Another set of hours in GR ‹ Big Belly Bloch

I have been making weekly trips to Grand Rapids (or GR as I am told locals call it), and have been having a blast exploring this small city. This week hit-up a couple of places I hadn’t been including one new place, The Old Goat, where dined on chicken wings. They were so good that we put in a second order…and this was after having gone to Maru for sushi for dinner, though was left a bit underwhelmed and me feeling a little ill. Thank goodness for chicken wings and crisp beer, Short’s Local’s Light in this case. In the AM I walked over to GR Bagel and it’s connected neighbor SIP Organic Juices. The concept of GR Bagel is a great one, local and organic ingredients are incorporated; they make their own cream cheese, keep it to a small but solid selection. I found it interesting that they offered two types of Cinnamon Raisin Bagels-one coated (in cinnamon sugar/the one I chose), and a plain one. It was a good move and I think there is wide appeal among each category. I just tried a few bagels this time-the multigrain and olive-oil rosemary included, but will have to go back to test out their schmear game. They are also adding lunch sandwiches including one with American Tuna, which I have a bit of a history with and am a fan of, so will look forward to trying that out as well. Of all things to serve it on, Tunafish is probably best served on a bagel. Bonus points for having three sizes of Rowster coffee, with as low as an 8oz which I can appreciate as I like coffee with my bagels and just enough to balance out the eating of the bagel-meaning it lasts the duration of bagel eating but you aren’t left with a lot of coffee. Clearly, I have opinions on this. Next I stopped into Sip, which I was super excited to about. I got a custom green smoothie and it was awesomeness and reasonable! They had so many options on their menu and I am excited to go back and try some other concoctions. For dinner, Osteria Rossa was a new place for me to try. My friend goes often as he lives a block away and in theory I liked the menu and was excited. It is certainly a solid neighborhood place with a good feel and super nice people. Everything was tasty though I wasn’t a fan of the special whitefish dish as much as I wanted to be. I mean morels! carrots! fiddleheads! but there was a spice in the sauce that just rubbed me the wrong way. Everything else was solid. Nothing to write home about but very good and I will look forward to going back and trying some other things out. On the beverage front tried a michigan wine that was a blend of Cabernet Franc and Blaufrankish. I asked Drew, the bartender, if it was as good as it sounded or if I should be scared because it was from Michigan…he said it was good and indeed, it was. It makes me even more excited to start explorations of Michigan wineries! Stay tuned….