"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.

Appreciating Juglandaceae

There are black walnut trees all over downtown Traverse City neighborhoods. This tree does not appear to be native according to the US Forest Service: Juglans nigra L.


-Native range of black walnut

but it sure has naturalized itself wonderfully.

I've often thought about collecting these walnuts but was never sure about how they compared to the English variety you get in the store.

Supposedly they are wonderful as Hank from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook discusses at TheAtlantic: Black Gold: The Pleasures of a Hard-to-Crack Nut

Looks like I have a foraging project for next Fall!

The Liberator and Freedom of 78′: Pure Guava IPA

Two new bottles from Short's. Read about them at the ShortsBrewing.com: Short’s Liberator and Freedom of 78: Pure Guava IPA in bottles!

Culinary Tourism

The Record-Eagle has a story on an upcoming conference - Creating Michigan Culinary Destinations.

See: State trying to find right recipe for culinary tourism

This is a great start. What would be ideal is a Culinary landing page at the Pure Michigan site (michigan.org) where people looking for a taste of adventure could find wine trails, farmers' markets, and businesses offering food-based tours.

Michigan's Food-Friendly Wines

We know northern Michigan wines are good, but wow, some incredible praise at PalatePress: Something is Going on in Michigan

Even better is to read the writer's blog entries in getting ready to write this article. They are collected at Grape Sense - Glass Half Full

First Taste of Michigan Wine Impressive
Two Lads, a Schoolhouse, and One Sharp Young Man
The Beauty of the Traverse Bay Area

Some of my favorite quotes from the blog are:
-I tasted two memorable wines there [Left Foot Charley], a very dry Pinot Blanc that has been honored time and again in numerous competitions. And a reserve Riesling that was simply the best American-made Riesling I’ve ever tasted

-Coe [Black Star Farms] has one of the most impressive destination wineries you’ll ever come across in the U.S.

-This Rose’ [from 2Lads] rivaled, if not surpassed, many I’ve enjoyed from France and Spain made from Grenache

-...they [Chateau Grand Traverse] grow Gamay – the Beaujolais grape. You can’t call it Gamay in this country so they call it Gamay Noir. They have a regular bottle ($12) and a reserve ($19). I liked the reserve a lot. It was not as earthy as the French versions but very nicely made wine with true Gamay flavor with good acidity and tannins on the finish. (Gamay Noir is my personal favorite "go-to" wine)

I guess it can all be summed with "The secret of Michigan wine, and particularly Northern Michigan, isn’t going to last long once people get a taste"

Short's Is Getting Bigger

Via Kalamabrew: Short's Brewing Company begins $1.4 million expansion

The expansion to Elk Rapids facility will help push its potential production capacity to 22,000 barrels

Short's currently produces 8,000 barrels per year.

The East Side

The east side of Traverse City has the Chocolate Den, The Cook's House, and Jack's Market. Now the Record-Eagle reports on how that end is blossoming.

See: East end of downtown turning into food stop

The Warehouse district is the bohemian center. East Front St. is becoming the culinary center.

What's new:
9 Bean Rows Bakery
Simply Cupcakes
and The Cooks' House is moving into the Wellington Street Market site.

New Short's Six Packs Coming

Bloody Beer and Black Cherry Porter will be in stores soon!

Via ShortsBrewing.com

Part Of What Makes A Culinarian Capital

To my way of thinking, Traverse City is a culinary capital because of the people who live here and the way they use food in their home and due to the restaurant density and how those restaurants utilize the local agriculture.

The Record-Eagle has more on how local farms and chefs interact: Area eateries find value of local produce

Traverse City Makes Bon Appetit's Top 5

Boulder won this year, but Traverse City is much smaller than all the other towns on the list and this shows that food-wise, it is a small but mighty town.

Via Y!: Bon Appétit Names America's Foodiest Towns 2010

More at BonAppetit: America's Foodiest Town 2010: Boulder, Colorado

The Cook's House And Artificial Scarcity

In a brilliant move, Chef Eric discusses in further detail why he keeps the Cook's House small: THE plan...(part 2)

We have chosen to do away with the unnecessary expenses that come with bigger restaurants and multiple restaurants. We are only going to open 5 days a week so we may have more time with our families, which is something I have put off for to many years, and more time to just fiddle around in our kitchen coming up with new ideas and new directions. We are choosing to lose all that extra income for the sake of more happiness.

For more on artifical scarcity see Techdirt: The Grand Unified Theory On The Economics Of Free

Short's Is Releasing Noble Chaos A Bit Early

It seems fitting with the October-like weather we're having.

Via Shorts: Noble Chaos Hits Shelves Across the State

Noble Chaos is classified as an “Oktoberfest” or American Style Amber Lager. In the spirit of Oktoberfest, the German Style Marzen is brewed in March (Marzen) and then lagered (cold aged) in caves until released at the end of the summer for “Oktoberfest”. This year’s batch at the plant was brewed with that in mind. We made this beer back in March and had it shipped to a cold storage facility until it was released just recently. The intention was for the release to occur in early September, but we lost our spot in the cooler a month early.

Old Mission Peninsula Is Coming Into Its Own

Long considered a second choice to the wineries of Leelanau, Old Mission is now getting its due.

See DetNews:
New vibe on Old Mission with more wineries, high quality

TV's Carter Oosterhouse is on a mission