Review - Little Joe's (Grand Blanc, MI)

Part of moving to a new town is discovering places that the locals know about, but take for granted. Little Joe's is one of those places. It's a bar and grill hiding in the facade of an old hardware store, in fact there is still the sign out front that says "Grand Blanc Hardware."When you walk in through the back door, you really don't know what to expect. You are greeted with a short hallway that opens up into a very small lobby, but then you see the dining room. This place is MUCH bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

I've been to Little Joe's several times, and it's always the same friendly staff. For a bar and grill, there's almost a homeyness, kind of like Cheers. This is the place that you come to meet up with friends. I sat at the bar, and the Bartender remembered me from my last visit months ago, but I threw her a curve ball and ordered a different drink than my usual Vodka and Tonic. This was more of a 7&7 day. It had been years since the last time I had a 7&7, so the first sip hit me hard. She made it perfectly! While I perused the menu, she offered me some fresh popped popcorn.

Joe's has a new sandwich right now. It's an open faced steak melt. New York Strip (well done for me), topped with melted cheese (provolone I think) open faced with fries and garlic toast. You can add onions and mushrooms for a little extra, I just added onions. Before long I had my meal. The cheese is perfectly melted over the onions and steak, the garlic toast has the perfect ratio of buttery crunch and garlicky softness, and the fries are hot and fresh.  Everything really just melts in your mouth. This is probably one of the best meals I've had in a while. The best part was the price. with my meal and drink, the tab came to about $15. Alcohol and steak for less than $20 is hard to come by, so this was a value!

If you are in Grand Blanc (and let's be real, why would you come here? It's practically the middle of nowhere) and you want good food, great service, at a good price, you need to go to Little Joe's...if you can find it.

Review - Bar Louie (Several States)

I had some shopping to do so I went to the Bar Louie in the parking lot of Genesee Valley Mall in Flint, MI. Bar Louie is an interesting place. Part martini lounge, part sports bar, part restaurant with an unique menu. This place has an identity crisis. I use to love Bar Louie when it was trying to be a little more like an upscale bar and grill with an extensive martini menu. Over the years it has watered down it's menu, becoming a lot more like a Champs or an Applebees.

They have a new drink this month called the Hot Chocoholic. It's Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, Bailey's Irish Cream, hot chocolate, and topped with whipped cream. This sounded too good to be real, so of course I had to have one! I ordered my drink and watched. It took quite a while for the drink to be made, and once it was maid it sat on the bar for a couple of minutes. Once I received it, the "hot" chocolate was barely room temperature. I'm guessing the alcohol is chilled, then the sitting on the bar didn't help matters. It was NOT worth almost $10!

One of my pet peeves when I go out for food and drinks is when my drink is empty the server doesn't ask if I want another. I really hate that! If I want another, and the server doesn't ask, I won't order one, and that's affects his/her tip! If you are a server, take note! Always ask if the patron wants another drink!

For lunch I chose the Aged Wisconsin Grilled Cheese with fries. It's Cheddar Cheese, Tomato, and Bacon on multi-grain bread. I was not impressed. It wasn't what most people think of with grilled cheese, meaning that the bread wasn't buttered, and then placed in the pan with the cheese, et cetera, inside. This was merely a sandwich on toast, but the cheese was melted, for whatever that's worth. Very disappointing.

Bar Louie has had fabulous desserts in the past ranging from an amazing chocolate cake to fresh made donuts. They have gotten rid of all of those, and now have nasty, dry, store bought desserts. Don't waste your money.

Bar Louie use to be a good, if not great, restaurant, but they have made changes that are to their detriment. I hope that the management team will grow a brain and return the quality to the food and the selection that Bar Louie should be known for.

Grilled Chicken Parmigiano Sammich - A Dining Diva Production

I had lots of leftovers from this cooking feat, but I didn't want to eat the same exact thing, so I got a little creative and made a sandwich (sammich)!

I baked some bread:

Then I sliced it in half-ish and then slit it down the middle:

I used some garlic spread on the bread and toasted it. Then I diced the chicken and reheated it in the toaster oven:

Once the bread was toasted and the chicken warm I assembled the sammich. A couple slices of Swiss cheese, then the chicken, then a couple slices of provalone on top.

I forgot to grab fresh lettuce, green pepper, onions and banana peppers at the store. Next time I'll have to grab those to make this sammich complete, but as it was it was pretty darn good!