Crossroads Restaurant and Lounge

About 7 years ago when I worked at my dad's gravel pit near the crossroads in Marquette, I had gotten a taco salad and a few other things from this restaurant. I never really think about it because I live and work in Ishpeming right now. When my nephew was up this past weekend, my husband was working at the gravel pit and after visiting him, we decided to give it a try.

The decor was very rustic and lodge feeling. It was clean, and since we went for lunch, only the bar side of the restaurant was open. The food ended up being awesome, and they have a wide range of things on the menu.

For an appetizer, we got the soft pretzel sticks with nacho cheese sauce. YUM. I love soft pretzels and these were SO much easier to dip with. I have never seen anywhere serve them like this in the stick version. It was definitely a good choice to start the meal off.

I'm sure, judging by the first picture of my nephew above, that you can see why he loved eating here. They had the good kind of root beer, and he said if you covered up the label just right, it looked like he was drinking real beer. This kid is too funny.

He ordered the chicken strips, that comes with a huge portion of fries. The amount was perfect, even though he only ate about half of it. We took the rest home for a snack later. (They didn't come with toothpicks as shown in the picture above......he took them from our sandwiches, little stinker!)

My husband ordered the Classic Reuben, which is sliced corn beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing, all packed into two slices of marbled rye bread. He said it was delicious (and since he loves corned beef and sauerkraut, there were very few ways they could have gone wrong on this one for him).

I ordered the Sands Cuban sandwich (the restaurant is technically in "Sands" township). Served in a grilled roll, it is piled high with a fried chicken breast, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, banana peppers, and Dijon mustard. It was so filling that I could only eat half of it and had to take the other half home. I replaced the normal fries with waffle fries, and it was perfect. I don't normally order banana peppers on anything, ever as a matter of fact, and it was amazing.

A link to their Facebook page is below:

Crossroads Facebook Page

Mt. Shasta, progress in the form of baby steps.

Well, Mt. Shasta's almost non existent menu back in the end of July, has gone back to being almost a full menu again. The dry-erase board is now just for specials, and even though they were out of many items on the menu, they at least HAD a menu to hand to people.

I had my nephew for the weekend and we mainly tried it again because the Moose Drop Inn was having troubles with a piece of equipment (which is now, thank goodness, fixed). We were waited on pretty much as soon as we sat down. My husband ordered a Caesar salad (minus Caesar dressing because they were out of it again). I ordered the turkey hotplate, since the chicken that I wanted was currently out. And my nephew ordered the deep fried whitefish basket, that was a special. After about 20 minutes, he started to ask me "what is taking so long!?" like most seven year old's would ask, and I kept telling him it had only been a few minutes. Well, after sitting for over 45 minutes to get our food, it was hard to keep telling him that. In some instances it is okay to wait for the food to get to the table, especially when it is absolutely amazing. I just can't figure out what could have been taking so long. We were one of three tables, and the table of eight that was in the restaurant when we got there had been served food shortly after we ordered.

My turkey hotplate was not bad. It was fresh turkey that was taken off of the whole bird. The mashed potatoes were obviously not home made (which I'm pretty sure neither was the gravy) but they weren't bad. All that they needed was some salt and pepper, that I took care of. It was served with a side of canned cranberry jelly. It was filling, and although nothing special, with a little bit of seasoning added, it wasn't bad.

This was the Caesar salad (with French dressing). I believe my husband's exact words were "It's a salad" when I asked him how it tasted. He ate it, so that must have meant he liked it. 

My nephew LOVED his fish. He wished that more than 4 small pieces came with the basket (the french fries took up almost the whole plate), but that was his only complaint.

Although it wasn't great, it wasn't bad this time. They need to just condense the menu (and stop scratching things off with a marker, because soon there will BE no menu if they keep doing that). If they had a smaller menu, and made a few more things that had more fresh ingredients, they might get some of their business back. Currently, the food is just not worth the price. Especially if you don't live in Michigamme, and were to drive all the way to Mt. Shasta just for dinner. People go out to eat for things that they normally can't make at home, or don't want to spend the time making at home. 

Mama Mia's Italian Restaurant

When we moved to Ishpeming from Negaunee, I didn't even know this place existed! The restaurant looks tiny from the street, but when you walk in it goes back for what seems like a mile. I have eaten here about 3 or 4 times in the actual restaurant, but most of the time we just get takeout to eat at home (which is why if all of the pictures of the food look like they were taken in my kitchen on my counter...they were). 

My husband claims that this is one of the best Minestrone soups he has ever had. It definitely isn't bad, I'm just not a huge soup person.

For an appetizer, we usually get the Spinach and Artichoke dip. It is rich, creamy, packed with spinach, and topped with grated Parmesan. It is amazing! Instead of serving it with the grease-dipped huge pieces of garlic bread that they give you as a side with your meal (which most love, I am not a big fan of) they give you small bite size pieces of garlic bread. The bread doesn't seem as greasy, but still tastes the same as the bigger slices. 

This is my husbands number one choice. It is the baked Cod Parmesan. He usually gets it with a side of rice pilaf. Remember me, the one who hates fish? Yeah well.....I could eat a whole piece of this thing. The center melts in your mouth, and the outside has a great crunchy exterior from the Parmesan and bread coating. And of course, it is served with a side of lemons. It may sound like a strange combination, since they say not to pair fish with cheese products, but you need to try it. 

This has become my favorite so far. The Stuffed Rigatoni with Chicken is cheese filled pasta, served with perfectly cooked strips of chicken, and smothered in Alfredo sauce. Not too great for the waistline, but delicious on the taste buds. (Sorry the picture isn't great....it's hard to make it look pretty on the plate when you dump it out of a to-go container!)

If you have a hankering for good Italian food, in more of a formal setting (or take-out) this is the place in Ishpeming to stop. It is one of two of my favorite Italian restaurants here. I was also told that they have great pizza.....but that will be for another blog post :-) . A link to the menu, and their Facebook page is below:

Mama Mia's Menu

Mama Mia's Facebook Page

Ohhh Dogpatch.....

Well, I am surprised I am wasting my time writing this review. I have given the Dogpatch in Munising a few tries since my husband and I had started dating almost 7 years ago. We hadn't been back there in about 3 years, and decided to give it a go again. That was the first mistake.

We went with my husbands brother, his wife and our nephew. My nephew chose off of the kid menu and got the peanut butter and jelly, which I believe was a store bought "Uncrustables" sandwich that they thawed. The waitress was really nice when he asked for them to grill it, and she said that they could. We told him to be careful before eating it, thinking the peanut butter and jelly would be hot on the inside and didn't want it to burn him. He bit into it and said "no it's not hot, it's cold". He was happy with it, which I guess is all that matters.

I ordered a Mediterranean salad which had pretty straight forward ingredients. They had a seafood buffet so the other three adults chose that. I figured that since everyone else got the buffet and could serve themselves, a salad would be a good choice because it wouldn't take long to get to the table. That was my second mistake.

The other three had already had a salad from the salad bar, and the men killed at least two plates of food before my salad even came out. I was pretty much eating by myself towards the end, and felt awkward while everyone was ready to leave. I picked the chicken off of my salad (which was about the size of three salads, and I had to pour part of it on the plate that came underneath just so I could eat it and cut the lettuce and tomatoes up to fit in my mouth). The chicken had to have been frozen, or still pink in the middle. With the low lighting in the place I really couldn't tell you. The color was off, and cooked chicken isn't supposed to be soggy in texture.

Thank goodness that my husband was nice enough to get me some cottage cheese from the buffet while I waited. Since I don't like fish, I asked how their seafood buffet was and got answers that really weren't surprising. The fried fish was okay, the baked fish was disgusting, and the only good thing at the buffet was the potatoes. We ordered mozzarella sticks for an appetizer, and even those were overcooked.

It really isn't even worth going. There are a handful of places in Munising that I would rather eat at than to go back to the Dogpatch. Maybe in a few years we will try it again...and hopefully have better results. If you want to read more information about the restaurant, there is a link below.

Dogpatch Website

Moose Drop Inn....I can't help myself....

I am well aware you have seen this one before already.....and not too long ago. I absolutely LOVE this restaurant! I had to run out to camp and grab my slow cooker for an event that I am helping cater, and this was of course our choice for dinner. You've seen the pizzas before (Moose Drop Inn Pizza) but I had yet to post some of my other favorites, and I wanted to give you an inside look of the restaurant.

The inside is adorable, and filled with moose everywhere. The counter has a glass case with Michigamme themed items for sale, they have candy jars filled with all of the great candies of the past, and all items are reasonably priced. Also (not shown), if I were to have turned around with my phone camera, they have shelves filled with toys, games, and more Michigamme keepsakes.

Now for the food, which is obviously the best part of this place if we keep coming back for more..

This is normally what my husband and I order every time we come here. This time he was the only one to order it, since I wanted to try something new. It is a Chicken Pesto Sub, with home made basil pesto, tomato, chicken, lettuce, cucumber, and smoked Gouda cheese. It is one of the best clean and refreshing subs I have ever had (which is why I am a repeat offender). It comes with a side of pasta salad, chips or fruit.

I opted for the BLT salad. Don't let this picture fool you, the salad was as big as my head! It is pretty self explanatory being that it has bacon, lettuce, and tomato like a BLT, and then croutons, cucumber, and shredded cheese. But it was gorgeous, and the bacon was crispy.

We don't normally get dessert here since we are usually really full from dinner, but we managed to squeeze in a piece of cheesecake (I should just start with dessert first next time!). It was chocolate caramel cheesecake with sea salt. And it tasted as amazing as it looked.

If I haven't stressed this enough, you need to eat here. Everything is fresh, and home made. Right down to the delicious sauces and desserts. And if you live in Ishpeming (and depending on if you drive the speed limit or go...a little faster than suggested), it is only a 15-20 minute drive, which is still closer than driving all the way into Marquette.

I know I've posted the menu and Facebook link on the pizza post, but here they are again:

Menu

Facebook Page

Sydney's Restaurant

Most reviews read on this restaurant start off with something along the lines of "there being limited choices in this town..". Well, I guess you could say that, even though off of the top of my head I can think of about 10 places or more to eat here. Maybe for people from out of town who don't know the area well, it may seem like there are only a few choices. Regardless of that issue though, Sydney's is not a bad place to stop and get a good meal.

Since it was a late lunch and we were all pretty hungry, we decided to get an appetizer. We ordered the beer battered white cheddar curds. I am a cheese curd fanatic, and usually disappointed with most places because they have that thick breading on the outside and you can't even taste the cheese. These were crunchy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. The perfect cheese curd. 

My husband insisted that I try his Oriental Chicken Salad. He knows I am not a huge fan of cold chicken that has been previously cooked (especially when it looks like it has been boiled). I can always taste the difference. It's like leftover thanksgiving turkey to me. I can eat it when it is first cooked, but a day later or when it is cold? Heck no.... It wasn't a bad salad, but I personally would not order it. 

I'm the type of person that when I find something that I really like on a menu, and have had a few other things that are just so-so, I tend to stick with the same thing every time. Since this is my first blog post here about Sydney's, I decided to do just that and order my usual, which is the "Veggie Stack" sandwich. It is filled with cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, (I omit the fresh mushroom and red onion), Pepper Jack cheese, slathered in tzatziki sauce (spelled wrong on the menu....I think they got excited with the "i"s) and all shoved into a multi-grain roll. 

I never eat the fries (personal preference, I think they are too greasy and I am not a huge fan of fries in general), but everyone else loves them and has no problem taking them off of my hands. This is, so far, my favorite thing on their menu.

So if you are visiting the area or driving through town, it is the most convenient located family style restaurant with good food and a fun atmosphere. There is even a bar if you need to let loose. The staff for the most part is friendly and I have never had to wait long for the food to be delivered. I have heard they have a pretty good fish fry Friday, but I don't eat fish so I can't vouch for that....

If you would like to see the menu, there is a link below for the main website and their Facebook page:

Sydney's Restaurant Website

Sydney's Facebook page

The Frozen Flamingo

If you need a place to get refreshing ice cream in Munising, MI, (you know, on those two weeks of hot summer weather we end up having every year...) I would skip Dairy Queen and go straight to the Frozen Flamingo. Why? Because they have Dairy Queen's all over the place, and the best ice cream in Munising will still be Jilbert's.

 Amaretto Mackinac Island Fudge

They do have cute items in the gift shop for sale. Old fashioned candy, jewelry, clothing, kids toys, mugs, shot glasses, pretty much everything that you would normally find in a gift shop.The items are pretty pricey, but the ice cream is priced just right. 

Link's to more information about Jilbert's and the Frozen Flamingo are below:

Jilbert's Dairy Website

Jilbert's Dairy in Marquette, Facebook page 

The Frozen Flamingo, Facebook page 

Togo's and folks go together.

I haven't had Togo's in years, so my husband and I decided to stop at the one in Harvey on our way home from Munising.When I was young we used to get Togo's often. Simple ingredients, everything fresh, and bread made homemade every day. I had stopped going for a while because the service got slow, and sloppy. I realize that it is just a sub shop, but when I had been going there and 4 out of 5 times they had messed up the order, it was time for a break. I was surprised in the years that I haven't been there, that they still had the same specials numbers on the "original Togo's" menu.

 

I ordered my all-time favorite sub, a 6-inch #22, which is lettuce, tomato, pickle, American and Provolone cheese. It comes with onions but, as I'm sure you have noticed in previous posts, I can't stand raw onions. The sauce and seasoning is just oil, salt and pepper.

It was hard to get good pictures of this sub, because even though it was delicious, it looked pretty rough. It was put together pretty sloppy, and there were only about 5 people in the building that had all been served already. But the taste definitely brought me back to my childhood. It was a good fresh sub. To this day, Togo's remains my dad's favorite sub shop. They have many new items and ingredients and it is worth stopping by and trying them out. The link to their main website and Facebook page are below.

Togo's Website, which also has a link to the menu
Togo's Facebook page

Country Grill Pub and Eatery

Well.....my husband and I give this restaurant a shot about once or twice a year. We usually eat here because it is conveniently located and usually means we are headed to see a movie at the theater that is practically a block away. Whoever took over recently has done one thing right. The decorations actually make sense now and don't clutter the whole dining room. Before, they used to have board games and movie posters plastered all over the walls. Now, they have old kitchen utensils and country style decorations. They make a LOT more sense now.

Another thing that the Country Grill does right, is serve breakfast all day. I don't know why more restaurants don't do that. My husband ordered the taco soup, that wasn't bad. It just tasted more like runny chili with tomatoes added. He also ordered the Chicken Cilantro Flatbread sandwich. It had a nice crunch on the flatbread that was grilled, but they were out of the cilantro sauce so it was more of a chicken sandwich on flatbread.

I ordered the Hawaiian Omelet, 3 eggs with ham, pineapple and Colby-jack cheese. It was huge, served with a giant side of hash browns. The hash browns were very good. I think I might have ended up with the Cajun seasoned hash browns though because they were pretty spicy. The omelet wasn't bad at all, filled with gooey cheese and huge chunks of canned pineapple (I personally would have cut the pieces smaller).

I guess it is one of those hit or miss kind of places. The prices are good considering our total bill was around 23 dollars (he got water, and I got coffee). I am sure we will venture there again sometime in the next year. It really isn't terrible food, it just isn't anything to write home about either. The link to the menu and their Facebook page is below:

Country Grill, Facebook Page

Country Grill Menu

Moose Drop Inn. Everything from scratch, and made with love.

This past weekend, some of my favorite guy friends were up at camp in Michigamme having what I like to call a pre-bachelor party for a friend who is getting married in September. With there being four boys and myself, I didn't feel like cooking and wanted to have more time to do important things like fishing, boating and being "floaters" in Lake Michigamme.

One of the best things that has happened restaurant wise in Michigamme was getting new owners at the Moose Drop Inn. In the past few years, they have put out nothing but great food. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is made from scratch, right down to the pizza crust and homemade pesto sauce. I have eaten there many times in the last year, but what is great is now having the convenience of getting takeout from there. The boys and I decided to get some pizzas to go!

 Chicken Pesto pizza with smoked Gouda cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, chicken, and bell peppers.

Supreme pizza, with olives, onions, peppers, mushroom, sausage, pepperoni, ham, and marinara sauce.

Taco pizza, with mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, seasoned ground beef, olives, tomatoes and we leave off the onions. Also served with a side of salsa, sour cream and jalapenos. 

With every pizza, you get the choice of a homemade traditional crust, or sourdough. The sourdough is my personal favorite. 

You can tell that the new owners of this restaurant are filled with passion. The food always tastes amazing, and they always make you feel welcome. This will definitely not be the last time posting about this place. They are also the home of my favorite sub sandwich, and desserts to die for.

Check them out at:

Moose Drop Inn, Facebook

Menu

Corner Cafe. A tiny, yet pleasant surprise!

I have been going back and forth between Ishpeming and Channing (for about 4-5 years), and Ishpeming and Michigamme, MI since I was little. In especially the last 5 years, I have stopped at Koski's Korner to get gas and items in the store I don't know how many times, and I never realized there was a restaurant across the street. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, and thought it was always just a hotel.

My husband and I have now had the pleasure of getting food from there twice. The first time was about 2 weeks ago, after I had found out about a death in my family. I got woken up out at camp to the awesome smell of breakfast coming from a Styrofoam container. It was perfect morning comfort food, with amazing homemade bread.

My husband got the ham and cheese omelet with homemade Rye bread (pictured above).

I got the farmers omelet with homemade Sourdough bread (pictured above).

This past weekend, we headed back there, and this being my first time going into the building, I was excited to see what this tiny little building looked like from the inside. I love diner style restaurants, and I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. 

This building was packed with old-school charm. There is a circular counter with old round stools that are fastened to the floor, rustic kitchen accents using old kitchen utensils, and gorgeous stained glass art in the windows. They even have Yooper touristy souvenirs that you can buy (along with the stained glass).

For breakfast (or technically brunch I suppose since it was about 11 A.M. when we stopped in), I ordered the Miner's Omelet (minus the onions, because I hate raw onions), and my husband ordered a half order of biscuits and gravy. 

 My Miner's Omelet was amazing, and packed with mushrooms and other veggies, with a side of rye bread.

My husband's biscuits and gravy (which can you believe this was a half order?!) was also delicious and was topped with over medium eggs and shredded cheese.

Next time we go back for breakfast or lunch, I am going to have to order what my husband got. I love a good omelet, since eggs are one of my favorite things to eat for any meal, but I actually HATE biscuits and gravy, and could eat a whole plateful of theirs! They don't put an overwhelming amount of sausage in the sauce, and the texture is smooth and creamy. And of course they topped it with an egg, which makes it even better!

To finish, we both shared a homemade lemon bar that packed a tangy punch!

The only negative point that I could possibly make of this diner, is that they are only open from 7 A.M. to 3 P.M. I wish they would stay open for dinner! Amazing homemade food in a small hole-in-the-wall diner setting. You have to stop in!

Corner Cafe and Motel, Facebook

Main Website, with menu