Make mine a cheeeeeseburger ...

Most of our blog group, including a special guest from Howell, got together last night for the third throw down competition! Each couple purchased two plain cheese burgers, cooked medium, from a local restaurant.

The cheeseburgers came from:
Center Stage Restaurant and Lounge
1785 West State Road
Lansing, Michigan 48906
517-482-2280

Edmund’s Pastime
101 Washington Square South
Lansing, Michigan 48933
517-371-8700

Harry’s Place
404 North Verlinden Avenue
Lansing, Michigan 48915
517-484-9661 

Piazzano’s Restaurant
1825 North Grand River Avenue
Lansing, Michigan 48906
517-484-0150

The cheeseburgers were judged on appearance, taste, cheese, and if the burger was cooked medium. The highest score for each category was 5, the total score an individual taster could give was 20. With 8 tasters, the most points a restaurant could receive was 160. At the end of the night the winner, with a score of 114, was Piazzano’s!

Scores:
Piazzano’s = 114
Edmund’s = 105
Center Stage = 102
Harry’s = 98

The next time Scott and I head to Piazzano’s (and yes, we go there A LOT), I’ll be having a cheeseburger!

Ribs, ribs, ribs!

Our blog group, including a couple of guests, got together for a rib throw down earlier this week. The idea was for each couple to purchase a rack of ribs and a side from area restaurants. The hosts for the evening created score cards, came up with basic rules for the evening (the most important was not revealing where the ribs came from until after the voting) and then the rib fest began.

The five area restaurants were:
Cowboy's Southern BBQ
6283 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
517.648.8237

Gregory's Ice and Smoke
2510 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
517.323.7122

Harry's Place
404 N. Verlinden Ave.
517.484.9661

King of the Grill
4400 N. Grand River Ave.
517.323.3096

Meat - Southern B.B.Q. and Carnivore Cuisine
1224 Turner St.
517.580.4400


The ribs were judged on appearance, tenderness, sauce, and overall flavor. The highest score for each category was 5, the total score an individual taster could give each rib was 20. With 11 tasters, the most points a restaurant could receive was 220. At the end of the night the winner, with a score of 184.5, was Harry's Place!

Ribs from Harry's Place.

Scores:
Harry's = 184.5
Cowboy's = 171.5
Meat = 158
King of the Grill = 155
Gregory's = 151

We also tried sides from each restaurant, but due to an allergy, I was unable to partake in all of the offerings. So I am hoping one of my cohorts will share what the sides were for each restaurant and which one won.

All I know is that this girl is looking forward to Wednesday night ribs at Harry's Place!

Taco's E Mas

Taco's E Mas

801 W. Thomas L Parkway

Lansing, Michigan

http://www.tacosemas.com

After a fun day visiting a few of our favorite places in and around Lansing we found ourselves on the westside, hungry and tired. I remembered reading about a new Mexican food restaurant opening (just north of Saginaw, a little west of Waverly, behind the Tuffy and Midas muffler shops). On our way home we stopped at Taco’s E Mas for take out (dine in is an option and they deliver). Scott and I ordered their tacos, beef and chicken with a side of refried beans. Delish! The salsa, while not spicy (we did get the mild), was fresh and the tacos were so very good and stuffed with chicken/beef, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese! The refried beans were yummy, too. We will definitely being going back and soon!

North Lansing

As Scott and I were wondering what we were going to eat for dinner last night, we quickly nixed fast food and chain restaurants, when Scott suddenly remembered a new sandwich shop had opened in our neck of the woods. That reminded me that I wanted to try the new grill restaurant by the airport. After picking up a sandwich and brisket, I realized that north Lansing has some good restaurants! Here is a run down of our favorites.


Kings Subs
2602 North Grand River, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 517.321.1441

Scott tried the Italian sub. The sandwich was filled with ham, salami, pepperoni, capicola and cheese along with lettuce, tomatoes and condiments. The deli meat was sliced as the sandwich was being made. For $5.99 Scott had dinner last night and will have lunch today!



King of the Grill
4400 North Grand River Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 517.862.8306

I tried the brisket with sauce on the side ... OMG good! Looking forward to our next visit!



Alicia's Authentic Mexican Deli & Catering
5025 North Grand River Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 517.580-8417

Scott and I get the shredded beef tacos, they are, without a doubt, the BEST in town!



Mijo's
5131 North Grand River Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 517.886.0406

Pronounced "My Joe's", Mijo was originally from Yugoslavia. Mijo's is EXACTLY what Scott and I look for in a breakfast joint: tasty food, good service and cheap. To top it off, we do not have to wait 45 minutes for a table and the food is usually out in 15 minutes or so. LOVE this place!



Gorman's Food Market
2800 North Grand River Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 517.321.4944

When we are not eating out, we are usually grilling steak, burgers, brats, hot dogs (Koegels, of course), chops and veggies (who knew you could grill cauliflower and broccoli? Tastes like candy!). Where do we get said steak, hamburger, hot dogs, chops? Gorman's Food Market!

The Purple Carrot

Had lunch from The Purple Carrot food truck yesterday and boy was it tasty!

Two friends and I walked from our office to the food truck; it was parked on Turner in Old Town, and found ourselves a line! Not to worry, it moved very quickly.

I wanted to order everything on the menu, but went with the combo (two ½ sandwiches). It came with good chips, salty and thick. And, I purchased an “Elvis” cake pop, more about that later, so the total cost for lunch was $8.95.

The first sandwich I ate was the cubano. It was sweet, warm and good. But my favorite sandwich was the chicken panini they had on the menu (which changes daily depending on the fresh ingredients they have access to). WOWZA! Fresh bread, amazing cheese and the chicken was very moist. After letting that settle, I ate the Elvis cake pop. This was a lollipop made out of cake, with peanut butter icing and bacon, yes, bacon on top. It was the perfect end to a wonderful lunch sitting outside with my two friends. The only thing that could have made the experience better was nixing the line jumpers. If you are toward the front of the line and your friends come up to join you … don’t let them, you join them where they were in line, it is just that much friendlier.

Here is the link to The Purple Carrot: http://www.thepurplecarrottruck.com/#!

Until the next food adventure, keep on truckin’!

MBC Authentic Michigan Pub

Our dinner group visited MBC Authentic Michigan Pub in Lansing last night. We’ve all been there a bunch of times, but for some reason nobody ever got around to blogging about it. So here it goes.

I love the MBC Pub because it is smoke-free! They also have great beers made by Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI. I am a total hop-head, so my favorite is the High Seas India Pale Ale. They usually have about ten beers on tap, so there are options for every beer drinker. Only MBC beer is offered because of their brewery license – so it’s either great craft-brewed beer, soft drinks or water.

The food menu is traditional pub fare. The difference is all of their fried foods are hand breaded and fried to order. I met some friends for a pre-dinner IPA and we split an order of fried dill pickles. Like all of the fried foods at MBC the batter is light and crispy. The order had at least a half dozen pickles and they are served with ranch dipping sauce.

For dinner, Rod and I split the shrimp basket and the pub fish and chips. We got the sweet potato fries and the pub fries along with coleslaw as sides. I love the flavor of the sweet potato fries – they are crinkle cut – but they are not super crispy. The pub fries are lightly beer battered, super crispy on the outside and fluffy goodness on the inside. The coleslaw is pretty standard – creamy but not overly mayo-ee (yes, that’s a word!).

We ordered the shrimp with buffalo sauce on the side. The shrimp were wonderfully crispy and cooked perfectly – moist and tender inside. The buffalo sauce is zippy and delicious.

The pub fish and chips has two moderate size pieces of cod. The fish is always cooked perfectly too. It seems like there is less fish in the order than there was when the pub first opened, but I can’t be sure. Also, they have reduced their offerings – they no longer have Walleye and one other fish. I can’t remember if it is the whitefish or perch that got cut from the menu too.

The atmosphere at the pub is always fun. The wait staff is friendly and attentive. There is a soft seating area if you are just relaxing with friends over a few beers. There is also bar seating and high top tables in the bar area. The main dining area has many square tables that are easily pushed together for large groups such as ours.

I highly recommend MBC Authentic Michigan Pub for a casual night with friends. They are open 6 days a week at 11:00 and open at noon Sunday.

MBC Authentic Michigan Pub

402 S. Washington

Lansing, MI 48933

517-977-1349

Geno's Pizzeria

I cannot even begin to say how happy I am that Geno Abbey will be opening Geno's Pizzeria within the next month or so. Geno is the former proprietor of the pizzeria associated with Izzo's Pub in REO Town. Geno's new location is 208 S. Washington Square - the former Menna's Joint location.

To say Geno makes a good pie is an understatement. While there are some pizzas I enjoy in Michigan, most notably Crunchy's with an awesome IPA, none of it compares to what I grew up eating in New England. Our Blog group ate at the former location together on several occasions and you can check out our review below.

We'll be sure to visit the new location and write about it as soon as possible. Keep your eye out for Geno's to open and please stop in for a slice. Be sure to tell Geno that The Blog that Ate Lansing sent you!