A memorable meal at North

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor

You smell the Seafood Stew just inside the door, and the hunger you brought now grips you in earnest. The conversations from the various rooms, the clinking of glasses, the whooshing of waiters in and out of the adjacent kitchen doors, and tonight’s hostess Janice Fink, all welcome you into the cozy house that is the classic county restaurant North.

Manager Nick Vanden Belt and Chef Greg Murphy have been perfecting this dining experience for a few years now, so everything unfolds with a practiced nonchalance. My wife Mimi, the chocolate-crafter of Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate and a true “foodie” with impeccable taste, accompanies me. She will help me sample, savor, evaluate and describe the night’s offerings from the kitchen of renowned culinary artist Greg Murphy. I am not an experienced food critic with a super-discerning, cynical tongue, but I always read “Tables for Two” in The New Yorker, and a worn copy of Jim Harrison’s “The Raw & the Cooked” is tucked in the shelf next to my bed to ameliorate late-night munchies. Not exactly impeccable credentials, but they’ll do.

Mike seats us by a window into the bar, and we discover immediately that the menu has a little bit of everything. People are looking for affordable, good food, and North has many “tender prices for tough times.” There are multiple choices among the appetizers, soups, salads and desserts for $5, and there are tempting specials among the entrees for $15. On Sundays and Mondays you can get dinner and a glass of wine for $19.95!

Mimi is choosing a bottle of 2005 Zolo “Cab”, a bold red from Argentina (for under $30), while I peruse the appetizers. Bruschetta, Shrimp & Crab Cake, Gnocchi, Clams, Lamb Tenderloin and the obligatory Smoked Whitefish Dip are all good choices. I go for the earthy, rustic venison and duck Country Pate’ studded with pistachios and black trumpet mushrooms. It comes with an assortment of outstanding relishes so you can build little mountains on crackers and get your hands busy right away.

We like to trade about half way through each course, so I soon get Mimi’s Pheasant Foie Gras Pierogies. These morsels come in a black currant demi-glaze that is smoky and fruity with lightly sautéed apple slices. The pheasant within is luscious, tender, and delicate. The complexity of flavors transports you into October: you walk in the tall grass of an apple orchard, the rooster pheasant crows and you glimpse the white ring around his neck as he disappears into the edge of the woods, the waft of the smoldering leaf fire from the next farm (the retired guy who has time to rake) leading you down the hill. Just as mesmerizing is the smell of the bread, an important and often scrimped aspect of a fine dinner. At North the bread is homemade, with a lovely light crust, served warm with sweet whipped butter. The Zolo is the perfect compliment and palette purifier, and now the narrative arc of our meal is moving into the rising action.

The soups and salads are all excellent and inexpensive. Greg Murphy uses the best produce he can find locally, as he has for 20 years. He aims to help local businesses, so all of the Leelanau County vineyards are represented on the wine list, and 90 percent of the produce comes from the local Meadowlark CSA. He works fresh snap peas or purple cauliflower into the salads and side dishes at every turn. There is Tomato, Bibb, Caesar, or Mixed Green salad, and Gazpacho, Broccoli, Roasted Onion & Tomato and Seafood Stew among the soups. We share a fine, fresh Bibb salad as our anticipation for the entrees builds.

This lingering glow between salad and main course may be the best part of the meal. The conversation rambles and swings: How is the new hazelnut truffle selling? Who is that woman sitting behind you, she looks familiar, but don’t just turn around! Has anyone rsvp-ed that they’re coming to our picnic next week? Will either of our busy grown children get around to having babies? Oh look, those guys are having the Lobster & Clam Pasta with Tomato and Saffron Sauce. Sure smells good!

North has a wide-ranging list of entrees. There’s a Karubi Pork Chop, Beef Tips, Filet Mignon and Top Sirloin, or Ahi Tuna, Hawaiian Hapoha, Sea Scallops, Chicken Strudel, a couple of pastas, a burger, a Whitefish & Seafood Cake. It’s difficult to choose, and you realize after the appetizers that you can’t go wrong.

Mimi is delighted by her Lamb & Risotto. It comes in a big bowl with green beans and corn on the side. The incredible “sooo-tender” lamb galumps right into your mouth. The risotto is soft, vigorous and filling, with a lovely melted cheese and a garnish of parsley, tomato, and scallion.

I am wild about the Seafood Stew. Big chunks of scallops, lobster, shrimp and clams, with some potato, tomato and scallion, all float in a rich, creamy, buttery sauce that is so good you are forced to use the bread you didn’t think you’d eat to sop up the last of the juices. Greg Murphy has always been a master of delicious sauces. This one is a liquid epiphany. You close your eyes to capture the beauty of it, and suddenly you’re transported to a hot, lazy island in the Caribbean, where waves plash over the coral reef off shore, the susurrus of salt air redolent with kelp eases over the pier where a schooner knocks against the dock and an old man carrying a wind-whipped sail furled around a short mast shuffles slowly down the beach toward the grass huts in the palm trees. How does Murph concoct flavors that take you to places like that??

It must be years of experience coupled with sheer genius. Greg’s grandmother was related to Mark Twain, and like that author, Murph’s food is practical, perfectly balanced, clever, astonishing, always earthy, and full of surprises. There is a brightness to a Greg Murphy meal, an aura of accomplishment, and a lasting satisfaction.

Already full, we grin on into dessert with our last sips of Zolo. Tonight we choose the Berry Crisp, and it arrives in a tilted elliptical-oval bowl. The strawberry rhubarb cobbler is elegantly tossed with blueberries and garnished with spears of mint leaves. It is positively bursting with flavor, and the bold, fruity tang is the perfectly refreshing way to tamp down an outstanding dinner.

Greg Murphy, Nick Vanden Belt, and the experienced staff at North manage to provide a dining experience that has gourmet appeal while serving “what people want.” The portions are ample, the prices are affordable, and the service is great. The building next door will also soon open as the Northstore, a fine convenience stop featuring sandwiches, pies, feta, whitefish dips, and a “challah” bread that Greg says makes the best toast you ever had. It’s rich and moist “like Grandma’s roles!” North is open daily at 5 p.m. For reservations call (231) 228-5060, or visit their website at northcl.com.