Restaurants – Lost In Michigan

The Peanut Barrel

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants .

North of Michigan State University campus across the street from the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum ( AKA the sand crawler) on Grand River Boulevard is the Peanut Barrel. Amongst several chain franchise restaurants, the Peanut Barrel is a locally owned pub that serves delicious made to order hamburgers.

The menu consists of mostly sandwiches and burgers, but they do them very well. The one thing that makes their burgers stand out is the fresh homemade buns and you have your choice of white, wheat, or my favorite rye. The burgers come with chips, but you can upgrade to fries and for less than $10 it’s the best deal in town.

Located at 521 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing, MI 48823 it’s a little tricky to find since it’s inset from the other buildings but it also has a nice patio area for those warm summer days. If you go, be sure to go to the back of the building where the parking lot is and there is a door from the parking lot. Just to let you know, you will have to pay for parking. To visit the Peanut Barrel’s website click HERE

I don’t do many restaurant reviews, but if I eat someplace I like, readers have asked me to share it. If you want to see more of the restaurants I have been to click HERE

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Cudighi In Da U.P.

Posted on November 4, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants, upper peninsula .

I usually don’t watch Andrew Zimmerman because he eats strange stuff like snake legs or octopus testicles, but when he does a show in the Upper Peninsula I gotta watch it. As a lifelong troll I am familiar with pasties, and of course he showed pasties on his show, but when he went to a bar in Ishpeming to get a cudighi sandwich I was intrigued. I never knew about them. They are made with spicy Italian sausage made into a patty and cooked on a flat top like a hamburger. Then served on a roll with marinara sauce and cheese.

I saw on the googles that Vango’s in Marquette was known for their cudighi so I had to stop and try one on my last trip to God’s Country. At Vango’s, besides the sauce and cheese, you can get it with grilled onions, mushrooms, and peppers. I also had to upgrade to the waffle fries. They also give you some ranch dipping sauce. It was really good. It was spicy but not too spicy, and the ranch dipping sauce paired nicely with the flavor of the sausage. The cheese was nice and melty ( if that is a word). It was a little messy but then again the best foods usually are. I loved the seasoned waffle fries, and best of all it was only $11 with a drink. I have spent more than that for a meal at most fast food places. The people sitting next to me got a pizza, and that looked really good too.

If you are ever in Marquette and you want a great meal at a reasonable price be sure to stop at Vango’s, at 927 North Third street not far from Northern Michigan University. Besides Italian food, they have a good selection of Greek and American cuisine on the menu. you can visit their website HERE

After writing this now I am hungry for a cudighi sandwich, have you had one? and what other restaurants do you know that serves them? please post a comment I hope I can find one closer to home.

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Clyde’s Drive In My Favorite Burger in Da U.P.

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized .

Every time my family and I cross the big green bridge we have to stop at Clyde’s Drive In and get a hamburger and a shake. My friend Mandy told me about Clyde’s, and after we tried it we stop there as much as we can even though we live about 250 miles away. The St Ignace location is about a half mile west of I-75 on US-2. You can’t miss it with its blue covered parking for visitors to pull in and order food.

The other and first location is in Manistique at 201 Chippewa Ave. about a mile north of US-2.

I have eaten at both locations, and if you want a good homemade hamburger neither one will disappoint. cooked fresh and served hot an topped the way you like it, makes it way better than any fast food chain. And you can’t go wrong with a shake and fries to go with it. They also have a full menu of other items but I have gotten the hamburger every time. They are known for the ” Big Clyde ” which is a one pound hamburger but that’s too much for me.

They have a few seats inside at a counter to eat inside but most people eat in thier car since there is not a lot of space. Just pull in an open spot and someone will come out and take your order and bring your food to your. Just be aware that when they are busy it might take them a litte time to get your food to you, but it’s well worth the wait.

If you have a travel trailer they have a large parking lot and you can pull in a park and then go inside and place your order.

Since I have eaten at Clyde’s a few years ago I have to stop there in St Ignace anytime I enter or leave the Upper Peninsula. I think they close the St Ignace Location for the winter so if you want to get a burger you need to do it soon before they close for the season.

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The Village Cheese Shanty

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants .

Readers have said they like my restaurant reviews, so here is another place I ate at and really enjoyed.

The Village Cheese Shanty located in historic Fishtown is the place to go for some awesome sandwich. If you didn’t already know Fishtown is in the town of Leland in the Leelanau Peninsula. The Village Cheese Shanty next to the Dam Candy Store is a little deceiving. The few times I have been to Fishtown I thought it was just another cheese and wine shop. My son ate there this summer and he made me go back with him because he loved it so much. Inside this little shanty is some of the best sandwiches in the state.

They offer sandwiches on pita, baguettes and pretzel buns. As I waited outside for my order to be made several people walked up to it and looked at the cheese sign and looked inside and said: ” wow, there are a lot of people buying cheese, let’s go to the next place.” What they did not see is the sign that reads ” Sandwiches all day” and that is what everyone inside was ordering. It’s a little like going to the soup nazi, but only friendlier. They do their best to keep the line moving.

They serve what they call a bag lunch which consists of a sandwich, chips or slaw, a pickle, cookie, and a drink. They open in the morning so people heading out to the Manitou Islands can pick up a bag lunch before they get on the ferry.

I got the South Shore sandwich which is: ham, dill Havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and pesto mayo on a pretzel bun. It was an amazingly delicious sandwich and of course, you would expect the cheese shanty to have superb cheese. Luckily I remembered to take a pic of it even after I had it half eaten. I have a habit of eating something as soon as I get it and forget about the photo.

If you visit Fishtown be sure to pick up a bag lunch from the Village Cheese shop. The nice thing is you can take it with you and eat it later. Someplace like the Grand Traverse Lighthouse or the Woolsey Memorial Airport.

Their website and menu can be found HERE

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The Pie Stand

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants .

A few years ago I went to the Grand Travers lighthouse and I passed a stand selling pies and baked goods on the side of the road. The sun was setting and I did not stop so I could get some pics before the sun went down. I went back and the stand was gone and I thought maybe it was a figment of my imagination. I was up in the Leelanau Peninsula not too long ago and there it was the pie stand I saw. I have seen people selling firewood, vegetables and fresh eggs on the honor system on the side of the road, but a stand with pies now you have my attention. I had to stop and get a pie for the road and it was awesome. next time you are near the lighthouse at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula keep an eye out for this patriotic stand on the side of the road.

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Old Detroit in Downtown Lapeer

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants .

This post is a little different than my normal post so I hope you like it. I was at my son’s high school swim meet in Lapeer and after the meet ended we went out to get something to eat. We skipped the usual fast food places near the expressway and went to downtown Lapeer. I can’t pass up the chance to get a good burger so we ate at the Old Detroit Burger Bar. We sat down and they said they had coke on tap and I can’t have caffeine at night so I ordered a root beer and the waitress brought out a can of Faygo rootbeer. I said to her” Wow Faygo, does that mean you have a can of redpop too.” “yes” she replied. I knew I was in the right place when Detroit is in the name and they have Faygo. We ordered burgers and after a few minutes of looking at the old photos of Detroit on the walls and listening to old school blues music the waitress brought out these enormous burgers. The top bun was branded with the bars logo and for good reason. They are proud to serve the burgers they make. They were some of the best burgers I have eaten. I don’t really do restaurant reviews but sometimes I find a place that really impresses me. I really admire them for being a local burger joint and serving local food. I think if you are going to have a restaurant in Michigan you should support Michigan companies like Faygo, Kogels Better Made Chips or any other supplier from Michigan. If you are in southeast Michigan check out the Old Detroit Burger Bar there are 7 different locations. Here is a link to their website.

P.S. I don’t plan on doing a food blog. Thank for taking a quick break with me, now it’s time to get back on the road and see what I can find.

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The Only Constant is Change

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Restaurants .

When I get off the Interstate 75 to head home, I take the exit between Saginaw and Bay City. There is an old abandoned faded orange and blue Howard Johnson’s restaurant, longing for the day when hungry travelers stopped by for a bite to eat. A few days ago I saw an excavator sitting in front of it, so I figured I better take a photo of it before it’s gone. According to Wikipedia, the restaurant chain was the largest sit-down restaurant chain in the united states during the 60s and 70s. I never really ate there much so I guess I don’t miss them that bad but I sure do miss Bill Knapps. As they say, ” the only constant is change” I wonder what will happen to Applebee’s now that it’s the largest sit-down chain.

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The Remarkable Thing About The Clarkston Union

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Restaurants .

I was watching Diners Drive Inns and Dives with Guy Fieri, and Bob Ritchie took him to the Clarkston Union Bar and Kitchen. The food was really good, well actually better than good, it was “off the hook” as Guy would say, but the remarkable thing about the Clarkston Union, is the fact that it’s in an old Church built in the 1840’s. Traveling around the state, I see many Churches that are empty, I would not say abandoned, but they are no longer being used, and I like it when I see a church that is re-purposed, to use a current buzzword.

The interior of the old church is enthralling with the sunlight coming thru the stained glass windows, and the old pews are converted into seating for the tables and booths. An old bingo board hangs on the wall, and where the altar was is the kitchen preparing foods that are like a religious experience to eat.

They are most well known for their mac and cheese, and the crispy toasty layer on top is to die for, I guess what better place then an old church. If you really want to kick it up to the next level, you can get the mac and cheese with ham or lobster. It will probably be busy when your there, but it’s not a problem if you have to wait for a table, since they have a general store next door to the restaurant, and you can do some shopping while you wait.

P.S. I don’t plan on doing many restaurant reviews on Lost In Michigan ( there are people way better than me that do them already) but I do like old churches and history, and I hope more entrepreneurs will consider converting old churches, schools and old buildings into beloved places in the community instead of them being left forgotten.

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The Problem With Traveling Around The State Of Michigan

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants .

The Corner Bar in beautiful downtown Rockford

Most people would assume the difficulty in traveling around the state would be the road construction and orange barrels. Although that is an issue, that’s not to much of a problem for me since I like to travel the back roads that don’t get a lot of traffic, and the gravel ones get repaved with a dump truck emptying its contents onto the road and a grader spreading it out. The real problem I have is going to local places to get something to ea,t and then not being able to easily get back there to eat again. Places like The Corner Bar in Rockford or Spikes Keg O Nails in Grayling or Crazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger or Dog Central in Mt Pleasant just to name a few.

A while back I looked at doing some restaurant reviews, but it got to be a little to much for me, both cost and time, and I decided to do more history posts. I do like to stop to local places and eat when I can. I can’t possibly list all the places I have been too, so instead, I would love it if you posted some of your favorite places you have been to, or in your home town in the comments below, so I can torture myself and try some more new places.

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Memories of Paczki Day

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Restaurants, Schools .

The former St Josaphat’s School in Carrollton

The best paczki don’t come in a box with the word “PACZKI” in giant red letters sprawled across the top of the box, they come in a plain white paper bag from a Polish Catholic church. My great grandparents immigrated here from Poland, and I went to school at St Josaphat’s in Carrollton ( a Twp. next to Saginaw) and Paczki Day was always a special day at school, we got hot fresh paczki from the women making them in the basement. While I was attending school there in the 80’s the parish built a new building across the street from the school, and the name of the church change recently to St John Paul II. They no longer make the paczki in the basement they are still making them with the same recipe in the new building.

A single one is paczek pronounced “pohn-check” and more than one paczek is paczki, pronounced “poonch-key”. There always seems to be a lot of confusion about paczki, I think because the big box stores started selling them, and they just make them with their usual doughnut recipe. A bismarck and a paczek are not the same thing, the box stores need to stop passing off jelly doughnuts as paczki. According to my grandmother, pączki are made with a richer heavier dough that has more eggs and sugar and Grandma said Polish people did not have a lot of money for fancy fillings, if they had any filling at all, it was usually prune. I think people think the paczki is supposed to be fancy like a French pastry or something, but the paczki recipe was a way polish Catholics used up their dairy and eggs and indulged themselves before lent. When you eat a paczki, it’s not just deep fried dough, its part of Polish heritage and reminds me of a time my relatives came over from Poland seeking a better life. They may not have been rich, but they were honest hard working people. Oh and one more thing, authentic paczki do not have any preservatives so if you don’t eat them the day you get them, the next day the are like eating hockey pucks.

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