Syl's Cafe

After stopping to get gas on our way to the Porcupine Mountains we stopped in Ontonagon, Michigan for some lunch. We knew where our hotel was that there weren't many restaurants after you left the "big city" of Ontonagon so we stopped at one of the higher rated restaurants in town. People rave about their baked goods and breakfast, which I was bummed that they weren't serving breakfast still when we went because I am a sucker for restaurants that serve breakfast all day. Our waitress was very friendly and it wasn't too busy; the tables were at about half capacity. The bakery counter is where we sat close to and the entire time we were waiting for our food it made my mouth water consistently. I wish we had had room for dessert because the doughnuts were screaming for us to buy one.

I ordered the Sourdough Chicken Club that came with grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese and ranch dressing stuffed inside of two slices of sourdough. I can't remember the name of the sauce that the waitress had suggested I try, but I couldn't get enough of the large sweet potato wedges dipped in what I am calling "crack" sauce, because it was that addicting. My sandwich was a let down for me. The bread was pretty greasy. I know diners like to toast bread in butter or oil on the cook top but I can't stand it. I would rather have naked bread out of a toaster than greasy bread that you can barely stand to hold onto. The bacon was cooked perfectly and super crunchy. My #1 downfall with chicken in anything, especially a sandwich where it is a whole breast like this, is that every restaurant needs to take the time to get the fat off, especially that tendon that goes through the breast. A few bites in and crunch, I was done.

My husband ordered the Grilled Chicken Breast sandwich that comes with lettuce, tomato and mayo and upgraded the bread to a pretzel roll. After he was half way through with his sandwich, we switched halves after my chicken fat incident with my sandwich, and I completely devoured it. The pretzel bun was a great choice, because it left the sandwich feeling fresh and not greasy at all. His chicken was perfect, cooked perfect, and had no fat what-so-ever. I wasn't a huge fan of the mayo but again, it wasn't originally my sandwich, so I dipped it in more of that "crack" sauce and it was delicious!

Hopefully next time we are in the area we will have time to stop again. If I am real lucky we can grab a few sweets out of the counter on our way out because every doughnut, pastry, cookie, cinnamon roll, you name it looked mouth watering. It is a cute little place with pretty decent food, and friendly staff. In a small town like this, finding a gem with good food and great staff is all you can hope for.

Syl's Facebook Page

Lynn's North Country Cafe

Before heading home from a weekend climbing around waterfalls in the Porcupine Mountains, we stopped in Ontonagon to grab some lunch. On the way down we had stopped at Syl's so we decided to give Lynn's a try on the way home. The decor on the inside, other than an old diner style, was very woodsy decorated with fish, stick art, and painted outdoor scenes. There weren't too many tables but almost every one was occupied which led me to believe it was a local favorite.

For an appetizer we ordered cheese curds. The batter was thin and a nice golden brown. They were perfect text book cheese curds.

For lunch I ordered the "Cowboy Burger". The toppings were great. The cheese was perfectly gooey and melting all over. The only thing I would have liked was that the burger, which was supposed to be medium rare, was way over done. It was very, very chewy.

When we come back to the area, I am going to stop here for breakfast. Everyone raves that their breakfast is amazing, and judging from pictures on travel websites, the omelet is the way to go. We will definitely be trying this place again, just not for the burgers.

Sacy's Restaurant

On our way back to Marquette from Sault Saint Marie, Michigan we desperately needed to find somewhere to grab breakfast. We took a detour off of the highway and found this gem that I didn't even know existed. Sacy's Restaurant is part of Bay Mills Resort and Casino in Brimley, Michigan.

The setting of this hotel and casino is absolutely gorgeous. The weather was even overcast with the sun barely coming out every once and a while but the lake still was beautiful, especially with the fountain and people fishing in the background.

For breakfast I ordered "Babe the Blue Ox", which is two eggs, hash browns, choice of meat and toast or biscuits. I ordered my eggs over easy with a side of bacon and white toast. It was the perfect pick-me-up that we needed to get through the drive home. The eggs were cooked perfect, and unlike most places up here in the UP, the eggs were actually seasoned. The bacon was cooked to a nice crisp and the hash browns were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Having to jump off of the highway to find a place to eat made me realize how many places in the UP we have not yet been to, and although we accidentally stumbled on this restaurant, it was amazing and we will have to explore the area more when we get the chance.

Sacy's Restaurant, Main Website

The Palace

For a long time, the Palace was the only Mexican restaurant that I craved in the Upper Peninsula. Even though we have had a few authentic places come and go here in Marquette, I still love the Palace. Last summer I had the opportunity to stop here while in town for the Paranormal Convention and it was as good as it ever was.

Like most Mexican restaurants, you get served chips and salsa for an appetizer while you wait for your main meal to come out. The salsa here has a great kick to it. There is less of an onion to tomato ratio which I love, and they leave the salsa in bigger chunks.

For an appetizer we ordered the blackberry coconut shrimp. These butterflied fried coconut shrimp are glazed with a blackberry dijon glaze, which is to die for! The glaze is really thick, but pairs really well with the coconut.

Also while waiting, I ordered the "Italian" Margarita. It was supposed to be using Jose Cuervo, Di Saronno, Amaretto and Midori. I am not a huge margarita girl to begin with but this, THIS was absolutely terrible. I don't know what I was thinking judging by the different types of alcohol being used but I saw the word Midori and wanted to try it. For this flavor combination, just pass.

For dinner, I ordered the Queso Chimichanga. This chicken stuffed tortilla is fried to a golden brown and smothered with Queso sauce. It is served on a bed of lettuce and with a side of Mexican rice and refried beans.

Dessert was hard to choose. I normally order sopapillas but they had something called Oreo Churros on the menu so my husband and I had to try them out. Delish! I don't know how we had any room left but these alone were worth coming here for.

The Palace may have changed some in the last 10 years that it had been since I ate there, but it is still amazing food with a great ambiance and hospitality. The menu has been upgraded and has become more sophisticated and hopefully this year when we return to Paracon we will have time to stop again. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

The Palace, Main Website
The Palace, Facebook Page

Bay Furnace Bagel Works

First of all, I have to say the city of Munising makes no sense to me. Let's take a place like Pizza Hut, a family style restaurant, granted not that good, but let's replace that with a bagel shop that is only open part of the year. I have to tip my hat on the fact that they got a building in such a great spot in the city, even though it obviously caters more to tourist season than year-round for the city residents itself.

The remodel was beautiful. Even though we came here in the end of August and the fourth-of-July decorations were still up, they definitely upgraded the looks since switching over from Pizza Hut. Everything was very clean and the bagels looked amazing in the display case.

I had high hopes when I ordered the special of the day, which was brisket with bacon, cheddar and chipotle sauce. Not only am I obsessed with bread and cheese in general, but you now just added bacon (which you have to be a communist or a vegetarian not to like) and cooked brisket, which why wouldn't I love a great piece of smoked meat on my bagel sandwich? And my favorite sauce to add to any sandwich is always a Southwest or Chipotle type of mayo. Wow did I set myself up for disappointment. The brisket was the consistency of shoe leather, which leads me to believe that maybe it was leftover from an item a few days old and that it was on the special because it was going to be thrown out soon. The bacon was barely cooked. I don't mind bacon that has some fat, or that isn't crunchy, but the actual meat part of the bacon better be cooked otherwise it has the consistency in your mouth of non-rendered fat. If the bagel was fresh then I am stumped. It had been toasted on the inside which is nice, but it was so chewy. I ended up leaving the cheese and sauce on the bagel and throwing the meat out. My husband ordered the same special, and although he ate it because he is like a human garbage disposal, he had the same concerns about the brisket and bagel consistency.

Clearly we either went here on a bad day, or all of the good things we heard were from locals hyping it up. Next time we stop I will try a simple coffee and bagel with butter. If it was just a fluke visit, I would love to come to a place like this while in town (if we are there before they close at an early 2PM) because I love fresh breads and bagels and a great cup of coffee. As it stands though, that sandwich special would have been a great gift for my dog. Greasy and very, very chewy. Not to mention, the woman who took our order and brought our bagels to the table was quite a rude one.

I tried to click on the link on their Facebook page for their main website to give you an idea of the menu, but it sent me to an error page. I'll post a picture that they have on their Facebook page for you of the menu from last year. Hopefully the site will be up and fixed before they open again for Munising's "busy" season.

Triangle Restaurant while chillin' in McMillan

While heading from Marquette towards the bridge, we wanted to stop somewhere for breakfast and desperately needed a sit down with real food, none of this sandwich from McDonald's business and then call it "breakfast" when you are still starving afterwords. My husband and his dad used to come here while on wrecker calls back when he had a towing business, and I have driven past it I don't know how many times so we decided to stop and try it out. 

The inside is pretty outdated. Judging by the cars in the lot, and the fact that most of them were large trucks, I expected it to be more of the old diner style. For the most part it at least seemed clean which is all that I usually care about. Our waitress was very kind and attentive, especially since our coffee cup seemed to diminish quite quickly that morning and she never let it empty. There were two tables that had other diners, who seemed to be locals, talking really loudly about local politics but it wasn't bothersome. We rather enjoyed listening to yooper local trash talk; it was pretty entertaining. 

I guess, judging from reviews and pictures on their Facebook page I was expecting a little bit more than what I received. I ordered the two eggs over-easy with hash browns and ham. Simple dish, nothing extravagant or crazy. I got about four bites out of the ham due to how the fat was marbled and my knife could barely cut through the fat. The hash browns, along with the eggs, were not at all seasoned with salt or pepper or any kind of seasoning to give the food flavor. I'm not scared by some runny whites still left around the egg yolks when I break into it with the toast but in this case it was almost too much for me. I just kept adding salt and pepper and at least finished the eggs.

I don't know what it is with these kinds of restaurants but the number one downfall in all of them, including this one, is that there is no simple seasoning with salt and pepper. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in restaurants (and every cooking show and Chef around the world will agree with this), NEEDS seasoning, on everything on the plate, and every step of the cooking process. The food was just bland, and under-impressive. Which is a shame because we are always driving by here. Maybe we will have to stop sometime at dinner time in the summer when the smoker is out. People seem to rave about it and hopefully since it is smoked meat, it will have some flavor.

Temaki and Tea

I have to admit, it has taken me a while to eat here. Even when I was going to Northern Michigan University (who runs the restaurant), I never ate here because I always had it in my head that all they had was sushi, which at the time I hadn't tried, nor do I really like fish. It is one of my mom's favorite restaurants in Marquette though, so my husband and I decided to try it out one night that she ordered it. We still haven't been inside the actual restaurant but we ordered takeout.

To try out a non- fish sushi, we ordered the Crunchy Shrimp Sushi. The shrimp is battered in tempura, with cucumber, avocado, green onion, and rolled in tempura crunchies and drizzled with teriyaki glaze. It really wasn't bad. I think I am just not a fan of seafood, but all of the other flavors went really well together. I am a huge shrimp fan and it was delicious with that tempura around it. I think had it not had the teriyaki glaze, I wouldn't have gone back for a second piece. And I love ginger, so of course I had a big piece of sushi ginger on my slice.

I ordered the Shanghai Peanut. It has fresh veggies, udon noodles, peanut sauce and choice of meat, which I chose chicken. Their noodle bowls are delicious. Anything usually has me if it is in a peanut or peanut butter sauce. There was also crushed peanuts and sliced green onion on top for a nice crunch.

Now that I have it out of my head that there is more than just sushi I will definitely order from here more often. Everything was visually simple and tasted very fresh. Definitely a good replacement for the Hardees that used to be in the building.

Rudy's "Country Store" Bar-B-Q

 

Please do not let the appearance of this restaurant from the outside fool you. GO INSIDE. It has a great Southern homey feeling with large community tables and picnic tables. Where we sat by the picnic tables, the windows on the wall are literally garage doors. It is filled with old metal signs and has TV's with different sports games on. If you subtracted the TV's it almost feels like you are eating at a BBQ in someone's backyard.

The menu is pretty straight forward. You walk through a line, pick up what beverage you want if it isn't from a fountain machine, any sides or desserts that are in the refrigerator part, and then order at the register. I ordered the half chicken with corn on the cob as a side. I was out of it while ordering, usually I'm not a huge fan of chicken on the bone because I am a stickler for chicken fat. My sister-in-law went back up to the window and ordered brisket for us to share and it was fantastic. They offer you bread, which you take, along with pickles and onions. They have homemade BBQ sauces on each table so I made myself a brisket sandwich. The smoke ring around this sliced meet was fantastic. I forgot to take a picture of the brisket but it was very juicy and packed with smokey flavor.

If I came back here I would try one of the sandwiches, like the pulled pork. Then it comes hassle free already in the bread for you.... Definitely worth the stop.

Rudy's BBQ, Killeen Menu

387 restaurant and beer parlor

Well, since Sydney's had been purchased by new owners and renamed, "renovated", and had a complete menu change, we had high hopes that it would be a better place to eat in Munising, Michigan. We first stopped here last spring in late May, and after having a not so spectacular experience, we decided to give it another try last month for Valentines Day. Both experiences were less than memorable.

For an appetizer, or as they call them "shareables", we ordered the boneless chicken wings. Now, correct me if I am wrong, especially by looking at that picture, but those are chicken tenders. They also have chicken tenders on the menu as a "shareable" so I am thinking maybe they just got our order confused. They weren't bad mind you, but all they were was deep fried chicken pieces with a side of ranch.

For lunch, my husband ordered the Whitefish Platter, which comes with a roll and choice of side dish. He said the fish wasn't bad and seasoned pretty well, but the mashed potatoes and gravy left something to be desired.

I ordered the 387 Specialty Burger, thinking that since it was named after the restaurant it must be pretty good. It is a patty on top of french fries smothered in a white cheese sauce (like Poutine), and topped with sauteed mushrooms. You get a choice of fries so I ordered the sweet potato fries, which were delicious. The mushrooms weren't from a can, thank god, and were seasoned really well. The white cheese Poutine sauce was super fresh, and one of the best cheese sauces I've had in the U.P. The burger, which I ordered medium, was not seasoned, the consistency of shoe leather, and the perfect frozen patty shape. They almost had a gold mine with this one! Why on earth, would you put a crappy burger like that, that literally tasted freezer burned, with everything else that is so delicious!?!?

When we went back on Valentines Day with two other family members and their young one, it wasn't looking so hot from the minute we walked in the door. It was around 5:30 PM and had it not been for the "open" sign, you wouldn't have even realized it was open. We were the ONLY people in the restaurant other than staff. Since we were supposed to get pretty bad weather we chalked it up to that and got seated in the bar area. When we left at about 7PM, there were two other tables that had come in since. That really is not a good sign. Now as for the service....

Other than the main menu, they had a few Valentines specials. Three of us went ahead and ordered the steak and side of pasta, but we all ordered different sides, pastas, and weird combinations. You are supposed to get a soup or salad first, but our waitress asked us all what kind of potato we wanted. We just figured maybe they forgot to put it on the printed out version and it came with the meal, so she took the rest of our order. One of us wanted the steak with a side of pasta with alfredo sauce, and two of us wanted the steak with the lasagna. She came back about 10 minutes later and finally said we were supposed to get a salad or soup, no potato, but that they would still be giving us the potato option free of charge. Two of us ordered salads and my husband ordered the broccoli cheese soup. The soup was the consistency of a condensed soup out of a can and looked terrible. He asked me if I wanted to try it, while glopping it on the spoon and letting it fall back into the bowl, but I opted out.

Our side salads came, and instead of a lettuce mix with veggies in it, or small amount of fresh cut veggies on top of a nice bed of lettuce, we got whole baby carrots, long onion strips and cut up cucumber which was fine, and large wedges of tomatoes. It was more like a veggies and dip tray than a salad but we all picked off of it and ate it regardless.

Finally, our main dishes came out. From the description of what we ordered I'm sure you can already see one main thing that is wrong here. One of us ordered the pasta with cheese sauce, and two ordered the lasagna. Somehow, we all ended up with the noodles but we were already an hour and a half in at this point and didn't feel like asking the waitress to fix it. The pasta sauce wasn't bad, and that was the only thing I ate fully on my plate. The steak cuts for everyone at the table were terrible. If you are going to charge anywhere near $25 for a steak dinner, you best make sure that the cut actually has meat on it. After dodging bones and cutting around fatty areas, I got a total of 5 bites of meat. The gravy on the meat was spectacular, but I think I could have butchered a better piece myself at home and certainly would not have paid over $12 for that plate of food we received.

To sum up 387, I'm not impressed. I'm sure the owners are nice, like everyone has told me, and the staff is nice, but nice people with inconsistent and not that great of food is an uneven combination that will only lead to nice people shutting down a disappointing restaurant. They need to train their staff better, get better ingredients to work with, and after they have fixed those problems, find a way to advertise more to fill the seats in the restaurant. The menu has amazing ideas that sound delicious, but they aren't being executed properly. If they are still open in the future, maybe we will stop in again and try it out but at this point, it is nowhere I would purposely choose to eat at.

387 Main Website

Taquerias Mexico

While down in Texas, I asked my sister-in-law to take me to one of her favorite Mexican restaurants. We stopped here after a long day driving to Dallas and back and I am so glad we did! It really hit the spot.

For an appetizer, we ordered the cheese sauce. This is one of my favorite things that I always order. I just can't help that ooey gooeyness of it all. The sauce was absolutely delicious when mixed in with the spicy salsa.

For dinner I ordered the chicken chimichanga. It came with a side of rice, refried beans, guacamole and sour cream. The shredded chicken mixture inside the chimichanga was delicious. The right amount of seasoning and the meat was really tender. The shell wasn't soggy after being fried, and everything was smothered in cheese sauce, which I also loved.

For dessert, I ordered one of my favorites, the sopapillas. Crunchy, drizzled with honey and chocolate sauce, and served with a side of whipped cream. Amazing, even though I barely had any room!

Although I didn't order the fried ice cream, there were three of these shared at the table. They probably all could have shared one! The phrase "as big as my head" is almost not even an exaggeration.

This restaurant was definitely a great place to have stopped. The food was amazing and the staff was really nice. The only downfall was that there was a woman sitting at a table close to us, purposely on her phone the entire time trying to find people to call, and literally screaming instead of talking, and also singing to herself. Other than the annoying lady, it was a great experience.

Shilo Restaurant

While visiting my sister-in-law down in Texas this past month, we stayed at the Shilo Inn Suites which is an absolutely amazing hotel. The pool was huge, they had an indoor AND outdoor hot tub (which for us Michiganders was amazing when it cooled down at night). It was a great place to stay. Not only that, but the number one rated restaurant in Killeen is the Shilo Restaurant in the hotel itself.

We ordered from here twice, the first time being room service, and racked up around $100 of food to share for 6 people. It was all amazing, but we were so hungry that I could have eaten shoe leather at that point. Finally, we had a chance to sit down in the restaurant.

For an appetizer, we ordered the fried pickles, which are my favorite just about everywhere I go for a starter. The breading, which looks thick, was very fluffy and instead of serving it with ranch dressing like everywhere else I've had them, they were served with a garlic aioli. I wish I could have bottled that aioli up and taken it home with me to mass produce it. It was delicious.

For dinner, I ordered the Top Sirloin and Shrimp Scampi. You had the choice of two different side dishes and I ordered the mac and cheese, and the mashed potatoes. The mac and cheese was the best homemade mac I've had. It was creamy, and whatever bechamel sauce they used was to die for. The mashed potatoes were soft and fluffy with the right amount of seasoning and i'm assuming cream. The shrimp was garlicky and full of flavor and fresh herbs and went great with a bite of steak.

My steak came out amazing. Oh my goodness. Not only was it still very juicy, but I ordered it medium and it came out perfectly. The butter herb sauce on top kept it moist and flavorful (because melted butter always makes things taste so much better....) and every bite I had was as good as the last.

This meal, overall, was amazing. The food was all cooked perfectly. We had crabby children at the table with us and our waiter was so kind and helpful. The food itself looked as pretty as all of the pictures they took professionally on their website. It was literally a picture perfect meal.

Shilo Restaurant, Main Website