The Duck Pond

Trail's Best is now a thing of the past, and The Duck Pond is very welcome with open arms. What a transition! I was only here twice before when it was a dingy bar, and one of those times I literally opened the door, got grossed out by the cleanliness of the bar and old creepy locals, and turned around and walked out. Now it is a total transformation! The bar is clean, trendy, and attracts all different types of people. I was here out of season for the U.P., but there is also a "beer garden" which in the nicer months offers a fire pit, stage for local bands, and a TV for sporting events. The menu, although not huge by all means, gives you a wide range of options such as smoked whitefish dip, to pizza, to BBQ sandwiches.

My husband and I stopped here on a very rainy gloomy day and were starved. We ordered a half order of boneless wings coated in the Honey Red Adobo sauce. They were cooked to perfection, had a sweet note with the honey, followed by a great kick with the pepper and adobo.

I ordered the Canvas Back sandwich for lunch. It was packed with smoked ham, turkey, perfectly cooked bacon, lettuce, tomato and a garlic mayo. The garlic mayo made this sandwich be elevated to an entire new level. I also ordered the sweet potato tots instead of fries for a side dish and they, as odd as this sounds, were adorable, and of course tasted delicious.

The restaurants in this area all might as well disappear if the Duck Pond can keep up the great work. No offence to the casino or to Foggy's....but there is no comparison as far as I am concerned. This place has fresh, great quality food that tasted as fresh as the ingredients are. That really doesn't compete with mostly frozen foods with jacked up prices. I look forward to watching this place take off even further!

The Duck Pond, Main Website

Foggy's Steakhouse

Foggy's Steakhouse which is located right off of the highway in Christmas, Michigan, is a hoppin' place to be in the winter, especially during snowmobile season. I find myself eating at Foggy's at least once every few months. It is not for the atmosphere, or the quality of staff (which is always a hit or miss), it is for the food. With as many times in the last 7 1/2 years that I have been there, I have only once had a bad plate of food. From pizza, to steak, to seafood and even Mexican food, stopping to eat here is worth it.

For an appetizer we of course ordered the cheese curds (I don't know if you are starting to see a pattern in my blog posts, but they happen to be my favorite appetizer, ever). There isn't a whole lot to say about them, other than that they are beer battered and fried to a perfect golden brown.

Almost 90% of the time that we eat here, I get the Wet Burrito. I am a lover of almost all that is Ameri-Mexican, and this burrito hits the spot. The tortilla is packed with seasoned beef, slathered in gooey melted cheese, and topped with a heap of lettuce and tomato. This particular time I didn't get offered the sour cream, but it also comes with salsa. And almost as big as the burrito, is the side of chips that come with it. I would say it's too big to finish, but I usually manage just fine!

Foggy's has great potential. The food is amazing, but the ownership attentiveness and quality in service is very lacking. Family businesses almost always lead to having potential problems on differences in how to run the business (I also work in one), but between both brothers it is as opposite as night and day. One wants to see the business do well and spends time trying to make it better, while the other one likes to walk around looking busy and collect a paycheck (not to mention, almost caused 3 collisions with waitresses carrying a tray of food because he wasn't paying attention). I hope that they can get their "stuff" together, because the food is there, they just need the rest of the restaurant experience to start following in the same quality.

A link to their Facebook page and main website are below:

Foggy's, Facebook Page

Foggy's Website