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Grand Rapids Restaurant Rumor Mill


dbrok

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Also fairly new in Easttown is Dan Rafav's, some of the best authentic Mexican food around. The place isn't that fancy (a la Maggie's) but the food is great!

This is the Eastown Mexican I think I was looking for the other day, but couln't find it--

Could you please provide address?

:)

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It appears to be an outdoor patio with a large firepit (see chimney in middle of the patio area). Interesting... :)

I wish they would update their website (http://www.woodslounge.com)...

EDIT: According to the advertising/web company that is doing their logo/web: "A river, a city, a road, and now a bar all stand tall on the West side of Michigan. This hip joint in the heart of GR features a woodsy theme with rockin music and great grub."

Edited by twoshort
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Not that White Castle is good or anything, but how in the hell does Lansing have 1 and we don't have any of the ten we could support (three on 28th, two on Division, one on Alpine, one on Plainfield, two on US-31 in Holland and Grand Haven and one on Apple Avenue in Muskegon)?

White Castle does seem to correlate with Big Cityness - albeit Lansing as the current exception.

Edited by metrogrkid
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Not that White Castle is good or anything, but how in the hell does Lansing have 1 and we don't have any of the ten we could support (three on 28th, two on Division, one on Alpine, one on Plainfield, two on US-31 in Holland and Grand Haven and one on Apple Avenue in Muskegon)?

White Castle does seem to correlate with Big Cityness - albeit Lansing as the current exception.

Why? I'll tell you why. There isn't enough Immodium in this town to support 10 White Castles. They call them "sliders" for a reason.

Nitro

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Wasn't Hot n Now a local chain? I keep getting them and Get em n Go mixed up.

Hot n Now was a regional chain that changed hands many times in the life of the company. Pepsico owned it in the beginning and it was subsequently sold a few times after that. The last owners were a group of misfits that somehow bought the whole chain without a penny to their name. The company was based in Howell and then they moved to Grand Rapids into my office. My former boss had a business relationship with the owner. They tried to take the company public and had an IPO for the stock. At one point it topped out at $0.93 a share and mostly hovered around the thirty cent level.

The owners were complete screwups. Not long after moving the company to Grand Rapids they put Hot n Now into receivership and closed them all down. Strike One.

In addition to owning the Hot n Now's they also owned the two former Mountain Jack's on 28th St. Which they changed the name to CP Steakhouse. Also shortlived.......Strike Two.

So what do you do if you fail???? Try, Try again. This time they leased the former Bistro Bella Vida on the East Beltline which had changed names to Campangia. The A-holes were so cheap they didn't even change the name of the closed down restaurant and re opened it as Campangia again. Once again short lived........Strike Three. You're out.

Last I heard there were charges being drawn up on the owner for fraud.

Nitro

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Yikes! They should teach "How not to run a business". I was referring to the beating that fast food places are taking right now (not just in this area). I wouldn't be surprised if there is a major shakeup in the big 3 (McD, BK and Wendys) in the next 3 years, with one of them not making it. McDonalds has even tried launching pizzas and Mexican food in some markets in a desperate attempt to wrestle market share back from other lunch joints.

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Not that White Castle is good or anything, but how in the hell does Lansing have 1 and we don't have any of the ten we could support (three on 28th, two on Division, one on Alpine, one on Plainfield, two on US-31 in Holland and Grand Haven and one on Apple Avenue in Muskegon)?

White Castle does seem to correlate with Big Cityness - albeit Lansing as the current exception.

you could probably put one on Lake Michigan Drive and Wilson in front of the new Meijer now. You know im ashamed to admit it, but of all the chain restaurants out there, I really like Chilli's :D if they had one of those on Lk MI Drive, I'd probably be in heaven.

And the "sliders" comment, Genious! had me :rofl: MAO for a good 30 seconds :D

Edited by snoogit
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Since we haven't talked about it.. if you'll notice in the pic below (thanks GRDad):

7A61FAA035C211DA95AF572E180B1119.jpg

They're doing work finally between Monte's and O'tooles. That place is owned by the same two brothers and is rumored to be a Tapas style Bistro when completed (last i heard they were throwing that idea/jazz bar style idea around). It also will include a possible renovation of the basement connecting all 3 establishments with shared bathrooms (which would be an improvement for both Monte's and O'tooles in my opinion....

Of course.. this is just "word on the street" that i've gotten from somewhat better than average joes.... :whistling:

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It also will include a possible renovation of the basement connecting all 3 establishments with shared bathrooms (which would be an improvement for both Monte's and O'tooles in my opinion....

So then could you go from one bar to another just by passing between the bathrooms?

Also I've heard that someone is planning something on along the entire block adjacent to the Northeast corner of the one in the pic.

EDIT: sorry that's hard to understand. I'm talking about the block with the cini-mini and the limo service.

Edited by GaryP
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So then could you go from one bar to another just by passing between the bathrooms?

Also I've heard that someone is planning something on along the entire block adjacent to the Northeast of the one in the pic.

That's what I love about this board. There always seems to be someone out there with an inside "scoop" on what is going on with a project. If this board is any indication of the level of interest people in West Michigan have for downtown, we are in for a long and pleasant ride with the redevelopment of downtown. :thumbsup:

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So then could you go from one bar to another just by passing between the bathrooms?

Also I've heard that someone is planning something on along the entire block adjacent to the Northeast of the one in the pic.

Yes, that's the plan, which would be awesome as well, and shouldn't be a problem since they're all 21 and up anyways.

As for across the street.. a bird told me that the Red Lion is going to be a 24 hour diner.. which I must say would be sweet for.. uh.. late night snacks. The other building is owned buy the same guys as Bridge Street Pizza. The scoopage on that last I heard was some sort of store/possible apartments upstairs/or possibly expanding the Pizzeria... but time will tell

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