In advance of our random family trip to Grand Rapids this past weekend, I’d researched a couple of different things about the food scene there. The first was that the food in the city – second biggest population in Michigan after Detroit – had come a long way. The second was: so what? Most folks conceded that even the city’s best dining offerings were hit or miss, even the higher-end offerings such as tapas or seafood, and the closer you came to a sure-thing the higher the prices went.
The latter choices were out of the question, since we had the kids, but we admittedly did end up with great sandwiches for dinner at the crunchy Marie Catrib’s. As for such no-brainer staples as ice cream and breakfast, however, the universally praised Real Food was a bustling but run-of-the-mill bust with flavorless midwest coffee and generic pile o’ food entrees, while the packed Jersey Junction offered unexceptional scoops at odds with the enthusiasm of the clientele.
Fortunately the third thing I’d learned about dining in Grand Rapids was that the best offerings were much further west, in or around the popular weekend home hubs New Buffalo, Saugatuk, Douglas and Michigan City. Indeed, the mysteriously named Stop 50 offered wood-fired pizza nearly on par with our Neopolitan favorites in Chicago, Coalfire and Spacca Napoli, with the asparagus and prosciutto with rosemary pizza among the best pies we’d had in recent memory. And speaking of pie, no trip to the area is complete without at stop at Crane’s Pie Pantry , where a whole fruit pie sets you back a mere $13, a bargain compared to the admittedly artistan Hoosier Mama Pie Company (as far as I’m concerned the only great pie Chicago has to offer). We’ve only half worried how we’re going to go through the huge cherry cobbler we bought.
Both Crane’s and Stop 50 are more than an hour closer to Chicago than Grand Rapids, and while there was more to GR than just food (including a fine Public Museum and a nice Children’s Museum; we passed on the Gerald Ford Museum), I have a hunch were the food offerings stronger we might have stayed a second night, rather than packing up and checking out early to return home and make the most of the holiday. Which, it should be said, has on the docket three barbecues: one birthday party, one pot-luck, and one honest to goodness pig roast. That one might be worth a photo.
