During our summer travels we stayed just across the Black River from Captain Lou’s in South Haven, Michigan. Despite Yelp reporting that the bar and grill was not good for kids, my wife and I decided to stop in for an early dinner one evening with our early school aged children.

Across River

Captain Lou’s sits right on the river so you can watch the boats come and go. It is directly next to the drawbridge which opens up every half hour to let the large boats through. So there is certainly plenty to see and occupy the kids with.

Outside

Nearly all of the seating at Captain Lou’s is outside on docks. We grabbed a table as close to the water as we could, but ended up toward the back of the main dock. I imagine in the heat of the summer this would be a very popular place and be filled to capacity often. I did notice a back section of outdoor seating that was already closed for the season.

“Inside”

For dinner I had the drawbridge turkey wrap with fries and a pickle spear ($9.50). Nothing remarkable sticks out in my mind about this wrap. I did appreciate that they put it on the grill for a minute to try and crisp up the outside. It actually could have used another minute or two of this.

Drawbridge Wrap

My wife went with the perch tacos  with chips and salsa ($10). The chips and salsa were average at best, but she said that the tacos were good. They were packed with plenty of fresh perch. I did not try the tacos but from what I’ve read these are one of the more popular items on the menu.

Perch Tacos

My son had the cheese burger with fries ($7.50). This was a high priced kid’s meal, so maybe that is why this place gets flagged as not kid friendly. They do offer a limited kids menu, and there are plenty of fried appetizers that should provide something for even the pickiest eaters.

Kid’s Burger

This was a fairly pleasant experience with a good outdoor dining experience. The food was average to good. I would like to see more draft beer options, the bottle selections didn’t seem to be the freshest. Overall it was not my favorite place in South Haven but a good time was had by my family.

Friday for our family often means pizza night. Most of the time that means delivery from one of many area chains. This Friday would be different as we met friends at Delicio Coal Fired Pizza near the campus of Xavier University. Delicio had another location in Montgomery, but that has closed.

Inside

Delicio offers large areas for both inside and outside dinning. With so many tables I’m not sure you’d ever encounter a wait list. I was pleased to find out that happy hour runs Monday through Friday from four to seven, plenty of time for $4 craft drafts!

House Salad

My wife and I split a large house salad ($9) to start. The salad itself was large enough and fresh but unremarkable in variety. The Gorgonzola vinaigrette was tasty, but I don’t think I would go the salad route again.

Carnitas Pizza

We also split the shareable size carnitas pizza with creme fraiche, braised pork, spicy pickles, red onion, and house cheese blend ($13 during happy hour). This was certainly an interesting combination that I had never seen before. And while I enjoyed that for a piece or two, the pickle flavor eventually became too overpowering, and I like pickles. We had leftovers to take home, and this did not reheat very well at all, so keep that in mind.

Overall the food was average, but the happy hour pricing and kid friendly atmosphere will likely bring us back again in the future. The $6 personal size cheese pizza is reason enough for a repeat visit.

The Cincinnati area currently has 45 breweries open and brewing beer with even more on the way. One of the newer to join the group is Narrow Path Brewing in Loveland near the Little Miami Scenic Trail. I grew up in Loveland and my parents still live there, so I am happy to see a brewery close to their house. With the bike trail in their back yard, I imagine that they will be busy during the warmer months.

Bar

The brewery is really just one open room with the brewing equipment taking up more than half of one side. There is a bar taking up another corner of the space and a large communal table eating up most of the rest of the space. The outdoor area out back is large and even seems to be getting some use in the cold with a firepit.

Decor

The beers I sampled were all pretty good. The vanilla cream and the Dred Lokt stout were my personal favorites on tap during our visit. I look forward to a return visit soon as it seems they are still tweaking the beer choices and there are a lot that I have yet to try available now.

Pint