Jimmy John's, and why I will never eat here again...

I am not even warranting a long blog post about this one. I ordered the Veggie Sub from Jimmy Johns. Not that anything makes any of their sandwiches special, but this one I've had the two other times I've ever had to order from here, and it was never terrible. Not only is Jimmy John's overly underwhelming as a sub place, and the owner of the chain an absolute (pardon my language) ass, but I didn't order any hair in it. And no, to those who are reading this, it was most definitely not my hair. It was tucked into the sandwich between the mashed avocado and cheese, and also not my hair color (and my husband is bald....so it was definitely not his either! haha). I know accidents happen, but by now I will know better never to order from here again. I will always be disappointed and underwhelmed, and it is much cheaper to buy all of the ingredients and make it from home. 


The links below are two out of many articles pertaining to why many don't eat here, regardless of the underwhelming food in itself:

Jimmy John's and the non-competition clause

Jimmy John's owner hunting extremely endangered female black rhino

Lake Superior Pizza (better known as LSP)

I have been going to LSP since I was in high school (over a decade ago...) for three reasons. One being that they are located right by my high school parking lot which made it easily accessible to walk to for lunch on occasion. Another reason that you can see all of the ingredients in your food, and it is all fresh right down to the dough made from scratch. And the third reason? Two words; Pizza Rolls. Open since the 1970's, they pride themselves on making everything from their dough, to the cudighi and meatballs all from scratch and on a daily basis.

The pizza rolls at LSP are my absolute favorite. I would actually prefer a pizza roll from here, over a lot of normal pizza places throughout Marquette. It's not for the ingredients on the inside necessarily but for that home made pizza dough. It is so soft and fluffy, and it is great because although the cheese makes a small amount of grease when they are baked, the dough traps it all in the inside leaving the outside that perfect soft golden brown. The pepperoni is the best seller, and the one that they usually always have stock of if you go there on a whim. You can also special order different fillings and add whatever you want. Another great combination is just cheese and green pepper with no sauce.

My second favorite item on the menu is their Salad Basket. Also made with a fresh dough ( I'm not positive it is the same dough as the pizza rolls but it tastes just like it, only stretched out thin), the inside is soft and the outside becomes slightly crispy. It is perfect to rip a piece off and either eat it with a mix of your salad ingredients, or dunk into your dressing.

Now, here is the bad part of LSP that happens more frequently then not. Unless you are ordering something like a pepperoni pizza roll that they make all of the time and have backups of, they always mess up your order to some extent. For example, the salad baskets my husband and I ordered were supposed to be chicken, provolone cheese and green pepper. Instead, we got EVERY vegetable imaginable with no green peppers. I don't know if it's some of the people that work there, or if they don't write it down and try to remember off of the top of their head. All I know is that almost every time we order something where you have to pick out specific items to put on it, they always mess it up.

This is a Marquette place that you do not want to miss eating out from. There is no seating so you can either order pickup, or they do have a 10 dollar minimum delivery. Even through the clumsy screw ups, it is more than worth it to eat from here. If anything, stop there and get a pizza roll! You will NOT regret it!

LSP's Main Website

LSP's Facebook Page

Huron Mountain Bakery of Ishpeming

I was a huge fan of Peggy Sue's, a restaurant that used to serve up home-style cooked meals and breakfast all day. When the "For Sale" sign was in the window it used to make me sad, but when I had learned that Huron Mountain bakery had purchased the building to make a larger store up here in Ishpeming, the blow of Peggy Sue's closing was lessened. A full renovation in fall of 2014 completely changed the look and appeal of what used to be a somewhat eye sore. They are now equipped with a refrigeration unit, so along with all of the baked goods that they carried before, they now serve the same products as the Marquette store. Or do they?

The Ishpeming location, and only the Ishpeming location (for now), is offering wood-fired pizza in their new wood oven. They have only been offering pizzas for about a week now, and my husband was smart enough, I mean, gracious enough to pick two up on his way home from work a few days ago. Although I was sicker than a dog, I made myself try both of the kinds that he brought home, and I'm glad I did.

One of the pizzas that he brought home was the BLT pizza. There were layers of colorful tomatoes, cheese, crunchy bacon, shredded lettuce and homemade garlic aioli. I loved the sweetness of the tomato with the crunch of the lettuce and bacon.

One of my FAVORITE type of pizza is the Margherita pizza. I am a pretty big critic of this one, since it is one of my favorites, but the flavors were all there. There was a thin layer of tomato sauce, whole fresh basil leaves, and thinly sliced scattered melted fresh Mozzarella. The only thing I would have changed, or wished more of, was the Mozzarella cheese.

And of course, to end the meal on a sweet note, an M&M Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Now they have many amazing goodies at Huron, such as bread that you can eat by the whole loaf full, muffins, doughnuts, pastries, cookies etc. Some of my favorites are the spinach and feta stuffed crescents.....but those we will save for another blog post. You definitely need to try out the new pizza at Huron in Ishpeming. The fresh ingredients and wood oven makes the pizza taste like you made it at home in your own kitchen.

I haven't been able to find an online menu for the pizza, but a link to their main website and Facebook page is below:

Huron Mountain Bakery

Huron Mountain Bakery, Facebook

Blimpie, 50 years of Delicious

One of my favorite places to get subs from, other than Subway, would have to be Blimpie. Before moving to Ishpeming I had never really eaten here. Now my husband and I get subs and salads from here frequently. Although you do get more sauce and topping options at Subway, the subs at Blimpie are completely different and unique. They also have different bread and bun options here that you won't find at Subway.

The above sandwich is the Buffalo Chicken Panini grilled sub. I always ask for the original, minus raw onions. This sub is layered with sliced buffalo chicken breast (and yes, they actually slice the meat fresh, in front of you), provolone cheese, tomatoes, hot sauce and Ranch dressing. I always get it on the Ciabatta bread which gives the outside a great crunch.

One of my new favorites would have to be the Turkey, Bacon and Cheddar sub on the pretzel bread. The pretzel bread is AMAZING. I am a huge fan of soft pretzels regardless. The sub is layered with oven-roasted turkey, crisp bacon, smoked cheddar cheese, tomatoes and instead of getting the spicy mustard sauce that normally comes on it, I opted for the chipotle mayonnaise. I also added lettuce and pickles. Yum!

 They also have amazing soups. My two favorites are the chili (first and second picture above), and the cheddar broccoli (above right picture).


If you are in Ishpeming and have a craving for a good sub or hot soup (especially now that it is Fall, and for us practically Winter), stop in and grab some Blimpie subs! They also have a drive-through. The main website with the link to their menu is below.

Blimpie main website

Mmm Mmm BBQ! at Mancino's Pit Stop

This is one of my favorite places to eat while down in Oscoda, MI. It is what you would call an unexpected flavor in a unique location. This restaurant is located in part of a gas station, and has probably one of the best smelling parking lots that I know of, because a large smoker resides in it. I have been here a few times in the past now, and even through owner changes, the food still tastes amazing. The service was...special to say the least, but she was a very friendly waitress. Not the brightest, or had that great of a memory, but was friendly.

I have had subs here in the past and wanted to try something different, so I opted for a salad. If you are choosing this salad thinking you are staying on the lighter side of a meal, you would be wrong. And I do not mean that in a bad way. It is piled high with smoked turkey, apple wood smoked bacon, smoked ham, cheese, tomato, croutons, and I added honey mustard dressing. The fact that there was lettuce in there somewhere made me feel better about eating three kinds of meat on top. I was only able to finish half of this and took the rest back to camp with me. 

If you are in the area and are craving some delicious smoked meat, or you happen to need to fill your car with gas and are hungry, this is the place for you. Great subs, great salads, and great BBQ!

A link to their Facebook page and main website are below:

Mancino's Pit Stop, Facebook

Mancino's main website

Moose Drop Inn....I can't help myself....

I am well aware you have seen this one before already.....and not too long ago. I absolutely LOVE this restaurant! I had to run out to camp and grab my slow cooker for an event that I am helping cater, and this was of course our choice for dinner. You've seen the pizzas before (Moose Drop Inn Pizza) but I had yet to post some of my other favorites, and I wanted to give you an inside look of the restaurant.

The inside is adorable, and filled with moose everywhere. The counter has a glass case with Michigamme themed items for sale, they have candy jars filled with all of the great candies of the past, and all items are reasonably priced. Also (not shown), if I were to have turned around with my phone camera, they have shelves filled with toys, games, and more Michigamme keepsakes.

Now for the food, which is obviously the best part of this place if we keep coming back for more..

This is normally what my husband and I order every time we come here. This time he was the only one to order it, since I wanted to try something new. It is a Chicken Pesto Sub, with home made basil pesto, tomato, chicken, lettuce, cucumber, and smoked Gouda cheese. It is one of the best clean and refreshing subs I have ever had (which is why I am a repeat offender). It comes with a side of pasta salad, chips or fruit.

I opted for the BLT salad. Don't let this picture fool you, the salad was as big as my head! It is pretty self explanatory being that it has bacon, lettuce, and tomato like a BLT, and then croutons, cucumber, and shredded cheese. But it was gorgeous, and the bacon was crispy.

We don't normally get dessert here since we are usually really full from dinner, but we managed to squeeze in a piece of cheesecake (I should just start with dessert first next time!). It was chocolate caramel cheesecake with sea salt. And it tasted as amazing as it looked.

If I haven't stressed this enough, you need to eat here. Everything is fresh, and home made. Right down to the delicious sauces and desserts. And if you live in Ishpeming (and depending on if you drive the speed limit or go...a little faster than suggested), it is only a 15-20 minute drive, which is still closer than driving all the way into Marquette.

I know I've posted the menu and Facebook link on the pizza post, but here they are again:

Menu

Facebook Page

Togo's and folks go together.

I haven't had Togo's in years, so my husband and I decided to stop at the one in Harvey on our way home from Munising.When I was young we used to get Togo's often. Simple ingredients, everything fresh, and bread made homemade every day. I had stopped going for a while because the service got slow, and sloppy. I realize that it is just a sub shop, but when I had been going there and 4 out of 5 times they had messed up the order, it was time for a break. I was surprised in the years that I haven't been there, that they still had the same specials numbers on the "original Togo's" menu.

 

I ordered my all-time favorite sub, a 6-inch #22, which is lettuce, tomato, pickle, American and Provolone cheese. It comes with onions but, as I'm sure you have noticed in previous posts, I can't stand raw onions. The sauce and seasoning is just oil, salt and pepper.

It was hard to get good pictures of this sub, because even though it was delicious, it looked pretty rough. It was put together pretty sloppy, and there were only about 5 people in the building that had all been served already. But the taste definitely brought me back to my childhood. It was a good fresh sub. To this day, Togo's remains my dad's favorite sub shop. They have many new items and ingredients and it is worth stopping by and trying them out. The link to their main website and Facebook page are below.

Togo's Website, which also has a link to the menu
Togo's Facebook page

Moose Drop Inn. Everything from scratch, and made with love.

This past weekend, some of my favorite guy friends were up at camp in Michigamme having what I like to call a pre-bachelor party for a friend who is getting married in September. With there being four boys and myself, I didn't feel like cooking and wanted to have more time to do important things like fishing, boating and being "floaters" in Lake Michigamme.

One of the best things that has happened restaurant wise in Michigamme was getting new owners at the Moose Drop Inn. In the past few years, they have put out nothing but great food. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is made from scratch, right down to the pizza crust and homemade pesto sauce. I have eaten there many times in the last year, but what is great is now having the convenience of getting takeout from there. The boys and I decided to get some pizzas to go!

 Chicken Pesto pizza with smoked Gouda cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, chicken, and bell peppers.

Supreme pizza, with olives, onions, peppers, mushroom, sausage, pepperoni, ham, and marinara sauce.

Taco pizza, with mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, seasoned ground beef, olives, tomatoes and we leave off the onions. Also served with a side of salsa, sour cream and jalapenos. 

With every pizza, you get the choice of a homemade traditional crust, or sourdough. The sourdough is my personal favorite. 

You can tell that the new owners of this restaurant are filled with passion. The food always tastes amazing, and they always make you feel welcome. This will definitely not be the last time posting about this place. They are also the home of my favorite sub sandwich, and desserts to die for.

Check them out at:

Moose Drop Inn, Facebook

Menu