In the little town of St Ignace Michigan, just on the north side of the Mackinaw Bridge, a little bit east on US2, along the coast of Lake Huron, is a unique little eatery you HAVE to visit named Java Joe's.
From the outside Joe's looks like a beach shack, one that you would expect on some southern ocean coast city, complete with tent seating in front and open air patio in back complete with tiki torches, ceramic parrots, and bright colors. Oh, that BIG tiki looking thing at the back of the patio? That's a heater on the nights when the wind off of Port Huron is especially nippy.
Inside Joe's front part is cramped, but wiggle in anyway. Tables and walls are plastered with pictures of customers who have attended to eat one of Joe's larger desserts (mostly Strawberry Sundays it looks like) with everyone smiling at the camera assuring you that they at least tried to east the whole thing. What space on Joe's walls that isn't taken up by pictures is shelves and shelves of ceramic teapots, all of which are for sale, and I swear that no 2 teapots in the place is exactly alike. I'm sure there are some- there have to be there's HUNDREDS of teapots here, but I didn't take the time to find out. I did notice that Joe's bathroom is also jammed with shelves filled with teapots, these the ones most out of season I suppose- it was filled with Xmas teapots when I was there.
You are seated and shown where the menu sits, usually wedged between the napkins and what nots on the table, and you open a four page newspaper with everything they have to offer in amazingly small print. When I was there I wasn't sure if I wanted a personal pizza, or breakfast, so I literally settled for both: I had a delicious pizza omelet, their menu is VAST, filled with about 5 times more items than a greasy spoon that small should handle, and from what I saw of my dish and the servings of others they give you plenty to eat. I walked out of there stuff and fulfilled.
Every time I'm in St Ignace I try to stop at Joe's. I proudly have one of their coffee cups here at home that I drink from from time to time, and I really want to go visit there some evening, just to see if the patio holds the party every night that I'm pretty sure it does. I was there for breakfast once and they were jammed, but constantly rotating customers in and out at a quick pace. The last time I was there (between lunch and dinner rushes I'm sure) they were about a third full. Service was nice- getting the food was a bit slower than most fast food places, but about on par with normal restaurants, which is okay because it gives you time to look over all the craziness in the place.
Here's their website complete with legend and a hint of the huge amount of stuff they offer: http://www.javajoescafe.com You can also click on the headline above for a link to their site.
Their sign out by the side of the road says it all- they offer a lot of different things to eat, a lot to look at while you're doing it, and a great greasy spoon style atmosphere that makes it a COOL place to eat. If you get to visit please tell them Spank the Monkey recommended it to you and watch their "what the hell are you talking about?" expression cross their face
Wake Up.
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