1301 Portage StreetI have been really bad lately at getting to Kalamazoo area restaurants. There haven’t been a ton of new places open but there are still some really good ones out there that I just haven’t gone too.
I had a couple of pretty easy work days earlier this week with my colleague working out of the Grand Rapids office. I had some work to do in Kalamazoo that I could do on my own so I wasn’t called up there to help out.
I had some work to do but it defintely wasn’t stuff that was going to take up my whole day. I worked for a couple of hours Tuesday morning and figured I would try to get away from downtown for lunch. Like I mentioned, there are still some places that I haven’t been to and it was time to change that.
Ty’s Joint actually opened in spring of last year so I’ve had more than enough time to stop in for a meal. I’ve been kicking the can down the road on this one and it was finally time to stop doing that.
Ty’s Joint is on the corner of Portage Street and Washington Street in the Edison Neighborhood. The corner building. This historic building has been so many different things since I’ve lived in Kalamazoo. When I first got here in 2009, it was an L.A. Insurance office with a gaudy white signage put up over the original brick walls and the windows were covered up. Thankfully, that white was eventually painted black and the windows were opened back up when the building became Pho on the Block in 2016.
Ty’s Joint does online ordering through Grubhub and DoorDash so I put my order in for pick up that way. I ordered the Angus Burger Combo then added on a Chicken Breast because I heard their fried chicken was pretty good and I needed to try it.
There’s not a lot of parking around the building but there are some street parking spots on Washington as well as a lot behind the building and a city lot across Portage Street behind the church. It was a Tuesday afternoon when I stopped in so finding a spot on Washington Street near the entrance was pretty easy.
I was never in the building when Pho on the Block was in the space so I don’t know how much changed. Ty’s Joint has a really nice, open, bright dining room with a lunch counter near the kitchen entrance.
The space has a very modern feel to it which compliments this building really well. In addition to typical table seating, there’s a row of seats looking out on to Portage Street which gives it more of a big city feel…even if all you’re looking at is cars zipping by on the busy thoroughfare.
My meal was just being packaged up when I walked in. The server let me know they were out of chicken breasts so the cook three in three chicken strips instead. Not what I wanted but that wasn’t a bad substitution.
I actually started with those chicken strips when I got back to the office. The large, juicy, crispy chicken strips were actually quite tasty. I don’t know if it’s comparable to their fried chicken or not but these strips were not the flat, bland food service chicken strips so many places serve. These strips would make a great meal on their own and are probably delicious on their chicken and waffles.
The Angus Burger is a pretty simple sandwich with a Angus beef patty, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, ketchup and mayo. I asked for the burger to be medium well but it was much closer to well done. The sandwich comes on a toasted yet soft roll. I got the combo so that also included fries and a drink. When I opened up the box it looked like there weren’t that many fries but they were hiding under the sandwich. The fries are pretty simple frozen skin-on potatoes. They were nice and crispy on the outside.
The cost for my meal, before tip, was right around $15
Ty’s Joint does something not a lot of places in Kalamazoo do. They offer up a lot of the fried food staples…chicken, fish, etc. but they do so in a great sit down atmosphere. You can get carry-out at Ty’s but after stopping in to pick up my order, I wish I would have sat down and enjoyed a meal there. This is a great place not too far from downtown that really feels like it can anchor a neighborhood.