GR,MI
91 Grand Rapids has a lot of really cool places if you know where to look. One of the best things about GR is the coffee. We used to spend all of our money and all of our free time trying all of the different local shops. There are a couple local roasters that are doing some really progressive and innovative brewing that push the local shops to do the same. Before I came here, I had no clue what the hell a pour over coffee was, and I sure as hell had never heard the words chemex or aeropress. About a block from Kendall there's a coffee roaster called Madcap, it's definition pretentious coffee shop, but the product they put out is incredible quality. Due to this, almost all of the local coffee shops are pouring Madcap. If it's not Madcap, it's Rowster. I personally prefer Rowster, likely because I rarely come across it anywhere other than their shop, so it's a nice change of pace. If you come to GR, you'll likely have some of the most incredible coffee of your life, and will be constantly over caffeinated. Once we realized that college was expensive, we got jobs and our spending increased greatly. My friends and I go out to eat as much as our wallets allow. At some point we started to discover all of the
great food and there was no going back. There are countless farm to table restaurants, lots of vegan and health forward options, lots of middle-of-the-road cheap places, and a few hidden gems that I probably couldn't live without. There's been an increase in high-quality, high-priced, but incredible farm to table restaurants in Grand Rapids.You can get everything from handmade pasta and wood fired pizza with truffle oil, to duck nachos and the most insane salads you've ever seen. The middle of the road places are the ones we don't go to enough.These are the places where you can get the best fish and chips you've ever had, sushi that is amazing but you have no clue what you just ate, and mac and cheese that costs more than an entire pizza. The 'hidden' gems are where I will gladly spend the money I don't have. I haven't done much traveling, but I know that Grand Rapids has some of the best tacos in the mid-west. From traditional barbacoa and asada to the rarely seen lengua and cactus tacos that you didn't even know existed. These are from Taqueria San Jose, and if you haven't been, you should.You can get four tacos and a drink for about ten bucks and you will be set for the rest of the day and the workers are incredible.
E L S E W H E R E
Then there is the liquid diet. Most of us turned 21 about two years after we moved here. Grand Rapids is Beer City USA, so for the first couple months, all of our money was poured into snifters of expensive beer and the pricey food that accompanied it. It's a little rough being a college student in Grand Rapids. Every bar is filled with expensive craft beer, which leaves no room for our shitty cheap beer. A $10, 9 oz. pour of a stout aged in bourbon barrels under the city for the past year is good, but who the hell casually drinks that all night? I have yet to find a good local bar that has Budweiser or some Banquet on tap. Therefore we settle for $1.25 cans of Black Label and hunt for specials at local breweries most of the time. The art presence in Grand Rapids is strong and rapidly growing. Going to KCAD has definitely shaped my taste, knowledge, and appreciation of art. Not only is Kendall a large influence in the artist community, but on all of Grand Rapids. If you look you can likely find a couple of art events every weekend.Then of course, there is ArtPrize. All of the students and local artists have become somewhat fed up with the event. Regardless, it's a great event for the city and brings lots of new art and culture to GR.