The Sleeping Bear Ale Trail celebrates half a dozen (relatively) new breweries along the M-22 and US-31 corridors in Leelanau and Benzie counties. Patrons could foreseeably visit all six over the course of a weekend. The Ale Trail complement’s the region’s already well-established wine tourism pilgrimages and traditional drinking holes.
Sometime within the next few months, Cedar Rustic Inn will officially adopt the name Big Cat Brewing Company, as owners Aaron and Nikki Ackley transition their cozy, popular restaurant just north of Cedar into a brewpub. The metamorphosis has been five years in the making, as chef Aaron became more interested in microbrews and decided he wanted to broaden the restaurant’s appeal to also include the millennials and young professionals who have grown more visible in the Traverse City region.
Cedar Rustic Inn owners Aaron and Nikki Ackley are itching for a change. Not a huge change, like leaving the restaurant business altogether, but a transition of Cedar Rustic Inn from American comfort to brew pub. This idea, said Aaron, has been in the works for at least three years.
It’s cold and dark in the north country, and the cheery onslaught of tourists is many months away. But those of us who stick around through the winter still deserve to eat, and eat well. Thanks to a bevy of deals and discounts offered at local restaurants, we shall not starve.
Just in time for the holidays, Cedar merchants have made changes that will bring comfort and joy to area shoppers this season. The most noticeable difference in the village, as of last month, is the creation of additional parking at Bunting’s Cedar Market. Manager Bill Bailey said owner Greg Bunting decided to raze a rental home on property he owned next to the grocery store and use the space to increase the store’s parking spots to approximately 35.
When you walk through the dining room at the Cedar Rustic Inn (by the blinker just north of Cedar) on a warm evening, you pass through the back door into a cozy and charming courtyard that is shaded with umbrellas amid young maples and birch trees surrounded by tomato and lima bean plants, peonies, hydrangeas, and flower baskets mounted on the wood walls. If it’s a Wednesday night you’ll probably see Bob Smith of Glen Arbor sucking on his fingers as he polishes off the full rack of ribs. (He claims that some of his charter-fishing customers from Florida recently brought some of those leftover ribs out on the Mariah for their lunch. When they threw the bones over the side it must have attracted the salmon, because the next several fish they caught had rib bones in their mouths! But that’s a fish story.)
When a line forms in front of the window at Cedar’s corner ice cream stand, summer isn’t far behind. (Let’s hope it orders a Blue Moon, not a Flurry.) It’s mid-June, and the shelves and kitchen cupboards of local businesses hold some surprises. The Sun caught up with some owners and managers and asked them to share what’s new. Their replies might whet your appetite and kickstart your summer shopping.
On Lake Street in Glen Arbor, clusters of friends, fresh off a motorcoach, made their way south along the sidewalk. Some paused to browse at shops. Others ambled slowly toward a destination — a trio of wooden buildings known as “world headquarters for all things cherry.”
Blend an artist’s vision, a chef’s craft, and an entrepreneur’s spirit. Season with family collaboration and community support. The result is Cedar’s long-awaited family restaurant which, when paired with a gold medal-winning winery, lingers deliciously on the palate.