Sliders Burgers – Kalamazoo, MI

Posted on January 12, 2013 by bluedepth

We just returned from a late lunch at Sliders Burgers in Kalamazoo, MI. I was aware that they were coming when a Kalamazoo twitter personality mentioned two new businesses occupying Campus Pointe Mall several months ago. When they made the announcement my first response was “Oh god no, they are going to inherit the curse…” as Campus Pointe Mall is cursed with failure. This location has suffered some rather breathtaking churn over the years with eateries popping up and then evaporating. Over and over again. So, here we are, once more.

We left Barnes & Noble on Westnedge Avenue in Portage at 2pm, took 94 to 131, then Stadium to Drake then to W. Michigan. I thought it was the most direct route and I wanted our first time there to be together so we could discuss this review before I put words down about this restaurant. The idea was that we shouldn’t have any problems because it was 2pm, the lunch-crush should have been over by then and we could get back before my partner needed to return to work an hour later.

This restaurant, Sliders Burgers is on the end of a series of storefronts, parking is never really a problem. The parking lot of Campus Pointe Mall is terrible, but that’s something everyone knows. The lot is full of front-end-eating potholes, it’s not that your wheels get swallowed by them, it’s that your front-end gets swallowed by them. The parking lot looks like a shelling range. The management company that runs that “Mall” really should be ashamed, but it’s not the fault of the restaurant itself. After parking we spied the layout, which is like any burger joint and best resembles Five Guys little cousin. We walked in, everything seemed fine until we got to ordering. I pretty much knew what I was after, they have meals organized by number and I wanted a “Number One”. I had to ask for it twice, and then had to struggle with what toppings I wanted. These are sliders, these are tiny burgers. They say that their burgers are 5 ounces, but that’s pre-cooking weight, the honest value is likely 3 ounces in presentation. The toppings were disorganized. There are three onion options in their free topping range and it’s annoying to have to specifically identify each topping you want. When you are ordering in this situation speed is of the essence. The food is quick, the ordering is quick, the cashout is quick. Quick quick quick. Customers, like I had to, had to battle out a list of toppings, most of which I didn’t care about. What is worse is that my toppings were random and included some of their premium options like bacon that I didn’t ask for, but I’m not picky. The order failure was really disappointing. On our way back we got to talking about the toppings problem and came up with an idea. Put the caramelized onions on the premium list, then chop the white and red together. That would simplify the free topping list and then, much like Five Guys, you could say “All the free ones” and not have to stare into a blank face just blinking at you and asking you to itemize which ones you want. I told you what I wanted, alas, there is no convenient way to do that. So there we were, a lunch for two, a number one and a number four for $18.48. The pricetag surprised me. In comparison to other lunch possibilities this was expensive. More expensive than Five Guys, and even more than Culvers. Then we sat down. That was pretty much the end for me. I was annoyed at the order counter and the table was a weeble-wobbly piece of cheap junk. It was a square panel of plywood painted with a stand screwed into the base. I tested another random table on our way out and that table too was just the same. Annoying. Then we were waiting for our food, the kitchen performed a monumental whammy in serving someone who came in after us before us. At first we thought it was simply a matter of a smaller order until we noticed that it was bigger and was a dine-in and carry-out versus just a dine-in for us. Alas, bygones. We got our baskets and Scott didn’t get his fries. We were running out of time, since it took the kitchen about 12 minutes to prep what we ordered. It should have taken 3-6 minutes, tops. As for the food, it was acceptable. It wasn’t anything worth repeating and the fries were okay.

I won’t castigate Sliders Burgers the same way I did for Smashburger, but the comparisons are still valid. You get a cheaper and better meal on stable tables from Five Guys and even cheaper still at Culvers. One thing to keep in mind is that Sliders Burgers targeted audience is only partially me. They are targeted at the student population that is clustered right near them as Western is concentrating all their efforts on treating downtown Kalamazoo like a leper colony. Every development is on the other side, where nobody is, but if you build lots of “Apartments” and “Dorms” then voila, you’ve got a new area ripe for commerce with companies like Sliders Burgers. What about downtown Kalamazoo? It’s best left to Portage tossers and tragically ironic Hipsters.

We’ll give this place one more shot, just to be fair, but if you can’t deliver in less than 10 minutes at 2:30pm on a Saturday with an effective empty restaurant except for a handful of patrons there are some problems. Nothing I’ve identified is a business killer for Sliders Burgers, but much like Smashburger, they would have been better served by a soft open with a select customer base to shake out the problems first, before opening to the public.

So, tentatively we’re going to go with a 2.5 out of 5 for Sliders Burgers in Kalamazoo, MI.

Areas of improvement:

1) Overhaul topping selection, let the picky be picky, let the quick be quick.
2) Your tables are fit for incineration. They are no good. Buy real tables.
3) You may benefit from a number system instead of names.

Good Luck!

Memory Lane

Posted on January 12, 2013 by bluedepth

It’s always a surprise what my dreams will bring to me in the night. Tonight’s fare? A trip down memory lane. I was back in college, back at SUNY Buffalo. Walking into my dorm, Clement Hall, on the venerable South Campus. There was the usual warping of memory, some details were utterly wrong but the sense of the place was intact. Lots of memory was dredged up for this dream. Waking up carried little threads back to those memories and I woke up smiling. My time in college was probably the most wonderful, frightening, and liberating thing I’ve ever experienced.

This must be how alumni get those dents in their memories. Dreams bring them a highlight reel to enjoy and then only those memories of the good times get reinforced. You forget about all the goofy awkward junk as it fades and in time you get this antiquing patina on the best of the best of what you remember. I bet in time most alums get around to idealizing what memories remain, deny the awkward stuff and that is why when you recall college you get all warm and fluffy about it. None of the negative, all of the positive.

And this has a sidelight to a greater commentary on memory in general. Taking a trip to Lethe before you get to Styx. There is a blessing, perhaps it’s just that we elect to have it this way, that we are given things like this and go with them. Naturally allowing your memory to fade, recalling the good things, denying (nay eroding) the bad memories and then idealizing the entire structure. A life remembered of only the happiest things. Memories are the context for your present. Perhaps this is one of those keys, brought by dreams, that bears including in a wider discussion on how best to pursue happiness. Not only to live in the present and not be cynical and negative, but also to actively prune the bonsai tree of your memory and trim away the unpleasant memories until all that’s left is a highlight reel of your favorite and most cherished recollections.

Leftovers

Posted on January 11, 2013 by bluedepth

The Wheel Of Time dreams have begun. Being hunted, chased, traps, unseen plots and most delightfully a new series of dreams where bad personal assistants are beheaded, heads wrapped in aluminum foil and then sectioned up using a breathtakingly sharp cleaver while the big bad, apparently played by a middle aged Adrienne Barbeau, dressed in a white silk blouse and white pants reclines in a simple chair, holding a fork and picking at the freshly sectioned decapitated head. All the while calmly, almost thoughtlessly menacing the hapless next personal assistant as they sit across the table and witness the spectacle unfold. It’s creepiness amplified by the context of humdrum boredom at eating a sectioned decapitated human head wrapped in foil. Like it was a half-forgotten ham shank that you found in the fridge and nearly forgot all about.

Yeah, bits of WOT, bits of the Dresden series and some classic horror movies, but this stuff is way more disturbing. Thankfully for these sorts of dreams I am more like an audience than a participant, so there really isn’t a nightmarish quality to any of this.

Yippity do dah, yippity yay!

Barilla Whole Grain Fusilli with Vegetable Marinara Sauce Meal

Posted on January 10, 2013 by bluedepth

At the market a few days ago we picked up a few things we knew we absolutely needed and thanks to visiting family and their efforts to feed us while we were guests my food budget was flush and we had some rare wriggle room to try some new things. One of the new things that I picked up was a shelf-stable meal tray from Barilla.

This product is about $2.50 a unit and comes in recycled cardboard wrapper, the meal itself is stored in a two-section plastic tray. You take the tray out of the cardboard, easily done, peel the cover to the clearly marked dotted line and microwave for a minute. Then you peel the cover off the rest of the way and discard. The sauce is on the left in a removable sub-tray and it’s very easy to manipulate and pour the sauce onto the pasta. Mix with a fork and enjoy. Everything is recyclable, the cardboard and the tray plastic itself, I appreciate that.

As for the quality of the meal, it’s a good lunch and only has 320 calories. This particular variety featured 51% whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta is different than the plain type, as the fiber makes the pasta more al-dente than you’d originally expect. The taste was right along with what I expected, it was quite good. You have to understand that the taste of whole wheat pasta is more woody than it’s plain alternative however for what it lacks in the texture department with standard pasta it makes up for by featuring 11g of fiber and 10g of protein.

The product is shelf-stable for about three months, so buying a few of them and using them for lunches at work shouldn’t make you end up throwing them away because they expired. There is a clear claim on the label that this product has “No Preservatives” which I like. This particular variety has an ingredient list that I can clearly understand with items that you can find in a market without having to resort to a chemical supply house. This variety also does not have monosodium glutamate, which for me is very important.

Overall I quite enjoyed it and I can recommend it to anyone else looking for a cheap lunch alternative. It certainly beats the mystery chemicals that the popular open-for-lunch restaurants use, plus you can’t beat the price and the speed at which it is ready. Because it only cooks for one minute, there is no need to fiddle with covers or wrappers or have to worry about the product bursting over the edge like some soups do when microwaved.

One thing to note, this product has 710mg of sodium, so its less than some soups have, which can blow your mind with the amount of sodium, so if you are trying to be careful with sodium, this might be an option if you can afford this much sodium.

I definitely will be buying more of these trays next time I go to the market.

PAD 1/6/2013 – Separation

Posted on January 10, 2013 by bluedepth

“What’s the most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person? Tell us about it.”

When it comes to favorite people I count my immediate family and my partner in that group and it’s a very small group. Generally speaking when I’m away from one of them I’m almost always with others, unless I’m on a work trip. For the work trips they never last longer than five days or so. Missing people and pets used to be a bothersome emotion but since Apple introduced FaceTime for their mobile devices even long distances and not seeing loved ones for a length of time isn’t as bad as it used to be. One thing I will say is that very few people ever opt for FaceTime in general. I don’t know exactly why, perhaps it’s too much for people in general or it’s use case is far too specific and it isn’t used because there are quicker ways to communicate. If I had people who wanted to use FaceTime I suppose it would be used more on all my mobile devices.

Who might run for President in 2008? Hindsight Lulz!

Posted on January 8, 2013 by bluedepth

If only he’d run…

I’ve been thinking about 2008. Who I’d vote for and who I’d like to see run… I’m registered a Democrat, one look at my blog and that’s painfully, and quite obviously apparent – so I’d first vote in the Democrat’s Primary.

So who do I really want to see as both the primary winner and ultimately the final winner?

Senator Barack Obama from Illinois.

Commenter 1:

I dont forsee that happening.

Reason #1: TOO INEXPERIENCED – I’m not doubting the Senator’s capabilities, but as a junior member, I dont think he’ll receive a lot of backing. This is unfortunate, because somebody who might truly be very capable is likely to be glossed over for somebody with considerably more voice/mind share (ie LOLLary Clinton).

Reason #2: NOT WHITE – Spinning off from being too inexperienced, I dont think the majority of the Democrats will be behind a minority candidate they dont know.

REASON #3: JOHN “GOREBOT” KERRY – I’m not entirely sure the Democrat party will know to avoid a repeat of Algorebot by running a loser two elections in a row. I can’t objectively think of anything that makes John Kerry more endearing to the American public at large than Algorebot. Plus that hideous wife of his. And he’s French.

Commenter 2:

hmm. respectfully, #1 – almost NO ONE is now “too inexperienced” after the current prez. bush has lowered the bar to almost nonexistent. experience has little to do with it.

#2 – “not white” can easily be a huge plus, not a minus, in fact. example – why do u think the Republicans are making noise about Rice? only because her sex and race give her Pluses.

#3 – just because Kerry came up on top of the heap last time around is meaningless to the present. Kerry is a non-issue. and Gore in 2000 got more votes than the “winner” did.

i enjoyed your interesting observations, though 🙂

Commenter 1:

#1 Running somebody as “EVEN LESS EXPERIENCED THAN BUSH!” isn’t going to be a strong rallying cry for Democrats in 2008. Remember how people said that Gov. Bush lacked any experience in foreign policy (HILARIOUS IRAQ JOKES ASIDE, for now anyway)? I do. Foreign policy will no doubt be a major issue in the 08 elections. If Obama lacks experience in foreign policy (and I dont know conclusively, but I’d guess that, as a junior Senator, his experience cant be very high, compared to other more senior Democrats anyway).

#2 It’s not that being a minority is a negative. Not at all. But if the USA is ready for it’s first Africano President, they’re going to want somebody they “know.” This is why Colin Powell was just a strong choice for President for the GOP; he’s got oodles of experience (particularly as a former General) and he’s known on both sides of the political fence and internationally. For all his merits, I just dont think Obama can measure up to the standards that will assuredly be placed on the first serious black American running for President (Carolyn Mosely-Brown nonwithstanding).

#3 Senator Kerry hasnt renounced any plans for running for President in ’08. And, given that the 2004 election was very close, it’s very likely that he could run again if he can make a stronger case than the Republican nominee in 2008. Two years is a long time in politics, but we could be seeing Kerry against Hillary as the Democrat ticket in the primaries. Kerry has a lot of political ambition, so I wouldnt count him out as running again. And Kerry would surely beat out Obama in the primaries, so, for the time being, Kerry is still a contender (although a terrible choice, in my opinion).

Commenter 2:

politics –

u make salient points, but i am unconvinced ANY Senator can be elected, to be honest. Senators – all of ’em, McCain, Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Frist (haha) – all suffer in some serious way from necessary public statesmanship doing their job; they turn off too many pleasing some.

i’d prefer Obama, like Andrew; i really think he’s the shit. Powell is a fascinating topic u bring up – before he totally allowed himself to be used like toilet paper wiping bush’s ass, he could’ve been elected in a heartbeat i think, i would have voted for him enthusiastically. no more. bushies have truly ruined him and he allowed that to occur, so i no longer respect Powell.

i despise Rice because of her lies heading into Iraq, and her incompetency prior to becomming the Sec of State – so far she’s doing pretty well in her new job, and it’s great having a black woman rep us in the world, i like that a lot. still, i’ll never forgive her for her pre-Iraq garbage.

i would be excited about Sen. Clinton as president – there’s history. it’d be fascinating. she is too conservative for me, but so was her husband, but she would at least balance the budget as he did (i suspect). and i think she’d rep us well in the world, as opposed to what we have now.

i’m mad at kerry, he sucks, he ran a poor campaign at best. it’s tiresome that Dems get balls AFTER they lose. this is my problem with Gore, altho i like him more than Kerry. i would be thrilled with a Gore Presidency. and Gore is a hawk, and i hate his wife Tipper who is anti-firstAmendment, but i think Gore would still make a great President once he was in.

Commenter 3:

Commenter 1’s #1 is mine. As many good things as Obama is, I don’t really feel confident that he’s ready for a run for the Oval, nor do I think that he’d pull it off. It may take a decade, but I think that he could become an amazing power for good in that time.

PAD 1/5/2013 – First Lines of Favorite Books

Posted on January 5, 2013 by bluedepth

Post a Day for 1/5/13:

“Take the first sentence from your favorite book and make it the first sentence of your post.”

—

“A blur of rushing images ‘Begin at the beginning’ is the phrase.”

And this is how my favorite book of all time starts. That book is “What Dreams May Come” and I’ve been in love ever since I first read it years ago. The movie version was good, but I found the deleted ending to be better.

Sometimes I think that the first line is a great place to start. Especially these days since I’ve been moving my old LiveJournal post entires into my Day One archive one at a time. The key phrase is all about a blur of rushing images. There are bits of my past that I’ve forgotten about for a very long time and now that I’ve uncorked them and browsing them they all tend to flow back over me like a blur of rushing images.

I still have eight hundred entries left to move over into Day One. After that, then maybe more trips down memory lane. There was a lot of material and much of it I’ll never share with anyone, but out of all of it, perhaps there will be something.

Norman Rockwell Museum

Posted on January 4, 2013 by bluedepth

We just returned from Stockbridge, MA and the Norman Rockwell Museum. There was a comic book feature artist, Alex Ross and his collected artwork. Alex Ross claimed one of his biggest inspirations was Norman Rockwell. The museum was wonderful, very nicely laid out and the area screamed New England at the top of its lungs. It was so picturesque that it made my eyes ache.

We both picked up a few small souvenirs to remember our trip.

I didn’t take pictures because it would have been tacky and gauche. So it’s just my words that will have to do.

Post-a-Day 1/3/12 & 1/4/13

Posted on January 4, 2013 by bluedepth

The post-a-day prompt for yesterday was meaningless to me:

What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?

I don’t even have a bucket list. Why could have been on it? A trip to Paris, but I’ve done that twice now. How about investigating my ancestors? Doing that currently with other family members using Ancestry.com. Reconnect with my brother? Yeah, accomplished that too. Really why do you even need a bucket list if you are determined to enjoy your life while you have it? Live without regret. Live without guilt. LIVE.

Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?

It’s attributed to Dr. Seuss: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

It’s been on the top of the charts since I discovered it a long time ago. It speaks directly to how I feel about much of my life. Either you like me and what I say or you don’t. I live my life without regret, guilt, or apology. As I’ve been fond of saying, if you don’t like what I say there is nothing keeping you chained to me. You can go away; My feelings are made of sterner stuff.

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