4588 D Drive SouthWe’ve been all about the hikes since the pandemic started over a year ago. Just like restaurants, I like to check out new places to hike. I get bored easily.
Late last week, I worked an extended day in Battle Creek. J asked when I’d be done so we could do something about dinner. I asked her if instead of ordering dinner, would she and the kids like to meet me at a new hiking spot we’ve been wanting to check out. Of course, she said yes.
The hiking spot was Historic Bridge Park in Emmett Township. The hike is part of the North Country Trail. The kids really weren’t interested in hiking so we bribed them with ice cream. Give us a mile or so out and we’d find a place to get ice cream.
There really isn’t anything close to the park as far as ice cream shops so I picked one that was a little further away but also had food. I had Serious Dogs for lunch but that was lunch. I wanted something for dinner now.
Station 66 is on D Drive South just off M-66 in Leroy Township south of Battle Creek. The restaurant has a pretty large footprint and really takes advantage of their large outdoor area to social distance.
We pulled in a little before 7:00 on a Thursday night and were blown away by the amount of cars in the parking lot. We had no idea this place was so popular. We were a little concerned about the large crowd from both a waiting standpoint and a COVID standpoint but once inside, our fears on both were eased a little bit.
We headed towards the real food ordering area first. J and I were hungry. The kitchen shares a space with the ice cream area but there are two separate order areas. I didn’t want any ice cream so I volunteered to take care of food while J took the kids to get treats.
I put in the order then took a seat in the indoor dining room. The whole place kind has the feel of a retro gas station diner. The floors are cement. The furniture is heavy wood. There are glass bottles of pop in a retro Coke cooler. There’s a juke box along one wall and some high end pantry items and t-shirts for sale to browse while waiting for food.
While I was doing that, J took the kids over to the ice cream counter. They have Ashby’s ice cream and a few options for sundaes and shakes but our kids are simple and just like dipped ice cream.
B really likes his Blue Moon. We got him one scoop in a cup and asked for sprinkles. It didn’t take long for him to turn everything blue. His hands. His mouth. His tongue. The table. Everything.
L picked an ice cream called Unicorn Stars. I had never heard of this one before. The ice cream’s info card says it’s purple vanilla ice cream mixed with frosting, glitter star candy, and magical sprinkles. L got her scoop in a sugar cone and also added more sprinkles on top.
J got some ice cream too but I didn’t take a picture of it and I don’t remember what she got….so I’ll just pretend she didn’t get any.
It took quite a while for our food to come up. Not sure how the kitchen works but there were at least three people who ordered after me that got their food before me. We weren’t waiting on food for the kids and they were fine sitting outside eating their ice cream so it wasn’t a huge deal.
I ordered myself the Stationburger with Cheese basket which includes “the world’s greatest fries.” The sandwich was really, really hot so I knew it came right off the grill. It was a pretty simple sandwich with a 7 oz beef patty and a slice of cheese or a warmed bakery roll. The cashier asked if i wanted anything else on it but I said no. I thought I was going to be eating in the car so I kept it simple. The burger was tasty after I let it cool for a few minutes. B thought so to. He took a bite of mine then wanted his own so I went back in and ordered him the Roadster Burger with cheese. That sandwich is just a little smaller coming in at just 4 oz. of meat.
My sandwich came with fries and, of course, L decided she was hungry and wanted them. She asked if they “stole them from McDonalds.” The fries are the same kind of shoestring fries and they’re cooked pretty similarly. When I went back in to get B a burger, I made it a basket so L could get some fries of her own.
L just asked for the Grilled Cheese sandwich. This sandwich was really cheesy. All the menu says is it’s “extra cheesy goodness with two kinds of cheese!” It doesn’t say what kind of cheeses but it really was super cheesy.
J suggested I get some nachos to share with the kids and this was the best call of the meal. The chips in these nachos…man were they delicious. They really tasted home made..not sure if they are or not but they’re definitely not from a large food service provider. The delicious chips were topped with nacho cheese. I got the Meat & Cheese variety so there was a large heaping of seasoned meat on top of the cheese. This is the thing to order from Station 66
We ended up eating under a large tent just outside the main building. It was pretty spread out and there weren’t many people sitting down for a meal at this point in the evening. Once the kids finished their ice cream, they went out in to the yard to play with some other kids. There were cornhole games laid out and at one point, L found another girl who was playing soccer and joined her.
I’ve driven by Station 66 in the past but never really gave it much thought. The reason I picked it on this evening was the availability of both ice cream and burgers. What I learned is this isn’t really just a pass by type of place. It’s really delicious and it’s a really unique, neat place.