I don't remember there being much of a foodie scene when we started going to northwestern Michigan many years ago, but now the area is a regular culinary mecca among dedicated foodies in Michigan and beyond.
This summer, we stayed in Sutton's Bay, which gave us easier access to some of the Traverse City-area restaurants that have been filling my foodie bucket list these days.
Here is a quick report on our newest foodie finds:
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Martha's Leelanau Table-We stayed at the Korner Kottage B&B just down the street and came here on the advice of the B&B owners.
We stopped by Martha's in the morning to make a dinner reservation, because we knew the place was small and there would be live acoustic duo playing that evening.
Martha's is in a renovated house on M-22, the main road through Sutton's Bay, and was just a short walk from our B&B. The homelike neighborhood setting made it seem much like dropping into a friend's house for an elegant dinner party.
Martha Ryan, the restaurant's owner and chef, was an institutional cook for area schools for many years before pursuing the dream of opening her own restaurant in 2008.
The dinner menu sticks to classic dishes like herb roast pork tenderloin, a Lake and Steak entree with beef tenderloin and whitefish, and the baked scallops I ordered.
Dinners are in the $18 to $29 range, but you can score a real deal by arriving early for a Prix Fixe meal that includes soup or salad, entree and a dessert for $17.
The breakfast and lunch menus certainly would have tempted us as well if we weren't already enjoying a full breakfast at our B&B!
We liked Martha's emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients, enjoying a pumpkin soup du jour with our dinner.
Martha's has a nice outdoor patio, although it was unfortunately too cold to dine outside when we were there.
Best for a quiet and romantic dinner or meeting with friends.
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Pearl's New Orleans Kitchen-Pearl's is a cute little place just off of the main drag through Elk Rapids, Michigan (about 20 miles northeast of Traverse City).
I've wanted to try Pearl's Cajun/Creole menu for a long time, so we decided to kick off our trip with a stop at Pearl's for Sunday brunch on our way to check in to our B&B.
We started off with a basket stuffed with fresh breads and a fried green tomato appetizer, doused in my case with one of the hot sauces recommended by our personable and knowledgeable server.
Our server also gave us a couple of tips about dining and inexpensive happy hour prices in nearby Traverse City, where the same folks who own Pearl's have a Latin American-style restaurant called the Red Mesa Grill. Pearl's has a happy hour from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. every day, and with a lot of apps priced at $2.99 then, it seems like it would be a great time to sample a number of Pearl's specialties like fried green tomatoes, crawfish cakes and oysters.
We both opted for the Crawfish Benedict as our brunch entree, which we both felt was one of the best Eggs Benedict-style dishes we'd ever had, along with a side of cheese grits and, for me, a mimosa.
Our brunch was so plentiful that we didn't have room for dessert, or even for dinner later that evening!
Pearl's looks like it would be a lot of fun for dinner with a group of friends, or during special events like Mardi Gras or on nights when they have live entertainment.
Check back next week for a few more of our foodie finds in Traverse City.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
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