91 W. Michigan AvenueThere are a lot of days where I tell myself when the day starts that I’m not going to eat out. Then I do.
That happened one day last week. We were in downtown Battle Creek and had a lot of time to kill before assignments. We were sitting on the north end of Michigan Avenue so I had a few options.
My pick was a little cafe that has been in downtown Battle Creek for well over a decade and yet somehow, I have never walked in to.
Barista Blues Cafe is on Michigan Avenue just north of McCamly Street in Downtown Battle Creek. The two story brick building has four storefronts on street level. Barista Blues takes up one of those.
If you’ve been around Kalamazoo a while, the name may sound familiar. Barista Blues opened Barista Blues West back in 2011. The restaurant was in the corner of the State Theatre building where Tibbs Brewing Company took over a few years later. The space is now occupied by The Grazing Table.
I walked in a little after noon and the restaurant was pretty full. It was a mix of people from Kellogg, Battle Creek PD, and Bronson Hospital…three of the bigger employers in the area. The dining area is longer than it is wide and tables fill the space. There’s really just a aisle wide enough to walk through to get to the back where the kitchen is. They call themselves an “Italian Style cafe with a Greenwhich Village feel.”
Ordering is done at a counter right in front of the kitchen. It’s a pretty active area with people waiting for carry-out orders and servers bringing plates out to be delivered. Even for dine in, this is where you order. You’re given a number to take the table and your food is brought out to you.
The menu is a lot of sandwiches and salads. It’s lighter fare than the greasy stuff I usually eat for lunch when I eat out.
It didn’t take me long to find the Pastrami sandwich on the menu so that’s what I ordered. It took 5-10 minutes for the kitchen to put it together than a woman came out with a box and handed it to me. I left my co-worker in the car so I headed back there to eat it.
The pastrami sandwich is pretty simple. It’s a mound of pastrami, Swiss cheese and mustard on grilled rye bread. It’s simple, but tasty. I love pastrami and this is pretty thick cut pastrami with a layer of thick, gooey melted Swiss. I’ve been trying not to over eat as much lately and this sandwich was a great lunch. It’s filling and comes with chips and a pickle spear so I was satisfied when I was done but not busting out of my jeans.
The cost for the sandwich was a little over $8.
I find it hard to believe that I’ve never been to Barista Blues for lunch in all the years I’ve been working in this area. I’m in downtown Battle Creek quite a bit and I’ve driven by this place several times. I always thought to myself I should stop in but it took having down time in downtown to get my butt out of the car and walk over there. Places like this don’t stay in business 15 years without good reason. It’s always a good thing when you walk in to a place and see local police officers or firefighters. They typically know where the good, quick place to grab a meal are.