There’s hope for the future of great food in Lansing

Tracking the culinary scene in the pages of City Pulse

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The pages of City Pulse have always been friendly toward our local culinary scene and a great way to stay on top of which eateries are serving the best food in Lansing. Although the pandemic was an awful time for the restaurant industry nationally – the closures were intense and numerous – going through the history of City Pulse reveals that food options in Lansing have undoubtedly improved greatly over the years.

Early on, Allan Ross’s restaurant guide informed readers of all the places that were worthy of checking out, whether that was Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine, Aladdin’s or the original East Lansing Troppo location. While these restaurants held on through the two decades of City Pulse, some other restaurants that were explored in other early articles were not so fortunate. Krispy Kreme in the Eastwood Towne Center received a lot of early attention, and a handful of City Pulse promotions gave their doughnuts away as a reward. It debuted in the summer of 2003 and was boarded up by 2009. Now it’s only mentioned as an eye sore, a peculiarly rough looking monument juxtaposed with an otherwise apparently upscale shopping center. 

City Pulse has also always been a close tracker of local farmers markets. While more and more cropped up, the paper expanded its coverage. Early issues suggested heavily that readers think locally when it came to sourcing the food on their plate. Farmers markets are a frequent cover story subject and often included a thorough pullout guide that listed where to find them in Greater Lansing. And City Pulse’s Food Finder, which was published weekly in the listings section of each issue, provided a painstakingly in-depth guide to just about everywhere in town where you could get served a meal. 

The pages of City Pulse were also a place where the great restaurants of the past could be memorialized. Emil’s, one of Lansing’s oldest and most celebrated restaurants, went through a period of decline and then closed for good in 2015. Clara’s Lansing Station, a landmark spot for many, similarly went on its way out in 2016. Just a few years later, Roma Bakery would also shut down. And that’s not to discount the pandemic, which took down stalwarts like Espresso Royale. When City Pulse went to gather reactions from the locals that truly loved these places, it revealed just how powerful of a connection a great restaurant can have with its customers. 

Despite the disappearance of some serious legends, local food really turned the corner in the past decade or so and gave Lansing a stronger reputation as a place where diners can get serious gourmet food. A 2012 cover story pushed for restaurateurs to get creative and focus on quality instead of stuffing people in the door. In many ways, that call has been answered. Mark Nixon, a longtime contributor to City Pulse and one half of the He Ate/She Ate critic team, wrote that he believed Lansing’s food scene has improved drastically. 

Places like Soup Spoon Café, which was recognized as a culinary leader in that cover story, really came into their own and began to be widely recognized across town. The Potent Potables Project gave way to other popular and well-reviewed spots like The Cosmos, Zoobies, Punk Taco and The Creole. We also received People’s Kitchen, Bowdie’s Chophouse, Ruckus Ramen and EnVie, and excellent barbecue restaurants like MEAT, Saddleback and The Smoke N’ Pig. Pizza has gotten much better as well – DeLuca’s no longer must do the heavy lifting thanks to places like Detroit Frankie’s and Art’s Pub. While there’s nothing wrong the classics, we should be excited to see if new restaurants continue this trend.

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