Mishawaka…more than meets the eye.

Hey – DJ here – one of the greatest things about starting this thing is that, no matter how many times I tell people that there is more to South Bend than meets the eye, every time I’m up in the Bend we find another sweet spot. Last weekend we were working hard to get in touch with a few restaurants who are pumped about giving out Freebies! to students. We started out at Ciao, which is right next to NOMA, and across from the South Bend Chocolate Company downtown. Ciao is one of those places that would be great to take the fam. They’ve got a backroom that seats a group of about 20 no problem. Their entrees are a little expensive…good for a date, probably not just for a casual meal. We quickly made friends with the owner, Adele De Rosa Ciao, who started out making Italian pastries for her friends until everyone forced her to open up her own place. Rudy and I gorged on pasta and free pastries (thanks NDToGo) and headed to our favorite: Midway Tavern.

There’s something to be said about walking into a bar and having the owner and bartender know your name…especially after you’ve been out of school for 2 years. The closest thing to that I ever got from the typical weeknight bars was the DJ at Finnigans telling me for the third time in a night that he would not play Scatman John. Anyway – Albertina (pictured in the Us. section of the blog) referred us to a new* spot: McKinleyPub. If you’re tired of the same places each weekend, try it. Few places that I know of can back up a claim of “Dyngus Day hotspot” like the McKinley Pub does.

*new, of course, being relative.