And while I had been to JD Reardon’s Bar & Grille before, I had never actually eaten there for dinner. So when the opportunity presented itself, I had to take a bite and try out one of my favorite casual bars in Grand Rapids.

Located in the Boardwalk Condos (located on Monroe, just south of Leonard Street), JD Reardon’s is a small, yet comfortable bar and restaurant. It has a number of beers on tap, as well as a hefty food menu.

We started out with the Shanghai Mozz Stix ($5.95) — a twist on an old favorite. Delivered in a basket accompanied by marinara sauce, these mozzarella sticks were wrapped in eggroll and brushed with butter and garlic. It made for a crispy, flavorful starter to our meal. I can definitely see it becoming a regular of mine.

Because it was a Monday night, I couldn’t turn down the $5 burgers — a great deal considering the options available to me. I ordered the Cuban (regularly $8.95) — grilled ham, pickle, swiss cheese, garlic mayo and dijon mustard on a large beef patty and bun. My hopes were high after our appetizer, but the burger was difficult to eat, and wasn’t anything special.

A big fan of cuban sandwiches, this didn’t live up to my hopes. It was good, but it stopped there — it needed a bit more spice and flavor. While the garlic mayo and dijon mustard helped, it wasn’t enough. The patty was a bit overdone for my liking, but was far from being charred.

My dining partner felt similarly with his Buffalo Chicken Sandwich ($7.95). It was a little light on the amount of spices, but the major issue was the buffalo sauce. It had barely any amount of spice — more tangy than spicy.

The service was another disappointment — it took a bit long to take our order with the slow service continuing through to the long wait for our checks. For a restaurant that was serving two, maybe three other tables, I was surprised that things weren’t done more quickly.

Although  JD Reardon’s definitely does some things well, it still needs some work. The service, coupled with the standard bar fare, was average at best. Next time I’ll just come for a drink and appetizer, and leave the real food to the big guys.

So when I went back for my first visit since then, I knew I had to at least try something else and give it a fair shot. I’m certainly glad I did.

I went along with another co-partner of Grand Rapids Grub, Christopher Epplett. We sat ourselves at the bar to begin with, and then made our way to a sunlit table towards the back of the restaurant.

Skipping right for the main dish, I went ahead and ordered the BBQ Chicken & Gouda Quesadilla ($8). The quesadilla was full of chicken, gouda cheese, smoked caramelized onion, grilled pineapple and corn. It seemed like a perfect summer dish — after all, it was over 90 degrees outside.

And that it was.

Served on a huge slice of pineapple, the quesadillas seemed to be a rush of different flavors and spices hitting me all at once. It was refreshing, yet still had a bit of a kick necessary. The pineapple — though there was a lot of it — wasn’t overpowering. It was fresh and was a perfect sweet addition to the meal. The corn added a bit of texture, and the whole dish seemed to come together rather well. My only complaint was how messy it was. It’s probably the first time I used a fork and knife to eat a quesadilla, though that certainly didn’t take away from the experience.

I also ordered a side of the mac and cheese. Rich and creamy, I’m sure this is one of the unhealthiest things on the menu. There wasn’t a ton of cheese — just enough to satisfy my palate.

Chris’ dish, however, wasn’t as satisfying. His Blackened Chicken Sandwich ($8) consisted of cajun grilled chicken, Boursin cheese, mixed greens, tomatoes and hot buffalo sauce. The chicken was grilled perfectly, though the cajun spices and buffalo sauce wasn’t spicy enough. The size of the sandwich caught me by surprise — a good portion of chicken protruded from each side of the bun. However, looks can be deceiving. The patty was unusually thin, so it was probably the same amount of meat as most chicken sandwiches.

We ended the night with a ice cream stuffed brownie — strawberry cheesecake ice cream sandwiched in between two massive brownies. It was good, but certainly was something I could’ve made better at home. The brownies were lukewarm, and the chocolate sauce seemed to be standard Hershey’s.

Twisted Rooster offers some refreshing dishes, but still needs to learn how to throw in twists into some of its menu items — it needs to try to push the palate more. Despite that, Twisted Rooster is no longer on my “stay away from” list. Instead, it’s a pleasant middle ground for me, and I’d be happy to visit again.

Having gone there several times, I can tell you that Gino’s is one of my favorite pizza places in town. It doesn’t try to do anything fancy — it just sticks to the basics. You won’t find healthy options on the menu — what you will find is pizza loaded with grease, cheese and some pretty good sauce.

And Gino’s doesn’t go shabby on its toppings either — your pizza will be covered with the toppings you desire, and then some. It’s one of the only pizza joints I’ve visited where I’ll actually leave the pepperoni on and not have a problem eating it.

After a long hiatus of visits, I recently returned to Gino’s. It was the exact same atmosphere, the exact same people behind the counter. We even got to see Gino himself this time around (which is a rare treat). We ordered a two liter of pop and large cheese pizza ($9.95, 14-inch) to split, and 15 minutes later it was delivered fresh to our booth.

I could literally see the cheese melting throughout the pizza. It was a gooey delight and the amount was generous (probably not necessary to order extra cheese at Gino’s). The sauce is likely the best part — a clean tomato taste blended with an array of spices and Parmesan cheese. The sauce tastes like a real tomato, and it’s sits right in the middle between sweet and spicy (many other places can’t seem to get it right)

As for the crust, it was just as crispy as I had remembered. It’s pretty much your classic thin hand-tossed — crispy around the edges and a bit fluffy in the middle.  The large pizza was certainly that — huge.

Gino’s has a small dining area of four booths. Most likely the main business is delivery and pickups, but this is a nice option. Still, it’s not designed as a sit down pizzeria, so don’t expect a lot of frills when you walk in (expect some Ms. Pac-Man, pinball and other arcades).

Needless to say, the pizza was a remembrance of old for me. It hadn’t changed whatsoever, and had brought back so many great memories of past visits. The arcade games, the…late night extravaganzas. It was all worth it for this pizza. I remember working at the student newspaper office in college and ordering a huge pizza for our staff. Each time was a treat.

And this time was no different. Gino’s isn’t fancy, and it isn’t a place to go out on a date. But it’s definitely a place that serves some darn good pizza.

We walked in on a busy weekday, and after a short wait were seated towards the back of the restaurant. Not the most elegant seating choice, but for how busy it was, we were glad to just sit down.

We ordered our drinks and soup to start out the meal, which is exactly what I expected. I went with the egg drop soup, and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome — usually I find egg drop soup to be too eggy (I know; I’m picky), but this time it had just that hint of egg. Everything was smooth and was probably one of the better egg drop soups I’ve had in a while.

But that’s when things started to go a bit downhill. We ordered our entrees; I went with the honey mustard chicken ($10). After a lengthy wait, our meals came. Well, some of our meals came. Myself and another dining partner were left waiting when our other two diners started to enjoy their meals. We were promised our meals would be out in a minute.

But the minute turned into two, and into five, and nearly 10 minutes later, the rest of the meals were brought to our table. While I appreciated everything being cooked thoroughly, I think the kitchen could’ve timed the meals a lot better.

I could immediately tell that the chicken was over-sauced. The chicken was tender and easy to eat, but the honey mustard sauce was just too much for me (and I usually like a lot of sauce). Needless to say, it wasn’t the greatest experience. Additionally, the crab rangoons, which came were included with my meal, were served without the typical red sauce I had come to expect.

Additionally, my dining partner’s sushi was less than spectacular — his tuna roll wasn’t meaty and was more like a paste.

And as I said already, the service was slow and could’ve been a lot better. In a downtown environment, with businesspeople surrounding us, you’d think XO would be trying to push out meals at a steady pace so people could get back to work. That, coupled with the underwhelming food, made for a less than stellar experience.

But once I sat down and tried it, the meat actually held delicious flavor, full of spice. Tuesday’s third Charcutweeterie, which is held at the Reserve each month, featured five aged hams and five Creminelli aged meats. Eight other individuals were in attendance (a ninth was a last-minute no-show), and we were able to immediately pick up in conversation like we were friends of old.

We started off with the aged hams. There was certainly a favorite at the table — the Prosciutto Di Parma, aged 12 months from Italy, featured a parmesan cheese taste, and was much more mild than the other hams. It turns out the pig was actually fed parmesan cheese, which is what gave the meat its cheese-like flavor. The Speck, Alto Adige was also very good. It was a bit more smoky, but was very well-balanced.

Other than these two, the other hams seemed to be a bit more salty — especially Benton’s Country Ham. It was bold, smoky, but very, very salty. The other two meats were Speck Americano and Berkshire Proscuitto, both from Iowa.

For the aged meats, one in particular blew me away — the Calabrese. This meat featured chili and garlic flavors, and you could definitely notice it right away. The spice was mild to begin with, but once you swallow your first bite the heat definitely kicks in. The Wild Boar was also quite tasty, which was darker and thicker, mainly because it was a wild animal. This was much more smoky of a flavor than the Calabrese, but still brought a hint of spice.

The other three meats were Finnochiona, Varzi and Felino.

Overall I’d have to say I was a big fan of the hams. They were light and contained some great flavor without a awkward aftertaste. The Reserve has me hooked now — I’ll definitely be back to try some more aged meats.

For more information on how you can get involved with future Charcutweeterie events, visit http://charcutweeterie.wordpress.com/

Nestled inside of an old candy factory, North Peak is a pretty large restaurant, able to handle large parties or the single couple looking for a relaxed, modern place to dine. It’s seen some minor changes over the years, but all in all it’s remained true to its original self.

Being a brewing company, it has a circular bar area, but most of the restaurant is used for dining. Featuring an open kitchen concept, you get an up-close look at exactly what goes on in the kitchen — whether baking phenomenal wood-fired pizzas or flipping  gourmet burgers and sandwiches.

But on every visit, there’s always at least one consistency for me — the appetizer. I always start with a bowl of cheddar ale soup ($4.95). If you’ve ever eaten at HopCat, this is similar, but features pretzel bits and is much thicker. It’s absolutely the most amazing way to start a meal up north. A little bit of rustic, and full of flavor.

And because the soup is so good, I order the rest of my meal around that. I’ll purposely order a bowl of the cheddar ale and stick with a smaller sandwich that I know won’t make me want to burst after eating it. On my most recent visit, I went with the Herbed Monte Cristo Sandwich ($9.50), which is both light and full of flavor. The meat is packed generously into the sandwich, and with its side of cherry preserves, the hint of sweetness is certainly a great combination with the soup.

But really, you can’t go wrong with what you order. The barbecue chicken pizza (which isn’t on their menu — you’ll have to ask for it) is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy, and is definitely a great choice as well. Likewise, the grilled chicken quesadilla is great  to split as a starter — it comes packed full of meat and cheesy gooeyness.

The service is usually above par as well. Nearly every server I’ve had is friendly and responsive. You won’t find yourselves waiting a while for your meal to be delivered, either.

For drinks, North Peak is hard to beat too. In its partnership with Jolly Pumpkin and Grizzly Peak breweries, North Peak combines its own brews and offers several different beer options to satisfy. They also make a mean root beer, served straight from the keg.

And with the summer coming up quickly, North Peak is a perfect destination for those traveling up to Traverse City on vacation or to enjoy the National Cherry Festival. I can only hope that they’ll never run out of that cheddar ale soup though — that completely makes my meal.

So when I recently was on the lookout for a new place to try, I couldn’t help but notice Marinade’s Pizza Bistro, a dine-in or take-out restaurant located right next to Grill One Eleven.

Marinade’s offers what you would normally expect from a downtown pizza shop — pizza, breadsticks, calzones, sandwiches and some smaller pasta dishes. But what sets the pizzeria apart is its unique views on otherwise traditional Italian dishes.

I couldn’t help but immediately be drawn to the potato rosemary pizza. With an olive oil base, the pizza features onions, potatoes and gobs of cheese. The wood-fired pizza is very light, with a perfectly baked and seasoned crust, and is certainly filling enough. My 10-inch pie ($7.95) was certainly enough to satisfy me for dinner.

My dining partner went with a more “meaty” route — the spicy sausage ($9.95). Featuring spicy sausage, roasted garlic, onion, fresh thyme and pepper, the pizza was full of flavor and spice. And like my dish, the crust was flavorful, and not too crispy (or soft). Everything just came together as you’d expect.

The service was great too. While I ordered at the counter, the cashier was quick to help make my decision and the food was brought out in a reasonable timeframe.

All in all, Marinade’s definitely hit a home run with its concept. While it’s not breathtakingly different from every other pizzeria out there, Marinade’s does it with class. Nearly perfect pizza can go a long way in attracting new customers (especially in a smaller town), and Marinade’s Pizza Bistro has definitely found the perfect recipe for success.

It all happened at Ottawa Tavern, and I swore I would never eat there again (especially because it happened on my birthday). If GR Grub were around back then, I would’ve easily given this one star at the most.

But late last week, I reluctantly obliged to a request to dine there after work, with a co-worker and my girlfriend. We started off with a drink and some salt and pepper chips. Both were brought out immediately to us.

The chips were great — perfectly spiced, not too salty or spicy. And they definitely weren’t just taken out of a bag and slopped on a plate. The drinks were equally surprising – my rum and Coke was heavily liquored up, making me wait for it to water down a little before I could even finish drinking it. Buyer beware — I could only order one of these before I switched to another drink, a seemingly obvious easy-to-serve Guinness.

But easy-to-serve it was not. The Guinness was brought out to me and nearly all of it was foam. I immediately brought this to my server’s attention, who made deliberate note to tell me that “she thought so too.” I appreciated the gesture, and it took about three tries for the bartender to get it right. That begs the question though — how can a bartender not know how to pour a beer, in a popular downtown pub?

The food was a delightful surprise though. I decided to make my own burger, and started with the $4.50 Angus beef patty, with a brioche bun. The list of toppings was overwhelming to me, and it was difficult to make a decision on what I exactly wanted to give life to my burger. I went with a garlic aioli, herb roasted tomatoes and smoked gouda cheese. Needless to say, I think I came up with a great combination. There was just a perfect amount of aioli, and the cheese worked perfectly with it. I could’ve used a few more tomatoes, but they were enjoyable and a great addition.

We ordered two baskets to share — one of fries and the other onion rings. The fries were just as tasty as the chips, and didn’t need any ketchup or dipping sauce. The onion rings, though, were a miss. They were a little too greasy, and too soft. Onion rings should be large (which these were), but also crunchy and full of flavor. The rings were somewhat bland, and definitely needed a dipping sauce along with them.

All in all though, I was much more impressed with my second time at Ottawa Tavern than the first. The service was much improved, and Gilmore Collection seemed to have worked out the major kinks since my last visit. Though I still think there are some adjustments to be made, I no longer will turn my face up at the thought of eating at Ottawa Tavern. Instead, I’ll embrace it.

Being my first visit, I was interested to see what the atmosphere was like, and whether or not the food fit in with what I had expected. There were two main areas to the Roadhouse — a bar, pub-like setting and a patio surrounded by windows. We sat out in the patio area, which was a bit quieter and relaxing.

Like I said, as soon as I saw duck ($15) on the menu, I knew that was my meal of choice for the evening. It came with two sides, and I opted for the sweet potato fries (served with a creamy Chevre Fondue) and garlic mashed potatoes. My dining partner went a more traditional route, opting for the Apple Turkey Burger ($8).

(On a side note, I would’ve liked to see more sides. Four out of the seven options were potato-based, and I would think that they could come up with at least one other side with different ingredients).

We only waited a short time before our meals were brought to us. My food was colorful and welcoming, and I dove right in. The duck had a nice flavor to it, though the raspberry sauce was a bit tart, and the duck was a bit fattier than I would’ve liked. Some bites definitely took a while to chew. Undoubtedly, it didn’t top my experience of duck in Florida, but I haven’t found any restaurant that’s been able to replicate it. The sides were refreshing — the sweet potato fries had a great flavor to them and the garlic mashed potatoes offered just the right amount of spice to my meal.

The Apple Turkey Burger, though, wasn’t as flavorful as my meal. We both agreed that it definitely needed some type of sauce — the granny smith apples weren’t nearly enough. The bun also seemed a bit dry. The actual burger was good, but not anything spectacular either. The side of chips that came with it, though, definitely brought some flavor and interest to the dish. The chips were homemade, and had just the right amount of salt.

All in all, I’ll definitely be back at Walker Roadhouse. The service was top-notch; friendly and attentive. And while they still have some kinks to work out, the inviting atmosphere was relaxing, and the meals were pretty tasty.

So when I recently went to Marn E. Walker’s, located — you guessed it — right in between Marne and Walker, I knew I had to at least try a few things with cheese. Marn E. Walker’s isn’t an Italian place, but it is supposedly known for its pizzas. I was curious to see what all the hype was about.

We started with some cheesy breadsticks. Massive amounts of cheese, rich garlic flavor, and tons of grease — can it get any better? The cheesy breadsticks were good, but not spectacular by any means. It was a bit too greasy for my taste, quite frankly. I would’ve much rather had the same dish from Uccello’s or Big Bob’s, hands down.

Then we moved on to the pizza. Our Margherita pizza ($9.99 or $13.99) sounded and looked very appetizing — who can’t say yes to fresh mozzarella cheese, an olive oil-based sauce, crushed tomatoes and fresh basil? But the results weren’t the greatest. The crushed tomatoes were more like a regular pizza sauce — needless to say, I expected to see chunks of tomatoes on my pizza. The crust was extremely soggy, and did not make a good base for the toppings.

But most of all…the cheese. The fresh mozzarella didn’t taste fresh. It was watered down, and lacked in flavor. Being a huge mozzarella cheese guy, I was disappointed to say the least.

All in all, not the worst of meals, though much could be improved. The service was friendly, and the atmosphere comfortable. There were little to no people in the restaurant — I believe we saw two other tables used while we dined.

It’s baseball season. And as a family-friendly sports pub looking to join the ranks of the West Michigan staples we have come to love, Marn E. Walker’s needs to hit a home run — not a bunt. Especially at the location they’re at, where there’s very little traffic. And they clearly haven’t figured that out quite yet.