STEPH’S EXPERIENCE

Where: The comfort of Aubree’s kitchen & on Facebook live

Meal: Three Blondes Brewing Cherry BBQ Wings, Hot Honey Garlic Wings, Truffle Fries, and a growler of Boom Boom Betty.

Bill: About $50 before tip

*Note* Since our live tasting, Three Blondes (3BB) has since closed for food carry out due to the growing concerns of COVID-19. I apologize that you cannot feast on these delicious wings and fries at this time but please remember them when they open back up! They are still open for beer carry out every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 5-8 pm.

Ok, so life is weird and who even knows what day it is right now? That’s part of the reason it took us so damn long to get this post up! But seriously, I really pray that everyone is safe, smart, and taking every precaution possible to protect themselves from this crazy mess of a virus. We decided to do this live tasting of wings, fries, and beer prior to the stay-at-home order being put into place so we will have to get even MORE creative for our next experience! Just know that we will continue to find ways to support our local restaurants and bring our audience honest opinions about the meals we devour. Who knows… maybe we will start our own “Quarantine Cooking Hour” if EVERYTHING (heaven forbid) shuts down! I just really miss my “taste buds” and all the great conversations we would have while critiquing food during our dining experiences. Hopefully, life can relatively return to normal soon because we had some big things in the works before life went left.

Anyway, let’s get to the good stuff: Ordering from 3BB. Super easy. I literally just called and placed and paid for my order over the phone. It took about 45 min but I’m sure they were running on a skeleton crew. They asked if I would like them to bring it out to my car so I didn’t have to come in. I opted to go inside (I’m weird and have this thing about not wanting to make people’s lives harder than they need to be) and literally was greeted immediately and told to head to the bar. There, Carrie grabbed my food and beer, I signed my bill and I was out. I was in and out in less than 5 minutes, easily. They are also currently not offering any refills on growlers (for sanitary reasons), so they give a discount when you buy one. I think my house has like 7 right now… I might need some craft ideas soon for these bad boys.

Live streaming our tasting was SO FUN! If you didn’t catch it, it’s on our Facebook page and Aubree’s son, Starlin was our waiter (yes, he even got a tip… you know Feast Mode takes care of our servers). Aubree grabbed some wings and fries from Gino’s East as well as beer from Harbor Light. Here’s my faves and meh’s:

Faves:

3BB’s Cherry BBQ wings - nothing has topped these for me yet. Although, I have not had SH Brew Pub’s and Richie’s tasting video made me super hungry… 3BB’s wings are jumbo wings so they are larger than normal. You get 8 in an order and I rarely ever finish unless it’s some weird day when I’m famished. The sauce is plentiful and sweet and you even get chunks of actual Michigan cherries every now and then. Fun fact: I got an order of these the last day they offered carry-out and somehow, they accidentally got some added heat in them… BRO!! IT WAS SO GOOD!! I shot them a Facebook message telling them about the “mistake” but I honestly think they might want to consider making a spicy version of these. The Cherry Wings were still moist and had a bit of a crunch when we bit into them. I cannot stand soggy wings. Gross.

3BB Truffle Fries - The style of fries are the same as Gino’s (I guess you could compare them to McDonald’s by the way they look) but they are tossed in a garlic herb butter, Parmesan cheese, and truffle oil and served with garlic aioli on the side. These come in quite a generous serving so definitely shareable between 2-3 people. I will say, my favorite kind of fries are steak fries, so I’m kind of bummed I didn’t get to sample Richie’s meal…

Harbor Light Brewing C to Shining C IPA - Out of the beers we tasted this evening, this was my favorite, it had the most flavor and didn’t fall flat (more details in Aubree’s section). My second favorite of the evening was 3BB Boom Boom Betty which is a blonde ale with 5.8% ABV. This one wasn’t as strong of a flavor as C to C but was still super refreshing and I enjoy it on a hot summer day (peep the live stream for a 3BB secret menu drink with Boom Boom). However, if 3BB brings back King Ruby, which is a raspberry sour… THAT IS MY JAM!! I will probably buy growler upon growler of that and keep it stocked because I fell in love with that beer last summer and was devastated that it was only seasonal.

Mehs:

Gino’s wings - I guess this is kind of the good thing about having 3 different opinions in one blog, right? I don’t know… the buffalo sauce tasted just like any other buffalo sauce and the spicy buffalo wasn’t spicy at all. Nothing was BAD or disgusting, just not original. The wings were also quite soggy and I’ve already stated how I feel about that. I guess, they just felt like wings I could make at home with a bottled sauce.

Gino’s Fries - You know when you go to McDonald’s and the person in front of you can’t have salt so your fries are completely saltless and sad? That’s these but not as soggy. They were ok, again, not BAD… just not my favorite. I wish they just did something a little more original.

Harbor Light Brewing Alex Goes to Belgium - I didn’t taste much of anything with this beer. Maybe just the wheat? It also was kind of flat which (I’m not super knowledgeable about beers) maybe it’s supposed to be but, I don’t know, I definitely would not order this one again.

The other items, 3BB Hot Honey Garlic Wings and Gino’s Buffalo Cheese Sticks fell in the middle of my pack. I felt the Hot wings were a little overcooked but the flavor wasn’t bad. I would definitely order the Buffalo Cheese Sticks as an appetizer at Gino’s. THOSE were original and fun!

Anywho, I hope you all aren’t going crazy! Please stay healthy, keep in touch with your loved ones, and take care of your mental and physical health. Heck, I might just ask that people stay 6 feet away after all this is over unless I know you! KIDDING! But seriously, I can’t wait until we can properly feast again. Until then, keep pushing on and a huge thank you to everyone who is still on the front lines whether you’re in health care, social work, grocery stores, first responders, janitors… the list goes on. YOU ARE HEROES!!

Three Blondes Brewing

Wings & Growler from 3BB

3BB Wings & Fries

3BB Truffle Fries, Hot Honey Garlic Wings (Left), and MI Cherry BBQ Wings (Right)

Harbor Light Brewing Beer Menu

AUBREE’S EXPERIENCE

Beer: Harbor Light Brewery

Cost: 2 cans of beer-$11.50 + tip.

Meal: Gino’s East - Wing’s & Fries

1 order Buffalo Wings

1 order Spicy BBQ Wings

1 order of Buffalo tossed chesse sticks

Bill: $28.09 plus tip

First off, a special thank you to all the restaurants and essential workers out there! As you know, the state of the world is different right now, so Feast Mode had to get creative with our latest review. When we were planning to do our last outing; it was after most all of the restaurants in town either closed for the quarantine or are only open for takeout. We decided to do a Live tasting comparing wings, fries, and beer from each restaurant we got takeout from. How could we go wrong?

I ordered Buffalo Wings, Spicy BBQ Wings, and Buffalo tossed cheese sticks from Gino’s East and two beers from Harbor Light Brewery. Getting my beer to go from Harbor Light was super simple. I just walked right in, ordered and they canned it for me right then and there. It took maybe five minutes or less. I was in and out. First beer we tried was C to Shining C, an IPA at 6.3% alcohol. It was nice and light with orange peel and you could taste the hops. Next was Alex Goes to Belgium which is Harbor Light’s Belgium blond, at 5.5% alcohol. It tastes just like a good blond ale should with no overwhelming flavors. I wouldn’t order it again, but it was good to try. My favorite beer at Harbor Light is the Ursa Major IPA. I get it every time, but it must be popular because it was unavailable on this particular day. Try it next time you go there!

Ordering from Gino’s took a little more effort. I called four times over fifteen minutes and couldn’t get anyone on the phone so I drove over there to order in person which also took a few before I could order since they had a line. A guy I spoke to in the parking lot told me that you could order online and I think I will utilize that next time. You could tell that they were busy and definitely understaffed. Kelly was a doll and got me all taken care of. I was sad when I picked up the food, they told me they were out of ranch so they gave me extra blue cheese. While I like blue cheese and appreciate the extra, as I have told you all before I am a RANCH WHORE! Luckily I have a special friend who had some homemade ranch I picked up on my way home. Shout out to Kameron, Kristy, and Hutch at Tello!

The wings from Gino’s come with fries, they were just regular fries kind of like McDonald’s, but with no salt. Nothing special about them, but good for the needed substance and grease for a hangover. Vegetarian option for you…mozzarella sticks tossed in buffalo sauce and they were delicious. The buff sauce was absorbed by the breading; I am sure when they are fresh at the restaurant they would have more of a crunch to the outside. When it comes to wings, the flats are my favorite. These buffalo wings are served with a combination of celery and carrots which is nice for color and variety. These wings were by far my favorite out of all the ones we tried. I like the traditional buffalo wings. Next up, the Spicy BBQ Wings. The name was deceiving as they were not spicy at all. They were more of a sweet BBQ and it just tasted like something out of the bottle. Nothing special in my opinion.

Steph ordered Cherry BBQ Wings, and Hot Honey Wings, and Garlic Parmesan Fries from Three Blondes. Steph brought a growler of blond ale called Boom, Boom, Betty, and I love the name of this…so fun! Q: “What are you drinking?” A: “I got that Boom, Boom!” It was a nice light beer, great for summer, but still not my favorite. I normally go for IPAs or something dark when it comes to beer. The Garlic Parmesan Fries are served with a garlic aioli; I was personally not a fan. It is hard to get them right and they were nowhere near the level of garlic parmesan fries I was comparing them to that I have had in the past. In all honestly I wasn’t crazy about either kind of the wings from Three Blondes. If I had to pick it, the Hot Honey BBQ would be the winner. The chicken was a little overcooked and as we all know I like spicy, bitter, or savory flavors over sweet any day. These wings were just not my jam. This is what is so awesome about Feast Mode because you get to hear about what each of us like and don’t like, how it compares to your taste buds and what you like! That Bruno Mars song just popped in my head “That’s what I like, that’s what I like.” LOL

Richie was social distancing, so we did not get to try his wings, fries, and beer. Stay tuned though, because those looked delish so we may have to try his order at some point doing a special little update for this post.

Special thanks again to all the area restaurants doing your part to keep people Feasting! To the ones that are closed, we can’t wait to Feast again!

SH Brew Pub Chicken Nuggets

JUST KIDDING!! They’re boneless wings! These are the Sweet Chili (top) and Honey BBQ Wings.

SH Brew Pub Ale

Lynchburg Brown Ale

SH Brew Pub Fries

Beer Battered Fries

SH Brew Pub Boneless Wings

Roasted Garlic Parmesan

RICHIE’S EXPERIENCE

Where: HOME!!! (South Haven Brew Pub Carry-Out)

Meal: Boneless Wings (Roasted Garlic Parmesan, Honey BBQ, & Sweet Chili), Beer Battered Fries, & a Lynchburg Barrel Aged Brown Ale.

Bill: Came to $50 before my massive tip (Gotta support the Local Businesses.)

Sooooo……yeah, COVID-19 is having its way with the world right now, and we all have to change the way we are living our lives. Real talk: IT SUUUUUCKS. It is what it is though, and we all gotta do our part to keep it smart, keep it safe, and keep on living to see this pandemic out! We will get through this if we all play it smart, part of which means sacrificing one thing the ladies and I ABSOLUTELY love to do……DINE IN!!! We miss it badly already, and it hits harder when the option is no longer there. We absolutely can’t wait to get back in these restaurants to give you guys some awesome feedback and experiences (aka, stuff our sexy faces for the benefit of the world, taking one for the team (one delicious bite at a time)).

Nevertheless, in the spirit of not being quitters (but being damn smart about it), we decided to change it up a bit. We wanted to give our readers the experience of the only option available right now, which is taking carry out from our fantastic local businesses. We love our city, we love our local businesses, and now (MORE THAN EVER) we need to support them if we can. The ladies came up with this awesome idea of ordering essentially the same meal from 3 different spots, so that you guys could get an idea of how easy it is and how the experience went. We also decided to do some live streaming, to show the tasting first hand (and because the world craves human interaction with all this self-distancing). We talked about it and landed on wings, fries, and beer………otherwise known as THE PERFECT MEAL (if you disagree, come at me bro!!!!) LOL! Even though the live streaming didn’t FULLY go as planned, I feel like it ended up being fitting for the world’s circumstances. Check out our videos if you haven’t had a chance to yet. As for my more detailed review, here we go…….

Ordering & Pick Up

Normally, I hit you with the vibe and service of the restaurant we are in, so I’ll hit you with the ordering and pick up process. Once we established our process and menu, we each picked a restaurant. Steph found it most convenient to order from Three Blondes, and Aubree mentioned Gino’s East, so I went for the South Haven Brew Pub. No disrespect to any other restaurants in South Haven, but for the meals we chose, these were the heavy hitters that stood out (take out beer felt like an absolute necessity). I had actually ordered pizza and beer from the Brew Pub a couple days before this, and loved how easy it was, so that may have been still on my mind when I called dibs on them.

The South Haven Brew Pub was a breeze to order from. They have been posting specials on Facebook since all of this started, so I was able to see those before even calling. They answered the phone quickly and upbeat, offered up the specials they had, and despite me ordering 3 orders of wings and fries, they told me it would be ready in 15 minutes!!! It was literally that simple a couple days before as well. There was up close parking (obviously), and when I got there the bartender was filling a pony keg for a gentleman. She immediately acknowledged me as I walked in, and politely told me she’d grab my food for me as soon as she was done with the gentleman’s keg (as the food was ready), apologizing for holding me up if I was in a hurry. I of course didn’t expect her to stop what she was doing to wait on me, but the customer appreciation aspect of the interaction wasn’t lost on me at all. As soon as she was done with the customer before me, she got me taken care of and on my way. They have the capability to fill take-home beer options from their taps, as well as cans and bottles of their beer in a cooler ready to grab and go. The experience from phone to home was as best as I think is possible, and I commend them for this! In all honesty, I expected nothing less. I love their customer service even in dine in situations, and the carry out I did 2 days before was even better than this one, if that is even possible. That time I was torn on what beer to order for my growler, and they gave me a generous sample of one I had never tried before. It genuinely feels like they just want customers to be satisfied with their experience completely.

Food

Of course, the good experience with ordering doesn’t mean anything if the food isn’t good. This is something that the South Haven Brew Pub doesn’t have to worry about, their food is AWESOME!!! I’ve actually gone on record (and video) as saying that they have the best wing sauces around, and that I challenge anyone to try to outdo them. This is saying a lot, because I love me some wing sauces!!! I tend to favor boneless wings (Steph will argue that these are NOT wings, just glorified nuggets), so me ordering boneless was a way to provide a different take on the wings review. Regardless of the vessel that it’s on, the sauces that the Brew Pub offers are the best I’ve ever had from a restaurant period. I repeat, THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD from a restaurant. Period. I love me some wings (bone in or out), and I can’t resist trying them at a restaurant until I’ve tried every flavor they offer…… and THEN I try other things on their menu after that. That’s not to say that the other 2 places we are reviewing aren’t good. I’ve tried both of them that Steph and Aubree had before we did this, but I’m saying I lucked out when it came to this review. I got the roasted garlic parmesan wings for myself, and got the honey BBQ and sweet chili for my kid and her friend (which I had them give me a few of for the sake of review). The roasted garlic parm is hands down my favorite, it’s a little thicker of a sauce with a bolder flavor than other garlic parms I have tried from different places. They are generous with the sauce too, so there are no dry naked spots of meat! I LOVE THIS. The honey BBQ wings are sweet and thick as well, and had a seasoning in the BBQ that gave it some personality (I would call it far from spicy, but my kid’s buddy thought they were a little on the hot side). The sweet chili ones happen to be my wife’s favorite, and they are personally my second favorite. They have a flavor that I would describe as an authentic sweet and sour sauce (NOT McDonalds), definitely hold their own. I got bleu cheese sauce to dip these in originally, and barely used it at all. Each of these flavors of wings held their own, and I really just loved the taste of them as is.

The beer battered fries were next level too!! They have a light coating of batter on them, which gives them a texture that is amazing. I have no idea which beer they use in the batter, but it’s not overpowering, it just creates a great flavor that is unique to the Brew Pub! I love truffle fries, or garlic rosemary fries, or even Arby’s curly fries, but I’d choose these over all of those. They go onto a pedestal similar to the one I have HopCat’s Crack Fries on (I know they changed the name, but real OGs won’t call them whatever that new name is!!!)

The beer I had was not for rookies, but that’s how I roll. I had a bottle of the Lynchburg Barrel Aged Brown, which is a 9.6% ABV bottle that is easily the size of 2 normal beers. This is a brown ale that has been aged in Jack Daniels barrels, and you definitely can taste that! It’s a sit-at-home-cuz-you-shouldn’t-drive-after-finishing-this-bottle kind of beer. If you are comparing it to something strength-wise, a Miller Lite is less than 5% alcohol. It’s a beast, but I’m a whisky guy, so it was in my wheelhouse. I really dug it, but again, I tend to drink the hard hitters when it comes to craft beers. With the bold flavors of the wings and fries, I couldn’t have pictured any other beer I would have rather had.

Wrap Up

At the time of all this I ended up staying at home, and was going to remote-in to live stream with the ladies. I felt like we should adhere to these social distancing practices to do our part during this time. Unfortunately because of this, we couldn’t do the full head-to-head showdown, and we missed out on trying all the food and beer together. After thinking about it though, it’s really not about a full-on who’s-the-best showdown. Our intentions were to show people what their options are in these times, and we just legit needed some good food without having to cook! I also personally wanted to support some of the places that have always supported me. I look to these places when my schedule is too hectic to cook, or when I want to treat my family to a fun night out, or even when we are celebrating something special and want the night to be something to remember. They’ve been there for me and I’ve depended on it in default, without realizing that they are depending on me back. I realize that more now than ever, as I’ve become friends with a lot of these business owners and employees just through human interaction. It really hits me now how important this is, seeing the struggles and decisions that they all have to make. I know me doing my part supporting them right now can’t fix all of their problems (not even close), but I want them to know that they’re just as important to me and I’m realizing we are to them. Hopefully, our experiences and reviews help people with confidence in taking advantage of the carry-out options that they have in South Haven, and maybe I’ll see you guys out and about when I’m picking up mine! (However, even though I love you guys, keep that 6ft distance, and just know that I’m hugging you from afar. LOL)