Friday evening David and I decided to go out to eat, as we had a bunch of gift certificates from restaurant.com* burning a hole in our pocket, including one for a place in downtown Plymouth. Somehow, despite the fact that we’ve been living just a short drive away for something like 10 years now, we’d never managed to do more than just drive through Plymouth, but now we know what we’ve been missing out on, we’re definitely going to be going back. The restaurant, 1999 Tavern, was fine–maybe even pretty darn good for what it is, which is a bar/restaurant that serves the usual “American” fare. It was certainly a heck of lot better than the chain restaurants of that sort–they have a terrific, gooey mac-n-cheese, and actual smoked chicken and ribs. But the best part of the evening wasn’t even the meal–it was what we found walking around the downtown afterwards.
We came across not one, but two brand new shops. The first was Suburban Harvest, a teeny little grocery at the corner of Forest and Wing (looks like the address is technically 606 Main St., though) specializing in locally-grown and locally-made produce and products.
Suburban Harvest--cute!
Jason Blazek, who owns the store with his wife, Katie Norris, cheerily welcomed us as we walked in, and was happy to chat about the (amazing!) strawberries and organic sprouted corn chips I bought. Again, like I said, they’re teeny, but they had a nice selection of produce, a wall full of organic flours and mixes, locally ground coffee, dairy, baked goods–you should really check them out if you’re in the area.
The second shop was CandyLicious (424 S. Main)–I swear, the residents of Plymouth are a people after my husband’s heart. We saw no fewer than four–four!–candy shops Friday night, and we didn’t even cover all of the downtown.
CandyLicious owners Jim and Robin Khoury
Still, I think CandyLicious may have carved themselves out a niche in this candy-loving town. In addition to the usual array of gummies and more gimmicky offerings designed to appeal to kids, they have an entire wall of bins of hard candies, including some classics like Squirrel Nut Zippers and black taffy, plus a number of classic candy bars, like Valomilk, Cherry Mash and SkyBar, which I’d only ever read about in Candyfreak by Steve Almond. They also have Zots, those hard-coated fizzy candies that were popular a decade or two ago, and which my husband has missed terribly. Definitely worth a visit if your sweet-tooth is feeling nostalgic.
*(These are a great deal, btw, especially if you have a Upromise account or are signed up for Borders Rewards, since they will from time to time offer $25 certificates for $3 through that site–not all of the restaurants featured on restaurant.com are great, but there are a few real gems, like Logan in Ann Arbor, and it’s a cheap way to try new places out.)
Liberty Street Brewing is also in Plymouth. I should also get to Plymouth more often!!