Searching for chow in Michigan City/New Buffalo area

Hi All,
My parents just bought a place in Beverly Shores, IN -- near Michigan City/New Buffalo. I am wondering if any of you have any suggestions for great chow (other than Culver's Frozen Custard in Michigan City) in that area.
Thanks for your advice!
Gina

GinaO wrote:Hi All,
My parents just bought a place in Beverly Shores, IN -- near Michigan City/New Buffalo. I am wondering if any of you have any suggestions for great chow (other than Culver's Frozen Custard in Michigan City) in that area.
Thanks for your advice!
Gina

See THIS thread. Mesa Luna is highly recommended.

There is a Mexcian restaurant in New Buffalo called El Rancho Grande (?) Good Mexican food, reasonably authentic, and a good meal. I've eaten there several times. There are quite a few decent to good places around. Hannah's, Casey's, come to mind. They should pick up a local restaurant guide in New Buffalo and check some places out. Many are good, a few great, and some are okay.

We had an interesting meal at Skip's ( New Buffalo--Red Arrow Highway ) this past Sunday. The place appears a little dated, however, it served a VERY, VERY, good piece of Prime Rib. Dinners include soup, salad and dessert.(Nothing remarkable-although not bad)

The place had a pseudo "Wisconsin Supper Club" feel to it---Reliable good food at,albeit, resort-town (high) prices.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give the place a "7"

For dessert, visit Oinks, a pig themed ice cream shop in New Buffalo on Red Arrow highway. Kitch galore including a ceiling completely covered with vintage ice cream scoops.

cito wrote:We had an interesting meal at Skip's ( New Buffalo--Red Arrow Highway ) this past Sunday. The place appears a little dated, however, it served a VERY, VERY, good piece of Prime Rib. Dinners include soup, salad and dessert.(Nothing remarkable-although not bad)

The place had a pseudo "Wisconsin Supper Club" feel to it---Reliable good food at,albeit, resort-town (high) prices.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give the place a "7"

I'd rank Skip's more like a 5 or 6, although I'll caveat that score with the notation that it is based on one visit only, about two years ago. The decor, silverware, glassware, winelist, and many other features were seriously "dated" -- and probably weren't such great shakes when they were new. The food was O.K., as long as you stuck to the beef. Everything else we tried was just so-so. And then there was that mildly depressing feeling in the room, which lacked any intimacy and felt like a (barely fancified) mess hall for the non-commissioned officers of a backwoods militia.

Skip's has the look of "only game in town" written all over it -- which maybe it was 25 years ago -- but Skip's is not the only game in town. Or at least within short driving distance of town. A much better choice is to keep driving north on the Red Arrow Highway to the Red Arrow Roadhouse in Union Pier. Check it out here.

Whenever I travel near that area, I try to catch dinner at Cafe Gulistan--a very nice, casual Middle Eastern spot with fresh, unique dishes.

Café Gulistan
13581 Red Arrow Highway
Harbert, MI 49115
tel: 269-469-6779


P.S.Even if the food there wasn't great, I'd go there to support the owner who has been caught up in a Homeland Security nightmare for over a year now--you can read more about it on the web...)

I've got a weekend home in this area and have been coming here for years. The restaurant situation seems to have really deteriorated last year or so. The only places where I get consistently good meals at what I consider fair value are:

Casey's Bar & Grill (High end bar food)
136 North Whittaker Street
New Buffalo, MI
Phone: (269) 469-5800

Red Arrow Roadhouse (High end bar food)
15710 Red Arrow Highway
Union Pier, MI 49129
269.469.3939

Mesa Luna Restaurant (California cuisine)
13 S Elm St
Three Oaks, MI 49128
Phone: (269)756-7519

Rio's (Mexican)
2 Locations
- In Bridgman on Red Arrow (New, sit-down restaurant serving alcohol)
- In New Buffalo on Hwy 12 bout 1/2 mile south of Whitaker (taqueria)

It's been years since I've eaten at Miller's. I always liked it. Does anyone have any recent experiences?

The website listed a few places online is inactive.

Just curious about the menu and quality, price, etc...

A great little place close by is Wagner's Ribs in Porter. Their burgers are great as are their ribs. Hard to give directions so I left it up to the pro's. Click on the link below or copy and paste to your address bar.

http://national.citysearch.com/profile/ ... taurant-nc

My old post is dated, here's a few updates;

The Rio's Bridgman location is closed, but the New Buffalo location is still open.

Red Arrow Roadhouse and Casey's are still recommended.

Mesa Luna, eh... They've jacked the prices considerably. As an example, they now charge $10 for a glass sparkling wine. In case you haven't had the pleasure of drinking canned wine you'll know they prouldly serve Sofia wine, the can is half the size of a red bull can. And it tastes like what you would expect a can of wine to taste like. A glass of Erath pinot goes for $10, I can buy a bottle at Binny's for less.

It's springtime, so you'd expect a salad to consist of nice freshly picked greens by now. A romaine and asparagus salad for $10 gets you a cup of supermarket romaine, the inner leaves mind you, chopped with a knife to Big Mac topic consistency. A few sprigs of hothouse asparagus that taste like cardboard. Add a completely unmemorable dressing.

Main course I can't even, or don't care to, recall. If I would have paid half as much in Chicago I would have been dissapointed. Extrapolate from there. If you're going to go there sit at the bar, split the garlic flan, have a glass of wine and a bowl of soup, and call it quits.

I spent a few days in Union Pier last week and ate at Rosie's in New Buffalo for breakfast. I ordered SOS (yes, Shit on a Shingle) just for the sake of telling my dad I ordered it (he of the, 'Hey dad! What's fer dinner?' "Shit on a shingle, kid. S.O.S. to you" ilk). The white, gloppy cream sauce overwhelmed the few thin ribbons of whatever reconstituted beef product goes into such a dish. But the malted walnut Belgian waffle was lovely.

Also went to Froielich's in Three Oaks. An excellent, upscale sandwich shop/bakery kinda overpriced gourmet chotchkes and deli goods, as well. The roast beef sandwich on fresh-baked multigrain bread was excellent, and fellow diners confirmed that the muffellatta was equally tasty. They sell some fine, double-stuffed deviled eggs (the two halves are smashed together with lots of yolky, relish-lite filling) for .99 cents. A choice of fresh side salads, too--that day, seafood salad (decent, but also a bit heavy on the fake crab), orzo, broccoli and feta salad and a spicy coleslaw.

Froelich's
26 N. Elm Street
Three Oaks, MI
269-756-6002

Next door is Graziano's, a pizza/ice cream parlor. Their version of a single scoop looks more like a double scoop on steroids. Tried the Chocomania (lovely, dark chocolate bite) and Malted Chocolate (I'm a fan of that sticky/crunchy malt texture).

Couldn't resist going into the town butcher shop--an old-timey kitsched-out butcher shop (complete with sawdust on the floor and pics of Larry Hagman on the walls). They've got a great assortment of liver sausages, dried, seasoned and smoked meat sticks, etc. I bought two nice NY strips for $7.99/pound.

Drier's Butcher Shop
14 S. Elm Street
Three Oaks, MI

On a previous visit to the area, we stopped into Redamak's. Can't say it's really worth a side trip--everything on your plate is that distinct, battered and fried brown, and all tastes the same. The deep-fried macaroni and cheese balls did simultaneously shock and awe us, if you're into the novelty of eating deep-fried stuff that shouldn't ever be deep-fried.

crrush wrote:On a previous visit to the area, we stopped into Redamak's. Can't say it's really worth a side trip--everything on your plate is that distinct, battered and fried brown, and all tastes the same. The deep-fried macaroni and cheese balls did simultaneously shock and awe us, if you're into the novelty of eating deep-fried stuff that shouldn't ever be deep-fried.

Hum. Have been to Redamak's once, and not tried much - just the burger,
fries etc. I thought the burger was pretty good - not the greatest ever
(as has been hyped in places), but a pretty good burger nevertheless.
And the fried mozarella was quite ok as well

It seemed a nice enough place to me - to sort of hang out in, have a burger
etc. Not great, but if youve in the area and want a good burger... not sure
there are many others which are better, though I dont really know the
area.

c8w

We're also fans of Redamak's very good burgers. Can't comment on any other aspects of the menu as we've never tried anything but the burgers and fries. That's what Redamak's is known for and that's what we order.

Avoid the "Workingman's Special" between noon and 3pm. "W.S." burgers are classified as such, and sold at a reduced price, because they sell so many of them during those hours, they are precooked in anticipation of high sales. Better to avoid the peak hours, pay the extra buck for your burger and insure it is cooked fresh, while you wait.

Under those circumstances, Redamak's puts out a fine burger with good enough institutional fries.

Buddy

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:
Under those circumstances, Redamak's puts out a fine burger with good enough institutional fries.

Buddy

Redamak's puts out a burger that I can only describe as fair. Frankly, I haven't figure out what people see in it. Its a step up from fast food and its reasonably cheap. Velveeta, steamed bun and burger, with lousy fries. I'll grab one when I need a quick bit in the area, but there are other places to go to. Particularly the Mexican take out place on the south side of New Buffalo.

a little quiz ...


on a somewhat recent visit to michigan city, we found ourselves asking a local where to go... we told him we wanted a river/lake/etc-side place that
had seafood where you could eat on a deck outside. he said "follow me" and took us a few blocks aways (we started out by the outlet mall) ... the place was on the river/canal, you could dock your boat right there and come and eat... it was by no means gourmet, and more on the dumpy side, but it was decent food, and a good place to relax...

there was also a really unique swing bridge that rotated horizontally on a pivot ... once or twice while we were there, a loud siren rang and the bridge swung into action... a train shortly crossed over it (amtrak?) .. and hey a little google found me a picture..
http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/B ... Bridge.htm ..that page says its on "trail creek" ...


now that its getting warm again, i'm looking to go back. i'm not totally convinced we can find it on our own, so i'm trying to remember the name... i feel like it may have also have been just northwest of the casino, though i really have no idea? ;P

anyone know of the place i'm talking about?

We just returned from an R&R weekend in the New Buffalo area -- thanks everyone for the great food advice. Two excellent meals at Red Arrow Roadhouse and Cafe Gulistan, and total avoidance of Mesa Luna especially when we saw the $6 charge for bread -- for BREAD! -- on the menu posted in the window.

We stayed at the White Rabbit Inn in Lakeside, which is a unique B&B in that two of the cabins have their own private outdoor hot tub -- very elegant! It's not too interesting in the breakfast department, however; while the innkeeper A.J. Boggio is an interesting and welcoming host, his wife Jan who's listed on the brochure, business cards and web site was nowhere in sight (which was the same case when my son & daughter in law stayed there last year), and our breakfast was always pastries from the bakery next door. We were embarrassed to ask where Jan was, so we didn't -- on the off chance someone knows if there's a back story, we'd appreciate hearing it so we're clued in before we make a return visit. Thanks!
>>Brent

THe best bet on Inn's is The Inn at Union Pier..1/2 block from the beachConsistant Top Notch establishment...3 course breakfasts..wine in the evenings> Beautiful, comfortable (lots of comfy chairs, chaise lounges, etc. in rooms) and spacious rooms and common areas..hot tub, sauna, and walking distance to the Red Arrow Road House...best bet and you can always get it to go if the lines are tooo long. Timothy's is a good bet for upscale, a little pricy but worth it for a special occasion.

I have been frequenting the Inn for 14 years and seen it go through 3 owners.It's still great and each owner puts their own personal touch and keeps all the great things it has going for it..Favorite rooms are Captains Quarters, Larkspur, Winter.

ddane,

I think you may be referring to Matey's, which overlooks the mouth of Trail Creek and lies just north of the railroad tracks.

Here is a map courtesy of Yahoo. As you can see, Matey's is a few blocks north of the Lighthouse Place outlet mall, and just west of Washington Park.

Nice place, from what I recall.

visviva wrote:ddane,

I think you may be referring to Matey's, which overlooks the mouth of Trail Creek and lies just north of the railroad tracks.

Here is a map courtesy of Yahoo. As you can see, Matey's is a few blocks north of the Lighthouse Place outlet mall, and just west of Washington Park.

Nice place, from what I recall.

actually that's not it... i'm starting to think i'm nuts :O

the place is actually on trail creek, but not at the mouth... here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... 5&t=k&om=1


zoom in... you can see the swing bridge in the middle of the creek there (open in the picture)...

GinaO wrote:Beverly Shores, IN

Kemil Road Beach (especially the lunar-
surface-in-motion shelf-ice in the winter)
and the great dune-ridge trails just west
of there were some of my favorite hang-outs
when I was growing up in the area.

Basil's Restaurant in Michigan City
has been very good the times that
I've gone - though it's been many
years since I was there last. They
had one of the best desserts - a
seemingly simple strawberry
shortcake, made with impossibly
fresh and delicious shortbread.

Valparaiso is just a short drive away,
and has "Indiana's Only Spanish
Restaurant" - Don Quixote. Maybe
not Cafe Iberico, but it has all the
usual suspects, well prepared and
without the crowds/wait.

Check out this week's Time Out Chicago for 4-page spread on New Buffalo.

Drove through Three Oaks last weekend, looks like Mesa Luna is closed - for sale sign in the window. Not surprised, my last time there was about a year ago and wasn't a very good meal.

Ahh yes. How have I missed this thread! I grew up in the area and there are jewels of eating everywhere!

First off, the absolute favorite is Rio's for somewhat fast/lighter food. Its mexican and cheap. Get it to go or eat at one of their picnic tables. But you MUST and i mean MUST get their quesadillas. They will blow your mind and are actually more like a taco than a quesadilla. MUST MUST MUST! Also get their chips and guac as they make their own chips and when they are fresh off the fryer... YUM@!

Bunch previously mentioned:

Red Arrow, great somewhat upscale bar food. Very consistent.

Miller's is out of business.

Further up Red Arrow in a place called Sawyer (15 minute drive from New Buffalo) (also where I grew up in the usmmers) are two restaurants:

Horsefeathers : Great garlic burgers, ribs are pretty good. Mostly everything here is very reasonable and pretty good.

Soe: This caters to the csomopolitan crowd and is very good. Large selection of martinis and drinks. Great food, but a bit pricier than some of the other options.

Ohh I could go on and on....

Seriously though, this forum would LOVE Rio's quesadillas.

Thought I'd update this thread for the new season.

Miller's and Mesa Luna are both closed for good, although rumor is Miller's might reopen.

Frankie's Place just opened, it's taken over the old Union House location. Same layout, but they've spent quite a bit on redecorating. It's pretty sleek, they're targeting the Chicago crowd. New and improved lighting makes a big difference, the bar is no longer a cave and is an inviting space - the bar was packed last Friday, fun place to hang out. The restaurant now has tablecloths, big plus compared to the old bare tops. Vastly improved lighting makes a big difference in the dining area too.

Went with a group of five and consumed a lot of martini's and wine, so the finer details on the food are a little fuzzy but here goes. Entrees can be expensive, $35+ steaks. But there's also some more reasonable choices, like pork chops, chicken and pasta for $20 and under. Entrees include salad, so those prices are fair. I had the pork chops, which were excellent. There's also a choice of sandwiches/burgers for around $10. I tried some of my wife's roast chicken, which was also very good. Well thought out wine list, we were drinking a Chilean pinot noir which everyone thought was great, at $32 it was a great value. So I think they've done a good job on the menu, you can splurge or keep it modest depending on what you're in the mood for.

This is a very welcome addition to the pretty boring dining scene in the area, let's hope they can maintain these prices and quality. I'd highly recommend it:

Frankie's Place
16036 Red Arrow Highway
Union Pier, MI
269-469-9865 (strongly suggest a reservation)
http://www.frankiesplacerestaurant.com/

Just to update - have revisited Frankie's Place a few times, dining has been very consistent there. Good place, mostly Chicagoans in the crowd and a festive atmosphere, reservation at 8pm CST is best time to get there for the buzz.

At the other end of the spectrum, for a real touch of Americana, visit Mikey's Drive-In in Bridgman. This is one of the vanishing breed of midwest drive-ins. It's the real deal, complete with teenage cheerleader carhops, draft root beer, and griddled burgers prepared from fresh (not frozen) ground beef. About 3 miles north of Warren Dunes, one mile north of exit 16 on 94, across the street from the Mobil station. Good stuff, you'll enjoy it - I like their burgers more than Redamak's:

Mikey's Drive-In
9096 Red Arrow Highway
Bridgman, MI 49106
(269) 465-6933

Drove past the Miller Bakery Cafe in Gary last week, and decided to just keep on driving. I'll let someone else here be the guinea pig and let me know if that place is worth $25+ for an entree. The exterior reminded me too much of Mesa Luna.

Ended up at the Shoreline Brewery in Michigan City, across the highway from the outlet mall and in the forboding shadow of the Devil's Tower. This is an old converted factory, all brick. The restaurant/bar is a big room with a three story ceiling, exposed brick walls, bright flourescent lights and bare concrete floors. Very spartan and industrial. They offer about eight of their microbrews on tap. You can get a flight of five, but they also gladly offered free taste samplers so you can get a better idea before you decide. My wife had the Dim Wit belgian. I had a Sesh Wheat Ale, then a Queen Mum IPA. The beers were all good, but nothing mindblowing.

The beers weren't thrilling, but the food was surprisingly good. The crab cake apps were outstanding, very crisp the way I like them in a panko breadcrumb crust. I'm a sucker for crab cakes, and even though they're mediocre to bad 9 out of 10 times it's that 1 out of 10 that are great that keep me ordering them. These are definitely winners. They also have a fresh baked sourdough pretzel app that was really good. French onion soup tasted like a canned stock darkened with a big dose of Kitchen Bouquet, skip that. The chili was scorched and tomatoey. We also split the fish & chips, which were excellent, made from good, fresh halibut and fried to a perfect crunch. French fries were surprisingly lame, considering how well they fried up the fish and the crabcakes. The waitress said best thing on the menu is their burgers. I saw an order passing by and they looked good, served on a pretzel bun like at Kuma's.

They've got an ambitious menu, with quite a few entrees pushing $20+. I don't think this is the place I would choose to splurge at dinner, but based on some of what we ate they seem to know what they're doing in the kitchen. The crab cakes alone will keep me coming back.

Shoreline Brewery & Restaurant
208 Wabash St
Michigan City, IN
(219) 879-4677
http://www.shorelinebrewery.com

And don't forget about Stop 50 Wood Fired Pizza in Michiana.

That's my new to go place when we make our annual excursion through Indiana to the Michigan shore.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... op&start=0

Another place that’s been around for years
(my Mom worked as a waitress there in the 60’s)
is Ming Ling, within a block or so of the Miller
Bakery Café. It’s classic American-Chinese,
with many old-school dishes that are almost
impossible to track down anymore, like the
incredibly tender-yet-crisp pressed chicken.

I think I have the name of the restaurant - The Bridges! It fits your description perfectly The owners are very friendly and have put a lot into the casual and comfortable bar/grill right on the water. They also own an inn that shares the parking lot. When we first pulled into the lot, the bridge was rotating and the train came through. It was about 12 feet from our room!

The food at the Bridges was actually quite good. And the bartender we had makes a very heavy cocktail (no complaints there!)

I feel like I'm about to ask if anyone knows where to find the holy grail, or the Fountain of Youth, but here goes...

A year and a half ago I was in New Buffalo with a decidedly non-foodie bunch of folks for a weekend. (Don't ask why -- just know that I would NEVER go away with these folks again!) I was FORCED to drive by a random trailer on the side of the road, with a big sign offering "BBQ". When I asked about it a week or two later, a woman from the Chamber of Commerce told me that yup, these guys just had a random BBQ business, only on weekends during the season, and that they would park in a different place each weekend, with only a tiny ad in a local paper the week before to announce when and where.

Oh, and she did say that the BBQ was incredible.

Any regulars know what I'm talking about, or was this just a mirage coming from a weekend spent with a personal trainer who only ate veggies and mom's who packed pb&j sandwiches?