Sitting on the back patio overlooking Round Lake in the Grand Pines resort sipping a margarita or a locally brewed beer, watching speedboats whiz by, you’d never guess you were at a Famous Dave’s restaurant if you didn’t know it—until you taste the food, of course. Unlike the cookie-cutter suburban franchises, the Hayward, Wisconsin, location has a personality of its own.
Editor’s Note: The original Famous Dave’s is CLOSED due to fire.
If you live outside of the Omaha, Nebraska, metro area but plan to visit in the next year and you like beer, you’re in luck. Eight Omaha breweries want you to taste their beer—so they will each give you one on the house. Not a little taste, but a full-size beer. Read more
The menu changes regularly at Café Navarre. In fact, the salad that I had on my recent visit is no longer on the menu, at least not with the same ingredients. The restaurant’s expanding farm-to-table options means that dishes change often to incorporate the freshest, local in-season produce. It’s no wonder that Midwest Living magazine placed Café Navarre on their list of “Best New Midwest Attractions, Restaurants and Hotels.” From ambiance to food to service, everything was top-notch on our recent visit.
Opened just a couple of years ago, the restaurant is located in a completely renovated, centuries old downtown South Bend building that once housed a bank whose claim to historical fame is that John Dillinger robbed it. Restored to its original grandeur, the setting complements the elegance of the restaurant.
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My husband, Skip, and I met Lindsey Talboom, Communications & Public Relations Coordinator for Visit South Bend Mishawaka, at Café Navarre for lunch. Skip took Lindsey’s recommendation of the French Onion Gratinee. He agreed it was one of the best onion soups he has ever had. As I watched both Lindsey and Skip break through the layer of gooey gruyere, I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t ordered the soup, too.
However, my salad was delicious, with fresh greens, fruit, nuts and a light vinaigrette dressing. I opted for an added small steak, which was done to medium-rare perfection. Lunch was served with an assortment of warm breads and butter.
Service in the restaurant couldn’t have been better. Besides providing great table service, when our waiter found out this was my first visit to the restaurant and that I’m not from the area, he took the time to explain the history of the building and talk about other attractions in South Bend.
With its delicious food, great service and elegant ambiance, I recommend Café Navarre if you visit South Bend. The restaurant is located at 101 N Michigan Street and specializes in French, Italian and Spanish cuisines. Check the web site for hours or to make reservations.
Disclosure: Our visit to South Bend was hosted by Visit South Bend Mishawaka, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own. Our accommodations were at the Double Tree by Hilton South Bend.
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The brewery burns for seven hours, and the fire is put out with “green beer.” The owner is kidnapped by the mob during Prohibition. These are things movies are made of, but they are true events in the history of the oldest brewery in the Midwest and the second oldest in the nation. You’ll learn about these stories during your tours of the Minhas Craft Brewery and the Minhas Micro Distillery.
Minhas Craft Brewery Tour
The Minhas family has owned the Monroe, Wisconsin, brewery for less than ten years, but the history goes back to 1845 when Mr. Bissinger opened the Monroe Brewery. If you grew up in the Midwest, you may remember the Joseph Huber Brewing Company, Augsburger beer and brewmaster Hans Kestler from radio commercials in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This is the same brewery.
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In the beginning, beer was brewed only in the winter and produced only few hundred barrels per year. Almost 170 years and several owners, name changes and expansions later, Minhas Craft Brewery produces 275,000 barrels each year, and as of June 2014 was on track to brew 325,000 barrels for the year.
You’ll start your tour in the Lazy Mutt Lounge, where you are welcome to sample the beer and munch popcorn while watching an introductory film. Don’t worry about not having time to sample enough because you’ll have more time for that later.
The tour then moves outdoors, where your guide will point out the two separate buildings divided by a street. The beer is brewed in one building and then sent through a tunnel beneath the street to the bottling building.
Inside the brewery, your guide will talk about the ingredients that go into beer, including barley grown in Wisconsin, and about the entire brewing process. We weren’t able to go into the brew house on the day we toured for safety (and comfort) reasons since the kettle reaches temperatures of 225 degrees.
As the tour continues across the street with the pasteurizing and bottling processes, your guide will point out the different processes used for cans and bottles. At the end of the tour you’ll be given a six-pack that includes four different beer brands, a bottle of root beer and a keepsake glass.
Afterward you may go back to the Lazy Mutt Lounge for more beer and/or soda tastings and to browse the gift shop and the museum rooms, where walls are lined with beer advertising artifacts. Even the ceiling in the ladies room is covered with beer labels.
Minhas Micro Distillery Tour
The Minhas Micro Distillery opened in 2012 in space formerly used by the brewery. Gather first in the tasting room, where you can begin tasting the spirits.
The tour officially begins with an introductory film describing the distilling process, followed by a short tour of the small distillery and the bottling process, which is far less automated than the brewery bottling process. You will receive a full-size bottle of alcohol, as well as your tasting glass, to take home with you
Be sure to stick around afterward to go back to the tasting room and gift shop where you’ll see Godstilla, the 1,000 gallon still.
To survive the Prohibition years, the company made ice cream and near beer, among other ventures. To make near beer, full-strength beer first needed to be made and then the alcohol removed. The dealcoholizing was done in a back room. The original sign for that room now hangs in the distillery tasting room.
Instead of dumping the alcohol from the near beer down the drain, it was sold on the black market, in Chicago mob territory. When the mob found out about it, they kidnapped the owner, Fred Blumer. While tasting spirits after the tour, you’ll be treated to a film that will capture your attention about the 1931 kidnapping. The tasting room happens to be Blumer’s former office.
The Minhas Craft Brewery is located at 1208 14th Avenue and the Minhas Micro Distillery is located at 1404 13th Street in Monroe, Wisconsin. Tours are conducted daily and cost $10 each; however, the take-home gifts alone are worth that amount. Check the web site for times and further details. Note that photos are not allowed in production areas.
Disclosure: My visit to Monroe, Wisconsin, was hosted by Green County Tourism, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. Don’t miss a post. Enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe to be notified whenever I publish another post. Subscription is FREE. After subscribing, be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm. – Connie
We were traveling through Indiana Dunes Country along the southern shore of Lake Michigan looking for a place to eat when we spotted a shiny red vintage Studebaker food truck parked along U.S. Highway 12 in Beverly Shores. They had plenty of customers, which could only mean they had good food, so we stopped to check it out.
The truck was one of two owned by the Rolling Stonebaker, maker of wood-fired pizzas. The Rolling Stonebaker offers the standard pepperoni and sausage pizzas, but they also make unusual combinations with unique names like the Choke-n-Shroom and Potatohead .
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Wanting to try something other than the ordinary, my husband and I chose the Purple Pig, a pizza with smoked pork shoulder, barbecue sauce, and mozzarella and provolone cheeses. When the pizza came out of the oven, a generous portion of tangy purple coleslaw was sprinkled on top. The super-thin, crispy, smoky-flavored crust was perfect with the smoked pork and barbecue sauce, and the crunch of the rough-cut coleslaw added another element to the texture.
It turns out we really did pick a winner. The Purple Pig was name in Food Network Magazine as the must-try pizza in Indiana in its “50 States 50 Pizzas” feature.
In its fourth season in 2014, the Rolling Stonebaker food truck is parked most weekends by the Camp Stop General Store at the corner of Broadway and U.S. Highway 12 in Beverly Shores, Indiana. Other regular parking places for the truck are the Valparaiso Farm Market, Griffith Central Market and Chesterton’s European Market. The Rolling Stonebaker also caters. Check the web site to see where you can find them when you’re out and about in Indiana Dunes Country.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. Don’t miss a post. Enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe to be notified whenever I publish another post. Subscription is FREE. After subscribing, be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm. – Connie
As I sat by the window of the restaurant sipping my key lime pie martini, I watched from a bird’s-eye view as the sunset turned the sky a brilliant orange, as though it set the clouds ablaze. I thought, “Wow, this is the life.” My husband and I were staying at Michigan’s Grand Traverse Resort and Spa and dining at Aerie, the 16th floor fine dining restaurant, just one of the resort’s many impressive elements. With several accommodation types, dining options, golf courses, pools, tennis courts, shops and a spa, there is enough to do at the Acme, Michigan, resort to treat yourself to a weekend—or a week—of leisure indulgence.
Accommodations
Our spacious, nicely decorated tower room overlooked one of the resort’s three golf courses and included a wet bar, a fridge and a Jacuzzi tub. A hotel, condos and resort homes are other accommodation options to consider.
Restaurants
My favorite restaurant on the resort was Aerie, where we dined on elegant food, all beautifully plated. We started with sweet potato beignets, and continued with salads, filet mignon with asparagus and Broccolini, and shared chocolate bananas foster for dessert.
We had breakfast at the Sweetwater American Bistro, where besides typical egg dishes, pancakes and waffles, they serve specialty dishes, including three types of Benedicts and bananas foster french toast. Depending on the house count, they sometimes also offer a buffet.
Other dining options are pub food at Jack’s Sports Bar; soups, salads, sandwiches and an assortment of entrees at The Grille in the clubhouse; deli sandwiches, salads and baked goods at The Marketplace; and of course, in-room dining.
Shops
You’ll find several boutiques and gift shops in The Tower Gallery of Shops. At American Spoon, taste jams, fruit butters and salsas before buying.
Dylan’s Candy Bar and Candy Café, created by Dylan Lauren, fashion designer Ralph Lauren’s daughter, are two separate shops, but both sweet and colorful. Between the two, you can indulge in your favorite nostalgic candies like candy buttons and Pop Rocks, or enjoy local treats like Mackinaw Island fudge and Moomer’s ice cream. Dylan’s also sells candy themed home décor items, clothing and accessories.
Activities
Grand Traverse Resort and Spa boasts three golf courses, each at a different challenge level, including The Bear, designed by Jack Nicklaus. The resort has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions over the years, the Silver Medal by Golf Magazine and the Best Midwest Golf Resort for a Family Trip by Travel + Leisure Golf among them.
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I didn’t get a chance to visit the spa on my trip, but it sounds luxurious and pampering, offering services from nail care and hair styling (they refer to it as hair artistry) to massages that range from the classic Swedish relaxation massage to the more exotic bamboo massage.
With pools, hot tubs and tennis courts both indoors and outdoors, you can swim or play rain or shine, warm weather or cold. At the Private Beach Club, rent watercraft to use in East Grand Traverse Bay, part of Lake Michigan. In the winter, take a dog sled ride, ice skate, snowshoe or cross-country ski.
During your stay, you’ll probably want to explore wineries, restaurants, shops and casinos in and around nearby Traverse City. However, if you choose, you really can spend your entire vacation, whether a weekend or a week, at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa and not run out of things to do.
The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is located at 100 Grand Traverse Village Blvd., Acme, Michigan. Visit the web site to make reservations or for further information.
Disclosure: My stay at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa was hosted by Traverse City Tourism and the resort, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own. The photos with the resort logo were provided by the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa.
Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. Don’t miss a post. Enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe to be notified whenever I publish another post. Subscription is FREE. After subscribing, be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm. – Connie
