East Lansing suggestions

Good beer and great burgers and it's right off of campus.

http://www.crunchyseastlansing.com/

 

About 10min drive from campus: http://www.taps25.com/

 

Add Reno's East to your list. They will also have some good Bell's stuff from the tap takeover. Here is a recent beer menu:

Reno's Sports Bars - Reno's East, East Lansing - Reno's West, Lansing

 

EagleMonk is a brewpub which brews its own stuff. They are still getting their legs, but they make a few good beers, and I recommend giving them a look.

 

If you want a quiet place, the State Room lounge in the Kellogg Center had a decent selection of Michigan taps when I was there in July.

 

And to take stuff home, visit Oades Big Ten just off of Kalamazoo and US127. It's listed in Places.

 

I'm digging this old bag back up because I'll be taking my lady to a Show in EL at the end of Feb for her birthday. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for my low brow tastes (beer bars, good pub food) and the wife's (home made quality, interesting food, semi-fancy). We are also into "from scratch" type breakfast joints.

Thanks.

 

Glad to hear you're coming to town!

I echo what people above have said about Crunchy's for a good college bar experience. It's got great, constantly rotating taps, good food, and a fun atmosphere. HopCat similarly has good taps and food, but it's definitely got a more upscale vibe (and is quite a bit pricier).

For your wife (girlfriend?), I think two places that would make you both happy would be Dusty's Tap Room in Okemos and Soup Spoon in Lansing. Dusty's has good food, a slightly classier atmosphere than most bars, and a great beer selection (including a Short's beer called "Dusty Roads" brewed exclusively for that location). Also, you can stop at their bottle shop next door, which has a pretty good selection as well; you can also sign up for their beer and wine club for free by providing an e-mail address and receive 10% off all of your beer purchases!

Soup Spoon, I think, fulfills all of your parameters listed above: they have great scratch-made breakfast, excellent lunch and dinner menus, and ten or eleven really solid Michigan taps. It, along with Golden Harvest, is often listed as the best restaurant in town. You can try to get a table at Golden Harvest (breakfast and lunch only), but be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes any time of day.

Personally, I think Crunchy's is the best bar in town. The tap list always has at least two awesome beers on (Enjoy By and Hopslam are on at the moment), and the food/vibe is unpretentious and eclectic.

If you're thinking about bottle shops, I'd check out Oades for their selection and On the Rocks for their prices. Oades has several cases of Abyss right now, but they tend to mark things up at least $1. On the Rocks has a good selection, good prices, friendly service, and just about everything refrigerated. Horrock's also has a great selection, and is also a great place to get your growlers filled. Right now, they've got several BA beers on tap, Hopslam, Enjoy By, Third Coast Old Ale, and others. They do have restrictions on what can be filled though.

Cheers, @apendecto, I hope you guys have a good time!

 

Ditto on Soup Spoon. Great food and solid little tap list. Classy but not overly so.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Soup Spoon sounds right up our alley. As for Crunchy's, I thought you said they had good beer on tap.

I'll have to look into Golden Harvest as well. Thanks for the write up.

 

Found time for both Soup Spoon and Golden Harvest. Soup Spoon was ok. Decent soups, weak sandwich and app.

Golden Harvest on the other hand is beyond amazing. Totally made our trip. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

 

14 posts and no one mentioned Hopcat East Lansing? The East Lansing location has a bit of a sterile feel to it but their taplist is as good as any. The food is pretty good as well. http://www.hopcatel.com/

 

Apendecto brought this thread back to life in January. All the threads before that existed before hopcat did...

Also hopcat was mentioned in post 11, brief, but mentioned.

Love me some hopcat though. Once it warms up I'll be back to going more often.

 

You are right. Hopcat was mentioned earlier. That's what happens when you drink and glaze over other people's comments.

 

We stopped by there as well (I've never had Wulver) and it was really strange to see a bunch of young college kids getting toasted on a weekday. It made my 32 year old ass feel incredible elderly.

 

Weekday, weekend, morning, doesn't matter the time. They're always getting toasted.

Hopcat is best for the burger and beer special. Mon-fri, 4-6 you get a burger and fries along with a beer from the standard 20 for $7. Heck of a deal.

 

Yeah, I get weirded out by Hopcat East Lansing for the same reason except I'm 45. Where do those kids get their money to pay $5+ for a beer. When I was in college, I looked for 12 pack that were under $5 to get a buzz without going broke.