Our Top Picks for Northern Michigan EATS for Summer, 2009:
• Corner Market @ Higgins Lake, MI (near Grayling, MI) for: Doughnuts: “Fry Cakes.”
-These doughnuts are not like the puffy, raised doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. These doughnuts are the old-fashioned dense cake doughnuts that are fried to delight and dipped in such toppings as cinnamon & sugar, maple glazed, chocolate glazed, and coconut-chocolate glazed! We spend the night here at our family’s cottage on our way up north just to get the doughnuts. They told us this year that other places in the area are starting to copy their doughnuts just to compete with them; that is how good they are! Cheap!
• Riverside Inn @ Leland, MI (North of Traverse City, MI) for: Drinks on the Dock.
-We only ordered drinks to take down to the river dock. There, we watched locals drive by in great vintage wooden speedboats and alumacraft dinghies. In the past, I have always had a good dinner at the Riverside Inn but this year we just had drinks before our fish dinner down at the Michigan lodge-style Bluebird. The dinners are expensive and we actually had to pay for it; maybe that’s why we just got drinks! I ordered the Pama-Margarita from the Cocktail Menu and it made me realize that a sugared rim best complements a pomegranate margarita and salted rim for the traditional marg.’s. The salt with the pomegranate just wasn’t working; I bet the Cosmo or Mojito is a better choice. John had the Belgoo Magus 4-Grain, Belgian Bottled Beer that we hadn’t tried before and it had a more complex flavor, due to the four grains used in its creation. If you like Belgian-style brews, definitely check it out.
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August 18th, 2009
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Out of Town: Northern Michigan
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Ramen Halu in San Jose: Not your common Ramen.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
This was our second trip to Ramen Halu. We’ve been here before but it was so good the first time that we had to go back. Like most of America, I was very familiar with the packaged ramen noodles that were 10 for a dollar, but I never realized that ramen noodles were a real Japanese dish that could be so full of amazing flavor. Look here for some background on ramen.
We were the first ones through the door at 5:35pm on a Monday night and we were greeted with a loud greeting in Japanese. Everyone was busy getting the place ready for dinner service. The huge pots of broth were simmering on the stove in the back with the owner/cook working his magic to render that delicious pork flavor from the bones. The menu here is filled with all kinds of appetizers that I can’t wait to try on my next visit, but we were here for the large bowls of Tantan-Men ramen which is the seasonal ramen soup for summer. I have to borrow the quote from their website because it’s superior to anything I could possibly come up with. Click to continue »