25441 Red Arrow HighwayIt’s been a while since I’ve gotten my butt out of bed on a Sunday so we could go to breakfast. I made the decision Saturday night that I was actually going to set an alarm just to get out of bed and go to breakfast.
The plan worked. I got out of bed, L and J were already up, and everyone was hungry.
A few weeks ago, I was driving from Kalamazoo to Paw Paw via Red Arrow Highway. Just past the Main Street intersection in Mattawan, I noticed one of my favorite breakfast joints took over an old restaurant.
Michelle’s Stone Ridge moved in to the building formerly known as Stone Ridge Inn. The restaurant is just outside of Mattawan on Red Arrow HIghway at the stoplight at County Road 662.
We never went to Stone Ridge Inn because I never read very good reviews of the place. From the outside, it always looked like a nice place, so I’m not really sure what was going on inside. I was excited to see the Michelle’s sign on the restaurant now so we could finally check the place out.
The restaurant seems to have been set up in the dark ages when smoking was allowed in restaurants in Michigan. The layout is a little odd. The foyer leads to two different doors and two different dining rooms. I picked the one right in front of us which actually did lead to the hostess stand. I noticed a couple times where the hostess would take a group back out the door to take them in to the other dining room,so I couldn’t tell if they were connected inside or not.
The dining room we were in also looked like connected to a bar. I could see some people in there eating, but couldn’t tell if the bar is actually being used now or not.
Over the past couple of years, the EMA Enterprise restaurants have really become one of my favorite breakfast joints. We’ve had a couple of really good meals at Michelle’s in Portage. Up until then, I always kind of viewed EMA as the typical breakfast joint with good food, but nothing special. The Portage restaurant seemed to really up the game.
After getting seated, our waitress came over for drink orders. I took a Coke while J ordered an Iced Tea. When the waitress came back, we had both made our decision on breakfast.
It was a little hard to find, but I noticed the option for a Traditional Eggs Benedict. It was sort of hidden in the description for Dutch Style Eggs Benedict which has a lot of extra stuff I don’t like, but oh, how I love a traditional Eggs Benedcit.
The Benedict was perfect with soft poached eggs, a crispy English muffin that soaked up all of the yolk and the hollandaise sauce. The breakfast came with hash browns that were cooked exactly the way I like them. There was brown and crispy bits on both the top and bottom sides.
J ordered the Pumpkin French Toast which she called amazing. The toast is made with a Pumpkin Roll then covered in powdered sugar and served with maple syrup on the side. She had ordered the same thing at the Portage location and loved it there too. It’s not on their regular menu, but it seems to be a special they have often.
We asked L what she wanted for breakfast and she said pancakes. The kids’ menu had the option of a Fruity Pebble pancake. The huge pancake came with Fruity Pebbles cereal mixed in. L has never really had syrup so she had no interest in that, but loved ripping the large pancake up and eating it with her hands.
The bill for the three meals and drinks came in right around $25 before tip and as I expected, Michelle’s Stone Ridge was a great choice for breakfast.
Traditional Eggs Benedict w/Hash Browns
Pumpkin French Toast
Fruity Pebble Pancake
