I’ve been coming to El Oasis for several years now and am just now getting to a review, what’s that about?  Anyways, I remember going to El Oasis for the first time…  My friend Jacob’s place was just up the street and a group of us were all hanging out around dinner time and he said “Hey man, we should go get some street burritos”.  Street Burritos? In my Lansing? That moniker stuck for quite a while.  This trip however was after a bout of unlucky fishing and spending $30 on cheap plastic and sharp metal.. (lures).  The Dunham‘s is just east of El Oasis so Jacob and I opted to go hit up some street burrito.

You can’t go wrong with street food.  I feel like a vendor who is selling out of a truck or a trailer, or whatever the venue might be, really needs to have stellar food.  There is no real scenery, or decor, or a vibe beyond the neighborhood that the vendor is at.  El Oasis is no exception.  Whatever you get will be excellent.  I love sandwiches so I lean towards the Torta , that said.. the tacos are excellent as well.  There are a variety of meats and you can’t go wrong with any of them… however I prefer to get things that I can’t get at other restaurants.  For instance, Barbacoa which is shredded beef cheek and slow cooked to a tender roast beef-like status.  The Carne asada is also ridiculously good.

The sandwich is a fairly simple affair.  Crusty bread with onions, shredded lettuce, fresh avocado slices.  They also have an assortment of hand crafted salsas, I like spicy so I go with the hot salsa.  Drizzle the salsa on and then dig into the mouthwatering sandwich.  My only beef with El Oasis is that there isn’t any type of seating.  So you’re going to have to eat on the car, or in the car.. or take it home.  A picnic table would be pretty righteous.  Another bonus is that they sell Jarritos and Mexican Coca Cola (with real cane sugar!).  Also this is the first time that I’ve gotten food from the big truck.  Normally there’s just the little cart when I drop by.

**EDIT** I have been informed by reliable sources that there are places to sit.  A couple of stools and a bar around back? Thanks Phil!

Rating: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars .  Just shy of 5 stars.  The food is always excellent.

South east corner of:
Mt. Hope and S Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Lansing MI, 48910

I recently moved back to Lansing, and kept driving down MLK and seeing this corner BBQ stand called Michael’s.  I eventually stopped by with Matt but we were both too gluttonous and hungry to take pictures and form coherent sentences. Anyways, I decided to drop by for some Lunch.  I’m not sure the exact hours they keep but it seems to be around the lunch window, maybe early dinner too.  The BBQ chicken and ribs are slathered in a rich and robust BBQ sauce.  There is absolutely no shortage of the BBQ sauce when you order the ribs or the chicken.  It’s neither too sweet nor too smoky, great balance and a consistency that stays on the meat without being too thick.  There is a little kick to it as well.  It’s a truly righteous BBQ sauce for the perfectly cooked ribs and chicken.  I could go on describing his BBQ sauce, but words do not do the sauce justice.

Since I had not had the Jamaican jerk chicken yet, I opted for that.  And boy, lemme tell ya, Michael does not disappoint.  The cost of a 1/4 chicken and 2 sides is $6.50 .  The chicken is rubbed down with a homemade Jamaican jerk rub.  It’s spicy and delicious, at first you don’t notice the heat you just get the flavor blasting your face.. and then the spicy catches up.  For my sides I went with the Macaroni & Cheese and Potato Salad.  The mac and cheese is home made, real cheese in there.  For you vegetarians you could get his sides and be happy.  The potato salad was a new choice for me as well, not too much sauce on the potato salad, potatoes cooked perfectly and was a perfect balance to the spicy Jamaican jerk rub.

I have had the chopped pork sandwich, the pork spare ribs, and bbq chicken.  None of the chicken is boneless, so if you get a chicken sandwich you will need to tear the chicken apart for it.  Everything is delicious.  The other sides I have had were the collared greens and his cooked cabbage.  The collared greens aren’t too oily or salty, the cooked cabbage is cooked with sautéed garlic and onions.. mellow and full flavors.  If you’re on I-496, hop off on the S. Martin Luther King Jr exit and drop by Michael’s.  Your taste buds will thank you.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Everything served is excellent, and is easily deserving of 5 stars.  Come enjoy some of the best BBQ in Lansing.

]]> http://halftonreviews.com/2010/05/28/michael-southern-style-jack-daniel-bbq/feed/ 3 http://halftonreviews.com/2010/01/23/state-side-deli-doesnt-mess-around/ http://halftonreviews.com/2010/01/23/state-side-deli-doesnt-mess-around/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:54:53 +0000 rockstar http://halftonreviews.com/?p=436 Stateside Deli

3552 Meridian Crossings Drive
Okemos, MI 48864-6916
(517) 853-1100

Food Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars – I love these sandwiches
Service Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – Got my food quick, and everybody was friendly. What more can you ask for?
Atmosphere Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – I hardly spend any time inside. Can’t think of anything good or bad.
Price Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – While the prices are high, the food to price ratio is well within reason.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – Only reason I don’t eat there every day is it is about a half hour round trip.

Like corned beef? Go to State Side Deli. Before you whine about the prices, look at what you get for it. That isn’t a goddamned sandwich, it is the goddamned Battle of the Bulge in a box.

I love me a ruben (and friends) sandwich. This is probably my second favorite ruben-class sandwich I’ve had in the Lansing area (the first is the Super Reuben at The Irish Pub…but I was drunk when I had it, so my judgment may be a bit off). Anyway, the State Side Deli doesn’t shit around. You get PLENTY of their delicious corned beef all up in your sandwich.

There isn’t really anything wrong with the sandwich, which in turn makes it a great sandwich since it is so hard to find a really good sandwich in a restaurant. I had plenty of sauce, slaw, etc with none of them over abundant. And if I did need anything else, everyone I’ve dealt with there was pretty friendly, so I’m sure I could have gotten it. You can check out their delicious menu online.

So, after I ate this sandwich I was pleasantly surprised to find a pickle wedge hiding underneath like I wouldn’t find it. Pickle, you can’t hide from me. I love pickles. And since the sandwich took up the whole box, I really didn’t know it was there until I finished. I propose we start saying the phrase “Like finding a pickle underneath a good sandwich” instead of “Like finding money in an old coat”

Finally, I had a slice of the something-layered cake. Forgot the number. It was given to me free of charge in hopes of a good review. While I am appreciative, and can usually be bought, there was no need sir. No need. Mmmmm, free cake.

The Blue Water Grill
5180 Northland Dr
Grand Rapids, MI 49525-1052
(616) 363-5900

The season is a time of thanking and giving… or taking, depending on whether you came in on the Mayflower or you were already in the Americas. Either way, now its a time of family and food. My family went to Grand Rapids to have a Thankstaking lunch with my Grandma. Back in the day we would all gather at her house and she would make an outstanding meal, but as time wears on so does our age and she has wearied of the chore of cooking for everyone. Typically, we eat at mild eateries as Grandma’s palate doesn’t stand for things with pizzazz, but you can only eat at Applebee’s so many times before you start losing your sense of taste (and your sense of decency). So, my Pops scouted a new joint for us to eat at and he found The Blue Water Grill . On the initial perusal the B.W. Grill looked like it was going to kick our asses in terms of the price, but after looking at the menu we found everything to be reasonably priced. Mission “Nomnomnom with Oma” is a go at The Blue Water Grill. Dan was with me, so we’re going to tag team this review, I’ll get it started:

Matt: First, I’d like to say that the place looked impressive. There is a massive 4 sided fireplace when you walk into the joint and it actually provides heat. Unfortunately the start of service didn’t deliver in this respect. The host/hostess had apparently fled their station and we, along with another irate customer, were stuck waiting for one of the staff to meet our eyes and come over and ask what they can do to help. Instead of stewing in my own Rage-juices I asked the bartendress if we could seat ourselves (kinda rude, I know, but I really didn’t have the patience to re-read the menu and pretend like waiting was a fun option), this prompted seats and menus to be provided post-haste.

Dan: I found the overall ambiance really nice. It’s an interesting setup. The Blue Water Grill feels like casual dining, and the menu choices seem like you’re paying for $25 plates. We chose to sit at a booth instead of taking a seat at the bar. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to sit at a bar and crane my neck every time I want to talk with my grandma. Anyways, taking a look around, you get to see what happens when a gravel pit runs dry. They fill it with water and call it a lake; new development gets to pop up around previously worthless real estate.

Matt:  The art they have on and around the giant fireplace is fitting for the joint, it’s not breaking new ground but it’s not garish.  I could hope for something more progressive but at least it’s not the disjointed schizophrenic cacophony that Applebee’s and their ilk litter the walls with.  No one gives a shit about the local little league team that won 3 games over the past decade.

Matt:  I think I may be developing a new art form called “The Joy of Bitching.”  At the very least, I think it would make for a great book title.  Now on with the bitching: What shouldn’t you do?  Oh that’s right, eat with Old People.  They’re picky and go about things in an odd way, is this because they’re old?  My Grandma always asks for Decaf Black Tea, always.  The annoying part is that the restaurants we go to with her NEVER carry Decaf Black Tea.  She has quite literally asked for Decaf Black Tea on every excursion to a restaurant and they have not once had Decaf Black Tea.  Black Tea? Sure. Decaf Black Tea? Not on your life.  The second annoying part is that she always carries Decaf Black Tea bags with her.  So, why ask for the tea if she already has it?  The only reason I can suss out is the behaviour is a hold-over from going through hard times and getting the most bang for your buck possible.

Matt:  One nice point is that they have a bread service.  You get recently warmed up bread, vinegar, and oil to quell some of your hunger pangs.  They served sourdough, which I happen to enjoy.  Please note in the shot above, the aforementioned Decaf Black Tea.

Dan:  We ended up being seated close to the kitchen.  It was an open air grill type of deal, which I thought looked pretty good.  However, the General Manager was hanging out at the server station working on silverware or some shit and basically felt like he was hovering over my shoulder the whole time.  Probably not that noticeable when it’s busy, but for a slower lunch it was definitely irksome.

Dan: I ended up ordering the Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos.  I was pretty excited since I can never seem to find fish tacos anywhere in Michigan.  The plating was excellent, unfortunately the food wasn’t up to par with the plating.  The fish was completely over seasoned;  I didn’t taste any fish in my fish tacos.  I don’t know about you, but if I order fish tacos… I’m hoping for some flavor of the water to come through.  The rice was overcooked as well, the starches were completely coming apart and the rice was basically a mushy mess.  My other beef with the tacos is that I had to build the fucking things.  Don’t get me wrong, that can be fun to do under some circumstances (like when you’re cooking at home…) but I definitely don’t want to go somewhere and have to put my food together.  Also, there was nowhere on my plate to build the damn things!  So, I’m sitting here feebly cupping this tortilla and trying to shovel some of this food in while hoping to keep some semblance of balance.  The biggest stand out for the whole dish was the salsa/chutney that they had.  It was a good mixture of spicy and sweet, I probably would have been happier with more of that and some tortilla chips.

Matt: One unrelated note to my dining experience, I noticed a lot of folks with wine.  This may have been due to it being the Thanksgiving season or perhaps people show up at this joint for wine at 2pm on a Wednesday.  I’m not sure why they’d intentionally come to a place to drink wine and listen to the speakers drone out some shitty James Blunt songs and other miscellanious top 40 hits.  One further note about the music, The BWG’s website has a jazzy atmospheric song playing and I’m somewhat disappointed that they couldn’t follow through with this theme in their restaurant.

Another interesting thing about the restaurant is that it was much smaller than it appeared.  As Dan mentioned earlier The Blue Water Grill has an upscale appearance but a casual dining experience.  I didn’t feel out of place wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  The tables are made of a nice polished wood and were free of the slightly sticky surface that I’ve come to associate with all surfaces at an IHOP.   The BWG is a bit of a gem in a Strip-Mall-Hell.

Matt: I ordered the Chili Crusted Burger which was covered in tasty shoestring onions on a thick roll. On the menu the roll is described as a ‘pretzel roll’ but I received a sourdough roll.  The garlic butter crinkly fries that were served with it were alright as well.   The burger didn’t come across as all that unique, burgers generally taste like burgers. My only beef with the samich: where is the “Chili Crusted” portion? There wasn’t a hint of kick to the flavor.  Despite not being ‘Chili Crusted’ the burger did have a great flavor and I loved the avocado on the burger.  One note, I ordered the burger to be cooked to medium, and it definitely did not show as Medium but rather medium-well to well-done. Quite a few restaurants seem to do this and I can only hazard to guess that this is because their patrons are dolts and send back food that is cooked to the appropriate degree (medium should be pink in the middle, which you can see on the Iowa Beef Council’s site here).

Dan: While I thought my food was merely edible, I tried some of the pizza my parent’s ordered.  It was delicious.  One of the things that The BWG promotes is their wood fire grill for Pizza.  I’d definitely look at getting one of their Pizzas if I’m ever around that way again.

Dan’s Rating: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars .  I was impressed with the ambiance, and the other food looked great.. but the tacos were a let down.

Matt: My Grandma and my Mom ordered the the Blue Water Grill Prime Rib which looked fairly tasty but I didn’t have a bite.  Our bill ended up being below $50 which is fairly astounding considering 5 people were fed. In closing the service we received from our server was fantastic. She was very present, great on refills and follow-ups, courteous and friendly.  I think Dan needs to lay off the pipe because I thought this place was great.  The BWG merits a Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars from me and could’ve come close to 5 stars had there been a host/hostess.

Matt: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Dan: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

-Matt & Dan.

2900 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 332-9700

It has been a while since I’ve written anything for the site.  I’ve been working on the theme and some backend stuff for the website.  This is a bit of a throw back (aka I should have written this thing months ago), which is a nice reminder of summer.  I ended up running errands with my father in Ann Arbor and we were going to stop by the University of Michigan admissions while we were there.  My Dad asked me to find somewhere to eat while he opened a bank account or something for his business.  Anyways, I ended up wandering around looking for places to eat nearby.  I was a little leery of this place because I thought the prices might be too high.  My options were Cottage Inn or Mediterrano, and there is no way I was going to chowzer down on some pizza before meeting with admissions.

I decided to order some coffee while waiting for my Dad.  I opted for dining outside.  Nothing beats eating outdoors on a beautiful day.

The coffee was pretty decent, I’m not really sure what the stuff on the plate was.  I think it was some spread for the bread, ya know… olive oil poured over it then smash it all over your bread.  I was starting to get a little antsy, 10 minutes turned into 20 or 25 minutes, while waiting so I gave my Dad a ring and decided to order for the both of us.  I went for the Greek Style Baked Summer Vegetables; It had Semolina orza pasta, tomatoes, feta cheese and Kalamata olives on top.  I ordered the Grilled Chicken Kebabs for my Dad.  The Summer Vegetables were absolutely fantastic.  They were perfectly baked, and the melted feta added a nice little punch.  It was full of textures, the soft artichokes, the green beans still had some snap.  The tomatoes didn’t seem to be overly acidic nor over seasoned.  The chicken kebabs looked pretty delicious too.

While eating I spoke with my Father about how I feel that good Vegetarian dishes are the hallmark of good restaurants.  Even when I’m not eating purely vegetarian, I like the option for a vegetarian dish just to try new things that I wouldn’t cook for myself.  I can make a damn fine steak or an amazing hamburger, however making something like these tomato baked vegetables?  It just wouldn’t cross my mind to put those things together since I grew up with meat as the protein for most of our meals.

While you do pay for the dishes your wallet won’t be too much lighter;  my Greek Veggies cost $11 and the Chicken Kebab was $12.99.  Not terribly expensive considering how much food you get and a great atmosphere for a dining experience.  Most of the dishes were between the $10-$20 range, with the majority around $15.  If you’re looking for a casual dining spot, with some great Mediterranean inspired foods, give Mediterrano a shot.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars  Decor and atmosphere were great and really fit the mood of the food.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Price of everything was reasonable.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Food was perfectly cooked and all of the flavors really went well together.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Overall.  Definitely deserving of 4.5 stars, if you’re in Ann Arbor give it a shot.

The next day we went to the UofM football game.  It was one they actually won too!