Category Archives: Grand Rapids Michigan

The Winchester

This is a unique neighborhood community strong place.  The menu offers seasonal ingredients from local farms and changes often.  The dishes are well prepared and healthy with lots of vegetables.  The hours are great.  It is one of the few restaurants that opens late in Grand Rapids.   I especially love their fried chicken and salmon sandwiches.  Their fish tacos dish is also amazing.  The prices are very reasonable for the high quality prepared food.  They also have good wine and beer selections.  Overall it is a great place to hang out when you want to relax, to meet with friends or to just grab a bite with some drinks.

Green Wagon Farm

My 77 years old aunt visited me in 2008 during my brother’s wedding.  I knew she had a big vegetable garden in her backyard in California.  We were chatting about food, vegetables and gardening.  She strongly recommended me to eat better for my health by choosing non-chemical produces.  She challenged me to eat more organic food.  I was surprised by her commitment on organics as an old Chinese lady.  I decided to give it a try.  I have joined local CSA farm groups yearly since 2009.

This year I chose Green Wagon Farm for my CSA share.  It has been a blessing.  Although this farm is relatively new and the farmers are young, the care they show to their vegetables and members is immense.  The price for a share is very reasonable and affordable.  The amount of one share easily feeds four adults for a week.  There are enough vegetable varieties.  The quality of the vegetable is very good.  They are successful farmers.    And the best of all is that they offer CSA winter shares for November and December.

Green Wagon Farm is the only farm I find in Grand Rapids Michigan that offers fresh vegetables for the last two months of the year.  Winter is long, cold and dark in the Midwest.  With both summer and winter shares, you can enjoy fresh locally grown vegetables for six months out of a year.  Winter seems less harsh when you have fresh vegetables on the dining table.  I am excited.

 

Grove

I love this restaurant. Everything is always perfectly prepared. The dishes are clean, simple and creative. The presentation of every dish is usually very pleasing to the eyes. The tastes are refresh and overly delicious. You definitely want to go for the “Taste Of Grove”. It gives you the three-course choices from each course section of the entire menu. It is always hard to make the decisions for the three courses.  You just have to visit the restaurant again for the dishes you’ve missed.

Grove uses locally grown products whenever is possible.  The chef is very conscious of seasons.  The menu changes based on the availability of different produces seasonally.  The attention to the details on cooking and preparing dishes makes this restaurant the best in Grand Rapids Michigan.

Rakowski Family Farms

Another good source for free range, non-chemical eggs is Rakowski Family Farms.  This farm now has a permanent indoor shop at the Fulton Street Farmers Market.  When I have no time to drive out to Grassfields Farm, I purchase my meats here.

Grassfields Farm

Grassfields LLC is located about 25 miles west of Grand Rapids.  It is a fifth generation, family owned and operated farm.  It is the best source for organic meats, eggs, milk and cheeses in Grand Rapids area.  Although not everything is certified organics, the animals are free range and no extra chemicals are used.  I love to visit their farm store on Saturdays.   When you pull up to the dirt road driveway, you can often see ducks leisurely taking a walk.  I usually order my Thanksgiving turkey and half pig in summer.  When you have tasted a naturally well cared turkey, you will never go back to eat another mass raised enterprise birds.

You can get Grassfields’ eggs and some frozen meats from the Horrocks Market store on Breton road right off 44th street.

Organic blueberry

As my usual Saturday morning routine, I headed to the Fulton Street Farmers Market after breakfast.  I was really happy to see the first crop of the organic blueberries available at the Blueberry Heritage Farms stand.  My husband loves blueberries.  I bought a two-pound box.  It was very fresh and delicious.  Although organic blueberries are not cheap, the benefits of the blueberries are worthy.  Blueberry is one of the best nature immune system boosters.

This year Blueberry Heritage Farms charges $11 for two pounds of blueberries and $40 for ten pounds of blueberries.  I usually purchase and freeze at least 20 pounds of blueberries annually.  It is quite a treat during the bitter and cold winter days.  Another good source of getting organic blueberries is from any Meijer grocery store.  Right now, a pint size box of the organic blueberries costs less than $4, and it is about 3/4 pounds.