the road | the food | a new direction
Danielle Bott is her name, and one of her duties as reigning National Cherry Queen is to travel with her entourage to the eastern media centers to publicize the National Cherry Festival, the wonders of Michigan cherries, and the tourism potential of northern Michigan for east coast residents. She arrived armed with three dozen cherry crumb pies courtesy of Grand Traverse Pie Company, which should be enough in themselves to make folks pay attention. Continue reading
When W.K. Kellogg, with his brother John, invented corn flakes at the beginning of the 20th century to serve as part of the diet at their Seventh-day Adventist health resort in Battle Creek, MI, little did anyone think at the time that Battle Creek would one day, as a result of their efforts, become synonymous with breakfast cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. Today, not only is Kellogg’s based in Battle Creek, but Post cereals as well (C.W. Post was inspired by his stay at the Kellogg’s sanitarium). You can help celebrate that heritage by attending the Battle Creek Cereal Festival this Friday and Saturday. Continue reading
As we alluded to in our post last week about their 2017 Detroit opening, Shake Shack will be making Minnesota the 15th state to host the burger and shake restaurant. That debut will take place next week, June 9th, in the Culinary on North expansion of the Mall of America in Bloomington. Beef will be supplied locally by the Revier Cattle Company of Olivia. They’ll be pouring local craft brews from Summit, Lift Bridge, Badger Hill, Grain Belt, and Brau Brothers. Continue reading
They were named the makers of the nation’s best ice cream in 2008 by Good Morning America; they were chosen as Michigan’s second best ice cream parlor by MLive in 2012; and now, in 2016, USAToday’s 10Best poll has crowned Moomers Homemade Ice Cream of Traverse City, MI as the king of America’s ice cream parlors. Are you starting to get the idea that Moomers makes some pretty good ice cream? Third place Doumar’s of Norfolk, VA is famous for the invention of the ice cream cone. Coming in tenth (out of 20 finalists chosen by a team of experts) is our personal favorite ice cream spot, Woodside Farm Creamery of Hockessin, DE, where you can gaze upon the herd of Jerseys that produced the ice cream you are at that moment licking.
16 — that’s how many states will host a Shake Shack when the burger joint opens in Detroit in 2017. No date has been set but the location has been selected: 660 Woodward Avenue in the First National Building, adjacent to Campus Martius Park. As with all Shake Shacks, this one will feature local craft beer as well as concrete flavors specially designed to incorporate local products. Shake Shack can currently be found in 14 states and the District of Columbia (and many other countries). Minnesota will be their 15th state this summer.
Yesterday was National Pie Day, and one of the ways the Grand Traverse Pie Company of Michigan celebrated the event was to introduce a new pie flavor, Apple Honey. The sugar in GTPC’s popular apple pie, made with Northern Spy apples, is replaced by floral-scented star thistle honey from Northern Michigan honey producer Sleeping Bear Farms. The lattice top receives an additional drizzle of honey. Sounds wonderful! You can buy the new pie at any of Grand Traverse Pie Company’s 15 retail locations, or by mail.
Cornwall, England had been known for their tin and copper mines for centuries. When the Cornish mining industry eventually declined starting in the mid-19th century, Cornish miners, known as Cousin Jacks, went overseas looking for work in mines all over the globe. And where they went, their famous Cornish pasties followed. The pasties were made by miners’ wives, known as Cousin Jennies. These pasties, a hefty dough-wrapped pocket of meat and potatoes, served as a convenient and calorific meal down in the mines. The pasties are also delicious, which you can find out for yourself if you visit a part of the U.S. that is, or once was, known for mining. Continue reading
The Michigan Wolverines play the Florida Gators on New Year’s Day in the Citrus Bowl. While we are not college football fans we most definitely are regional food fanatics, so we always keep an eye out for the wagers politicians make on their hometown sports teams. This one leaves us torn. Do we side with Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan, who is putting up food from Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor? Or do we favor Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her key lime pies from Bob Roth’s New River Groves in Davie? Both are spectacular. This will be one closely fought battle (food-wise).
Gus’s Fried Chicken, which began life in the 1950s in the small town of Mason, Tennessee, northeast of Memphis, will be opening their 13th store early next year in Knoxville, TN. That’s not all for the spicy-crusted bird that many folks put on their top-ten lists. By early 2016 there should also be new stores in Los Angeles, Detroit, Fort Worth, and Kansas City (where it will face especially stiff competition). Future stores are in the works for St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Traverse City, Michigan calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World and, judging by the eight-day cherry party they put on each summer, we’d have to agree. There are many, many opportunities to eat cherries at the National Cherry Festival. How about attending the Very Cherry Pancake Breakfast which will include locally sourced cherry topping? Or the Great American Picnic where the menu includes corn bread with dried cherries, cherry brats with cherry mustard chutney, smoked chicken wings with cherry-chipotle glaze, marinated green bean salad with cherry vinaigrette, pasta salad with dried cherry pesto, and a brownie with dried cherries! Continue reading
Those who love them look forward to spring with great anticipation. Many fans have a prized, secret spot for harvesting their own. Those who do not love them have probably never tasted them. We are talking about that honeycomb-headed mushroom known as the morel. This coming weekend, you can join the annual celebration of the fungus at the National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City, Michigan, and maybe learn a thing or two about hunting them and cooking them. Continue reading
Faisal Ali has been a waiter at Detroit’s Lafayette Coney Island for 22 years – he started when he was 16. Mr. Ali says he enjoys his job, he still enjoys hot dogs (although, as a Muslim, he cannot eat Lafayette’s beef-and-pork tube steaks), and tells of the time he received a $400 tip. Watch the interview below:
Here are five great hamburgers in the metro Detroit region, as selected by a writer for The Michigan Journal, the student newspaper for the University of Michigan-Dearborn. His choices: Redcoat Tavern in Royal Oak, Miller’s Bar of Dearborn, Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger of Ann Arbor, Jay’s Stuffed Burgers of Plymouth, and Mercury Burger in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. Eat up!
The Kalamazoo Nature Center celebrates their 50th annual Maple Sugar Festival this coming weekend, March 14th and 15th. Start your visit with a pile of pancakes drenched with Michigan maple. Follow that up with a maple sugar tour through the woods with a naturalist, which departs every 15 minutes. At the DeLano Homestead you can see how sugaring was done in the 19th century, take a horse-drawn wagon ride, and observe blacksmithing, spinning, and fiber art demonstrations. When you catch your second wind, enjoy some ice cream topped with more of that sweet elixir. Continue reading
© 2024 Left at the Fork
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
