512 N. Park StreetWorking downtown has it’s advantages. I catch a lot of new restaurant openings just from my travels around town but being downtown lets me get out pretty easily for lunch…and there are a lot of new options popping up as we get back to a somewhat normal way of life.
Whenever I head north from our downtown office, I take Park Street out to US-131 via the Business Loop. That drive takes me right past Park Street Market. I stop at this grocery store quite often just because it’s the closest to downtown…also, they have pretty good meat specials a lot of days.
Park Street Market also had a pretty solid deli. I have stopped in many times over the years to grab something to eat and it’s always been way better than typical grocery store deli food.
A few weeks ago I noticed a new sign on the marquee for the shopping center. I stopped in to see where this new restaurant was but didn’t see a store front. It was late at night and the grocery store was closed so I assumed it must be inside.
Kiki’s Crab & Fry replaced the deli counter at the Park Street Market on the corner of North Park and Ransom Street in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood. The restaurant takes up the whole area in the front of the store that used to be the deli counter. The menu board hangs from TV monitors above the counter with the rather large menu of fried and boiled meats and veggies.
I’m not really fan of eating things that once lived in the water but I do love chicken wings and chicken wings are a big part of their menu. You can get them whole or sectioned. Naked or breaded. Sauced or rubbed.
The chicken wings are already cooked when you order. There are trays of them in warming pans in the front of the deli case. This is great for convenience sake but I had a little worry they wouldn’t be crispy when I got them back to the office to eat.
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I ordered the 10 Wing Classic Dinner. I assumed these ten wings would be traditional Buffalo style pieces but the guy putting the order together grabbed 10 whole wings and asked me what kind of sauce I wanted. I picked the Garlic Parmesan..which he said was the best one they have…then tossed the wings into a metal bowl with the buttery garlic Parmesan sauce and tossed the wings.
The dinner came with fries which needed to be dropped into the fryer. They also come with choice of seasoning and I picked the Lawry’s Seasoning Salt for that one. It took a little over five minutes for my order to be wrapped up and handed to me. The cost was just over $16. They don’t do drinks at the deli counter so I headed to the front of the store and bought a couple of Pepsi’s on my way out.
I started in on the fries first when I got back to the office five minutes way. They were thin cut frozen fries. They were a little crispy yet a little bit soft. There was a good dusting of the Seasoning Salt which gave the fries an added flavor that wasn’t just table salt. The order size was pretty large so there was no chance of going hungry with this meal.
The wings suffered from what I afraid they were going to. The skin was soggy by the time I got to eat them due to sitting in the warming pads. The wings were really big and juicy though and the Garlic Parmesan seasoning the wings were swimming in was delicious. I really like wings of this size to be breaded but I don’t think that would have changed the crispiness of them. These were delicious, juicy wings with a really great sauce..they just would have been slightly better had the skin had a little crispiness to it.
I think Kiki’s Crab & Fry is going to do really well working out of the Park Street Market. They’ll get a lot of foot traffic and they have a lot of options to choose from. I would always stop in the Park Street Market for lunch when I wanted something quick and delicious and Kiki’s really ups that game.