A weekend in South Haven, MI - barbecue, Blue Moon & berries

My group of friends does a Lake Michigan camping trip every year. After a couple years of doing the state parks on the Wisconsin side of the Big Lake, we headed to the Michigan side this year and stayed at Van Buren State Park just outside of South Haven. We managed to find some good spots in between beach sessions.

Ranch House Ribs
Ranch House Ribs is located just south of town on 140 in a small shack that looks like it could make nothing but solid bbq.



And solid bbq is what they do. I went with their namesake and got a half slab of spare ribs. The ribs didn't have an extensive rub on them, but did get a little bit of bark from a trip in the smoker, which uses apple wood from what I was told. They did douse them with their sauce, which is similar to what you find at Chicago bbq places - sort of a thin, spicy sauce. I'm normally not one for a lot of sauce, but I enjoyed the sauce and the ribs did need a little bit of sauce.



Next up was a stop for liquid replenishments at the Idler Riverboat - a bar on an old ferryboat in the harbor. They have a solid list of MI craft beer (Bell's, Short's, Arcadia, New Holland) and a long list of frozen drinks served with umbrellas. My wife got the Pompineapple frozen mojitok, which was delicious.



We made our way to Sherman's Dairy Bar for their encyclopedic list of ice cream flavors.



The choice here is obvious for me, I have to go with the classic Blue Moon.


I tried out the new pretzel cone, which had crystals of salt on the top of the cone. This was pure genius. I think ideally I'd have one of the waffle cones rimmed with salt b/c I think I still prefer the waffle to the pretzel, but the salt created a great sweet/salty combo.

And of course you can't go along the Blue Star Highway without loading up on blueberries.



I have a more complete writeup on my blog Great Lakes, Better Food.

Tony