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The Trib's interest in GR is new, but not surprising. There are a lot of Chicagoans who vacation on Lake Michigan. And, for years, the Trib has defined "Chicagoland" pretty broadly. I have an old map of "Chicagoland," and it includes GR on the northeastern edge.

That would be cool to see. Any chance you can scan it and post it?

I always figured GR's relationship to Chicago has strengthened recently... if there's an old map showing it that's quite cool.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The also mentioned something going on here called "The Giant ArtPrize Fair." Has anyone heard of that?

Everyone but you. Do you get out alot? read the newspaper? Watch tv? It's the biggest thing going on in Grand Rapids Right right now. Read the artprize thread.

Edited by crinzema
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Barbara Corcoran can be amusing sometimes. Near the end of the segment when they were about to talk about Saginaw (the 3rd city on the top 10 list in Michigan) she prefaces by saying "It's not that I have a thing for Michigan, that's for sure". I don't think that was meant to be an insult, but...

"Giant Art Prize Fair" made me lol

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given that the "largest" artprize is occurring in Grand Rapids right now, one can assume it might be described as being giant.

I love seeing the success of Artprize, but what I can't wait to see the growth of this event next year. Then hopefully, the phrase "giant artprize" would not be fitting.

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Everyone but you. Do you get out alot? read the newspaper? Watch tv? It's the biggest thing going on in Grand Rapids Right right now. Read the artprize thread.

GRDadof3 got my joke which was simple: it's called "ArtPrize"

It might be a giant art prize that is somewhat like a fair but it's most certainly not "...called The Giant Art Prize Fair" (in other words, she titled it that, she wasn't describing it with adjectives, she was reciting the event title as she understood it).

At any rate, I was just laughing and enjoying the joke. No hard feelings on my part.

If the merch. shop in the UICA and Old Federal Building would sell t-shirts that said "The Giant Art Prize Fair" I would totally buy one. :) Alas, all their stuff just says "ArtPrize."

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  • 2 months later...

Koeze as good as gold.

A write up on Koeze's Cream Nut peanut butter. I can't say that I've ever had it, looks good though

I also did not realize that Grand Rapids is the exclusive provenance of the "Wet Burrito". Who knew?!

About that Koeze piece, I like how the first sentence just says:

There is more to Grand Rapids, Michigan's culinary output than the "wet" burrito.

...As if anyone reading a lifestyle/culture blog like Selectism would have already known that.

I've heard "GR invented the wet burrito" before too, but I don't know true that is. For all I know, it was a story that went around when the Beltline Bar took off. I used to believe it, since for all of my travels, I've never met anybody with a general working knowledge of wet burritos outside of GR. If you google "wet burrito" though, it seems as though they're pretty prolific, and lots of restaurants all over the place serve them. Any foodies around here know for sure?

Their popularity here is definitely unique, though, so even if it isn't "ours," I would still argue we've adopted it into our local cuisine as our own.

Edited by RegalTDP
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Koeze as good as gold.

A write up on Koeze's Cream Nut peanut butter. I can't say that I've ever had it, looks good though

I also did not realize that Grand Rapids is the exclusive provenance of the "Wet Burrito". Who knew?!

I love Koeze peanut butter, but then again I have a family member who works there, so I might be a little biased. Of course the fact that they're selling it world wide has to say something about how much people like it.

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My kid is a Koeze addict -- unfortunately, we have to spend mucho dineros getting it shipped from Zingerman's.

Regarding the wet burrito -- I have lived in a hotbed of Mexican cuisine for many years, and the concept of a "wet burrito" is unknown out here. I think that it may be TexMex in nature, since the folks who started Mexican food in GR came from that area.

My favorite wet burritos came from a bar that is (used to be?) on Michigan Street, just east of College, I think. The bar featured Harp Lager on tap. Anybody know if that place is still around, or what it might have been called?

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Lived in GR all my life, never realized we invented the wet burrito. :) I always thought it was a midwest thing, not just GR.

Joe

I don't know if this is true and I may have this mixed up with another story but I've heard that it was the early Dutch immigrant miners who brought the recipe for wet burritos with them from the Netherlands. Instead of cold sandwiches, they'd take the still hot wet burritos down with them into the deep cold damp gypsum mines as hardy warm lunch time meals. The wet burritos were kind of messy but since the miners weren't allowed to sing or dance, cleaning up afterwards gave them something wholesome to do instead during their lunch breaks. Of course the last of the gypsum mines closed years ago but the wet burrito became an adopted favorite of all the other nationalities and ethnic groups in the Grand Rapids area. Today you can find this local favorite on the menus of not only Dutch restaurants and bakeries but also sushi bars and even locally owned Greek and Mexican restaurants.

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