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 - Logan's Roadhouse (Nationwide)

Well, what follows Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. My mother drags me out of my warm, cozy, comfy bed into the hell that is a shopping mall. This year was no different, except that we went at noon instead of 4am (Thank GOD!). As part of the deal, she feeds me after the insanity is over, and this year we went to Logan's Roadhouse. I've been to Logan's before, the service is always good, and I've never had a bad meal there. This time I thought I'd try something different and ordered their new Roadhouse Steak Melt.

NOM! NOM! NOM!

It was FANTASTIC! I was so pleasantly surprised! I thought it was going to be like a Steak-Umm (do those even exist anymore) but no! It's an actual piece of steak smothered in sauteed onions and provolone cheese (you can also get mushrooms on it, but I opted out of those). The meat was flavorful and tender, but firm enough that you knew you were eating something more substantial than White Castle. I felt like a carnivore eating this thing, using my incisors to rip into it and tear it to shreds. I liked that feeling! Almost T-Rex like! I put just a touch of A1 on the sandwich, but it really didn't need it. The sandwich also came with your choice of sides, but I went with the classic fries. Pairing this sandwich with their Top Shelf Roadhouse Tea made this meal perfect.

I will definitely eat this again! Rawr! That's the animal in me coming out for dinner!