Wednesday, March 28,2012

Spice up your life

If you crave real Mexican cuisine in Lansing, check out these locations

by Joe Torok

The big player in short-order Mexican sets up shop in a little trailer along Michigan Avenue. El Oasis, which has a second location inside a party store on the corner of Cedar Street and Miller Road, serves up tasty fare on the east end of town, rain or shine, sun or snow.

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Wednesday, March 21,2012

Black Rose is in bloom

One new tavern and two new Coney Islands open

by Joe Torok

A part of the Urban Feast restaurant management group that has footprints in the Lansing area (with Troppo, Tavern on the Square and Edmund´s Pastime) and on the west side of the state, the Black Rose is a reboot of a bar that formerly slung drafts in downtown Grand Rapids. That location closed in 2009.

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Wednesday, March 14,2012

Xiao finds the sweet spot

East Lansing eatery is all about fusion and funkiness

by Joe Torok

We started with the chicken lettuce wraps ($7.49) which are a study in contrast. Full leaves of romaine fan out from a chicken and vegetable mixture punctuated with pineapple chunks and served in a deep fried shell. Perhaps it’s a quibble, but our lettuce was still soaking wet when served, and although I was confident it was rinsed well, I didn’t need a bath along with it.

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Wednesday, March 14,2012

CADL talks focus on food

by Joe Torok

The Purple Carrot food truck will present programs at two CADL locations next month, according to owner Nina Santucci. Santucci will conduct a cooking demon stration with co-owner Anthony Maiale using locally sourced ingredients; they will hold a conversation with attendees about the many ways purchasing local is important.

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Wednesday, February 22,2012

Savory Southern cooking comes to south Lansing

Delicious Chick'n & Fix'ns is worth clucking about

by Joe Torok

Open only a few months, Chick'n & Fix'ns is still working out the kinks, as the smiling and well-managed yet slightly stiff servers will attest. What it may lack in polish is made up for in earnest friendliness, and if you've never been to Chick'n & Fix'ns (they will ask you), they're more than happy to give you the lowdown.

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Wednesday, February 15,2012

Table talk

Everybody Eats conference highlights healthy food initiatives

by Joe Torok

Joy Baldwin, food systems project manager for NorthWest Initiative, is working on a healthier alternative to the neighborhood ice cream truck.

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Wednesday, February 8,2012

Seoul food

Don’t let first impressions fool you: Korea House is well worth visiting

by Joe Torok

Korea House is modestly situated along the western face of the Trowbridge Plaza. Mirrored window film gives the exterior a distinctive, though opaque, look. One is happy to read the black sign with orange lettering near the door with the reassuring message, “Yes, We are Open.”

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Thursday, February 2,2012

Quest for quality

The search continues for first-class dining in Lansing

by Joe Torok

Many of us seem to have an assembly-line mentality when it comes to dining out, and perhaps that’s understandable in a car town: We want to eat cheap, fast and in vast quantities. Maybe it’s an American thing, like in retail, in which we sometimes consume just to consume. Around here, we sometimes eat just to eat.

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Wednesday, January 25,2012

Share and share alike

Renovated East Lansing Food Co-op hosts a grand reopening celebration Sunday

by Joe Torok

The East Lansing Food Co-op is looking good these days, thanks largely to extensive renovations that took a year to come to fruition.

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Wednesday, January 25,2012

Crunch time

Augie's broasted chicken is worth clucking about

by Joe Torok

The promise of broasted chicken is that it is moister, tastes better than other chain chicken shacks and has less fat and fewer calories than other fried chicken — though, as one of my dining companions pointed out, that’s a bit like saying you smoke light cigarettes because they’re better for your lungs.

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