A couple of restaurants along I-75 in Michigan

Returning to Bishop International Airport in Flint, from Mackinaw City yesterday, I pulled off I-75 and drove though Grayling, looking for an interesting restaurant. I settled on Spike's "Keg O' Nails."





After entering the small bar and grill, I learned from the back of the menu, that Spike's has an interesting history. The tavern first opened on May 29, 1933, the day after prohibition ended. The owner, Harold "Spike" MacNeven was a promoter who quickly became involved with the community. The name of the bar, "Keg O' Nails" was suggested in a contest with a $20 first prize.



The original building burned to the ground, and Spike rebuilt the tavern with an attached bowling alley. The second tavern also burned and was replaced by the current structure. All have been at this same location. The two couples that now own the Keg O' Nails are the 5th set of owners.

My meal began with a large cup of chili. A bit thinner and with more vegetables and less meat than I would select. But I still ate every bite.



But my main dish was a fried smelt basket, which includes a half pound of deep fried smelt, fries and coleslaw. A nice finish to a weekend where I had walleye, whitefish, and perch.



For those of you unfamiliar with smelt... They are small fish that live in the Great Lakes. They congregate in huge numbers to "run" up many rivers and streams in the spring. They are then caught in small mesh hand held nets, and it can be a lot of fun. They are also fished commercially. Cleaning smelt is easy - cut off the head, slit down the belly and remove the guts. some people take a few more seconds to scale them. The remainder with tail, fins & bones is rinsed, cooked and eaten whole. The smelt served here had the tail & fins removed.


Still to come a 24 hour Flint chili parlor...

Keith

Keith, Looks like my kind of place. You know how to find them. I haven't had fried smelt since the 1980s when our local volunteer fire department used to hold an annual spring smelt fry.

The local Grrek Church has a big festival every year on Memorial Day weekend at the Kane County Fairgrounds, aside from the usual Greek food, our favorite is the fried smelt. Those waffle fries look good Keith, were they crisp? I think I'd pass on that chili, too thin looking.

Boy, do I miss good fried smelt dinner. Thanks for the pictures. They look excellent!

John

My final stop of the trip was in Flint. Capitol Coney Island Restaurant is about 1/2 mile east of I-75 and a mile from Bishop Airport. This was my second visit to the restaurant, which serves a full menu. Capitol Coney Island is across from the GM plant and is open 24 hours.





I ordered a soda, Coney Island and chili fries, When she brought my food, the waitress also brought coleslaw, saying that she had comboed it to lower the price. The total bill including tax was only $4.77!



The Coney Island was pretty good. Not the best I have had, but one worthy of the name. The sauce is thick and does not include beans. The chili on the fries is a bit thinner and included beans. Not bad, but it would be better with the same sauce as the Coney.

The service was very good.

Keith

Now those look like my type of Roadfood places. Nice post.

More on Spikes Keg O Nails. Back in the 70's a group of bikers from Detroit went into the bar and got into a fight with the bartender, the bartender took a shotgun from the back of the bar and let'er rip into one of them. It was the last fight for him. We did traffic for the funeral. It was quite a send off.
Next time on I75 in Bay City stop at Kryzak's on Michigan & Cass in South Bay City. Great buffet and real Polish Food. We had to stop going there on the way North because we would eat too much and be too tired for the rest of the trip.

Sarge, thanks for the lead on Kryzak's!

Keith

Another great stop on I-75 is Tony's at the Birch Run Exit north of Flint.
On the west side fof the Hwy. Truly good food and boy do they go through the bacon & potatos.

Dixie Dave's @ Birch Run ... has a wild game menu as well as
the usual roadfood.

Ruggero's @ Flint ... I recommend their 'Italian' lasagna; not their std lasagna

Halo Burger @ Flint

Great report!...as a side note, I love those places that have paper place mats with a bunch of local businesses advertised on them.  Usually you can find a dandy of a typo or two.

My all-time favorite was for a Korean Cleaner:  "all cleaning done on promises"

So for those of you who've had both, how does smelt compare to lake herring?

Sfreader -

Nice report...love the interior of the Keg!  Reminds me of the northwoods places I used to frequent.

 We enjoyed our first (and only, so far) Smelt Dinner when driving across the U P a couple of years back. Those little fish could be very addictive!! They were delicious.

We want to try on of the BLT's at TONY's after seeing the place on TV recently !

Spike's looks like my kind of place....thanks for sharing!!

That bartender at Spike's was probably an old guy. You know what they say about us - Don't &*%# with old guys , they don't fight, they just shoot you!!! Right nice report, worthy of the five stars I gave it.

I have fond memories of watching the fisherman down at Lake Michigan, catching hundreds and the frying them up in a pan over a bonfire.Of course, they felt pity on us young girls and shared their catch. Havent had smelt since.Thanks for the memories!!