6749 E. Fulton StreetI spend five days a week driving up and down US-131, to and from Grand Rapids for work. I hate doing the same thing on my day off, but, alas, I had no choice last week when it came time to pick up KBS.
Way back on Valentine’s Day, I set an alarm to remind myself tickets were going on sale. I sat on my computer clicking refresh as the time was coming up. Obviously, I went for days I was already going to be in Grand Rapids, but I quickly started panicking when I got kicked to the waiting room on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I very quickly clicked on Friday as well and that was the only day that came up with the option to purchase tickets, so I had to make a trip to Grand Rapids on my day off to pick up my delicious, delicious beer.
J and L made the trip with me. I had a mid-afternoon doctor’s appointment so we didn’t get on the road until almost 4:00. We headed straight to the brewery, found a spot to park right in front of the pick up, and got my beer. Had we been earlier, we were going to go inside an eat, but we didn’t want to battle the after work crowd on a Friday with a toddler.
J asked if there was any place else in the area to eat and I kind of came up empty handed. After a few minutes, I remembered a place in Ada a co-worker told me about, so we looked it up. The menu looked great and it was far enough away from downtown, the dinner rush shouldn’t have started pouring in yet.
The Ada Pour House is on East Fulton just to the west of Amway. It’s in a small strip mall with a number of other businesses and takes up a back corner space.
The parking lot was pretty full, but the restaurant was not when we walked in about quarter after five. A hostess took us to a table along the large windows near the front of the space. We really should have asked for another table because the setting sun was just pounding us as we sat at the table. I took the brunt of it by facing the sun, but J still had to deal with it hitting her back and in her peripheral vision. The restaurant was not full at that point and there were plenty of other tables out of the sun. It’s on us for not asking for another table, but seriously, the hostess should know how bad the sun is at those tables at that time of day and use them last.
After we were settled, we flipped to the drink menu. I ordered a Black Magic RYPA from Cellar Brewing in Sparta while J did a hard cider and L, of course, got a water. We had contemplated an appetizer, but the waitress dropped off drinks without asking if we were ready to order. We figured when she came back, we should probably just go straight to the meal.
The Breakfast Burger was my sandwich of choice and it was quite delicious. The burgers at The Ada Pour House are 60% beef brisket and 40% ground chuck that is locally sourced. The hand formed, 1/2 lb patty comes on a brioche bun with a fried egg, bacon, house made chorizo, cheddar cheese and mayo (which I left off). The thing that truly sticks out about this burger is the chorizo. You can’t see it and you hardly notice it’s there but it provides a really delicious spiciness that reminded me of hot sauce on eggs. It was a small touch that made this sandwich really great.
J was also in the sandwich mood and ordered the Not Your Kids Grilled Cheese. The grown up version of the classic sandwich is made with sourdough bread, aged colby, Parmesan, cheddar, and bleu cheeses plus tomato and onion (both left off the sandwich for J.) The outer crust of the bread is what really look incredible to me. I looked like they actually seared some cheese on to the outside of the bread. J loved the sandwich but said she didn’t really get much of the bleu cheese flavor. One bite near the end is the only time she really tasted it.
L did like Mama and ordered the Kids Grilled Cheese. Unlike Mama’s, hers was a simple, classic grilled cheese on Texas Toast. She snacked pretty heavily on the drive to Grand Rapids, so getting her to eat was a little bit of a challenge, but I made it a game with her and between the two of us, we eventually ate the whole thing.
All of our sandwiches came with fries, but J upgraded hers to the Church Fries. The house cut potatoes are topped with garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. The fries by themselves were delicious, but the addition to J’s was definitely worth it.
The bill for two drinks and dinner was just over $42. The meal was quite fantastic and without the sun destroying us, the atmosphere is actually quite nice. The Ada Pour House is the type of place that can easily be your neighborhood bar, but it’s better than that. It’s a place with great food with an extensive beer and wine list.
Black Magic RYPA
The Breakfast Burger w/French Fries
Not Your Kids Grilled Cheese w/Church Fries
Kids Grilled Cheese w/Fries
