THE DELISH LIST

Cut the Mustard (previous spread)

Topping ideas for your next cookout. 1) Sport peppers, yellow mustard, sliced tomato, poppy seeds and dill relish 2) Blue cheese, fig jam and diced red onions

3) Homemade butternut mustard 4) Grilled red onion, onion jam and spicy mustard

The Bees’ Knees

Grilled Cheese

Those who first glimpsed heaven via Velveeta and two slices of buttered Wonderbread bubbling atop Mom’s avocado-green stove, prepare to meet thy gods: Providence Organic Farm’s “Oh My” Grilled Cheese does exactly what it promises, tucking perky, tongue-tingling pickled red onions and Food For Thought’s habanero jelly in a sweet, soothing bed of sliced apples and creamy

Short Stacks

Red Velvet Pancakes

Red Spire | Traverse City

You won’t find a more supple red velvet texture making magic with a mildly tangy cream cheese topping than this red-hot pair.

Mary’s Potato Pancakes

Abi’s Bistro | Gaylord

Take the side of horsey sauce (aka horseradish and mayo), mix it with the bowl of applesauce, and slather that spicy-sweet concoction onto every single crispy bite.

Dutch Baked Pancake

Small Batch | Harbor Springs

Whisper-light crisped edges cradle a lofty, lusciously eggy center that, despite ample competition from a treasure trove of fruit jewels and pillowy cream, defies both gravity and all “pancake” expectations.

Beer with Fruit Roots

Tangelo Dream

Ludington Bay Brewing Co.

Ludington

Have this juicy, quenching pale ale queued up in the cooler for the first breezy porch weather of the season.

Kayak Attack

Big Buck Brewery | Gaylord

A never-ending wave of guava and grapefruit. Ride it.

Soft Parade Fruit Ale

Short’s Brewing Co. | Bellaire Bushels of berries—straw, black, blue and rasp—plucked, pureed and gone swimming in a pool of toasted rye and malted barley.

Blood Orange Honey

Cheboygan Brewing Co.

Cheboygan

Dripping with honey and a kiss of citrus, this American-style wheat ale tastes like summer nights ’round the bonfire.

Insider sip: Maybe you can’t capture summer in a bottle, but Master Brewer Lark Ludlow at Tahquamenon Falls

Brewery & Pub in Paradise comes darn close. Every August, she sends the sun-baked sweetness of the Yoop’s freshest ankle-high forest fruit—the wee and wild blueberry—cascading on a river of bright Blueberry Wheat Ale from tap to glass, a marvel that enjoys almost as much fanfare as the pub’s backyard waterfalls.

Beach Blanket Dips

Smoked Onion Dip

J.bird Provisions | Charlevoix

Paper-thin onions, slowly smoked in molasses and brown sugar, sing in sour cream-mayo silkiness best scooped up with Great Lakes Potato Chips or, bestest, schmeared atop burgers.

Salsa Verde

Osorio Tacos y Salsas | Traverse City

Spiked with fresh jalapeño, cilantro and onion, this tangy tomatillo sauce adores a salty, fritterlike tortilla chip (have you tried Fiesta Grande made in Ludington?). We also can’t stop drizzling the green stuff on everything: pork tacos, breakfast burritos…

Pimento Cheese Spread

J.bird Provisions | Charlevoix

Whatever shame ’80s-era bologna loaves brought upon pimentos, J.bird owner Jess Nagel has deftly—with creamy, cheesy and just-right-spicy, spreadable aplomb—redressed those grievances.

White Gold

Saltless Sea Creamery

Traverse City

If fondue and Bar Scheeze had a locally crafted baby, it would be named White Gold—a blend of cheese, garlic, wine and olive oil that’s impossible to stop eating. Best paired with tart apple slices or spread on a crusty baguette with a quick trip under the broiler.

Farm Country cheese. Pond Hill

Farm’s Parm-Crusted Grilled Cheese can be had at a base model of melted Swiss and Havarti inside parm-coated sourdough, but we suggest leveling up to luxury with a bright basil pesto and sunflower seed crunch.

Spooky Kriek

Barrel + Beam | Marquette

Crafted with local malts, hops and Montmorency cherries, this orange-hued sour ale is a purely Michigan brew. Tart, wild and hauntingly good.

Smoked Whitefish

Whitecaps Spread

Mackinac Straits Fish Co.

St. Ignace

A traditional, no-frills touch makes this Straits-made dip sublime: It’s all about those handsome hunks of freshly caught and smoked whitefish.

Slam Dunks

Clockwise: Salsa verde, pimento cheese spread, smoked whitefish spread, smoked onion dip and White Gold.

She’s a Beaut

The Big Mick at POUR Kitchen & Bar in Petoskey served up with truffle herb potatoes.

Basic cravings for a crispy-edged beef patty stacked with classic toppers on a squishy bun get turned up to 11 in the deft hands of an artful chef. Rockstar specimens: The Big Mick at POUR in Petoskey. This spice-crusted Wagyu burger snuggles up with American cheese, iceberg lettuce, raw white onion, house pickles and a generous spoonful of smoky Thousand Island. The Notorious Butter Burger at Northland Gastropub inside Marquette’s Landmark Inn gets the CIAtouch with chef-pattied brisket and chuck, purple pickled onions, American cheese and bread-and-butter pickles on buttered and griddled brioche. Thank the Maillard reaction for the richly browned but still juicy smashburger at Birch & Maple in Frankfort. And at The Tribune in Northport enjoy the elevated take on the cheeseburger MickyD’s made famous including the magical Trib sauce, “shrettuce,” onions and pickles on a house-made sesame seed bun with a side of hand-cut crinkle fries.

Dark Chocolate Bars

Crow & Moss | Petoskey

Dark bars breaking even the most inventive molds, whether

What’s your jam for on the porch or after a paddle?

straight-shooting 70-percenters bearing otherworldly notes from a global terroir, or complex combos pairing darks with Bolivian rose salt, passion fruit and sesame seeds.

Ruby Red Sour Cherry Patches

Cherry Republic

Charlevoix, Glen Arbor & Traverse City Tiny, mouth-puckering punches of cherry that you can’t stop, won’t stop eating.

Chocolate Haus Chips

Alpine Chocolat Haus

Boyne City, Gaylord & Sault Ste. Marie

Chocolate covered potato chips. Could life get any better?! We didn’t think so … and then we dipped them in peanut butter. Gasp.

Brat Fest

Original, Popper & Jalapeño-Bleu

Gabe’s Country Smoked Meats

Maple City

A good old-fashioned German pork brat generously laced with black pepper and marjoram is definitely not your wurst bet, but don’t sleep on the spicy brats when they grace the case— there’s one stuffed with cream cheese, house bacon and jalapeño; another that pairs the heat of fresh jalapeño with rich bleu cheese.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Brats

Nowicki’s Sausage Shoppe

Alpena, Gaylord & Rogers City

When one family has been making sausage since 1917, they’re allowed to go off script: The mavens at Nowicki’s keep this white meat chicken brat juicy with Michigan white wine, cubes of smoked ham and Swiss oozing out of every bite.

Morel and Swiss Brats

Dublin General Store | Dublin

Fresh-made year-round, these spring kings are stuffed silly with the North’s most famous fungi, somehow made even more succulent when squeezed against nutty-buttery melty morsels of Swiss.

Insider dish: When asparagus starts sprouting this month, start stalking the meat counter at Oryana West, where the inventor of Empire’s famed Asparagus Fest Brats, Phil Deering, makes the OG recipe just during asparagus season.

Curries We Crave

Tom Kha Kai

Thai Orchid | Petoskey

This awaken-the-senses soup with chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms is made rich and fragrant with coconut milk, chilies, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves and galangal root.

Navratan Korma

NJ’s Grocery | Lake Leelanau

NJ’s Navratan—translation: nine jewels—is as rich and, frankly, lifechanging as a ninesome of beans, veggies, pineapple, raisins and cashews simmered in golden curried coconut milk should be.

Green Curry

Samsara | Traverse City

Samsara’s version is powerfully creamy, steeped in earthy green curry so rich in flavor it takes a playful romp on taste buds long after the bowl is empty.

Insider dish: At Hexenbelle in Traverse City caring hands in the kitchen are ready to warm you with rotating offerings of richness and spice (e.g. Butternut Tom Kha, Coconut Curry Fried Rice).

Lake-to-Plate

Walleye Lunch Box

The Narley Whale Fish Market

Cedarville

Ask a local where to get lunch in this U.P. outpost and they’ll send you to a boldly painted, aquamarine market in the center of town to fill up on fried fish, potato salad, coleslaw and hush puppies.

Planked Whitefish

Stafford’s Weathervane

Charlevoix

O ur Lake Country specialty: Justcaught whitefish is nestled up to velveteen piped duchess potatoes and cooked on a well-seasoned oak plank, gently infusing its woodsy flavor.

Knot’s Famous Kone

Knot Just a Bar

Omena & Bay Harbor

A paper cone brimming with beer battered perch and expertly seasoned fries will have you questioning if you’ll ever hunger again. Luckily, you have the luxury of snacking leisurely as you soak in the bay views at either locale.

Great Lakes Walleye

Vintage Chophouse

Inn at Bay Harbor

A sweet and succulent walleye fillet is expertly pan sautéed then soused in a delicate beurre blanc with capers. Classic. Understated. Irresistible.

Charles and Reid in Traverse City keeps old-school traditionalists and the newly converted Detroit-stylers hitting up this alley hotspot for that lacy and deeply caramelized crust, plus a tsunami of rich sauce on top. Maple City’s Market 22 simply slays with a Detroit-style Reuben pizza with piquant sauerkraut, housemade corned beef and homemade Thousand Island. Upriver Pizza in Benzonia paints a fluffy focaccia canvas with the likes of homemade vodka sauce, caramelized onions and fresh meatballs. Meanwhile Traverse City’s family-owned Dino’s Pizza keeps slinging out irresistible Dstyle as it has since 1970—calling it simply “deep dish” on the menu. Be advised, this iconic Eighth Street pizzeria is open till 1 a.m. daily, providing more waking hours to heed their slogan-slash-siren song: “Let Dino’s Do It.”

Eggs Benedict

Sam’s Graces Café | Petoskey

Just your basic Benedict, done bewitchingly well. Wonderfully wobbly

At family-run pizza biz Charles and Reid, the classics—margherita, BLT, pepperoni—are offered up alongside rotating specials like krab rangoon (topped with sweet chili and crispy wontons) and beef birria with cotija cheese and dipping stew.

A warm Tillie’s Tafel cinnamon roll under a generous blanket of vanilla-laced cream cheese frosting. Yep, an utterly irresistible way to greet the day.

eggs; lean, locally sourced Plath’s smoked ham; a fluffy house-made English muffin and two luscious asparagus spears to swipe up every last drop of that triumphant hollandaise.

The Northerner

Benedict | Traverse City

Thick slabs of crispy bacon and savory tomato cherry jam (you read that right … it’s made with houseroasted tomatoes and tart cherries) sandwiched between a flaky buttermilk biscuit and the dreamiest hollandaise sauce.

Braised Short-Rib Benedict

The Towne Plaza | Traverse City

Ye olde eggs Benedict—first served in Gilded Age N.Y.—gets many modern updates on the Plaza’s muscleforward menu. Our fave: fall-aparttender short-rib atop a crisp polenta wedge, poached eggs and bibb leaf, drizzled with a biting bit of horseradish cream.

Insider dish: Sunday brunchin’ is better with the Pork Belly Benedict, slathered in jalapeño jam and pork fat hollandaise, at 876 Baldwin

The adorable Tillie’s Tafel storefront in downtown Petoskey tempts passersby with a warm gourmet cinnamon roll slathered with cream cheese frosting, using Matilda (Tillie) Dewes’ beloved family recipe that has been passed down for the past 100 years. The bakers at 9 Bean Rows in Suttons Bay transform their legendary laminated dough into a masterful cinnamon croissant—rolled up into a golden buttery bun and ribboned with icing. The mom-n-pop Café Noka in Topinabee makes plump cinnamon buns with buttery centers. Pinch yourself when having one split and griddled in the cozy cabin vibes with a view of Mullett Lake.

Insider dish: Available only on Wednesdays, Petoskey’s Crooked Tree Breadworks’ brioche cinnamon roll with spiced streusel topping and brown butter drizzle is a cult favorite.

The golden rule (and golden goose) of Up North gatherings: to bring or to serve a bottle of dr y r iesling. The zippy acidity holds its own against almost every dish on the table—baked brie, roasted turkey, freshwater fish, pork tacos, sushi, curry. Chateau Grand Traverse on Old Mission Peninsula crafts a steely dr y sipper with hints of Granny Smith, white grapefruit, quince jam and honeycomb. Black Star Farms’ dry riesling tastes like sneaking a smooch at a summer farmers market: ripe with peach, honeydew melon and apple. And Shady Lane Cellars’ bottling might become your steady summer romance after one sip, buzzing with flavors of apricot, melon, lime zest and honeysuckle.

Babcia’s House

Polish Stuffed Cabbage

My Grandmother’s Table

Charlevoix

MGT nails the critical balance between Eastern Europe’s dominant culinary powers—beef, pork, cabbage—then tips the scales with green peppers, carrots, onions and an oldcountry tomato sauce made for slow rolls to simmer and stew.

Farmer’s Cheese Pierogi

Babcia’s Amazing Pierogi

Traverse City

Whole fat milk from Moomers

Farm Creamery is the key ingredient in Babcia’s signature cheese filling, brightened with fresh chives and garlic. Fry these dumplings up in some butter and smacznego!

Famous Shed Borscht

Cabbage Shed | Elberta

A waterside fruit and vegetable warehouse from the late 1800s is home to sustaining brews and deeply nourishing borscht: slow-braised beef with red beets and green cabbage anointed with a delightful dab of smoked sour cream.

Insider dish: If you go once, you keep finding yourself on the winding country road to the land where polkas play every day. Kathleen and Tom Koch’s seasonal Polish Countryside Kitchen—a food truck in a charming alleyway in downtown Cedar—is the place to feed your soul with smoked kielbasa from their own farm-raised Mangalitsa pork, dilled mashed potatoes, creamy cucumber salad and other delicacies. Tom learned the oldworld recipes growing up a few blocks from his Polish-immigrant grandparents in Hamtramck and visiting his babcia’s kitchen daily.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

The Glenwood | Onekama

When this longtime dining destination reopens for the season May 12, you must save room for dessert. We’re talking Oreo cookie crumb crust and hot fudge drizzle.

Cherry Pie

Cherry Hut | Beulah

The Kraker family started selling the fruits of their labor at a roadside pie stand in 1922. Fans now flock to the landmark restaurant, home to the pie-faced mascot Cherry Jerry, and a pie that hasn’t changed in 101 years because it’s perfect just as it is: A tender crust chock-full of plump sour cherries, barely sweetened and kissed with almond extract.

Peach & Berry Pies

Grand Traverse Pie Company

Traverse City

When you just can’t commit to one fruit flavor, opt for a bit of each with your peach. GT Pie serves up delicious blends pairing peach with strawberry, raspberry or blackberry. True confessions: The blackberry steals our hearts with its buttery crumb topping and mellow sweetness that lets the peach notes shine.

Insider dish: Psst, Grand Traverse Pie Co.’s Cherry Vernors Pie may only be available during summer, but this lattice-topped beaut is as pure Michigan as it gets.

Picking the stand-out staples of committed farm-to-table menus ain’t easy—most dishes bolt as fast as lettuce in July—but chefs Adam McMarlin of Wren in Suttons Bay, Randy Minish of Terrain in Bellaire and Loghan Call of Brengman Brothers on the Leelanau Peninsula consistently delight us with these steady-eddie stunners: McMarlin’s inexplicably light, whippy chicken liver mousse (mind-blowing, even if you think you hate liver); Minish’s already indulgent Great Lakes whitefish paté, folded into a pastry, topped with apple butter and served alongside Dijon, pickled fennel and pea shoots; and Calls’ (seriously, better than beef) Michigan BBQ chickpea lettuce wraps.

Truffle Portobello Fries

Rare Bird Brewpub | Traverse City

Toothsome tempura-fried Portobello mushroom wedges get drizzled with truffle oil and dusted in pecorino cheese for the perfect savory crunch.

FrankZ | Frankfort

Weenie wizardry aside at this summertime hot dog spot, FrankZ wows in the eggroll department, packing massive amounts of Mediterranean flavors into slender, snappy snacks.

Deep-Fried Oreos

Brady’s Bar | Traverse City

Scratching an itch crème brûlée never will: five humble Oreo cookies, submerged in bubbling oil until their innards ooze like hot marshmallow fluff, dressed for the dance with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, and paired—if you’re wise—with a $1 PBR.

Boudin Balls

Lagniappe | Marquette

One second you’re in downtown Marquette. The next you’ve descended a staircase straight into New Orleans. Laissez les bons temps rouler with a cold cocktail and fried balls of spicy sausage and rice.

Insider dish: Once summer’s sweet Ailsa Craig onions arrive on the farm at Traverse City’s Farm Club, their luscious layers are tempura fried and soused with a chili maple glaze.

The OG Choc Chunk

Tom’s Mom’s Cookies

Harbor Springs

Soft, chewy cookies generously stuffed with huge hunks of hand-cut chocolate await behind a white picket fence. Enter those pearly gates for a batch made in heaven.

Cardamom Cookies

The Daily BakeHouse | Manistee

While the focus here is on artisan breads, check the daily bake list on Facebook where these spicy aromatic gems— heady with cardamom and love—make their fleeting presence known.

Tessa’s Cookie

231 West Patisserie | Marquette

You’re strolling downtown with a chewy dark chocolate sea salt cookie in hand. What could be better? (Grabbing a tub of cookie dough to indulge in later.)

All Varieties

Slabtown Cookie Co. | Traverse City Cookies found in sheds … not usually kid-safe. Those ever-changing fruitypebbled, chocolate-dipped, Nutellafilled, candy-sprinkled confections found, fresh-baked, daily, inside the Slabtown Cookie Co.’s front yard shed … ? Family-friendly sugar-buzzy beauts Willy Wonka himself couldn’t dream up.

Start with the Burnt End Mac & Cheese at The Whi-Ski Inn in Boyne Falls. Work your way through a weekend’s worth of smoked chicken/wings/ brisket/ribs/sausage/corned beef whilst storming the bar’s bourbon shelves. Hair might not sprout from your chest, but you will feel certain it could. Or elevate snack time with locally smoked salmon jerky: Primo’s BBQ inside Willow Market & Meats in Cadillac makes a salt-n-pepper version that’s mahogany-hued and peppercorncrusted with a whisper of sweetness; or we love to pick up a few tender morsels at Burritt’s Fresh Markets in Traverse

City—a gamechanger on a charcuterie board or a delight on a Caesar salad. Next time you’re in Honor, the good people at Jim’s Joint are ready to fix you a sammie heavy with succulent barely-sauced smoked pulled pork. Squeeze on the Benzie Burn—a homemade sauce with enough heat to hug you then let you go.

A Fruit-Filled Double Scoop

Buchan’s Old Mission Peninsula & Traverse City Choose your own local fruit adventure with ice cream crafted in small batches on the Buchan fam’s fifth-generation berry farm. Go Blueberry Hill and Lemonberry (with a luscious ribbon of blueberry sauce); or lemon poppy seed and strawberry (made with fresh strawberries and colored naturally with red beet juice); or double down on Lighthouse Cherry—old-fashioned vanilla ice cream with tart cherries mixed throughout.

Honey Lavender Ice Cream

Milk & Honey | Traverse City

Top with caramel sauce and roasted salted pecans. Then stay in that lavender haze.

Mackinac Fudge

Jones Homemade Ice Cream

Baldwin

Every gallon mother-daughter duo Joy Kolonich and Angela Johnson make honors their parlor’s 81 years, but perennial favorite Mackinac Fudge—velvety vanilla swirled, dotted and made divine with chewy fudge— is their crème de la ice cream.

Traverse Northern Michigan editors

Allison Jarrell , Cara McDonald, Carly Simpson and Emily Tyra hope you’re hungry.

Lynda Twardowski Wheatley is an award-winning writer specializing in stories that showcase Michigan travel and recreation, history, and the passionate folks who make this place so extraordinary.

Sarah Peschel is the founder of Good Taste Creative agency. When she’s not out in the vines picking ice wine or testing recipes, you’ll find her talking to her chickens. She and her family are thrilled to call Northern Michigan home. @22speschel