Tyler "tbaggervance" B.'s Profile

The Roadhouse has two major barriers to me being gaga, five stars in love with it - it's expensive and it's not downtown.  Now these may be trivial aspects for some, but this is my review, I'll criticize anything I want.

I ended up here because the girlfriend wanted a bloody mary for brunch and claimed these were the best.  Besides she was aghast that I'd never been.  Offering to pick up the check was all the arm twisting she had to do.

I can't vouch for the bloody mary (other than to say it looked like a delicious, professionally made cocktail) but they do have a fine selection of beers on tap.   Regardless, the main selling points turned out to be that the service is quite incredible and the beef brisket is to die for. I'd note that you get what you pay for, except the portion size left me wanting more.  Lots more.

So anyone who wants to drive me out here and pay for my meal, I'm in.  I'm already contemplating having the brisket again or trying my luck on something new.  Ah the eternal conundrum...

Finally someone decided to tap the market of all of those people shouting "Man do I love Mongolian BBQ, but Ann Arbor is 10 minutes away! What's a boy to do?"

Alas J. Neil is no BD.  Less ingredients.  By an avalanche. Less sauces, less spices.  Less is not more when you're making your own recipe.  Poor service.  I hate to ding a place on one experience, but our food took FOREVER to cook and our waitress seemed uninterested in impressing us. Perhaps I'm used to the hustle bustle atmosphere of their A2 competitors, but everyone here seemed like they were indentured servants grinding out the clock.  

They seemed big on local microbrews which I like, but I wasn't enamored with the choices (again).  I'm willing to give J. Neil another chance should I find myself in choice limited Ypsi, but compared to the land of plenty down the road, I wouldn't make a special trip.

Not that they need it - but here's more love for VoM:

I've had subscription services at every comic book store in A2 and Ypsi over the years, and VoM is far and away the best.  It took them all of 3 weeks to learn my name and after over a year of coming there every Wednesday, I've never missed an issue and never get unsolicited books on my pull list.  'nuff said.

They're also great for novices.  I had a friend who got into non-superhero indie stuff a few years back, and while she's scoured the country, she still has yet to find a store with the selection and recommendations that she encountered at VoM.  High praise indeed.

My favorite part - they are right on Main Street downtown.  If you live close, its super convenient.  If not, what a great excuse to get off your butt and go have a drink somewhere cool after you pick up your books. Excelsior!

STOP THE PRESSES!  Sit down Yelpers, because you're not going to believe this: Whole Foods has a bar.  

So i was in here for the first time a couple weeks back and stood five feet from their beer/wine bar scratching my head, trying to determine with the help of a friend what exactly was going on.  We must have looked dumbfounded, because eventually a bartender came out to talk to us and assuage our fears.  Thank God she did.

Turns out that YES they have wine and beer at the bar inside of Whole Foods.  YES you are allowed to meander around Whole Foods and do your shopping with said drink in your hand.  And YES their prices are cheap!

I only wish I could afford to do more shopping at WF, as every grocery shopping experience should include 2 to 3 glasses of wine.  I'll definitely be back for happy hour.

I think I had desert here once, but that's neither here nor there.  You don't want my food reviews, let's talk booze...

I know a bit about beer.  Well, at the very least I've drank a lot of it and I know what I like.  I spend a lot of time at Grizzly Peak because I have a membership and its cheap.  I stick to the seasonals and usually find something I like. ABC is tasty and I love their lefty politics, but there's nothing there that I ever HAVE to have.  And yes, I miss Leopolds and their giant, drunk inducing beers.

But Jolly Pumpkin (IMHO) has the best across the board brews of any place in A2.  It's all complex flavors that will leave you tasting more until the point that you need to call a cab (unless you are as good at life as I am and can stumble home from here.) Plus, the staff asks your name and expects you to become a regular.  There may be something to that.

So while I'm not about to abandon A2's other well worthwhile brewpubs, The Pumpkin while sit atop my first choices for a drink or three for the foreseeable future. As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time in taverns, I implore you to take heed to my review.

The mojitos! The margaritas! The pork tacos! The LUNCH BOXES!  I've loved Habana for some time now, but this event really brought home what a great place this is to hang out.  Great to see so many yelpers out enjoying themselves.

Thanks Yelp, thanks Mariah, thanks Habana.  I'll be scheduling a future happy hour here in recognition of your awesomeness.

My friends and I have a tradition where we pick out brew pubs across this great nation of ours to visit on our way to road Michigan football games that we attend.  This year we off to Iowa City for Michigan vs. Iowa, and our brewery of choice along the way was Front Street.

By beer alone this place was top notch.  I had several Hefe's and Raging River somethings that were tasty as can be.  The happy hour prices were cheap for both the beer and the appetizers that we had to satiate us (the wings were pretty good.)

And I loved the old school bar atmosphere.  Front Street is the exact kind of place I imagined a bar to be when I was a kid, and that's a  good thing in my mind.  Unfortunately I have to ding you a star for your lack of bar games.  All good bars need at least a steel tip dart board - and for the record, this is the kind of place that should really have shuffleboard.  I may never find myself in Davenport again, but if this place had shuffleboard, I'd consider making a special trip.

The epitome of what an Elite event should be:

1. Delicious food, free booze...
2. ...at a cool place I didn't know existed, but totally would have wanted to check out if I had...
3. ...and I get some super special treatment from the people who run the place, making me feel super special.

Plus I get to bring a date to impress with all my fancy credentials. Thanks Mariah and thanks Yelp.  Good times...

Elks Frat Lodge - that's what it feels like.  With its dank basement local that's cut up into weird little corridors, this is the closest I've felt to being at a frat party since college.

Except that instead of douche-y frat guys, this place is packed to the gills with hipsters. That and a few more elderly gentlemen around the bar.  Females will from time to time order a drink, only to find one of these friendly gentlemen has already taken care of it. It's up to your individual discretion on what the quid pro quo is there should this happen to you.

Two important things: I may have been a wee intoxicated, but I think the DJ was pretty kick ass (but again, I can't say that with much voracity) and while the drinks are served in what would appear to be a slightly larger version of a double shot glass, you get your money's worth.  Plan accordingly.

I made a pact with myself never to eat Fleetwood sober.  This is the main reason Cloverleaf exists in my mind: when you want breakfast in the actual morning instead of before you go to bed, you get Cloverleaf.

It's a dirty greasy spoon that's slightly overpriced for what you get, but hey, it's downtown, what did you expect?  And no, those aren't hashbrowns.  If you're potatoes aren't shredded, you should have to call them something else.  This is a real pet peeve with me and I'm wavering from four stars down to three.

But wait! I just remembered that my favorite order is 'The Standard: Eggs, toast, bacon, hashbrows.  Boom.  Ship it.  That's exactly what I want for breakfast and it should totally have a stalwart name like 'The Standard'.