Food
Cozy Up at Babcia’s Corner
This hidden Traverse City gem offers authentic pierogi and other Polish delights
By Geri Dietze | Dec. 13, 2025
Pierogi is special in so many ways: It’s Polish comfort food, a centuries-old tradition, and it even has its own patron saint. (St. Hyacinth is credited with distributing the beloved dumpling during times of famine or siege in 13th-century Poland.) There’s no danger of the pierogi becoming a lost art, at least in these parts, thanks to Zack and Amy Henley, grandson and daughter, respectively, of Mary Karbowneczk, in whose memory Babcia’s … Read More >>
Holiday Tradition Bakers
Inside the Ingredients
By Nora Rae Pearl | Dec. 13, 2025
Traditions are what we keep coming back to in the colder months, and this year we are going to give you two twists on holiday pie favorites that will become new traditions for years to come. While we all have our favorite apple and pumpkin pies, we’re shifting our attention to pecans, pears, cranberries, and chocolate. For chocolate, we recommend shopping at the Grocer’s Daughter in Empire for their 70% Cacao Bars. … Read More >>
Michigan Bee Co.’s Creamy Honey
Tastemaker
Dec. 13, 2025
Creamy honey, you say? Sign us up! This made-in-Michigan honey brand comes not in a squeeze bottle but a jar (and, as you can see, ours is already half-empty). Dip in a knife—or a spoon, if you’d prefer to cut out the middleman—and you’ll get a warm-butter-like consistency that spreads beautifully on your morning toast or pumpkin bread. The ingredients are simple: pure, raw honey. According to the label, this honey is … Read More >>
Petoskey Farms' Christmas Coffee Flight
Bottoms Up
By Anna Faller | Dec. 13, 2025
There’s nothing like a cozy drink to complement a winter flick—even better if it matches the theme! Enter: the Christmas Movie Night coffee flight at Petoskey Farms. Brewed in homage to a quad of holiday classics (bonus points if you can name them!), this seasonal sip features Cheboygan Coffee Roasters espresso as four fun-sized lattes: there’s the Fragile – Must Be Italian, a mocha spiked with Northwoods peppermint syrup; the soul-warming butterscotch … Read More >>
Farm to Glass with Ethanology
“Beverage is agriculture” says co-owner Nick LeFebre
By Rachel Pasche | Dec. 13, 2025
When Elk Rapids distillery Ethanology committed to locally-sourced ingredients for their products, it seemed like they’d have an uphill battle ahead. But eight years into the business, one hundred percent of the plants and honey they use still comes from within a 50-mile radius. Talk about being rooted in northern Michigan. “Growing up in the area, there was a constant exposure to the food from our region. Whether it was picking asparagus … Read More >>
Idyll Farms’ Goata
Tastemaker
By Anna Faller | Dec. 6, 2025
As we settle in for this year’s long winter’s nap, our visions won’t be occupied by dancing sugar plums but decadent wheels of cheese—specifically, the Idyll Goata from Idyll Farms in Northport (which just won a 2025 World Cheese Award!). Each creamy, Gouda-style wedge goes back to this regenerative farm’s pasture-raised goats, whose fresh milk fuels the dairy train by way of slow-vat pasteurization, meaning it’s warmed and cultured to create curds, … Read More >>
Iron Fish’s Ice Storm Whiskey
Bottoms Up
Dec. 6, 2025
When the trees fell during the 2025 Michigan ice storm, maple syrup producers saw their livelihoods fall too, as over 100,000 sugar maples were destroyed. Iron Fish Distillery’s latest release, the Ice Storm Whiskey, was crafted in partnership with the Michigan Maple Syrup Association to help raise awareness and funds to restore sugar bushes in the region. The campaign included a series of dinners around the state from Petoskey to Detroit to … Read More >>
The Canned Cocktail Craze
A local-centric look inside the most popular beverage trend in the U.S.
By Craig Manning | Nov. 29, 2025
Amidst a nationwide decline of craft beer, Right Brain Brewery owner and brewer Russell Springsteen found a bright spot in 2025: ready-to-drink cocktails. Last year, Right Brain’s distribution team approached Springsteen and encouraged him to try his hand at creating an in-house version of a long drink. For the uninitiated, a long drink is a Finnish cocktail, historically made with gin and grapefruit soda and concocted with higher fluid volume—and lower strength—than … Read More >>
The Blue Bird Is Back
New digs, new eats, and a new vibe for the Leland staple
By Art Bukowski | Nov. 29, 2025
Skip Telgard is resting a little easier these days—literally. It’s not that his work in the brand-new version of Leland’s beloved Blue Bird restaurant is done. Far from it. It will be a few more months, at least, before all of the loose ends are tied up and the space is to his liking. But getting paying customers through the door in mid-October was a huge hurdle to clear, and Telgard is … Read More >>
¡Tequio!
Midwest roots turned into West Coast success for this beverage-making duo
By Nick Cooper | Nov. 29, 2025
More than two decades ago, Louis-Pascal Walsh and Frederick “Flick” Mooradian met as children, and they have been nearly inseparable since. Fast-forward 20 years, and the Harbor Springs natives’ entrepreneurial dreams have come to reality as their tequila seltzer drink Tequio has found popularity in California and earned five-star ratings throughout the United States. “Flick and I have a unique relationship. Our parents are very close friends, so we spent a lot … Read More >>
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