Health department shuts down part of Nappanee store’s food sales

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Marshall King

The Elkhart County Health Department shut down some of the food sales at a store in Nappanee.

Mike Hoover, supervisor of the Environmental Health Division of the health department, said the Alco store, 1538 E. Market St., Nappanee, was selling food in coolers and freezers without having gotten a license. The store was selling “prepackaged potentially hazardous foods” that still require a license from the health department, according to the press release from the department.

The store had added the equipment about three months ago, Hoover said. No one got sick from the food as far as he knows, but someone called the health department and reported the store for not having a license.

The store was previously selling “prepackaged non-potentially hazardous foods,” such as cookies, and can continue to do that, he said.

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Goshen music store, Warsaw restaurant collaborating on summer concert series

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Marshall King

Cerulean 6912 112 The garden at Cerulean Restaurant, Winona Lake, Ind. (Photo supplied)

Cerulean Restaurant serves beautiful, flavorful food at its Warsaw/Winona Lake restaurant.

Ignition Music puts beautiful music on its stage in Goshen.

This summer, men who operate the two businesses are working together.

Steve Martin of Ignition is helping get artists to perform in Cerulean’s garden. Cerulean founder Caleb France is thrilled to offer a space for some great music.

Sometimes it’ll coincide with a visit to Goshen. Sometimes it won’t. But the goal is to get people in the two northern Indiana cities to head to the one they’re in less.

“Music brings people together, builds community,” Martin said, later adding, “Ignition is building a great reputation, but I want to introduce these artists to other communities. … I look at it as market expansion.”

Instagram The Stray Birds From Lancaster where my pa was born They sing better than he does April 11 2013 at 0858PM The Stray Birds play at Ignition Music in April 2013. (MVK photo)

Caleb France, who oversees Cerulean in both Warsaw and Indianapolis, said it will “up the ante on the music scene in northern Indiana.”

He and his wife, Courtney, saw The Vespers at Ignition last year and got them to play in the restaurant’s Garden later. About 300 people attended that show. People at the lakes in the summer want something to do, he said.

He’s having Martin help arrange more shows this year, though he’ll cap attendance at around 200. A cover of $5 to $10 will be charged. Food and drink specials, including craft beer on tap, will be featured, France said.

Garden Another view of Cerulean’s garden. (Photo supplied)

“We realized that we both could benefit from collaboration and cross promotion. It is always refreshing to do business with others that believe in what you believe,” France said.

Martin said a vibrant music scene draws from a 75-mile radius. Artists need to tour and sell merchandise to make a living and additional collaborations with restaurants and businesses could help them and those businesses.

“It may not work,” he said. But he’s willing to try.

He’s hoping people at the occasional Cerulean shows will drive to Goshen for the more regular Ignition shows. And he’s hoping Goshen-area music fans will go to Warsaw to eat.

Both would be cool to see. Warsaw has a couple great restaurants, including Cerulean and Noa Noa Wood Grill & Sushi Bar.

I’m a fan of good music. I’m a fan of good food. Bringing the two together is a great thing.

The upcoming lineup at Cerulean includes:
June 1, The Vespers and Anderson East
June 8, Kellin Watson (the day after Watson plays Goshen First Friday)
July 5, The Farewell Drifters

Martin said Amy Speace will play both locations at a later date.

Ddw Deep Dark Woods plays at Igntion in March 2012. (Truth photo by Mark Shephard)

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Hungry Help-A-House volunteers eat a lot of pancakes, donuts and pizza

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Marshall King

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On Saturday, about 300 volunteers gathered for LaCasa’s annual Help-A-House in Goshen.

The premise is simple: People spend hours working on the home of someone they often don’t know. They give part of a Saturday to improve someone else’s home.

And along the way, LaCasa and a bunch of local eateries feed them.

I love the event. Whether you’re working with strangers, friends from the Goshen Noon Kiwanis Club or people with whom you go to church, it’s a lot of fun tackling a big project. And there’s a huge feeling of satisfaction on seeing a project come together.

On Saturday, several of us from the Goshen Noon Kiwanis Club put in a sidewalk outside a home on Crescent Street. I’d never put in a sidewalk. Breathing in a bunch of concrete dust while we mixed nearly 30, 80-pound bags of Quikrete didn’t help a cold I was battling, but we got the job done.

LaCasa asked me this year to tell them what I think of the food. So here goes.

Every year, the Exchange Club of Elkhart County makes pancakes at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church to get the volunteers some fuel before working. The sausage served alongside is a form of smoked sausage. I prefer patties, but it was fine. And this year, I brought my own maple syrup. Why? Because I remembered and I don’t like high-fructose corn syrup in my pancake syrup. And the pancakes were fabulous, made even better by getting to give Bob Hawkins and Moe Miller a hard time.

Mid-morning, at the job sites, donuts show up. Dutch Maid Bakery donated 32 dozen this year, according to Kate Irelan, LaCasa’s volunteer coordinator. When a LaCasa volunteer asked how many were at our site, I said, “40.” She didn’t believe me and only left about a dozen and half donuts. I was hoping for a cream cheese bow tie, but got a chocolate iced donut. And half of a maple iced, but don’t tell anyone.

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Lunch is usually pizza. Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and Gerace’s discount prices. Little Caesar’s doesn’t but the pizza is already $5 a pizza, according to Irelan. Jimmy John’s, South Side Soda Shop and Subway are now donating sandwiches, but I haven’t seen them at a job site yet. Maybe next year. I don’t eat much pizza from national chains. It’s just not as good as from some other places. But at Help-A-House, I eat what shows up. And this year it was Papa John’s. I ate more than my share. I survived. And it is cool that they donate to the community cause.

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The Dairy Queen on Pike Street in Goshen donated 350 Dilly Bars, which I’m told were made by hand. I didn’t get one this year because the sidewalk was done and I was too. Others were finishing a roof, but I wasn’t up to climbing on that thing this year. In terms of DQ, I prefer Buster Bars, but again, ice cream and chocolate are not a bad thing. And volunteers can’t be that picky about what they get given.

I’d be thrilled, thrilled I tell you, if LaCasa found a way to get some fruit on a job site. Bananas? Apples? My body would thank you for something that nourishes the body the way the event nourishes a soul and makes our community stronger.

2013 05 11 08 24 21 Kiwanians work on a roof to remove the shingles.

2013 05 11 08 23 51 Glen Kauffman prepares a sidewalk for concrete.

2013 05 11 08 23 57 Jim Welz works in the homeowner’s yard during Help-A-House.

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Goshen to get more pretzels as Jo Jo’s plans to open

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Marshall King

175338 188074077898556 6951108 o Photo via JoJo’s Facebook page of the Shipshewana location.

As Better World Books moves to Main Street and The Electric Brew moves across Washington Street, Goshen has room for another eatery.

And the owners of Jo Jo’s Pretzels are planning to open at 136 S. Main St., at the corner of Main and Washington.

Jo Jo’s is the second pretzel shop planning to open in the coming months in Goshen, with Ben’s Soft Pretzels planning a location.

339729 2715063718283 130726260 o Levi and Joanna King (in a photo from Facebook used with permission)

Levi and Joanna King opened JoJo’s in 1989 in Shipshewana. “For the last 20 years, I’ve been satisfied with one store in Shipshewana,” Levi said. But his four children are growing up and he’s looking at multiple stores now as being more possible.

In that time, Jo Jo’s has served a lot of pretzels. “Let’s just say over a million. That’d be safe,” he said. On a busy Shipshewana Flea Market day, the shop can sell 1,000 pretzels, he said.

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“I’ve been looking at Goshen for quite a while,” Levi said. But he wasn’t happen with the locations that were available. When the corner spot opened, he was thrilled.

“Goshen just has an energy and buzz,” he said, crediting Goshen College and the mix of businesses downtown. There are a lot of people there on evenings and weekends – perhaps less than in Shipshewana on some days, but more steady year round.

Bontrager plans to move out of the space this summer. He said recently he could open by early August. Two efforts to get a drive-through window approved failed, but he’s still planning on moving.

King would like to be open by then too if he can. When the Brew is moved, King will put in counters and booths and building owner Dave Pottinger will have repainting completed.

King said he’s interested in developing more farm-to-table eating at their shop. He uses whole wheat flour from Greenfield Mills in Howe, Ind., but would like to do more of that kind of buying. They plan to service ice cream and will experience with new menu items, but he said he wants to fit into the culture of downtown Goshen and not infringe on the Brew or other businesses.

I think this will be a great fit for downtown and will do well. The Kings, who aren’t close relation to me, know how to make soft pretzels and run good businesses. And the addition in the heart of downtown will add another great option to the mix of food available.

(All photos in this post used with permission from Levi King.)

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Cappy’s could reopen in Elkhart this week or next

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Marshall King

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Merle and Linda Anderson are nearly ready to reopen Cappy’s Northside at 1000 N. Michigan St., Elkhart.

I stopped in the other day and the place was still being worked on, but you could see a lot of progress.

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A gigantic light dimmer switch is still in place.

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A box behind the bar that needed a quarter an hour to keep the electricity on is no longer behind the bar, but Merle (shown here) had it rekeyed and kept it. The story goes that the bar came from Chicago and only some guys in Chicago could open the box to get the money. That’s how they continued to profit from a place in Elkhart, he said.

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In the basement, where the beer used to come in through a manhole cover from the street, a couple folk paintings are still there. The Andersons would sell them if someone wants to buy them, but will probably keep the cash register.

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The lights will be on soon.

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The restaurant and bar closed in January. The Cappeletti family still owned the place, but someone else was running it and it had to close.

But it’ll open this week or next with fresh paint, new operators and even some craft beer on tap. But it still has plenty of old charm.

The Andersons have operated Pete’s Simonton Lake Tavern for decades. Linda’s family has had Pete’s since 1970 and Merle has been there for 22 years. Linda has been a nurse, but it ready to focus more on the restaurant business, Merle said.

Cappy’s Northside has been a Michigan Street restaurant for a number of years. It was originally where Nicky D’s was on Harrison Street, but Dominic Cappelletti, Linda’s grandfather, moved it to 1000 Michigan St., Elkhart.

He operated it and then his son, Francis, did. Dominic’s wife Evelyn has continued to own it.

The Andersons have been going through the basement, cleaning, painting and renovating. And now they’re ready to see some customers.

“We’re getting there,” Linda said. “The beer’s cold,” Merle added.

Hours will be 10 a.m to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 to 11 Friday and Saturday. They plan to offer about half dozen specials a day to start as well as beer, wine and liquor.

A patio will also open soon.

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Is hot chicken salad really a salad? Either way, it’s lunch.

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Marshall King

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For the 43rd year, the women of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church are serving dozens, even hundreds, of salads.

And soon after 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, the line was to the door of the gymnasium in the building. Hundreds of people – mostly older, mostly white, mostly women – gathered to eat.
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Tables laden with salads awaited. There were lettuce and spinach salads, Jell-O and fluffy salads, cabbage and pasta salads. And then there were the potato salads – hot and cold. Deviled eggs with little crosses made from herbs on top and trays of cookies and sweets are there as well.

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At the end of the table is the hot chicken salad.

Aside from being a great name for a punk band, hot chicken salad stretches the imagination when it comes to salads.

2013 04 24 11 30 52 Carolyn Schmanske serves hot chicken salad.

Is chicken with mayonnaise, cheese and celery really a salad? I’d call it a casserole, but whatever you call it, it eats the same.

People from the parish brought hundreds of salads. And they made 27 pans of hot chicken salad, according to chairwoman Claire Hartman and former chairwoman Theresa Hock.

Here’s the recipe for a pan of hot chicken salad:
8 c. cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
8 c. celery, chopped
2 c. sliced almonds
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 1/2 T. lemon juice
2 t. dry mustard
3 c. mayonnaise

Combine ingredients. Put in large pan and top with broken potato chips. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

If you don’t want to make your own, you can get a similar version at Charlie’s Butcher Block. The “hot almond chicken salad” is on special today, of all days, for $6.49 a pound.

Women were asking me if I’d find the best salad in Elkhart County at the salad luncheon. I don’t think so, but there were some very good ones. The trick is tracking down who made it. I heard Father Bill Sullivan name the maker of a biscotti and Kathy Lucchese told me which German potato salad she made, but it’s not always an easy thing. I’d love to know who made the thin, buttery bars that tasted like browned butter, but I struggle to describe them, much less find the baker.

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Hartman, Hock and about 50 other people put in a lot of time to feed around 500 people. They raise money for the church’s altar supplies and local charities. And the event is just lovely.

Nancy Tooman, newly retired, was there for the first time with seven other women from Trinity United Methodist Church. She liked what she was eating after their morning Bible study.

“Very nice. Nice selection. Lot of people,” she said. “I love salad.”

To go to a potluck such as this requires a bit of faith. You don’t really know who made the salads, but you trust that what you’ll eat is good. That’s appropriate for a meal in a church gymnasium and the food usually is good.

And that faith, along with the conversations with friends and the sense that maybe you have to think about salad in a new and old way at the same time makes this event a lot of fun.

But I still think Hot Chicken Salad would be a great name for a band.

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2013 04 24 11 52 25 Father Bill Sullivan talks with Kathy Lucchese after serving from a tray of dessert. (All photos by Marshall V. King)

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Goshen getting a noodle shop on Main Street

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Marshall King

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Right now, the windows are covered with paper, but within a number of weeks, the former Il Forno will become a new restaurant.

Since Mario Garber closed the pizza place, building owner Dave Pottinger has been seeking a new restaurateur.

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He found one he knows pretty well.

Chef Kelly Graff, who is now the sole operator of Kelly Jae’s Cafe and Kelly Jae’s Next Door, is working to open Noodle Head. Pottinger owns the building at 133/135 S. Main St., where the cafe and bar are located.

“It’s going to be a noodle bar,” she said of the new venture a few doors down at 127 S. Main St., Goshen. “It’s going to be similar to Urban Belly.”

Urban Belly is a Chicago place with Asian dumplings and noodles. It has communal seating, walk-up ordering and amazing flavors. I was there last summer and had a memorable meal.

Graff has been good at combining a variety of flavors and cuisines at Checkerberry Inn, Indigo on 17 and Kelly Jae’s. She is good with Asian flavors, but brings in others. And Noodle Head will have some version of Amish noodles, she said.

The cafe and bar at 133/135 S. Main St. have been “crazy busy” the last few weeks, she said. “We’ve had so many new customers it’s amazing.”

Noodle Head could open by the end of May, Graff said.

The news of Noodle Head opening comes as Kowloon closes in Elkhart, though they’re very different restaurants, markets and situations. Main Street in Goshen is a long way from Parkmor Plaza these days.

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Elkhart has one less Chinese restaurant

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Marshall King

2013 04 22 17 45 43 Kowloon won’t reopen. (MVK photo)

Kowloon Chinese Restaurant didn’t make it.

A few readers had expressed a hope that it wouldn’t go out of business, but a sign went up saying that it wouldn’t reopen. (Thanks to reader Emily (Chastain) Timmins for the tip on Facebook.)

2013 04 22 17 45 26 The sad sign at Kowloon. (MVK photo)

The food there was good, though the interior of the restaurant needed some spark. And the restaurant was tucked on the back side of the plaza and hard to find. In addition, Parkmor Plaza has fallen on some hard times. Only a few businesses remain.

Danny Suen opened the restaurant at 1130 W. Bristol St., Elkhart, in September 2011. It was a return to the restaurant industry after dealing with some illness.

The last time I was at Kowloon was March 1, resulting in this blog post. The closing means that Great Wall has less competition on the west side of Elkhart.

Jean Chen, who vacated the restaurant before Suen took over, is doing well in South Bend. A meal last week at J.W. Chen’s was fabulous. She chided me for not coming more often. I would if it was a bit closer, but delight in every visit.

2013 04 19 19 48 13 Vegetables at J.W. Chen’s. (MVK photo)

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After Boston bombing, we’re coping by running and singing

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Marshall King

2013 04 17 09 31 12 Instagram taken on Goshen Mill Race April 17 by Marshall V. King

I am a runner.

I don’t go fast, but I run.

I run with the body I have and cover a few miles a week.

Wednesday morning, after learning of #runforboston, I got up earlier than usual, put on the running shoes and hit the Goshen Millrace trail with my two dogs.

It was a beautiful, clear morning. The sun coming up lit the sky with vibrant colors.

I thought of the runners who were finishing a 26.2-mile race on Monday. I thought of those injured as they were watching, cheering and waiting for those runners. I thought of the guy who crumpled when the first bomb went off.

I thought of the guy who lost a leg and whose graphic photo Jen Shephard wrote about.

I thought of other things too. Running is where answers come to things I’m chewing on. Running is what cleans out the stress and cobwebs.

I don’t run fast or run pretty. But I love running because of how it makes me feel more whole, more healthy. The sound and feel of my own feet on the ground beneath me does help ground me in those moments when I’m not running.

Many runners take on causes as they run. Steve Germani is running for ADEC. When Isaac Steiner was battling cancer, hundreds gathered on a December morning to run for him.

Instagram Probably 1 000 people gathered for Isaac Steiner benefit 5k this morning isaacnation December 01 2012 at 0859AM

Boston is the oldest marathon race in the world. Women weren’t allowed until 1972. It takes place on Patriots’ Day, which marks the American Revolution. It’s a prestigious race too. You have to qualify with a time from another marathon to get to run Boston.

I’ll probably never qualify. But Monday morning, I was checking a liveblog of the race to see if either American Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan could win the women’s race.

On Monday, Elkhart County runners were among those running. I’m proud of them and grateful they weren’t hurt.

Runners know pain. It’s part of running. I’ve not run more than a half-marathon of 13.1 miles, but those hurt too. Marathons, in particular, are a show of human will, of perseverance, of dedication. Running 26.2 miles requires that.

And after someone caused an explosion that killed three and injured others, there is a different kind of pain. And even those who don’t run feel this. But marathons show how a human can push through pain, through difficulty, to achieve something. I see a lot of people doing that now.

There are stories of people giving blood after running the race. There are stories of people helping others. Erin Gloria Ryan wrote a lovely piece on people who watch marathons.

And there were the Boston Bruins fans who belted out the National Anthem Wednesday night.

On that #RunforBoston run I was on Wednesday morning, two songs came through my headphones more than once.

One was Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” It’s a poignant song about how we struggle, but try to sing hallelujah.” “It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah,” he sings.

The other was Neil Young’s “Light a Candle.” Neil sings, “Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle for where we’re going. There’s something ahead worth looking for.”

Beautiful things are being written and done in the aftermath of this act of violence. I believe the human spirit will win. I believe in that in part because of the marathon and the people who run.

Carrie Jones wrote an amazing blog post Monday night about how marathons and particularly Boston are about not giving up.
“It’s about not giving up, not giving in to pain. It’s about that celebration of surviving and enduring against all odds, against everything. It’s about humanity. No bomber can take that away. Not ever,” she wrote.

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Goshen to get new Ben’s soft pretzel bakery

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Marshall King

Truth photo

Ben’s Soft Pretzels continues to grow its business.

Co-founder Brian Krider said this afternoon, April 17, that a new Goshen location will open in 1202 W. Pike St., where the company moved its corporate offices in November. It’s also the place that the company is doing training. The building is the former Crossing Educational Center and had a cafe at one point.

This will be the sixth pretzel bakery, according to a press release, and is likely to open in mid-May. The bakery will be open Wednesday to Saturday evenings.

Krider and Scott Jones, along with Ben Miller, founded the company in 2008. It opened a location at Concord Mall and has followed with other restaurants and mobile concession locations. You can find Ben’s at Notre Dame sporting events, as well as those at the University of Wisconsin. Two minor league teams will be serving their pretzels this year, Krider said.

In addition, the company sold a franchise store to be located in Michigan City. More franchise locations are likely to be sold by the end of 2013 in Chicago and Indianapolis areas.