Huron Mountain Bakery of Ishpeming

I was a huge fan of Peggy Sue's, a restaurant that used to serve up home-style cooked meals and breakfast all day. When the "For Sale" sign was in the window it used to make me sad, but when I had learned that Huron Mountain bakery had purchased the building to make a larger store up here in Ishpeming, the blow of Peggy Sue's closing was lessened. A full renovation in fall of 2014 completely changed the look and appeal of what used to be a somewhat eye sore. They are now equipped with a refrigeration unit, so along with all of the baked goods that they carried before, they now serve the same products as the Marquette store. Or do they?

The Ishpeming location, and only the Ishpeming location (for now), is offering wood-fired pizza in their new wood oven. They have only been offering pizzas for about a week now, and my husband was smart enough, I mean, gracious enough to pick two up on his way home from work a few days ago. Although I was sicker than a dog, I made myself try both of the kinds that he brought home, and I'm glad I did.

One of the pizzas that he brought home was the BLT pizza. There were layers of colorful tomatoes, cheese, crunchy bacon, shredded lettuce and homemade garlic aioli. I loved the sweetness of the tomato with the crunch of the lettuce and bacon.

One of my FAVORITE type of pizza is the Margherita pizza. I am a pretty big critic of this one, since it is one of my favorites, but the flavors were all there. There was a thin layer of tomato sauce, whole fresh basil leaves, and thinly sliced scattered melted fresh Mozzarella. The only thing I would have changed, or wished more of, was the Mozzarella cheese.

And of course, to end the meal on a sweet note, an M&M Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Now they have many amazing goodies at Huron, such as bread that you can eat by the whole loaf full, muffins, doughnuts, pastries, cookies etc. Some of my favorites are the spinach and feta stuffed crescents.....but those we will save for another blog post. You definitely need to try out the new pizza at Huron in Ishpeming. The fresh ingredients and wood oven makes the pizza taste like you made it at home in your own kitchen.

I haven't been able to find an online menu for the pizza, but a link to their main website and Facebook page is below:

Huron Mountain Bakery

Huron Mountain Bakery, Facebook

Stuckos Pub and Grill

Mike and Sonia Stucko opened up Stucko's Pub and Grill on July 5 (which also happens to be my Birthday) in 2006. Originally built as a Shell gas station, they wanted to keep the history of the restaurant in tact, as you can tell by the old picnic tables that they use as wall decor. In recent years, they have added a large cooler out back to hold the 11 beers that they serve on tap, along with an outdoor seating area and a facelift on the outside. The menu, which keeps evolving as does the restaurant itself, offers many different choices such as homemade BBQ, fish, Mexican, Wraps, Burgers, Wings and so much more. I had not been back to Stucko's since it was renovated, in fact it has been about 4 years since I had been there.

The best looking appetizer on the menu was the Spinach and Artichoke dip. The consistency was creamy and smooth, with a few large pieces of artichoke thrown in there. Instead of piling heaping portions of grated Parmesan on top, they added shaved Parmesan that melted slightly. The dip was amazing, as was the side salsa that came with it.

Our waitress (one of 3 that randomly came to the table, I'm not sure which one was our real waitress) told us about a special, and described the wrap as follows... "has homemade black bean hummus, grilled chicken, mixed grilled vegetables and cheese". Sounding amazing, my husband and I both ordered it. I almost had my mom convinced to order it, but here is why I am glad that she didn't; it was spicy. Not the "I can't even swallow this because my tongue is numb" spicy, but spicy nonetheless. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy or love the flavors, but it would have been nice to know it was going to have a huge kick to it, because I would have ordered another drink!

Having not been back for a few years, I am glad we decided to go there. The food was good, and we went early enough in the evening that the noise level was down and it wasn't overly crowded yet. This is a must stop if you are in the area or going out to the bar to watch a game. The portions are huge, and the drinks are never ending. Check out their website and Facebook page at the links below!

Stucko's Website

Stucko's, Facebook Page

Big Boy of Manistique

I know that this is a chain restaurant and I don't do very many reviews for those, but this was probably the best meal I have ever had at a Big Boy. I grew up in Marquette, MI that has a Big Boy, but I think I ate there maybe twice as far as I can remember. While in Manistique for a hockey tournament, we stopped there for "Brunch". Everyone else at the table got the breakfast buffet, but I can't stand buffet's so I ordered off of the breakfast menu.

I wanted to get something on the lighter side. I ordered the "Sunrise Slim Jim". The thin sesame roll was filled with lean ham, melted Swiss cheese, an over-hard egg, and a "special sauce". It was DELICIOUS. I ordered a side of hash browns, and I guess had I ordered a fruit cup it wouldn't have been terribly bad for you (I'm a sucker for potatoes). Considering I didn't get the breakfast buffet and multiple plates of food, it would be considered healthier....

While at any Big Boy location, if you are getting breakfast, this is something that won't disappoint. It fills you up without wishing you wouldn't have eaten so much, and one of the lighter choices for breakfast. Below is a link to their main Website ( I couldn't find a Facebook page for the one in Manistique).

Big Boy, 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

The Up North Lodge

The history on how the Up North Lodge got created is new to me, since I have always known it as the Up North Lodge and nothing else. In the early 1960s the Gimese's used to run a hot dog and cocoa shop through a place called The Red Horse Ranch. In 1973 they expanded and built a bigger building that included 13 hotel rooms, restaurant and tavern. In 1998 it was purchased by the Searle's and renamed The Up North Lodge. Although a fire in 2005 ruined the structure of the building, within a year they rebuilt and opened back up in 2006 with a new location right on County Road 557.

Their menu consists of what I like to call "classic comforts". All of the usual favorites, such as steaks, sandwiches, pasta, burgers and fish can be found on the menu. They have a few choices that are unexpected, such as the Crab Stuffed Ravioli, Parmesan Crusted Cod and the Guacamole Bacon Burger. But what they are mainly known for is their "almost" world famous BBQ ribs.

For dinner, I ordered the grilled chicken breast with dill seasoning, and a side of pasta. The chicken was perfectly cooked, seasoned, and looked amazing right down to the grill marks. The side pasta had butter, Parmesan cheese and herbs. It was a great compliment to the chicken. I also happened to capture a few pictures of what other people ordered, including the ribs (which I have had before, and they are some of the best in the U.P.!).

("Almost" Famous BBQ Ribs)

(Beer Battered Fish)

(Grilled Whitefish)

If nothing else, come here to try the ribs (if not a Bloody Mary that comes with half of a burger, onion rings, pickle etc on top). Although the menu hardly changes, the food is always worth it, and the staff always makes you feel at home.

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

The Up North Lodge

The Up North Lodge, Facebook Page

The Pasta Shop

Have a hankering for some fresh pasta? The Pasta Shop in Marquette, Michigan is my number one spot for local, fresh pasta. I have been a frequent visitor of this restaurant since I was in middle school (over 15 years ago...yikes!). Not only am I thrilled that they offer fresh pasta (and that you can buy it to take home and make creations of your own), but this is the only Italian place around that doesn't seem overly greasy to me. Nothing is doused in olive oil, and the amount of sauce used in the pasta dishes is enough to coat the pasta, not make it swim. There were four of us that stopped to get dinner here, and since I have literally eaten every dish that was ordered in previous visits, I am going to describe all of them.

The amazing mouth-watering pizza bread. This is one of the best pizza breads I have ever had. The white soft fluffy bread is coated with a thin layer of sauce, topped with pepperoni and smothered in cheese. I recently found out that the bread is from Togo's, a local sub shop that makes the bread fresh every day!

Two great pasta dishes are the cheese and meat ravioli. Each ravioli pocket is packed full with filling. The cheese ravioli is one of my personal favorites on the menu. You can't go wrong with mix and matching the types of ravioli to the sauces they can be tossed in. Each and every combination works and is just as amazing as the next.

The pasta with chicken is always a great choice. The chicken is a nice golden brown before tossed in with the pasta. This combination is the fettuccine with cheese sauce, and also topped with grated Parmesan and herbs. 

 And now, for MY ultimate favorite of all time.....the Pasta Primavera! Starting of course with the homemade pasta, coated with the Alfredo sauce and mixed with broccoli, carrots and cauliflower. Yum!

No matter what you get on the menu, or whether you eat in the tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant or get takeout, you will NOT be disappointed in choosing the Pasta Shop. A link to their main website that lists the menu, and to their Facebook page is below.

The Pasta Shop

The Pasta Shop, Facebook Page

Trip to Green Bay, January 2015

Those of you that know me, know that I am a proud "fairy godmother" (godmother) to a handsome little boy in Wisconsin. We took a trip to visit him and his mom who is my lifetime best friend (literally friends since babies) to celebrate Christmas, and instead of posting my restaurant experiences separately, I am going to combine them all into one food packed mouth watering blog post.

On the way down, we stopped for a late lunch at Storheim's Restaurant in Iron Mountain, MI. In the past 10 years I have been to Iron Mountain many times and had always wanted to stop there. The slightly ironic part, which I would find out later, is that the Storheim's in Iron Mountain was started because of a frozen custard place called Storheim's in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The owners of of the Iron Mountain restaurant over the years got to know Ray Kern, the founder of Storheim's in Green Bay. A friendship was created and a suggestion to open up a branch in Michigan was set in motion. They have been in the service industry for 15 years now, and has also opened up "Pizza Pete" using their own personal pizza recipe, and "Taste of Sweden", which was created from family recipes that they have eaten while growing up.

My husband and I ordered the BLT wrap (I ordered mine without mayo). They were great! Everything was fresh, the bacon was crispy, and there was just enough sauce to where the whole thing didn't become one big soggy mess. I ordered the cheese curds instead of fries (they were okay, not the best kind of cheese curds and had too much breading). My husband ordered the crinkle fries, which I loved because they weren't greasy and over salted like most places do. There are many many mixed reviews on this place. Most of the negative comments are that it is a knock-off of Culver's, which if you read above, is not the case. I myself thought it was great and had many fresh options to choose from, and I will definitely be back again. Hopefully around breakfast time since I love potato pancakes!

The hotel that we always stay at while visiting in Green Bay is the Quality Inn and Suites, located in the Downtown area. He have never ventured around the hotel to explore, but we found a place that the kitchen was open till 11 PM and since it was already late we decided to go there. The Fox Harbor Pub and Grill is actually located directly across from our hotel. The building was gorgeous. While reading a plaque on the wall, we realized it was an old hotel converted into a bar/restaurant. The only problem we had with the atmosphere, is the noise factor. Yes, I know, it's a bar, and we were technically there during bar hours. Nowhere in the rules of owning a bar does it say that you have to blare the music so loud that you can't hear the person talking next to you. And we couldn't, we attempted a few times to talk to each other but gave up because it was just too loud.

While in the cheesy city, I had to order one of my favorite appetizer items of all time; cheese curds, made with Wisconsin cheese. They were some of the best cheese curds I have ever had!

I ordered the chicken fajita wrap. The chicken and veggie mixture was spicy, but not so hot that my mouth was on fire. The meat was cooked perfectly and there was no chicken fat to be found. It was slightly on the saucy side, but that's really the only complaint that I could come up with. The wrap was delicious. If we were to go back, I would go during lunch or early dinner time to where hopefully it wasn't so loud, because the food is definitely worth going back for.

For lunch the following day (which of course we hit 12 PM exactly during rush hour on a weekend with a Packer game), we stopped at Red Robin for a bite to eat. Even though the place was packed, we only waited about 15 minutes to get a table, which wasn't bad considering the line of people waiting to get seated.

My husband ordered the strawberry lemonade which I had to take a picture of because it was in an awesome glass, and very refreshing I might add. For an appetizer we got the pretzel bites with a beer cheese dip. I wish I could have asked for the sauce recipe because it was good enough to drink by the bottle. We were starved, and they didn't last long on the table.

We both ordered the bruschetta chicken "burger", that was topped with bruschetta salsa, pesto aioli, melted provolone, romaine and balsamic cream all stuffed into a ciabatta bun. For our side, we tried the new garlic Parmesan fries. Yum! The sandwich was juicy and the fries were salty and cheesy. A great choice for a mid-day meal.

The last meal we ate before backing up our bags to head back to the UP the following morning, was Polito's pizza, located just down the street from our hotel. We got our food to go so that we could enjoy it from the hotel room (and jump in the pool with my godson after eating). Should have known the pizza would be good when reading that the family that opened up the restaurant was from Sicily. A man named Phillip Polito opened his first pizzeria in Brooklyn, New York, and in 2007 opened the first branch in Wisconsin. It wasn't until more recently that they opened up a location in downtown Green bay, and I'm glad they did!

For a couple "sides" so to speak, we ordered the garlic knots and the wings. The wings that we ordered were coated in a Pineapple BBQ sauce that was finger-licking good.

I asked my godson before we ordered what his favorite kind of pizza was, and his answer was "mac and cheese and pepperoni", so by golly that's what we ordered. The Macaroni & Cheese pizza (with pepperoni on top) was one of the weirdest combinations, and only because it actually worked. If you get the opportunity to order pizza from here, try it out and you won't be disappointed. Another one of my favorite pizza's is the Tomato Basil. Although I wish it would have had fresh basil chopped up and put on top, the dried stuff wasn't terrible. And the combination of the dried basil and tomato with all of the melted cheese made for a good choice.

Overall, the mini vacation to Green Bay was packed with amazing food and it is nice to have such a wide range of cuisine. Next time we visit I would like to try out some of the more exotic food choices rather than Italian and chain restaurants. A link to all of the above restaurants are below:

Storheim's Restaurant

Fox Harbor Pub and Grill

Red Robin

Polito's Pizza