COVID-19 Virus Shutdown, Day 77

I spent some time thinking about building a foodie tour of Michigan. 

But how do you go about doing that?

I started with looking up the agriculture of the state, what does Michigan grow that we eat? Keep in mind you can grow inedible things like corn for fuel for example. 

I knew about the cherries, blueberries and apples because a lot of destinations focus on it like traverse city, grand haven, and anywhere north of grand rapids respectively. And growing in and around Bay City, I knew we grew sugar beets, which is one of two sources for granulated sugar. 

We have dairy farms up north so I knew we produce milk, and then of course cream and cheese. 

But there is more.  Michigan has wineries, cattle, calves, hogs, chicken eggs, turkeys, asparagus, bell peppers, carrots, pumpkins, snap peas, sweet corn, beans, tomatoes, squash, cranberries, fish like salmon and yellow perch(third favorite), cat fish, chubs (see picture below), lake herring, lake trout (very favorite), walleye (2nd favorite) and whitefish. 

                                  

In the fall, we produce maple syrup, peaches and honey. 

We also manufacture cutlery here. 

This leaves me with so many possibilities!

But let's first leave it to the experts - if you;re doing a foodie tour you're not likely to spend a lot of time cooking, you'll be on vacation. And you'll want something beautiful to look at. 

So I looked into restaurants with great scenery. I found 12 but after reading the reviews, removed one. It sounds like it has some major problems so the view would not be worth looking at if your food is "just awful". 

You can get a pie of smoked brisket, pork and vegetables in a wine sauce with mashed potatoes at the Fitzgerald, and then head to Jampot for some preserves to eat with your bread the next morning. Eagle River however is just south of Copper Harbor. This is seriously north! 

Next we have a lump crab bread pudding with fall apples and butter nut squash sauce at the Tabor Hill in Buchanan, way down by Michigan City, on your way out to Chicago. 

Hmm. I'm going to have to plan which excursions we take in which order!

The Aerie has steaks and homemade pasta bolognese, not far from Traverse City. 

The English Inn has roasted half duck with michigan cherry sauce, whipped potatoes and veg or Lobster stuffed walleye and for dessert, a fig and caramelized galette with pistachios. Yum. This place is south of Lansing. 

For prime fillet with bearnaise sauce, duck fat fries and collard greens, look no further than Detroit at the Irisdecense  at the top of Motor City Casino for a skyline view. I'm tempted to go do this one as soon as the pandemic subsides. 

For ambiance, we can take a horse drawn carriage on Mackinac Island to the Cudahy Chophouse and get some pan roasted chicken breast, cherry confit, haricot verts, and sweet potato hash. 

Then you gotta get the chocolate trio, which you wont found out what that is until the chef tells you. 

If you're ready to slow down the rich food, we can get some margherita wood fired pizza at Roses on Reed Lake in Grand Rapids and have a nice glass of wine. 

For Trout Hemingway, which is a crispy seasoned fillet, wrapped in bacon with roasted green beans, lemon butter and whipped potatoes we would head to Gates AuSable Lodge  in Grayling. 

There is a Scottish place in Arcadia Bluffs  with something called Scottish salmon (apparently good eating, very buttery fish) served with fingerling potatoes, haricot verts, and meyer lemon beurre blanc. And get this - they have bagpipes playing!

Even though Boyne  boasts of prime rib dinner, they really encourage you to try their breakfast banquet. However if it was me, I'd need something pretty special like eggs benedict with crab meat to make me swoon over breakfast. I hear they have great skiing in Harbor Springs, however.

And finally Notos at the bilmar in Grand Haven for some sicilian wood fired pizza, and small plates to finish off the tour. 

It may not be in that order, and we will probably have to introduce some more chocolate and a lot more cheese here, I am starting to see a Michigan food tour shape up. 

If you've been to any of these places or even have eaten the food I'm describing  please give me your opinion!

Also, if you know of a place that totally beats any of these, let me know!

I think it would be a blast to figure this all out by trying them all. 

Next Ill be checking into farms where we can get the foods like blueberries and eggs. 

Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, stay safe, sane, and healthy!

Vicky