Restaurants in Kalamazoo

Beneath the baked bread and vegetable du jour of Restaurant Toulouse's signature cassoulet, pork sausage and duck confit stew with great northern beans, bacon, carrots, onions, and tomatoes into one simmering pot of flavor. A staple of the French countryside, the dish is one of Chef Adam Smith's renditions of dishes from classic French cuisine. His other creations include onion soup and a medley of pan-seared scallops and mushrooms smothered in gruyère cream sauce.

The flavors of each dish are complemented by selections from a revamped wine list curated by staff from East Village Wine Shoppe. Bartenders also mix up an extensive assortment of cocktails, including Kahlua- and tequila-spiked coffee or the French Connection, a slowly stirred blend of cognac and amaretto over ice. Wait staff serve these feasts in a refurbished turn-of-the-century building replete with art deco–style posters and a wood- and screenplay-burning hearth, as well as a heated, enclosed patio.

At Fuel Vegetarian a vegan can bite into an American-style burger with a Peruvian-seasoned patty and gooey layer of cheese. The completely vegetarian, raw, and vegan-friendly restaurant crafts meat-free versions of classic tastes from places such as Italy, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Louisiana. Executive chef Denise Miller creates a list of regionally themed plates such as the southern stack, which includes cream of wheat-crusted substitution chicken strewn across a bed of black-eyed peas and collard greens. Along with using local and sustainable ingredients, Fuel Vegetarian gives back to the community by donating $0.60 to local nonprofits every time a customer orders a dessert or successfully licks their elbow.

Jet’s Pizza—ranked among the best-selling pizza franchises in 2010 by PMQ Pizza Magazine—has exploded with more than 200 locations since brothers Eugene and John Jetts opened their first shop in 1978. The menu teems with customizable pies, each built on traditional hand-tossed crust, New York style thin crust, or deep-dish crust, available in eight flavors such as poppy seed, Cajun, and garlic. Chefs fling dough disks into the air while Olympic shooters blast the flying, red-sauced rectangles with one of 18 available toppings. Before digging into a main dish, share an order of bubbly, triple-cheese Turbo Stix, which come topped with mozzarella, cheddar, romano, garlic, and butter and are served with pizza sauce perfect for dipping or drawing designs on crisp dress shirts.

When Todd, Pam, and Nina Meyer opened Nina’s Cafe in 1998, they created a space that captured exactly what they wanted in a restaurant—a smoke-free room filled with the scents of all-day breakfast feasts and tasty soups and chili made from their own family recipes. Bottomless cups of fresh coffee accompany plates of eggs florentine or pancakes and waffles topped with rivers of warm syrup. For lunch, expect feasts of burgers, chicken salad wraps, and quesadillas. Since Nina’s 45-seat diner is cozy, guests are advised to call ahead to avoid the long lines of eager patrons and sprawling tent cities that spring up in front of the restaurant each morning.

When Eagles Nest owner Sarah Sowles says her restaurant is filled with smiling faces, she means it—the grins of well-fed customers brighten the first page of her lunch-and-breakfast menu. She aims to keep her morning patrons happy with favorites such as wet breakfast burritos that glisten beneath a ladleful of sausage gravy and custom three-egg omelets that can be filled with corned beef or veggies. And since her café serves breakfast all day, guests can stop in anytime for a stack of blueberry pancakes or some biscuits and gravy. Diners have plenty of options for lunch, too. They can customize burgers, capping prime-steak patties with a choice of three toppings before having their name branded into the bun. Also on the menu are wraps that envelop buffalo chicken and ranch dressing and baja citrus chicken salads that layer pecans and cranberries beneath a raspberry vinaigrette.

Twenty-four hours a day, the chefs of Sandhill Café pacify growling tummies with a menu that spans the spectrum of American comfort food classics, from stacks of fluffy pancakes to bacon-cheddar cheeseburgers. Whether entertaining late-night hankerings for fried chicken and waffles, or celebrating Opposite Day by eating dinner for breakfast, diners can immerse themselves in the café’s laid-back, neighborhood feel, marked by its dark hardwood floors, subtle lighting, and TVs showing hotly contested staring contests.