Food
Your Northern Michigan Summer 2024 Restaurant Guide
Must-try dining around the North from around the world!
By Northern Express Staff & Contributors | July 20, 2024
What do tacos, ramen, meatloaf, and lasagna have in common? They are a few of the star entrees in this summer’s restaurant guide! Northern Express writers sampled the fare of seven northern Michigan eateries, and we’ve pulled together the tastiest dishes, most refreshing beverages, and mouthwatering desserts for you to try. Let’s eat out tonight! Brandy’s Harbortown Bay Harbor The Morrisons—Bryant and Jamie, Philip and Laura—are the inventive restaurateurs behind Bay Harbor’s ... Read More >>
Inside Three of TC's Allergen-Conscious Restaurant Kitchens
What does it take to make safe food?
By Kierstin Gunsberg | July 20, 2024
One look at Third Coast Bakery's menu is enough to get any foodie heart pounding: Girl Scout Cookie-inspired donuts, lemon lavender scones, and gooey peanut butter brownies alongside lattes flavored with housemade syrups. Yet somehow, “We are and have always been a 100 percent gluten free, dairy free, soy free bakery from the beginning, and 99 percent of our menu is also egg free and vegan,” says owner Heather Burson. Burson opened ... Read More >>
Going Coastal at Pacificoast
At this new Traverse City restaurant, life's a beach
By Geri Dietze | July 20, 2024
“Coastal” is a food trend and a design trend, but the coast can be anywhere, including right here in northern Michigan, where we enjoy some pretty awesome freshwater coasts. In a restaurant town such as Traverse City, it’s hard to imagine a theme that hasn’t been done. But Pacificoast is something new, and as the name suggests, the coastal vibe is everywhere. Their job is food, but it might also be beach…and ... Read More >>
Cherry Pie in the Sky: Two Cherry-Themed Summer Recipes
Inside the Ingredients
By Nora Rae Pearl | July 20, 2024
Cherry Festival is over, but the party doesn’t have to end! For the next month or so, cherries can be found around every corner Up North. To U-pick all the rubies your heart desires, one of my favorite spots is Santucci Farm on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City. Just a stone’s throw up the peninsula, you’ll find Edmondson Orchards if you’d rather purchase from a roadside farm stand. Make sure to ... Read More >>
Three Trees, Three Wines
The first summer for Three Trees Vineyard of Suttons Bay
By Jillian Manning | July 20, 2024
In 2023, Lyle Cifuentes traded her job as the director of digital content at WXYZ-TV Detroit to open a winery in Suttons Bay, swapping “high heels and a dress” for “Carhartt overalls.” Though the career switch may have surprised some of her colleagues, it was years in the making. “We’ve been coming up here for 25 years,” she says of visiting northern Michigan. “We would go to winery after winery after winery ... Read More >>
Myrtle & Maude's Cherry Pie Parfait
Tastemaker
By Anna Faller | July 20, 2024
There's a little something for everybody at Myrtle & Maude's in Williamsburg. In addition to gorgeous seasonal fruit, this fourth-generation family farm also offers a highly-curated market complete with local products, scratch-baked treats, and eclectic home décor. There are even miniature goats and a cow! But it’s their decadent Cherry Pie Parfait that really takes the cake. This dream of a summer treat features layer upon layer of vanilla soft-serve and Grandma ... Read More >>
Loco Boys' Senorita Sunshine
Bottoms Up
By Craig Manning | July 20, 2024
Nothing’s better in the summertime than the refreshing taste of a crisp, cold, crushable beer…except for maybe a fresh, limey margarita. Sometimes, deciding between these two libations as your summer drink of choice can be tough. With one of its newest and most popular beers, Traverse City’s Loco Boys Brewing Company is asking the question: “Why choose at all?” Meet the Señorita Sunshine, a limey, salty, gose-style ale that offers the perfect ... Read More >>
It's BBQ Night at Ray's
Where barbecue and the blues meet on the banks of the Au Sable River
By Greg Tasker | July 13, 2024
When the prized trout are feeding on the famed Au Sable River in May and June, there’s a good chance hungry fly anglers from all over are going to make a stop by Ray’s BBQ, Brews & Blues for good food, beer, and music. With its location on the Au Sable in Grayling, Ray’s is also a popular dining spot for canoers, especially during the annual Au Sable River Canoe Marathon in ... Read More >>
Great Lakes Chocolate & Dessert Co.'s Cheesecake
Tastemaker
July 13, 2024
Cool, creamy, and packed with summer flavors…that’s the M.O. for Great Lakes Chocolate & Dessert Co. when they’re putting together their Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake ($40). A classic vanilla bean cheesecake base gets a major seasonal upgrade with lemon zest and raspberry, a sweet graham cracker crust, plus fresh raspberries atop dollops of whipped cream. This yellow-and-pink treat even has a faint shimmer of edible glitter, making it almost too pretty to eat. ... Read More >>
Laurentide Winery's Ruby Sipper
Bottoms Up
By Anna Faller | July 13, 2024
There's something about a bubbly cocktail on a hot summer day that just feels right, and Laurentide Winery’s signature Ruby Sipper wine cocktail ($8) fits the bill. Inspired by the fruity fun of warm-weather staples, like mimosas and slushies, this heat-beating quaff is low ABV and incorporates just three craft ingredients: the winery’s estate-grown Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (which features notes of punchy herbs, a citrusy palette, and mineral-driven backbone), elderflower-infused tonic water, ... Read More >>
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