Popination Summarization
a series of unhinged personal essays disguised as pub reviews. Today: a recap of my previous two visits to Joe’s Friendly.
I have just returned from my yearly family trip to Michigan and am in the midst of composing a fresh Popination from a new place we found up there. While you wait for the fresh one, here’s a recap of the previous Michigan Popinations I’ve done so far. Join me, won’t you?
Joe’s Friendly Tavern Part One
Of course, on this current trip we did visit the OG beachy Joe’s Friendly a couple times. Needs must. Joe’s is so lovely and so, well…friendly, and it’s the perfect shaded patio to hang out at on a summer afternoon. But the beautiful and haunting land with the trees where my in-laws live was too full of ticks on this visit for me to do much walking around in it, unfortunately. And no sign of George. Long may he reign.
This beach vibe and the open yard was why we stayed on the sunny side of Joe’s and didn’t venture into the cavern next door, not one time that we patronized them. Which was a few times, even though we were only there a week. But it was a good place to hang out and debrief and chat, and to (in a controlled manner) bask in the sun. I found that I was enjoying being outside in the sun a lot more during that trip than I ever normally do, from hiking and visiting the beach, to just spending most of the day on D-i-L’s spectacular deck.
Joe’s Friendly Tavern Part Deux
Since I frequented the outdoor summer version of Joe’s in my previous trip, the next summer I was there I was determined to go inside into the indoor dive bar part, and it didn’t disappoint. On this trip, I’d heard Joe’s was closing down, but it looked just as hopping as ever when we went there this year, thankfully. Maybe they got the finances together they needed.
I wrote, too, about what we named the Purgatory Pub, which we didn’t go to this time. Instead, we had a phenomenal lunch at a high end Italian place a few doors down from The Pub. Huge improvement. I believe it was called something whimsical like Flying Noodle or something like that.
So the real live actual dark dive version of Joe’s had a comfy old patina* about it and was dim and old and musty but clean(ish) and good and their menu looked pretty big, actually, including brunch on weekends. So does that make it a diner, or a dive? Doesn’t matter—it was nice, and I imagine it’s the place to be in the Empire winter.
*I’m really really sorry but I could not, COULD not get the song ‘Funky Cold Medina’ out of my head as I wrote that phrase. So I had to share my pain with you. Thanks for being here during this trying time.
Honorable Mention: Goody’s Lobster Shack
I didn’t go here last time we visited but the guys did, and they raved about the lobster rolls especially. And so this time, I went with them. It was astonishingly delicious, and a really pretty little marina-dotted resort town barely big enough to be called one. Goody’s specialty was lobster, clams, crab cakes, and the like. But wait, I hear you saying: isn’t Lake Michigan fresh water, not an ocean? Huh? How come lobster? Yeah I dunno but it was so tasty I’m not gonna ask. And of course we went to the classic sandwich shop we can’t do without when in Empire: the Shipwreck, where each crazy-good sandwich is named after a famous shipwreck. Morbid? Maybe. Tasty as heck? Yes.
Hey, that was fun. Thanks for joining me. Tune in next week for more on where I Popinated on this latest Michigan trip!