studio Grill at 312 W. Michigan Ave Kalamazoo, Michigan. Find them on the web at www.studiogrillkalamazoo.com

Indy's Historic Steer Inn Diner

    Noodles;  the roll out the dough, cut up in pieces, make it yourself variety.  Nothing (except beignets which they douse in syrup...ewwww) seems more important to my wife and most of her family.  They all make their own and ship them all over the family.  In fact you can find my wife's recipe for hers on this link http://recipesilovebyrebbel.blogspot.com/2008/01/homemade-noodles.html .  They are real noodle fans!

Beef and Noodles

Me,......not so much. I am not a noodle boy.  In fact, I even hold a grudge against Cracker Barrel that promises Chicken and dumplings and you get chicken and what look like noodles, not dumplings!
  So when I was trying to find something in Indianapolis, I came across Indy's Historic Steer Inn.
They are known for their Beef and Noodles among other things like their meatloaf and namesake twin steer burger.   Because we had 6 of us we got a good sampling of the menu.  The waitress was friendly and helpful.  The atmosphere is a little 60ish, divey feeling. There was a crowd, as often is on a restaurant that has been on the Food Network.
  The house made noodles were served with a beef gravy over mashed potatoes. They were the shorter fatter version, that I suppose if  we at a certain other restaurant we would be eating beef and dumplings.  They were good especially if you were a person that likes starch on starch.
    The twin steer is the name sake of the restaurant. It was not cooked to order. It was two thin patties with special sauce and cheese. It was better than a Big Mac by a little.                                                                

Jalapeno Mac and Cheese

    Jodie,  my stepdaughter ordered a black and bleu burger, and Mac and cheese. The Mac and cheese had bacon and 5 cheeses.  Both of these are good choices.  Her significant other had Chicken Monterey, which he said wa good, although he might have thought it strange we were all taking pictures of our food. 

 Finally the one Grandson had a cheese pizza that he gave a thumbs down that in his opinion was like a Chef Boyardee pizza and the other grandson had Jalepeno Mac and cheese which he thought was good but short on jalepenos.  At the end I asked my wife if she liked , she said it was o.k. But she would not Steer anybody towards it. Pun intended. The Diner is located at 5130 E 10th St, Indianapolis, Indiana

Black and Bleu Burger w/ Gourmet Mac N Cheese

Chicken Monterrey

Worth Walking Ten Blocks - Hackney's Printer's Row, Chicago, Il

Cruising through the streets of downtown Chicago on a sunny Saturday, Rebbel and I looked for a good place to park the truck. We wanted to try a burger from Hackney's located on Dearborn Street. We had heard about them on the Food Network's Diner's, Drive Inns, and Dives. We found Dearborn street, and quickly found a parking garage that advertised a weekend "special" on their sign. After driving around the building for what seemed like hours but turned out to be minutes and trying to find a spot without a beam, we finally managed to pull into a great spot. Let me mention we are from a small city and the thought of driving in a building with low ceilings and going up and up is a little bit unsettling. We exited the parking garage and managed
to find Dearborn Street without any trouble. We turned North and started looking for the address. We walked about three or four blocks. There wasn't any Hackney's!!!! I asked Rebbel if she had noticed if the address was North or South. She pulled the paper with the address out and lo and behold, it had an address of South Dearborn, of course we were in the 700 block of North Dearborn.
We turned around and walked back to South Dearborn. Along the way, we passed many closer parking places, taxis, buses, and even a parade that was taking shape. We walked at least ten blocks after walking the original three or four blocks. At last we found Hackney's!!
Hackney's is located in an older building. There is a lot of tables and probably can seem cramped if busy. There is some outdoor seating by the street.
We ordered the Hackney burger and the inside out burger. The Hackney burger came on a rye bun made in their own bakery and fresh ground beef. It was good, but I ordered the inside - out burger and that was delicious. The inside - out burger started with the same Hackney burger, but was stuffed with sharp cheddar cheese and bacon. It was juicy, and very tasty. It took the Hackney burger to a new juicier, tastier, burger bodaciousness. Their housmade chips and slaw rounded out the meal.
They also are known for an onion ring loaf that we will have to try next time.
Our waiter was very friendly and helpful giving us good instructions for taking the trolley and buses. Of course we ignored all the advice and ended walking even farther. Arriving back to our car, we found out the special parking price was for the first two hours. We ended up paying more, but in the end it was all worth it! Hackney's Printer's Row is located at 733
South Dearborn in Chicago. The South part is very important. They also have other locations that you can find by clicking the title and going to their page.

Chicago Lines Up For This Burger - Paradise Pup, Des Plaines, Ill

This wasn't our first choice. We were going to try a place in Alsip Ill. called the Frosted Mug, but, they were closed. Looking over our list that we got from the Food Network site, We decided to drive to a place called Paradise Pup in Des Plaines. As we came up to the little burger joint, we noticed a fairly good sized line snaking from the door to the back of the building. We got in line where Rebbel asked the people in front of us what was the best thing on the menu.
I thought that the place was called Paradise Pup, so the dogs would be the main attraction. I was wrong. They do serve hot dogs, sausages, and Italian beef, but we were told that they were known for their cheddar char burger and now I can see why that is!
Paradise Pup is owned by two brothers, and they have been doing those burgers for over 25 years. . The 1/3 pound char burger was juicy, and tasted like it just came off a backyard charcoal grill. The Merkt's cheddar cheese was oozing out of the sides of the burger from under the grilled sesame seed bun. To go along with the burger, we tried the three way fries. The fries were crinkle cut topped with the Merkt's with sour cream and bacon. It was a real challenge to pick which to eat first.
We were glad that we ended up going to our second choice!! If you want to try this delicious burger that many have said is the tastiest burger in Chicago, drive to 1724 S River Rd. in Des Plaines, Ill. Make sure you have cash, the don't take cedit, and be prepared to stand in line. It will be well worth it!!

A Chain I Have To Mention - Five Guys Burgers and Fries

I usually don't write about chain restaurants, but I have to tell you about this one or I will be doing a great disservice to my readers. I don't know what happened over the years, but most of the chain hamburgers have become tasteless and pretty dried out. They hardly resemble a burger at all. You can get them fast and cheap but that's about it.
Five Guys is a whole differen type of chain. . I first heard of Five Guys on a news site. Someone in the comments asked for people's favorite burger chain. Five Guys kept coming up in the replies. I had never heard of them, so I tried to find the closest. It was over 50 miles away from me, so I waited for an opportunity. It finally came and I was sorry...... Sorry that I didn't go earlier!
There is nothing fancy about Five Guys. The colors are usually red and white. You get your order in a brown paper sack, you can munch on free peanuts in the shell while you wait. (I love peanuts in the shell.)
Five Guys has only a few food items on their menu. Burgers, fries, and hot dogs. They do all of the items stupendously. The burgers are cooked right in front of you using only fresh ground beef. They don't even have freezers! They use only peanut oil. No trans fats here. Their tasty fries are cut from only Idaho potatoes. They have numerous toppings you can choose to have on your burgers and according to their website, there is over 250,000 ways to enjoy your burger. I usually get mine all the way, which means you get everything except the asterisked items. They are free too, but you have to ask for them. The burgers and fries are hot, juicy and delicious!
If you don't believe me, check out their walls. You will find many testimonies from other eaters both pros and amateurs. Hurry and check out a Five Guys near you. It is simply the best chain burger I have ever ate! Hopefully they never go the way of the other guys and sacrifice quality for speed and cost. You can go to their site by clicking on the title.

A Better Butter Burger - Solly's Grille, Glendale,Wi.

On our recent trip to Chicago, we decided to jog up to the beautiful land of cheese and butter for dinner.Wisconsin was just a little bit up the road and there was a burger that we had been meaning to try for quite some time. We would go on holidays and they were always closed. We discovered Culver's because we wanted a butter burger and Solly's was closed. Culver's was good, but now I know what a real butter burger is. Sorry Culvers, you'll always be my first. Solly's Grille, located near Milwaukee in Glendale Wisconsin at 4629 N. Port Washington Rd, is known for their butter burger. In fact, they claim to be the originators of the butter burger in the 1930's.
The place is as neat as a pin. It looks like a house as you drive up to it. You walk in and you see two counters snaking through the restaurant. They have sandwiches,fries, malts and onion rings on their menu, along with other food, but unless you are close by and have time to try everything, I would order the butter burger. It has made numerous lists for one of the best burgers in America. Warning....this burger is not for butter wimps!
The burger comes topped with stewed onions and cheese. Rebbel was wondering what the yellow stuff in it was. I told her it probably was cheese, but on closer inspection, she found out that it was a glob of real, fresh, tasty, soft butter! The longer you let the burger sit, the more of the butter melted in a puddle on the plate and back in to the bun. I was glad we made the trip, and I must say, it was one of the tastiest burgers I have ever had!