We pulled in next to one of many drive-up menus that surround the kitchen and server station hub in the center of the lot. At Nip-n-Sip, your car is your commissary, although tables underneath two metal canopies do offer an open-air alternative to vehicular dining.

Included in the vendor ranks are Clearview Orchards, The Country Mill, El Azteco, Fresh Lake Whitefish Co., Gibbs Berry Farm, Greenbrush Farms Dolce Vita Goat Dairy, Hang’s Farm, Nibble, Nightengale Farms, Owosso Organics, Pregitzer Farm, Spartan Country Meats, Stone Circle Bakehouse, Sweet Polly’s Pure Breads and Desserts and Tirell Centennial Farm.

Dear Kitchen: Things are getting a little hot for me. We had a great time through the winter, your warmth and dedication unwavering. Alas, it could not last. It’s summer now, and I think I should see other kitchens.

Bunches of fresh-picked Michigan asparagus banded together into little battalions stand at attention on a vendor’s table, sent straight from the farm with marching orders to be cooked by the end of the day. Next to them are carrots so fat they’re fit for a horse.

By JOE TOROK Google "Lansing dining," and Clara’s Lansing Station jumps to the top of the page. Popularity with residents, frequent recommendations to guests visiting from out of town and a landmark building give Clara’s an ostensible air of dining superiority not to be missed.

Hahn now sets up daily at the corner of Cedar and Liberty Streets, just north of Grand River Avenue, and is looking to move into Old Town soon. Trailer Park’d appears weekly at the Allen Street and other farmers markets, and hits occasional events: It was at Preuss Pets during last weekend’s Be A Tourist in Your Own Town festivities.

Cheng, whose family immigrated to the New York area in 1982 from the Fujian province in southeast China, has been in the restaurant business for most of his life. He’s seen what works in New York, the Midwest and China. In this country, at least, flux is the state of existence.

A lunch buffet is new to the location and the menu has expanded, too. Valdez says customers have gone crazy over her caldo, a stew and soup hybrid loaded with beef and vegetables. Menudo is new, too, and pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) will be coming soon.

Reborn in comfortable new digs on Saginaw Road near Creyts Road, Dimitri’s is now run by Stamiti Stathopoulos, son of the restaurant’s namesake. The decision to reopen was not easy (or cheap), and a name change was considered. But in the end, Stathopoulos stuck with a proven commodity.

Retirement is a dirty word to Valentine Korrey. The 88-year-old drives himself to work at 2 a.m. five mornings a week, to the same grill he’s been cracking eggs on, to the same stainless steel counters he’s been making Coney sauce on, to the same restaurant he’s owned for over five decades.