New in town

It’s the third restaurant for the Detroitarea franchise, which also has locations in in Troy and Auburn Hills. There are two downtown Detroit locations in the works, and plans are underway to expand the franchise into Chicago and Toledo as well.

Sweet Lorraine’s takes over the former location of Wanderer’s Tea House, which closed last year. The menu includes soups, salads, wraps and 14 styles of macaroni and cheese. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are also available.

Owners Lorraine Platman and Gary Sussman went to Michigan State University. In a press release, they say they’d been looking at other college campuses before settling on East Lansing.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” Platman said in the release. “College students and mac & cheese.”

For a bon time Last month, East Lansing got another new eatery when Le Bon Macaron opened next to Bell’s Pizza; Gumbo and Jazz was the previous occupant.

Owner Kelly Toland started the business in 2010 inside A Piece O’ Cake, the East Lansing bakery she opened in 2008; new owner Betsy Strobl took over A Piece O’ Cake Sept. 1.

Le Bon Macaron specializes in macarons, bite-sized meringue-based confections that look like tiny hamburgers. For a pastry without much name recognition, Toland says it’s doing well.

“The response we’ve had since the move has been huge ,” Toland said. “When we get our new oven we want to introduce more French pastries.”

Tolands parents, John and Wedny Kobus, are co-operators of the business. They also run the Colonial Bar & Grill on Lansing’s south side.

Sweet Lorraine’s Fabulous Mac n´ Cheez 547 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday- Wednesday; 11 a.m.-midnight Thursday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday (517) 325-0850, macncheez.com

Le Bon Macaron 1133 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday (517) 763-2606, lebonmacaron.com