Hotdogs are Ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
Hungry? My, oh my, did you come to the right town! Now just let yer’ belt out a notch, sit yer’self down, and check out these comestibles, my friends. Hot Dogs? Yeah, we got ‘em. You gotch’er hot dog special down at Bear Paw Pizza and Subs, just look at this picture! He quaffed that weinie in jist’ about one bite!

Or ‘round the corner next to the T’nT Video, Bill Thompson set up his Dune Dogs wagon and serves Genuine Chicago Style Hotdogs with tomatoes, picalilly, onions, peppers, mustard, a pickle and a secret ingredient Bill won’t divulge till his last dyin’ breath! Vienna style, poppyseed buns, the works! (And the hot dog is excellent, too!) They’ve also got kiddy hotdogs on the corner at Boonedocks. And Bob Ewing says their specialty Boonedocks Backyard Burgers are a hit this summer, lots’a choices of styles and sauces. He serves up some fine marinated pork chips, too, and steaks, and try an order of Axe-Handles, breaded sourdough sticks stuffed with mozzarella. They got live music in the evenings there, too. Across the street the Good Harbor Grill is known fer’ their sandwiches and chilis, but especially fruit & cheddar salad, and a healthy Italian seafood soup called Cioppino, great salad and bread, and if yer’ up early they got Crab Cake Benedict for breakfast. You’ll be walkin’ outta there sideways with a smile on YER’ face.
What about Art’s, you say? His burger specials are also notoriously special, along with whitefish burgers and whitefish dip (no need to go to Leland for whitefish, friends, none.) And Wednesdays are Chicken Jalapeno Soup Day at Art’s, and hardly anybody misses that. Oh, I forgot to tell ya’ that the Bear Paw’s got pizza and subs besides hotdogs, too. Along with the usual Supreme there’s the Carnivora for the meat freaks and the Hula Bear with a Hawaiian touch. Or subs like the Teeth Clicker (Italian) or the Bear Club, it’s wide and ample and guaranteed to lead to either hibernation or at least an afternoon nap.
Then there’s the Western Avenue Grill, fine dining and lots’a choices too, just look at the menu in their ad in this paper. Why a family jist’ cain’t go wrong at the WAG! On up the street from there is Snuffy’s, with chicken or seafood in or out, dinners, buckets, orders large and small, Shrimp, Clams, Cod, Smelt, they got a weinie and fries fer’ less than two bucks, and hand-dipped onion rings people can’t git’ enough of! Across from there is Riverfront, where the two Sue’s have outstanding roll-ups and salads for lunch, and Tim throws some dough and makes super supper pizzas — I’m kinda partial to the Greek, myself, with arty’choke hearts and olives and feta and pine nuts, I tell’ya, just order a large so there’ll be extra for zappini for breakfast in the toaster oven the next couple days!
Speakiní of breakfast, cruise around the lake on 616 to the Foothills Restaurant, a breakfast/lunch specialty shop open 7 — 3 all but Monday. Don’s got new Southern Omelettes to go with the leviticously and deuteronomously popular Eggs Benedict, and he says he sells a ton of Reubens, too!
Keep on goin’ round the lake and you come to Burdickville, where two of the most elegant inns of evening eatery anywhere are almost adjacent: La Becasse and Trattoria Funistrada. The legendary La Becasse features fine French country style culinary delights like a Portabello Timbale with Shiitake Mushroom sauce as an appetizer, earthy and delectable entrees like Sauteed Escalapes of Veal with Lemon Caper Sauce, Grilled Tenderloin of Lamb with Basil Sauce, or Grilled Filet Mignon of Beef with Roquefort Demi-glace. There is an extensive wine list, and a dessert made by Peachy herself of White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce that ought’ta be illegal for anyone not yet sexually active! Better get a reservation.
You’ll also need a reservation for Trattoria Funistrada, with contemporary Italian cuisine creatively contrived by Tom and Holly Reay. Try the asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto to start with, or the steamed and liberally garlicked mussels. Then move on to some amazing pasta concoctions with melon or sardine or clam highlights in winey and creamy sauces, pepper encrusted steak filets, fresh off the pier sea bass, all washed down with a bold, flamboyant Chianti, and save room for the Panicotta for dessert, a creamy concoction so good itís just plain naughty. Tom and Holly make food my Italian friend Joan from New Jersey says is just “To Die Foah!”
You might be thinkin’ to go to the Glen Lake Narrows for ice cream for dessert, and you still can get it at Little Bear, but know that they have genuine original Broasted Chicken there too, and a Cherry Chicken Salad that may be magnetized it brings folks in from so far away, and subs and sandwiches, too, and breakfast if, like I said, you get up early enough. They’ll cater parties and have rotisserie chickens hot and ready every afternoon!
Gotch’er mouth to waterin’, did I? Good. You came to the right town, a town where you can eat out every meal of every day you stay here and never be dissatisfied. And when you do, please mention this article, so that when I’m penniless and hungry next winter I’ll have a little leverage! Much obliged.