11368 M-179We left Boulder Ridge Wild Animal park a little after 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. We had spent a little under two hours there and since they’re such a small zoo, they don’t have any restaurants or concessions.
We started heading back towards Kalamazoo and before we got too far, I asked J if she wanted to go get lunch. What she decided would change how the route I took home. I had a place in mind near Gun Lake so we’d be taking country roads the whole way if she said yes. If not, we’d head back to US-131 and go home that way.
The kids were both in pretty good moods despite it being past nap time and we had been out in the hot sun for a while. J was hungry. I was hungry. Heck, even L said she was hungry, so country roads back towards Gun Lake it was.
I drove back to M-179 on the north side of Gun Lake. I had picked the Sand Bar and Grill for lunch which is just north of Yankee Springs Rec Area on M-179 (or Chief Noonday Road) and Briggs Road in Barry County. The physical address is Middleville but it’s pretty far south of the Village.
The restaurant sits in a little bit of a business district near the state rec area. There’s a gas station just down the road and a couple of pizza places nearby. The small pub has the small town feel, but I would hesitate to call it a “dive bar.” To me, it’s the kind of place that you remember from your childhood if your family camps every summer at Yankee Springs. It’s a bar that serves good food but it’s relaxed enough to show up in your bathing suit after a day of swimming or boating in Gun Lake.
The restaurant is broke up in to three distinct areas. The door from the parking lot leads right in to the main dining room.
The dining room is a tile floor with wood slat walls and stamped tin ceilings. They kind of go with a cabin theme, but they also have small town bar going with beer signs, posters, and dry erase boards hanging on the walls.
There are TV’s scattered throughout the area and the Lions game was on when we stopped in to eat. We picked a booth in the back corner so we wouldn’t bother other people eating and enjoying some preseason football.
The other areas of the restaurant, which we didn’t really explore are the bar and a nice, big outdoor patio which looked pretty full.
J and I started with drinks while we looked over the large menus. They have a pretty limited beer list that is mostly macros, but they had a couple crafts on tap including Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.
J was looking for a cider or something when I noticed a drink list inside the menu. I told her to open the menu up and look in there. I knew there were a couple of things she would like.
She picked the Strawberry Daquiri. The drink is a blended strawberry daiquiri made with Bacardi Banana Flavored Rum. It’s served with an orange slice and a sugar rim.
The Sand Bar and Grill has a pretty large menu of mostly pub food which includes a pretty large burger list. J assumed I’d order the Breakfast Burger, but I went a different direction and ordered the Black & Bleu Burger. The Sand Bar’s version includes bleu cheese crumbles, bacon, and cajun seasoning on a soft, dense bun. The sandwich was slightly pink and juicy. That combination always spills over to the cheese which gives the tanginess of the cheese a little bit of a beefy flavor. The bacon was crispy and gave the sandwich a whole lot of crunch. The sandwich comes with choice of side. I picked the fries. They are battered steak fries which were a fine compliment, but nothing special.
J ordered the Chicken Fingers. The plate is simple with seven deep fried chicken fingers, cole slaw, and fries. She asked for both ranch and BBQ sauce to dip the chicken in. The fingers are frozen chicken strips, but they’re the kind that get really juicy while the thick breading gets nice and crispy. J ate four of the seven strips and tried to share with the kids, but they had their own meals, so I ate one and we brought a couple home.
B asked for “CHEESE!” which usually means he wants Mac & Cheese. There is a mac & cheese on the kids menu so that’s what we got him. The bowl is Kraft Mac & Cheese and it’s served with a piece of garlic bread. B picked his fork up and dug in right away. He made a little bit of a mess, but that’s what 2 year olds do when they eat.
L surprised us and didn’t order mac & cheese. Instead, she chose the spaghetti. The bowl comes with spaghetti that’s covered in a home made meat sauce and a slice of garlic bread. The noodles needed to be cut up, but L actually really liked the spaghetti. It’s the first time she’s ever ordered pasta like this at a restaurant and while we brought some of it home, she actually ate quite a bit.
Our bill for the meal was right around $45.
The Sand Bar and Grill, as I mentioned earlier, just reminded me so much of the kind of bar where vacation memories are made. My daughter went to Northern Wisconsin with her grandparents earlier this year and she talks about the bar they went to where she got kiddie cocktails. My in-laws describe it as just a run-of-the-mill pub with above average food and that’s the vibe I get from The Sand Bar.
