Going to the UP

Friday morning I am driving up to Houghton MI to attend a friends wedding and driving back on Sunday. I've been asked for recommendations for a pit stop along the way there and back. We'll be driving straight up 41 into MI.

Any ideas that are not too close to Chicago? I'd prefer to not stop till at least Sheboygan and maybe further.

Also any good pasties up in that area? I'm sure I will get some recs from the locals. ALso if you have any recon you want done, let me know, I will be bringing my cmaera and my co driver is sold on my food finding skillz. ( the last place I sent her was Ed's)

Octarine wrote:I'd prefer to not stop till at least Sheboygan and maybe further.

Was just in Sheboygan last wkd and finally made a stop at the "Charcoal Inn" a popular grill out in the area. It was one of the better brat's I have had, they butterfly them and serve them in freshly baked buns. The steak sandwich is also very tasty and its all pretty cheap. Ill be making a return stop when I do the circle tour later this month. Also, i have never been but had planned to try the bakery in the link below which is in Houghton. Let me know if you find any others worthy of a stop, im a big fan of pasty's.

Charcoal Inn (one of two locations, this one is near the circle tour route)
1313 S. Eighth St.
Sheboygan, WI

http://www.sheldonsbakery.com/

Octarine wrote:Friday morning I am driving up to Houghton MI to attend a friends wedding and driving back on Sunday. I've been asked for recommendations for a pit stop along the way there and back. We'll be driving straight up 41 into MI.

Any ideas that are not too close to Chicago? I'd prefer to not stop till at least Sheboygan and maybe further.

Also any good pasties up in that area? I'm sure I will get some recs from the locals. ALso if you have any recon you want done, let me know, I will be bringing my cmaera and my co driver is sold on my food finding skillz. ( the last place I sent her was Ed's)

The Chow Poodle recommends The Cherry Hutin Bulah, MI (On Hwy 31). It might not be exactly on your route, but she thinks it's worth a detour for cherry pie (it should be the start of the season right about now).

We're going to be driving around the lake later this month and would appreciate any intel you come up with...especially for pasties. Have fun.

Our summer place isn't far from there, on the Wisconsin side. My usual route is to take 41 to Oshkosh, then cut across on 10 to pick up 51 at Stevens Point. In Stevens Point, Point Brewery is definitely worth a stop - they give great tours, have a nice tasting room at the end, and much of the brewing equipment dates back to the early days, around 1900 or so. Also, off of 10 is a great little family-run cheese factory, Union Star. Further north on 51, past the twin cities (Minoqua and Woodruff) if you take a right on County Rd. M, you'll get into Boulder Junction, home of the surprisingly good Outdoorsman restaurant.

Admittedly, taking 51 will take you a bit further west - from Boulder Junction, you'd have to take M to 64 at Presque Isle (huge downhill there as you cross the border into Michigan - about the only place in the Midwest I've ever gotten up to 30 mph on my bike without pedaling), then 45 and 25 to Houghton - but I think it could be a worthwhile detour, and you might pass through some other interesting little towns.

The Cherry Hut sounds good but it's not worth the many hundreds of miles detour; we are going up through WI.

Good suggestions, especially Tom's! I was planning on just following Goolge Maps directions.

If you take 41, you'll be going through Marquette, MI, which has been discussed at some length here.

There's also a lot of discussion of Sheboygan, including this and this. Finally, there's this thread covering a somewhat broader geographic area.

The Copper Country is beautiful. Be sure to spend some time in Calumet if you get the chance. Also keep your eye peeled for bakeries serving cardamom bread and buns.

Finally, another plug for The Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Have a great trip.

Octarine wrote:The Cherry Hut sounds good but it's not worth the many hundreds of miles detour; we are going up through WI.

A detour like that might be slightly excessive for a piece of pie, but on LTH you never know for sure.

The most recent discussion of Marquette has been in this thread thread, but since the average Lake Michigan Circle tour wouldn't hit Marquette, and no discussion of the U.P. is complete without it, I'm putting this brief update here.

A number of Marquette restaurants recently discussed have gone out of business, including The Waterfront Restaurant, and The Coney Joint. The New York Deli has a new owner and a new name, but I can't speak to what else may have changed. For those of you with a soft bread sticks fixation, the Marquette Fazoli's has also closed up shop.

On a brighter note, there's a lovely new bakery. The Marquette Baking Company. Peter Claybaker (yes, I know, and I'm sure he does, too) began his life as an engineer, so that he can explain exactly why the plastic bags are so hard to open, but got tired of always hunting for the next project. He bought an old oven from the Deerfield Bakery in Schaumburg and had it moved to Marquette. . He makes phenomenal croissants and some gorgeous artisan breads. I highly recommend this pastry, the name of which I've forgotten Edited to add that I've heard from Peter.

It is called Bostock. It is made from brioche that has been dried, soaked in rum syrup, topped with almond frangipane and then retoasted.

In the picture, he's holding a loaf of a yeast-based cornbread. It didn't beat out the pan di granturco from Masi's Superior Bakery, but it was excellent nonetheless and sublime when toasted. (note the gorgeous Wettstein's eggs in the background).

A great addition to Marquette in tough times. I wish him my best.
Marquette Baking Company
117 W. Baraga (in the courtyard of the Marquette Children's Museum)
Marquette, MI.

If you are going through Marinette, Wisconsin, I highly recomment, Micky Lu's. Their burgers have a great flame roasted flavor that I have rarely found and the interior is retroriffic.

http://www.jldr.com/micklu.html

I found this link so you can check it out.

We're UP in Marquette all the time as DD goes to school there- will have try the bakery out- looks awesome-
Baraga is a very interesting street- have you seen the abandoned (haunted) orphanage on it?
very creepy /interesting....



Up in Marquette we often eat at Casa Calabria-
it's not Chicago level Italian, but it's not bad for Marquette
I also really like the Vierling Brewery- their home brews are awesome as is the whitefish, and surprising the spiced ribeye steak.
If you're there on a m-f nite, there is a cajun restaurant that is OK called Lagniappe.
They are closed on Sat & Sun (go figure)

Our favorite stop on the way up is usually in Green Bay, we like to stop at Title Brewery for lunch-great burgers with sweet potato fries. The chef is very inventive and often has interesting specials on the menu.

and Mickey Lu is awesome, somehow we just don't hit the timing right often enough with it, but it is really great.

Lagniappe, Marquette -

So, went up to the UP for a week or so, and one of the joints I finally got to try was Lagniappe.
I really wanted to try the newish Middle Eastern / Indian / Greek place, Rubiyat, but it just didn't work out that way.


Lagniappe is an underground joint, a steep bank of stairs leads to the entrance from Washington street. Inside, it's dark. You will soon
forget about any sun shining outside when you walk into this place. Lots of wood, faux Nawlins shanty is the obvious
theme here. The first thing I was drawn to was the wall of hot sauces with little one ounce plastic cups for sampling:


I finally got to try the lauded Marie Sharp's

I and one d/c were instant fans. Not overpoweringly hot, and really nice flavor. My tastebuds told me there was a good
amt of good toasted onion powder in it. If I ever see a bottle, I'll buy it.

Starters - Blackened Alligator, and Gumbo:
Hunger got the best of us, the camera came out late:



The gator was deep fried, dusted with "seasoning" and then given a saucing of hollandaise.
The seasoning was Chachere's, and whoever was on shaking duty was extremely heavy handed. The kids could actually
eat it as it was, but the adults at the table agreed it was inedible. Far too salty. The seasonings were piled on, like
caked on. $10.95 down the tubes, however, the gumbo was oddly a lower sodium version for some reason. I was able to add a few
gator chunks to the gumbo, and voila, flavor! I kinda dug the gumbo. It grew on me. It was nothing special among gumbos, but
at least it was edible, and some Marie Sharps gave it a nice warmth.

I ordered the Carolina BBQ Brisket Po Boy, and the server gave me a gushy "Oooh - GREAT choice!"

It was a big sandwich. The chips were outstanding. Ok fine, I'll say it. The beef was horrible, chewy,
and the bbq sauce, well, the whole thing reminded me of a hot pocket as far as the flavor. It was a 10 dollar sandwich.
The chips were outstanding. Too bad there were like 5 of them on that massive plate.

Chicken Orleans:

This was decent. Chicken, artichoke hearts, crawdads, mushrooms, in kind of a tomato / cream sauce.


Jambalaya:

Looked really good. Another lower sodium version. I like the fact that (on this day, perhaps) the dishes were undersalted- save for
the gator, but everyone else thought the food pretty bland.

If I were to go back, or recommend this place, I'd stay away from non "cajun" offerings. The cajun-y stuff we had
was decent, imo. That brisket sammich, however, left a bad taste in my mouth. A handful more of those chips, and I would have
not been so sour about it, but it was essentially the quality of a hot pocket, or other gas station bbq sandwich priced at 10 bux.

I did get to see a funny thing on my way there:


Lagniappe & Voodoo Bar
145 Jackson Cut ( front door ) &145 Washington st. ( back door )
Marquette, MI 49855

yeah. we did carryout from lagniappe this last trip and it wasn't particularly great, with only two or three decent dishes. the muffaletta was well received, the hushpuppies weren't bad, and the catfish courtbouillon has been solid both times we've had it, but jambalaya, etoufee, gumbo, red beans and rice were all bland bland bland.

and they really don't salt their food at all. I'm not sure if there's even salt in the kitchen. but really, that's more of a UP-wide problem...

Gleam, when we were in your neck of the woods near Bass Lake, we stopped into the Up North Lodge in Gwinn for some eats. Post is coming. If you are familiar with that place, the camp we stay at is seriously walking distance. The old Up North Lodge burned down, and this new one is re-opened as a nice, bright, airy, faux log cabin style bar/grill. For the area, it was decent eats. Didn't make it over to Crossroads for the fish fry, or for the ice cream. Oddly though, I did have to go to that snowmobile/quad dealer right across the street to get a quad serviced.

Aside from the upcoming picture post about The Up North, two stops we made were noteworthy, IMO:

1. Iron Town Pasties in Negaunee.
This place used to be called Grama T's, and my in-laws were not big fans at ALL. Since ownership changed, they had not tried them, so I popped in for a few for the family to sample. All agreed that (for a storebought pasty,) these were not bad at all - both meat and veggie. They also had "spicy" pasties, and "REALLY spicy" pasties - both sold as mini's frozen. You have to call ahead if you want the mini's hot. Natch, I bought a dozen frozen mini "really spicy." I'm excited to try these.

2. Doncker's Candy / Ice cream on Washington st in Marquette. After Lagniappe, we took the kids for some ice cream here, and I gotta say, their Cake Batter ice cream was insanely good imo. I'm not a big ice cream eater, but I had folks on the lookout for this stuff in stores around there. I'm not sure if it was a Jilbert's product or not.

crossroads fish fry was pretty terrible, to be honest. they may win a lot of peoples' choice awards, but the people of marquette/gwinn have terrible taste. apparently up north & co in mqt has lake perch for their fish fry, so we may try that next time.

re: donckers, i'm curious about their burger -- an ad in the mining journal said they used local beef, hand patted. sounded like a quality burger.

gleam wrote:crossroads fish fry was pretty terrible, to be honest. they may win a lot of peoples' choice awards, but the people of marquette/gwinn have terrible taste. apparently up north & co in mqt has lake perch for their fish fry, so we may try that next time.

re: donckers, i'm curious about their burger -- an ad in the mining journal said they used local beef, hand patted. sounded like a quality burger.

So. Very. True. (and it doesn't only apply to food. Wanna watch a free comedy show? Just hang out in front of the Wal Mart doors on Saturday for an hour - they could charge admission, and have a two drink min. I swear I saw a guy who was 5 foot 2, 400 lbs, walking in with a green bay packers yellow sweatshirt, green bay packers green sweats, dragging his oxygen tank in a cart behind him. The Oxygen tank had Packers decals all over it. The real kicker? He was smoking a cigarette.)
As you obviously already know, you should take the Mining Journal's ad with a grain of salt. A Chicagoans version of "quality burger" could be worlds different. FWIW, The Up North Lodge in Gwinn gets a lot of praise for their burgers as well. I didn't really investigate their burger, but you can tell that it's more than likely a 1/2 pound char grilled burger pub joint as soon as you walk in. Several in-laws assured me that the burgers were really good.

Re : Up North
We went there one time when we were in Marquette and while the food was OK,
again nothing special by Chicago standards but pretty good by Marquette stds,
I was amazed by what a Looong drive it was from Marquette.
I NEVER would have found it without a GPS!

Re: Ice cream in Marquette- there is a spot called Frosty Treets that was AWESOME!
Very very like Ted Drewes in St. Louis-
They mix everything up together like a concrete- really hits the spot on a cold day-
Delish!

This stuff kinda got me thinkin -

What are U.P. must tries -not restaurants, but regional foods?

Of course, the "Pasty:"
I'd describe this as sort of a take on what we'd consider a calzone for size and shape, HOWEVER, the crust is more of a pie / pastry crust, and the filling is usually ground beef, potato, onion, and rutabaga. I've heard many Yoopers say that it just isn't "right" without rutabaga. These things are usually served with either ketchup, brown gravy or a big ol pat o butter on top. Here's a pasty thread with a few pics. The ones I posted about are a good 7-8 inches long. One would be a very filling meal for one person:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22527

Cudighi:
Cudighi is some sort of sausage concoction that is usually sold as a flat patty for a warm sandwich, or it's chopped up, and used as a pizza topping at almost every pizza joint up there. It usually has a decent peppery bite, and I think it's flavored with nutmeg, which makes it very distinct. You KNOW cudighi when you taste it.

Potato Sausage:
I've had potato sausage probably six or seven times, and the best decription I can come up with is this - You take a recipe for Polish sausage, and before you cook it or stuff it into the casings, you cut it with finely shredded potato which results in a cased sausage with mild Polish flavor, and a mushier texture -not like bad mushy, just noticeably softer than a regular sausage product.

Baked goods with cardamom in them:
I'm not a huge fan, I like cardamom in my Indian food. It seems like every bakery has some sweet treat or loaf of something studded with cardamom.

Lake Superior whitefish or lake trout. When in Rome...
I've been both super happy, and very frustrated ordering these in the restuarants up there. If you go to a higher end place, it should be super fresh. I went to a lower end ayce fish fry, and the stuff was obviously frozen.

If you can find wild blueberries or strawberries, pick them all, especially the blueberries. The wil blueberries I've had from the U.P. are crazy good.

===========

Things to stay away from:
Generally, anything with an ethnicity outside of the area. Like anything. Spaghetti, Chinese, Thai, Mexican. They are in a world of hurt when it comes to ethnic dining. The only Mexican place of any note is called Border Grill, and it's basically Taco Bell with one dollar added to each menu option. The other place that was open was called Los Tres Amigos. It was on par with Pepe's Mexican Restaurants here, but after a few days of meat and potatoes, it was a welcoming palate cleanser. It's closed now. Decent pizza can be found, but decent is a far cry from what you'd prolly consider good by Chicago standards. Bread - seems like bread up there (like for sub sandwiches or french loaves) is not allowed to have a crust. It's all just big pieces of wonder bread. This kills me. For real bread, you gotta pay up.

Anyone else have anything that is region specific to seek out?

UP wild blueberries are unbelievably amazing things. The best cultivated blueberries aren't even 1/10th as good as these wild blueberries.

I think some of the best whitefish you can have in the UP is at the Brownstone Inn in Au Train. Lovely space, fantastic whitefish, very good craft beer selection.

non-restaurant foods:

Mackinac Island Fudge Ice Cream from Jilbert's or another local (well, Dean's owns Jilberts now..) dairy is a must-have. And then you have to have the mint MIF, the amaretto cherry, the peanut butter, the yooper mudslide, the bear attack, the moosetracks...

Trenary Toast is bread, coated in cinnamon and sugar and then slowly dried out in an oven until it's hard as a rock. Perfect for dipping in coffee, turning in to french toast, or just about anything else that softens it up a bit. Based on a finnish dish, and you can find brown paper bags of it across much of the UP, but especially the marquette/munising/escanaba area.

There are tons of locally made preserves available, especially raspberry and strawberry, but also other fruits. The most expensive and rarest kind is thimbleberry. Think of them like a bigger/softer raspberry but with more tartness. Some people love them, some don't. I was always happy when I found a thimbleberry bush with bright red fruit when I was a kid.

If you're serious about local UP food and culture, do yourself a favor and peruse the Hunts' Guide to the UP.

That's a pretty good list of regional foods. I would add thimbleberry jam, generally available in the big grocery stores as well as souvenir shops. Here's a thimbleberry. It takes a whole lot of them to make a cup of jam, which is why you'll pay $11-12 for your half-pint jar.



Edited to add that my son got his post up while I was still working on mine. Obviously.

The in-laws are all about Trenary Toast. I'm surprised I haven't thought to make french toast out of it before - great idea!
One of their comfort food breakfasts is trenary toast and something called "Rice Juice" which is a glass bottled orange tang like beverage.

Thmbleberry jam is a brand new one to me. Is it basically an expensive raspberry? (the pik makes it really look like one.)

Another place I got to check out for the first time was Gwinn, Michigan's "Up North Lodge." It's a faux log cabin bar/grill type place. Very bright, very airy, tall ceilings, big bar lots of blond stained wood. Casual ribs / burgers / fried things / grilled fish add unlimited salad bar for 3 bux type of place. You know what I'm talking about.





"Almost World Famous Ribs!!" How can you NOT get them!


Well, actually, I can think of a few reasons, as I pretty much knew what I was in store for. Bake-b-que is not my preferred style of ribs, but the night's special was free salad bar with rib entree, and another d/c wanted ribs as well, so we ordered the two half rack special, got a dollar or so off, and both got free rights to the soup/ salad bar. It was kind of an "I'm just too hungry to really care about reading thru the menu" moment.

Soup / Salad bar was tiny, but offerings were fresh, and exactly what you'd expect, lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, croutons, bacon bits, cheese, a few prepared salads (which were surprisingly decent - no sugary glop mayo!) and a few interesting dressing choices along with the old stand bys. No, that's not 1k island, that's chipotle ranch!


Soup that night was cream of potato. It was exactly how it looked. Food service glop. They doctored it up with a healthy dose of bacon. I couldn't finish it. It was just far too gloppy.


Bring on the meat jello, baby!

This "half rack" was actually a full rack. That platter was about the size of my forearm from elbow to fingertips, and the two portions actu ally overlapped. There were more ribs underneath what is pictured here! The ribs were what they were, and they hit the spot. The sauce was as far as I could tell, Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy brand. I'll spare you the pictures of the server tying on my white bib that had "I LOVE RIBS" in big red letters on the front of it. I ate em all up good:


Another d/c had the broiled whitefish. It was overcooked. Not really good at all. The fish seemed like it was fresh, but it was suffering from being overcooked which made it fishier than what everyone wanted it to be.


All in all, the prices were pretty good, and the food was better than average for the area. I'll be hitting this place up again for sure. Luckily, when we are up this way, we sometimes stay at a place that is within easy walking distance.

Ya Hey!

http://www.theupnorthlodge.com/

1. I will say, that generally eating out in the U.P reminds you of how much better you'd be eating if you had cooked for yourself.

2. A thimbleberry is a rubus, of course, but not really at all like a raspberry. It's a low plant with big wide leaves and no thorns. The flavor is much tarter than a raspberry, with almost a touch of citrus flavor. And although most photos, including mine, make it look like a raspberry, it's much flatter. If you think of a raspberry as a fez (and a blackberry as a turban), then a thimbleberry is a yarmulke.

Adding a data point. Last time we were in the U.P. (October) we tried the Friday night fish fry at Up Front & Company. They do indeed have lake perch and they do a terrific job with it. $9.95. Our waitress warned us when we ordered that we should be sure to mention as early as possible if we were going to want refills on the perch. We should have listened. The second round came pretty quickly, but when one person in our group was hoping for thirds, he was told it would be 45 minutes to an hour. You will want more. So make that clear.

Upfront & Company
102 E. Main Street
Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 228-5200

One place I ALWAYS bee line it to when I'm up this way is a tiny little bakery called "Huron Mountain Bread Company." These folks have a setup in the Marquette Mall, and another location at 1301 front street, but we stay closer to the free standing shop in Ishpeming at 626 TEAL LAKE RD,ISHPEMING MI. If we are in the area for more than a day, I'm going here. No question.


I've only seen one lady working there, and she is smiley and nice, and has an accent that is straight out of the movie Fargo. The cake donuts and the bagels are the draw for me. The Ms. is more interested in the scones. The scones are more like a triangular glazed cake donut than a crumbly mildly sweet treat, but they are offered in raspbarry, cranberry, and blueberry, so the dough is sweet, but the fruit component is tart - kind of balances out.

Some of the offerings:

Their breads are pricey, but for the area, well worth it. My favorites are the "Swiss cheese and black pepper," and the "Jalapeno cheddar" loaves. They actually make breads and baguettes with a crust - which is a rarity up here.

Cake Donut / Bagel / Filled Croissant / Muffin Display:


Closer inspections:





If you are fimiliar with this area, you'd think I was crazy for saying this, but, I come here for the bagels. These are big, dense, chewy, deals, and I can't believe how good they are. my favorite is the Jalapeno Cheddar. Canned jalapeno bits, and greasy cheddar cheese pockets. Sometimes they are fiery, but usually they are pretty tame. I don't know what happens, but I think it's the addition of the fat from the cheese - these bagels wind up with a different texture than their others. Kind of like a bagel / croissant hybrid. I lOVE these things. The other bagels are extraordinarily good as well, but these jalapeno cheddar bagels are what draw me back every time. I wish more places in Chicago could make bagels like these. It's just so weird to me that this spot can pump out these ultra chewy dense rounds of bagel goodness in the middle of this food no-man's-land.



Jalapeno Cheese close up.

If you're ever in the area or passing through. Stop in for a Jalapeno Cheese bagel at the very least. no cream cheese is needed, really. Great snack. You'll want more. I want one right now

My familiy is from Iron River, MI - and our little town is blessed with an outstanding grocery store, Angeli's; and wonderful Italian restaurant, Alice's. Angeli's has an amazing selection for such a little town, it's one of the reasons I think I will be able to escape my beloved Chicago for good one day. Alice's makes great pasta, great gnocci, and most importantly great bread baskets filled with salty breadsticks and onion bread. Don't order -spaghetti-, you'll end up with the stuff from the box. Ask for noodles and they'll be lovingly handmade.

http://angelifoods.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/alices-iron-river

Finally did make to Rubiyat. It was the best ethnic food I've had in the U.P. Sure, that's not saying much, but it's saying something. They bill themselves as "Indo-European," whatever they mean by that. Menu has falafel, hummus, baba g, samosa, chutneys, "cajun" chicken, rogan josh - yeah, really. It does. Hummus, baba g, and samosas were our starters. Samosa were surprisingly decent. Cilantro/coconut chutney was pretty good alonside them. Had a nice kick, a little sweet for me, but pretty good.
Hummus, and baba g were decent, nothing, you couldn't buy at whole foods. The pita was more of a lavash, and surprisingly, served cold. Not sure why any restaurant would choose to serve bread like that cold. Just don't understand that one at all.

So, I went with the Rogan Josh after the server suggested it. Decent. Really decent. I would have loved some fresh chilies, and cilantro as a topper on this, but I figured there's no way it would be available. I liked it a lot. Well cooked lamb, dark curry with some real Indian spicing going on. Not oversalty, and not dumbed down by using some stoopid British "curry powder." Kudos to Rubiyat for Rogan Josh!

D/c ordered the Chicken Pasanda. This was decent eats as well.from what I tried of it, I would have thought it more Thai inspired than INdo-Pak, but still decent eats. It was a creamy yogurt curry that somewhat remided me of a coconut milk curry for whatever reason.

Another D/c ordered Shrimp Balti. Decent, fresh shrimp, but the curry was a very acidic one, reminding me of a vindaloo. It was unbalanced - too much acid for my tastes.

One of the less adventurous in our party orded the cajun chicken wrap. They claimed it was very good, and would return for it. I didn't try it. Came with hand cut regular and sweet potato fries. Stole a few of those, and they were decent.

Mqt needs more places like this. Maybe it isn't the most true to authentic, but soemone knows what they are doing here, and also peppers the menu with plenty of food for patrons who might be timid. Those options are done well, and the few ethnic (inspired)choices are done well also. I'm digging this place.

http://www.therubaiyatmqt.com/

So far, been getting lucky with grub this trip (except the Little Caesar's lunch that one day.) Went back to Marquette, and found some more decent eats. Rice Paddy Thai was surprisingly decent, save for some of the weak vegetable selection in the foods - carrot slivers, bamboo shoots? Please. Just leave them out. We all know they are filler. But, the food, otherwise was better than I expected. We tried the "Exotic Green Curry" with shrimp which had very decent flavor, and fresh jumbo shrimp - probably 26 30's.
Curry Fried Rice with chicken, which seemed to have a decent hit of fenugreek as a surprise flavoring, and I enjoyed it quite a bit once my tastebuds settled into expecting it. We also tried a pad thai which was sub-par in an expected Marquette Michigan kind of way. Way too sweet, sauce was kinda slimy, like it was made with cornstarch, tofu was not really drained, really wet. The lady manning the counter was actually Asian. I'd bet she is dying for someone to come in and ask her to make some homestyle food.

Also stopped into Jasper Ridge Brewery for a quick dinner one night. Their food is priced about 3 dollars more than you'd expect, but my 12.00 half pound cheesburger with onion rings was about on par with an average diner half pounder, and the fish and chips was battered cod, and not Mrs. Paul's fish sticks. The fries were a better than avg foodservice variety, and I ate a ton of them. Steak fry size, but thinner with a light seasoning imbedded in the tater.

But, when in Marquette, I spied with my lil eye...


That's Right, sportsfans, SUSHI has arrived to the U.P.!!!!!!!


The case:



From what I could tell, it's more of a order at the front, take a tray with a number to your table, and a teenager brings out your stuff. The menu has some Japanese / Thai staples, like green coconut milk curry, tempura, yakisoba, a couple on Bento Boxes, and then...SUSHI. It's mostly hipster mayo maki, maybe 12-15 maki selections along with 5, yup FIVE nigiri selections, only two of which are actual raw fish. Tuna. So, it's a sushi bar with only raw tuna. For Marquette, tho, that's still surprisiing. I might muster up the courage to give it a whirl!
ETA websites:
Temaki & Tea
Jasper Ridge Brewery
Rice Paddy

I can provide a little more background on Temaki & Tea. Several of of the Japanese students at Northern Michigan University who were working in the food services at NMU (including one who was living with my mother at the time) decided it would be nice to have a Japanese option for the students. The food services department agreed. It was originally in one of the dining halls, but eventually moved to a former Hardee's restaurant across the street. It's still owned and operated by the food service department which brags that "In 2007, Temaki & Tea received a silver award from the National Association of College and University Food Services for best stand-alone, single-concept retail outlet."

Adding another data point. I've previously praised the lake perch served at the Friday night fish fry at Up Front and Company in Marquette. This time, having heard that the Holiday Inn Friday fish fry also included lake perch, I decided to try it. I did first call to verify that the perch was yellow lake perch and was told that it was.

It was yellow lake perch, but the experience demonstrated that getting the right fish is not enough. It was cooked fine, but the breading was too thick and crunchy and the perch themselves were pretty much tasteless. The onion rings were fake. Disappointing. Don't bother.

Some recent eats from the Upper Peninsula this summer. The Pass-ty, Paste-e whatever you call it is something I'm not sure why I like but I eat. Simple flavors and somewhat bland I still like a pastie once or twice a year when up that way. The breakfast ones if offered tend to be much, much better but both these places featured here were out of them on my visits to them. I stopped into the U.P Pasty Express when riding by while taking a cruise to Lake Superior from the Northwoods of WI. I guess the main reason I'll get a pastie is b/c of the reason they were made for the miners. They're fine if eat them an hour or three after you get them and both these ones tried were eaten when I got a little hungry while along the lake.


Ironwood, MI


Miners special (beef, potatoes, carrots and rutabaga)

Well as seen in the pic above the potato to beef ratio is about 90% to 10 and the taste was so damn bland I used the ketchup it came with to liven it, I don't use that sweet shit on fries. I would of enjoyed it much more if I was working in a cave mining coal, starving hungry on the 2nd part of a double day/night shift. Dobber's was a place I stopped in at while up in Marinette, WI. This location was in Menominee, MI right over the WI/MI border. I liked theirs better than UP Pasty due to there being a tad more beef and enhanced flavor with the side of gravy it came with. I don't know why but I'll probably order a pastie the next time I pass a place in Yooper land that sells them. I just hope they arent out of breakfast ones.


Dobber's Pasties (Multiple U.P locations)

Next stop was a place we found while driving along the lake near the WI/MI border. Jozwiak's looked like a classic Midwest tavern from the outside. The fact they've been around since 1948 and there was a nice pizza aroma outside along with plenty of cars in their lot made it a stop despite not having much hunger in me.


Menominee, MI


Oh boy, whats that? Gonna have to try one of them too now...

Well if there was any night to stop in when I wasn't all that hungry, the night we went was it. It turns out the Wabash is their famous burger and on this night the special was a small one topping pizza, two Wabash's and two drinks for $11 and those drinks can be beers. Not bad especially since the other fellow I was with, an anonymous LTH poster, we'll call him "Will", wasn't able to withstand any more food after the order was placed and thus left before it arrived. Which left me with two burgers, two beers and a small pizza pie. Not bad for cheap tavern eats. The Wabash is a double cheeseburger served in the same way of many places in WI along Lake Michigan such as Mickey Lu's in neighboring Marinette. I didn't see a real charcoal grill on display but the patties are charred and placed inside a crunchy toasted semel hard roll and topped with a nice chunk of butter and slice of Wisconsin cheddar. Pickles, ketchup, mustard, onions and relish are your options.


Wabash Burger

The pizza was also pretty good especially for the price. 'The brothers three' was a place started in Marinette in 1972 which was started by The Brothers Three who's original place is in in Cicero, IL. So they say the pizza made at Jozwiak's today is the same recipe the family used in 1962 at their pizza place in Cicero and the other WI locations. Good tavern thin sausage pie, not great, but worth the stop on a trip into the UP thru Wisconsin.


"the brothers three" sausage pizza from Jozwiak's

U.P Pasty Express
1310 East Cloverland Drive
Ironwood, MI 49938-1606
(906) 932-4414

Jozwiak's Bar & Grill
1010 16th Avenue
Menominee, MI 49858-2854
(906) 863-2229