Tastemakers: Aerie Restaurant/Miller Chill

June 27, 2007

aerie Restaurant & LOUNGE
For the past 20 years the top of the Grand Traverse Resort has been a popular destination for diners and those drawn to the northern nightlife scene. The Trillium offered fine dining and stunning panoramic views of the region by day and the talents of top area musicians by night. A few months ago the Grand Traverse Resort retired the Trillium to the region’s restaurant annals and renovated the top, reopening a couple of weeks ago with aerie. “We’ve created an extraordinary, regionally inspired restaurant, unlike any other, with a contemporary menu and design that reflects the flavor of our area,” said Grant Channing, the Resort’s executive vice president and general manager.  “We invite everyone to experience Chef Cizma’s spectacular locally driven menu that is truly representative of Northern Michigan.”
Chef Ted Cizma arrived last fall from Chicago, replacing the popular and talented Richie Beitner (who won several local chef competitions and is now in Colorado, working at a ski resort). Cizma comes in with impressive credentials (Food & Wine Magazine’s “Best New Chef in 2000”) and a commitment to supporting locally produced products. Try the grilled asparagus for an appetizer, with the slow cooked, grass-fed local lamb shank for an entrée, along with the “Lake Leelanau frozen in the summer” (milk chocolate cherry frozen nougat glace) for dessert. aeire is sure to be a hit, Cizma has talent and the views are there.
However, aerie will need to do some work to keep up with their promise of “local” with only 12 wines from the region on the menu (less than 10% of their wine offerings). With the abundance of local food producers, the menu is still weak from a local products perspective.


Miller Chill “Chelada”
Mexican beer folklore has it that in the 1950s on hot days, Tecate beer drinkers poured their beer over ice in salt-rimmed glasses and added a lime to it. Born was “chelada,” a slang version of helada, which means, “iced.” In Mexican restaurants and taverns “michelada” will be found on the menu, meaning “my iced beer,” allowing the patron to choose the style they prefer. Some like to add spicy tomato juice and Tabasco & Worcestershire sauces, while others prefer the traditional salt and lime only. So with the big boys of the American beer industry challenged by the upstart micros, trendy imports and the popularity of wine among younger drinkers of
age, they have to do something to “spice up” sagging beer sales.
Next week Miller will introduce nationwide Miller Chill–a light beer inspired by the Mexican style chelada. The beer hit Northern Michigan a couple of weeks ago and has been flying off the shelves–with good reason, as Miller Chill is a real thirst quencher and a great way to counter the global warming-like temperatures of recent weeks.
Latin American culture is becoming more prevalent in the U.S., and certainly Northern Michigan is no exception with its rich migrant worker history and the growing number of farmers of Latin American descent in the region. The recent explosion of Mexican-themed cuisine at several restaurants in the region also points to the popularity of south-of-the-border culture here in Northern Michigan. So Miller Chill will be a welcome addition to the mix. Miller Chill has a crisp lime-malt taste with a hint of salt that makes it very smooth. Pair with a brutal round of double-bogey golf. Try with blackened whitefish tacos, grilled tequila lime shrimp, or while watching the sunset over Lake Michigan.