A Culinary Adventure

What is your favorite restaurant?

Having moved from a strong agriculture State like Michigan to Texas, I was concerned for locally sourced reasonably priced foods. The Texas summer heat plus the soil makes things hard to grow.

Whiskey Cake and its sister restaurants of Ida Claire and Mexican Sugar pride themselves of scouring Texas to find local growers to supply their restaurants. My favorites are their Deviled Eggs, Chicken Melt and Whiskey Cake. They made me a drink similar to a Pink Lady called Bubbles n Berries. The restaurant, unfortunately, is now priced above what I can afford.

Let’s get on a plane from DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) or DAL (Dallas Love Field)with a layover at ORD (Chicago O’Hare) before flying into Traverse City MI (TVC) which is a resort town/regional center for northern Michigan where we’d drive an hour north on US-31 to Charlevoix along the shores of Lake Michigan. There we would stop by the now Dairy Grille (former Dairy Queen) that lost its franchise to the latter name because the owner chose to support local farmers instead of buying franchise food. The decision was received favorably by townspeople, tourists (fudgies) and local businesses. The best burger and fries that I ever had in my life plus didn’t put a huge dent in my wallet. During the summer, there’s lines out to the road and the parking lot is full. Cars are parked on side streets as well. Only open April through October because it is a stand with picnic tables in front. This business surpasses all the restaurants downtown. The close second is The Townhouse Bar that serves the locals with cheap beer and snacks. The Weathervane nearby along the Pine River channel has been a longtime fine dining establishment known for their smoked whitefish caught locally which they try to keep prices reasonable for the locals and tourists.

Thank you for letting me share my food story about Texas and, hopefully, back to northern Michigan. Bon Appetite!

Leslie Elizabeth David.