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•A CHEF’S LOVE LETTER TO LOCAL INGREDIENTS •THE FARM WHERE SHEEP CHANGED EVERYTHING •THE RETURN OF MICHIGAN’S RAREST WILDLIFE
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Delicious Details I is in the
Michelle Rodriguez is one of Northern Michigan’s most sought-after private chefs, fueled by her unabashed hunger for homegrown flavors and the tiny, joy-filled moments that make up a life. t’s an ordinary night at Michelle Rodriguez’s house on Long Lake, and she feels like grilling. Everlasting dusk occupies the sky with its soft electric blue, while a grill basket brimming with red onions and oyster mushrooms hits the hot grates with a delightful hiss and pop. On the menu: grilled veggies and berberespiced chicken thighs with toum—a traditional Lebanese garlic sauce—and just a dab of apple gastrique. It’s a chef ’s kiss kind of dinner. But for Rodriguez, it’s just a regular Monday summer supper on the heels of a big weekend cooking for clients. Many professional chefs take a breather on their days off. Rodriguez cooks. And that means dishes that resemble Chihuly blown glass— vibrant, organic, high-contrast compositions that bloom in technicolor. Rodriguez, 38, is chef-owner of Amor Comida, specializing in private dinners and intimate events across Northern Michigan. Her career includes cooking stints at the two-time James Beard Award–nominated La Condesa in Austin, centered on modern Mexican cuisine, bright ceviches and Indigenous ingredients. “My time at La Condesa really inspired and propelled me into the kitchen,” she says. Another huge part of her story is her time at Girl & The Goat. There, in Chicago’s West Loop, she lit up in the kinetic energy of the open kitchen while working for Iron Chef Stephanie Izard, the first woman winner of
by
Emily Tyra photos by
Michelle Rodriguez
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Top Chef and a Best Chef: Great Lakes James Beard Award winner. As much as she basked in the camaraderie of these acclaimed kitchens, she eventually took the risk to find her niche as a private chef in Northern Michigan—building a life that works for her and her 10-year-old daughter, a fellow foodie who plucks kale “like a little rabbit” from their home garden, and knows well the vine-y scent left on your hands after harvesting sun-ripe tomatoes. Like her mom, she loves flipping around like a mermaid in Lake Michigan every hot minute she can. Through the last decade, Rodriguez has made her name catering intimate dinners in homes from Frankfort to Harbor Springs. Clients are drawn to her adventurous, expressive cuisine—and her confident, one-woman-show approach. She admits it takes a certain fearlessness: rolling into a new kitchen, sorting through the beautiful chaos, then making the clients’ culinary dream come true. “I’m kind of a control freak,” she says of her prep time—razor focused yet fun—humming along to hip hop in her earbuds. “J. Cole is my number one listen,” she says. “He makes me shake my booty while I’m peeling carrots.” Her sweet spot is small soirées, six to a dozen people, when she can craft stunning plated dinners or artful platters meant to be passed among friends. For larger groups, she’ll call in a friend or two from the industry to help serve. Every gathering is different, but she thrives on the unknown. She talks closely with her clients, then often asks if they’re willing to be surprised. “Ninety-nine percent say yes,” she says. She doesn’t finalize menus until the week of, treating dietary restrictions not as limitations
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but as puzzles. “I love solving them—creating something cohesive and exciting.” Unlike some chefs, she relishes being front and center, with a flair for turning dinner into a dinner party. “A lot of chefs like to stay in the back of the house. I’m okay being up front—I’ll ham it up,” she says. “Second to the chef dream, I always wanted to move to New York and be on Broadway.” What’s more, holding court in a new kitchen every week means “it’s impossible for the job to get stale,” she says. “New people come into your path every day.” Her instinct for cooking and hospitality comes from her parents. When she was growing up, her family had a cottage in Frankfort, tucked behind the Frankfort Tackle Box. Summers were spent fishing, foraging and gardening. “We’d catch salmon and head straight back to the cottage,” she says. “My dad kept it simple— lemon, dill, capers, butter. I have the best memories of eating with my family, who I love desperately. We lost my brother twenty-three years ago, but I can still see my mom, my brother and me, sitting on the sun porch eating garden tomatoes straight-up.” Her mother, a professional gardener, kept sprawling vegetable and flower gardens. “She’s our own Martha Stewart. Everyone wanted to come to my house for a sleepover,” she laughs. The next morning, her mom would serve fresh Belgian waffles with her own raspberry jam and have flowers from the garden on the table. Rodriguez let that lesson soak in: Share magic in the smallest of details. She mini-doses that mojo onto her plates, in dishes like a luscious local peach gazpacho; fish and chips so crisp you hear the crunch before the first bite; a head-turning tart of sweet beets in a buttery short crust; or a delicate olive oil cake topped with Michigan-grown berries hit with a hint of Tajín.
she is proud to be part of the culinary fabric of The Cooks’ House in Traverse City, where she occasionally pitches in on the cold line. She counts co-chef/owner Jennifer Blakeslee, a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist, as a lasting mentor and friend—someone who guided her early on and continues to offer her shifts in her kitchen. Rodriguez also says of her early days cheffing in Northern Michigan, “I was really just a baby when I came from Austin to work at Black Star Farms.” There she learned alongside Stephanie Wiitala—now co-chef/owner of S2S Sugar 2 Salt. The
“My dad half-jokingly told me I don’t need to share everything. But I want to. I want to be unapologetically myself.” She lavishes credit on the farmers and makers who stock her kitchen. If she’s not making her own pasta, she turns to Raduno; for bread, she loves Common Good Bakery’s peasant loaf—funky, sour, a little sweet. A forager and mushroom enthusiast herself, she relies on Opalcap mushroom farmer Jackson Anderson, and friends at Lakeview Hill Farm to keep her supplied with vegetables and microgreens all summer. And though Rodriguez most often works as a lone wolf,
two spent early mornings with fresh coffee, mastering Wiitala’s feel-first approach to pastry. This summer, her goals are simple: get better at baking and expand her garden. She started her germination station while there were still the dregs of snow on the ground, listening to Kendrick Lamar and planting a gazillion violet and radish seeds. Her front yard is already transforming—less grass, new fruit trees, wild grapes and vegetables. “My neighbor across the street did a complete front yard takeover,” she
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explains, “and we’re trying to inspire the others on our block to have native gardens, in the sunny spots among the pine trees. I hope I never have to mow my lawn again.” From that garden comes the color that makes a dish sing: edible flowers like borage, nasturtiums with their peppery bite, violets and pansies, even hosta shoots, which she cooks like asparagus. Above all, Rodriguez wears her heart on her sleeve— about being a mom, her adoration for her dogs, her travels (her ancestral home of Kraków, Poland, last year; Japan is up next!). Her Instagram posts reflect that full person, bleeding her real life in with her business. “People hire me for my food, but also for who I am,” she says. “My dad half-jokingly
told me I don’t need to share everything. But I want to. I want to be unapologetically myself.” Tonight, the grilling is underway, and she’s heading in the direction that makes her happiest: straight into her garden, dogs Holly Berry and Sunny at her side. She picks frilly, tender lettuces for her plate along with a few bright blooms to take it over the top. It may be Monday night dinner, but it can still make the back of your neck tingle with goosebumps. Emily Betz Tyra began her writing career as an intern at Traverse Northern Michigan 28 summers ago. She lives in the woods of Lake Ann.
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Berbere Spiced Grilled Chicken with Grilled Onions and Wild Mushrooms
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Berbere is a beautiful Ethiopian spice. You can find it at our local spice merchants, or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can look up a recipe online and make yourself! I like to simply sprinkle it on my chicken with some salt and olive oil. The rest of the recipe is as simple as it sounds. Grill the chicken (any cut of chicken is fine, just
make sure you watch it well if using skin on as it will drip and cause the grill to flare up). I like to cut my onions into big chunks, simply just tear the wild mushrooms or keep them whole, and toss them in salt and olive oil, and grill together in a grill basket until they become soft. Serve with Apple Gastrique and Toum sauce.”
Apple Gastrique 1 cup apple juice (or cider) 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 3 Tablespoons local honey pinch of salt Cook all together on medium heat and simmer for about 10–15 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the consistency is syrupy and can coat the back of a spoon. Makes a beautifully sweet and tangy sauce. Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce) 1 cup of fresh peeled garlic Neutral oil such as canola oil (do not use olive oil!) 1/2 cup or so of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (not the bottled kind) kosher salt (the coarseness helps break down the garlic) “This is a very simple sauce to assemble, but it does take approximately 15 minutes to whip. First, you’re going to add the garlic and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt right to a food processor and chop as much as you can, making sure to stop and scrape the sides a few times. Next, you’re going to stream in the olive oil and lemon juice at a snail’s pace, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl every couple minutes. This helps whip the sauce and makes it nice and light. Blend it until smooth. This is a strong sauce but is good on EVERYTHING.” Summer Pesto “All the way back to when I was 8 years old, it was always a joy to pick tomatoes off the vine in the summer sun. My favorite tomato dish is just to pair them with a nice creamy burrata and this fresh pesto—it’s classic for a reason.”
Makes approximately 1 cup 1/2 cup pistachios (or any kind of nut you want) Zest of 1 lemon 2 garlic cloves 2 cups fresh basil leaves salt to taste 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (optional) 1/4 cup olive oil Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until desired consistency. Add salt to taste.
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