Box Bar - Plymouth

I joined friends for some rowdy conversation and a burger at "the Box" last night. Enjoyed the friends more than the burger. It looked great. Nice looking homemade bun, a perfect slice of onion, but the burger is a perfect circle. Wait, is that a good thing? It is cooked right, nice and juicy...Oh wait, no juice. None. It is full of long grains of meat and no juice. It might have been made from fresh meat at one time, but it wasn't today. Bummer. Nice bar, great beer list, the wait staff put up with my friends and I. Heck, she may have been laughing with us, not at us, but the burger was a dud. If you have to eat it, load up with toppings, chew fast and drink one of the great beers they have on tap. Better yet, head down to Northville to Poole's, they make 'em fresh every day.

Wheat and Rye and Bigg Burger

Tried a couple of new places this week. Wheat and Rye in Romulus and Bigg Burger in Livonia.

The Wheat and Rye is a bar near the airport in Romulus. Nice bar. Good menu with lots of specials. We got there for lunch and they have a half pound burger for $3.25 if you purchase a beverage. I was good. I had a Coke. There were conferences that night. Anyhoo... Nice fat burger on a large bun. Very flavorfull beef flavor, no spices detected. Like way too many bars, though it had a slice of crappy cooking onion, which killed my taste buds on the first bite. I got past it but it was by far the overpowering flavor. It would be a good bar to hand out in. Lots of screens good service. I will try the burger again. It was above average and worth a try.

Bigg Burger is a new fast food joint on the bend of Five Guys or Fatburger, in that it has a simple menu with fries, burgers and shakes. They cook it as you order, so you wait a bit, which is good. Their fries have skins on the end, are cut thinner than Five guys and are salty. I didn't check, but I would guess it was peanut oil. They offer a lot more free toppings. The usual condiments plus a blue cheese mayo and a garlic herb mayo. Fresh veggies galore including; tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, and alfalfa sprouts. Grilled onions, grilled mushrooms and more. There was an extra charge for bacon and guacamole. A single cost about $3.25 and was probably about a quarter of a pound patty. It was $5.89 for a single burger with cheese, a small fry and a regular soda. Good and juicy. I will try a double next time as the temptation to put a hundred different toppings on is strong, because they are all free! Very comparable to Five Guys, I liked it better than Fatburger. Nice, fresh toppings nice flavor on the burger. Some seasonings, but really overwhelmed by the relish, mayo, tomatoes and onions I put on mine. next time I will get a double to have more of the burger taste. I would put the fries a close second to Five Guys. Really nice flavor. I didn't eat mine until I got home and they should have been terrible, but they still tasted pretty good. I will definitely be back.

Remembering Sparky

Sparky Anderson lived my boyhood dream. His career was baseball. He surrounded himself with friends, and he just had a joy about himself that I am envious of.

Quick story(obvious lie). I lived in Florida from 1993-1999. From 93-96 I had a job that allowed me to sneak over to practices at Joker Marchant in Lakeland. I used to put my quarter in that egg-yolk yellow box get my Free Press, park my carcass amongst the Detroit retirees and just breathe baseball. I loved it. I went in one day and decided to sit behind home plate. I was enjoying Trixie's(Dick Tracewski) banter as he harasses the half asleep infielders into taking some ground balls, when up pops that white hair right in front of me. He starts talking to me about "the boys" and says "Hey, little feller" to a boy who has walked up to see the field up close. Sparky then says it was nice talking to me, winks, points over the boys shoulder and then drops a ball at the boys feet and tells him to get it quick. I am not sure who had the bigger smile, the boy, me or Sparky. That's what made him great. He enjoyed that moment as much as I did, maybe more. I need to find that joy. We all do.

Mr. Joe's Reopening

My buddy John invited me to see the U of M vs. Notre Dame game at Mr. Joe's. I hadn't been there since they had reopened. My first thought was, "Wow, if I brought my wife into Joe's now she wouldn't try to run away when she saw the inside." They cleaned off years of smoke and grime put in a new floor, some more big screens and built a step up section so that you can see a little better. The best news is that they haven't changed the burger. They are more food, but swear there will be no change in the burger. The pickle jar is gone from the table, though.

New link

A quick story about the Lindell AC for those who not lucky enough to visit before it was torn down for a bus terminal.

Sidetrack in Ypsi

Several suggestions in the past, so it was finally time to try it.

Very cool bar and Depot Town itself is pretty interesting. Great motto(Beer is the proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy - Ben Franklin) and a lot of microbrews on tap. If you are dying for a Bud or Miller light on draft you are SOL. I think LaBatts blue was the only commercial beer on draft. Amtrack flying by every so often. Great atmosphere. A nice blend of a crowd, from hipsters to college students to one particular hottie with a zebra striped bra that my friends will not forget soon. (I didn't really notice honey, they told me about her later)


Great looking burger cooked to order. They had no problem making a burger the proper way, medium with ketchup, mayo, tomato, white onion, and American cheese. The meat was spiced nicely and the first two bites were great. Then the next 4 or 5 were just OK. It was weird. My first thought was that it was going to be near the top of the list and then it faded. It was good and definitely worth the drive, it just wasn't as good as the first taste.

On the drive in on Michigan Ave. I noticed a couple of old school looking joints I am going to have to try. Roy's and Gariel's. Anybody tried either of them?

Revisit of Bagger Dave's

Brought large boy-type child home from Leadership Training Camp at Mich-a-Luca and he requested a cheeseburger. He was with me the first time and was reluctant, but he was also starving and would even have eaten McDonald's at that point.

Much better this time. The burgers were overdone, but they were still juicy. I would put them in the average range. I still don't like the fries or the sweet potato chips. Both are very inconsistent. Some burnt, some just right. Not much salt. Marci said the Sweet potato chips were the best she had, so...

Went to a Bagger Dave's in AA, cuz it was only thing open while I waited for an appointment.  The burger was served well done, I asked if it could be served medium, and the response was, " that's the way we make them."  That is it. I am officially done with Over Cooked Burger Dave's. 2 of 6