"Traverse City is quickly becoming one of the best cities in the US for foodies to visit"

Yes, we know.

Thank you Chicagologue: Things to Do in Traverse City

Mario Batali Gives His Restaurant Recommendations

You tweet and Batali responds.

Here are the links to Batali's favorites:
The Cooks' House
Hearth and Vine at Black Star Farms
Garage Bar and Grill
Barb's Bakery

The Great Beer State

Via Mlive: Bell's Brewery Inc.'s Two Hearted Ale named second best beer in the country, Founders ties at No. 3

As I have said before, if I could only have one beer forever it would be Two Hearted Ale though recently North Peak's Wanderer has come on as a strong second for me.

North Peak's New Session IPA

Via Kalamabrew: North Peak Brewing Co. releases the Wanderer, a session IPA

And Archangel Summer Wheat will be back on May 15th.

If you're wondering what a "session beer" is the best explanation I found is at BeerAdvocate: Session Beers, Defined

Any beer that contains no higher than 5 percent ABV, featuring a balance between malt and hop characters (ingredients) and, typically, a clean finish - a combination of which creates a beer with high drinkability. The purpose of a session beer is to allow a beer drinker to have multiple beers, within a reasonable time period or session, without overwhelming the senses or reaching inappropriate levels of intoxication. (Yes, you can drink and enjoy beer without getting drunk.)

2010 Vintage

45th North and 2 Lads both report that 2010's wines will be some of their best ever.

This Seems A Tad Bit Delicious

Right Brain Brewery has two projects in the works. One with the Grand Traverse Pie Company in which they are adding pies to the mash in two steps and the other is a pairing with the Chocolate Den.

See Mlive for more.

Good News For Ohioans

You can now get Diabolical.

See BeerAdvocate: North Peak Brewing Reaches into Ohio Market Beginning February 1

[via TheTicker]

Going The Whole Hog

This is something delicious that originated from the PigStock TC event.

Chef Mykes Anton at Trattoria Stella is now doing his own butchering and using the entire animal in his creations.

See MyNorth: Trattoria Stella, a Traverse City Restaurant, Cooks in Whole-Animal Tradition

Look, I don’t want to get too gross, but basically, I butcher all the meat and skin off the head, and then I braise it or slow cook it, so it’s basically mushy. And then I mush it up and roll it up, and it has so much gelatin in it, that when you cool it in log form, you can actually slice it. Then I bread crumb it and deep fry it. And it’s the essence of pork. It’s really rich and it’s really, really good.