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Brandon Chamberlain heralds a new generation at Blu

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The Chamberlains knew change was in the air. After owning and operating the fine dining restaurant Blu on the shore of Lake Michigan in Glen Arbor for 16 years, Randy and Mari Chamberlain decided the time was right, and last spring they turned the business over to son Brandon. He was ready, though a bit surprised at the timing. “I thought they were going to be here longer,” Brandon says. A 20-year veteran of the restaurant industry, he had worked his way up from busing tables at age 16 to now taking over the flagship restaurant Randy and Mari had made into a local institution.

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Glen Lake Restaurant Week celebrates 10 years: founders Randy and Mari Chamberlain announce retirement from Blu

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Glen Lake Restaurant Week, which runs April 26-May 4 and offers diverse culinary options and special prices at restaurants throughout the Glen Arbor region, started with a simple idea proposed by Blu owners Randy and Mari Chamberlain more than a decade ago: why not hold an event in the spring that brings more commerce to the region during the off-season? “I raised my hand, suggested a restaurant week for Glen Arbor, and they nominated me as chairman,” said Randy. “It’s been a nice springboard for us every year. Now we’re nearly fully staffed from Restaurant week through October. It’s been fun to watch the success.” The Chamberlains recently announced their retirement from Blu, effective April 1, with son Brandon taking over as the new owner. Chef Todd M Thompson will manage the kitchen. Thompson and Randy have worked together since the 1990s. Blu reopened for the season on April 12.

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Essential workers, earthquakes, and a chef’s support

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Randy Chamberlain is well-known as an innovative chef. His experience at multiple restaurants around the region led to his establishing the fine dining experience, Blu, on the water in Glen Arbor. Running a successful restaurant requires a dedicated staff. Like virtually every other restaurant, the Chamberlains have scrambled to find enough workers. They eventually opted to hire foreign workers to make up for the shortfall, much like others before them in the hospitality industry. One of those workers, Süleyman Kanal, returned to his home in Turkey after working at both Boonedocks and Blu last summer, with plans to come back to work here this summer. But the massive earthquake that struck his home country in February changed everything. “His father is a furniture maker, and his shop was gone. Their home was gone. They had to dig through the rubble for mementos.” said Chamberlain, who began a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the Kanal family. Click here to read the story and for a link to the campaign.

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Blu reopens dining room for first time in 13 months as Glen Lake Restaurant Week begins

Blu chef and co-owner Randy Chamberlain wrote on his Facebook page that he and Mari will reopen their dining room, at 50 percent capacity, on Friday, April 23, for the first time since COVID officially arrived in Michigan in March 2020. The opening date is timed to coincided with Glen Lake Restaurant Week, which runs April 23 until May 1.

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Terry Conger and TC Butchering find a harvest home

“I’ve always made a living with a knife,” says Terry Conger of TC Butchering. He has sharpened his skills over a long, self-directed apprenticeship that included prep cooking and managing a well-known Traverse City restaurant; working at area retail groceries; and processing thousands of game and farm animals.

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French art and cuisine in Glen Arbor

Join popular art lecturer Linda Young and favorite Chef Randy Chamberlain for a special event exploring the joie de vivre of French Impressionism on Wednesday, May 18th. A three-course par excellence luncheon at Blu, designed by Chef Randy and inspired by Monet’s recipes at Giverny, will be complimented by a talk at the Glen Arbor Art Association.

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Community Resilience: How Glen Arbor picked itself up after the megastorm

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During one extraordinary week in August 2015, the sounds that dominated our town were the whirr of winds and the ugly crack of trees, followed by the buzz of chainsaws, the hum of generators, and the cheering and car honking as Consumers Power trucks and linemen rolled into town like a liberating army.

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Glen Lake Restaurant Week profile: Randy Chamberlain, Blu

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In advance of Glen Lake Restaurant Week, May 1-9, we reached out to Blu chef Randy Chamberlain to ask what excites him about this culinary opportunity before the local tourism season kicks into gear.

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When Randy met Mari

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When Randy met Mari, it was loathe at first sight. “She’d just moved back (to Northern Michigan) from California,” said Randy Chamberlain, who is today the chef-owner of the Glen Arbor restaurant Blu. But when Randy met Mari Patton, he was sous chef, the deputy head chef at Windows, an Elmwood Township restaurant. This was the 1980s, and Mari Patton had brought back with her all sorts of West Coastisms, including “purple highlights” in her “wavvy” hair. “So before there was any interaction or conversation, (I) immediately had an impression of her,” Randy said of Windows’ newly hired server. “It was something you’d sneer at.”

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How Sleeping Bear was voted America’s most beautiful place

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Ever since Wednesday, August 17, Northern Michiganders have both embraced and grappled with the news that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and surrounding region are considered the “most beautiful place in America” — at least according to 22 percent of 100,000 voters who participated in the ABC show Good Morning America’s online competition the second week of August.

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