Local Grand Rapids Eats

I’ve lived in Grand Rapids my whole life and had never heard of Big O’s until some friends in Lansing insisted we try it. We figured if people were driving an hour to get this tasty pie, we too must have some.

Food
Our group split 5 pizzas, which was great because we got to try a lot of varieties, some that I wouldn’t normally have thought to order myself. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs once we started reading the menu and saw all the fantastically unique gourmet options. We ordered 5 pizzas for 8 people, and as if that wasn’t enough, we had to throw in a family sized order of cheese filled breadsticks. Tuesday night the gourmet pizzas were buy one get one half off, so that added to our excitement. Overall the group thought the food was great. In particular, the BBQ Chicken Pizza was amazing. If you’re a Plain Jane and just want sausage and pepperoni on your pizza, we tried that too and it was awesome. We did have a comment that the crust of the Bacon & Garlic was a little overdone, but I wouldn’t let that concern you. It still tasted delicious and the rest of the food was super. Oh, and one last thing – Big O’s is not stingy with the toppings. You order a meat pizza, you’ve got meat galore. We’re talking big, full-of-flavor, fresh toppings. You won’t go home hungry or unsatisfied.

But if you really want to talk about amazing food you need to talk about some Strawberry Fosters dessert. We met the owner of Big O’s, Bernie (more on him in a bit), and he had us order some up. I saw Bananas Foster on the menu, but not strawberry, so I don’t know if they were out of bananas, or if Bernie just thought we were really cool, but either way it doesn’t matter because this dessert was out of this world. I have never seen people devour a dessert the way we took on this plate full of goodness. The ice cream was a perfect mix with the hot strawberries, then they threw in some cinnamon and caramel drizzled on top. You’re lucky I got a picture of it, because it was seriously gone in seconds.

We were lucky enough to meet Bernie, the owner, who came over to our table to chat with us for a few minutes. Bernie was a super nice guy who explained that Big O’s was a family owned restaurant that opened in 1996. Those that have been in the Grand Rapids area for a while might remember Big O’s original location on Bridge street that burnt down in a 2005 fire. They decided to relocate to their current location on Ottawa, behind the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and their doors were only closed for roughly 6 weeks! Bernie also told us about some of Big O’s great community involvement like their annual Thanksgiving dinners, which were free to everyone who came. Those dinners have transformed into a fundraiser on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. All proceeds are given to the Heartside Ministries. Its a wonderful thing they are doing each year, and if you’d like to help out, I’m sure they’d love to have the additional volunteers.

Atmosphere
Hands down this has got to be the most quaint little pizza shop in all of Grand Rapids. It looks like they cut a little slice out of Italy and dropped it downtown. Big O’s is in an old building so they’ve taken advantage of the exposed brick walls and ceiling beams, and despite being on the lower level, they have large windows that bring in a lot of natural light. The kitchen is wide open so you can see them preparing the food. We went on Tuesday and they even had live music. Sam sang and played the guitar, he was great and very entertaining. He took requests and even did a handstand for us. Not a chintzy 1 second handstand, but more like a 15-20 second handstand. He was a crowd pleaser. You can see Sam getting his sing on in the background of the photo below.

I have to add my apologies for the poor indoor photos. I really wanted to show more of the atmosphere, but I got distracted once the food was placed in front of me. I’ll make it a point to do better next time. In the meantime, just take our word for it. You’ll love Big O’s.

Overall
If you’ve never been to Big O’s, you must try it. Its the perfect place for a first date, a night out with friends, lunch or dinner. Their gourmet pizzas with the big toppings are insanely good.

Parting Thoughts
Big O’s is an outstanding example of why local businesses are so great. Between their community involvement, the pride taken in their food and service, and the happy customers that keep coming back, they are part of what makes Grand Rapids thrive, and we love them for that!
Thanks Big O’s!

Update:
I just received this from Big O’s if any one is interested:

Come and Join Us for a Night of Food & Wine Tasting!
We Will Be Premiering Our New Summer Wine & Food Menu Items.

The cost is $15.00 per person and this will include sampling of the wines and food.

Entertainment will be provided by Rick Santamaria

Please RSVP to mollie.kaufmann@gmail.com by June 21st.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124451784255672&index=1