Jan. 3, 2003
The Adventure of Good Food
Among the pleasures of writing about food is the adventure of it. Adventure is part of life Up North, be it skiing a new trail or discovering a new artist. We also find adventure in seeking new and interesting restaurants and recipes. Northern Michigan is blessed with such variety of dining experiences that people often ask us where to go, or send houseguests. In this column, as in our book, we will try to address such questions.

     Note that we say "address" rather than "answer." Our tastes aren't yours, and we encourage you to use what we say only as a guide to help you find your own answers. We're here not as "critics," but as scouts, reporting on our experiences and discoveries.

     We admire those who make good restaurants work, and we're awed by the wonders they perform. We never forget, however, that our audience consists of consumers like ourselves, who expect and deserve value for their restaurant dollars. In like manner, as consumers of our words, you should know what we value--our likes and dislikes, and the standards we apply.

     One thing we value is consistency. When a new place delights us one week but disappoints us the next, we can't trust them. It all starts with management: We've found that the restaurants we like best are generally those whose owners are at the door or in the kitchen almost daily. It's as hard to run a good restaurant in absentia as to paint a fine landscape from a snapshot. This is one reason why you'll seldom find us writing about chain outlets or franchises.

     While all chefs deal with food-service jobbers, we seek those who don't rely too much on stuff that comes canned or prepackaged from a truck. Make it from scratch, we say, with fresh, natural, ingredients, and use indigenous products when you can. We think a good chef is as assiduous in selecting his food as in preparing and presenting it. It baffles us when kitchens serve, say, pithy hothouse tomatoes when juicy, vine-ripe specimens are available at every roadside stand.

     Naturally, we look for dishes that are imaginative and inventive, but we also consider simplicity a virtue. There's a limit to the sensations you can absorb at one time. We see no reason to spend big bucks for food that's so complicated we can't tell what we're eating. On the other hand, let it not be so one-dimensional that we don't care, either. A good chef provides variety of flavor, texture, and color and, while presentation is important, spectacular architecture is no substitute for flavor.

     Service? Give us gracious but not pushy; knowledgeable but unpretentious; attentive but unobtrusive. "Hi! I'm Susie, your server" is as personal as we want to get. We're customers, not best friends. Good servers know the menu and wine list thoroughly and can get beyond "really yummy" in describing it. They build the check (and the tip) by being pleasant, attentive, efficient, and sensitive to us as customers. They keep our water glasses full and ask if we want extra bread. They don't strand us in mid-meal without a fork or appear with the next course before we finish the last. They don't let debris and finished plates accumulate on the table. Above all, they ask early in every course if all is to our liking, and quickly fix anything that is not.

     Personally, we prefer light and lean to greasy and deep-fried, and we consider heroic portions downright unappetizing. But we certainly appreciate a platter of sticky-sweet ribs. We can speak your language, too, whether you want arugula or iceberg in your salad. Food need not be trendy, fancy, foreign or pricey to be worth your hard-earned money. We enjoy fine and exotic dining by candlelight as much as anyone, but there's some outstanding fare in taverns, cafes and roadhouses that have never seen a white tablecloth and don't have two escargots to rub together. Such places offer virtues of thrift and informality along with their awesome steaks, gyros, whitefish and pasta.

     Frankly, we hope to lead you astray -- that is, get you off your beaten paths to places you've never been, and maybe never even heard of. As we say in our book, The Connoisseur Up North, that's what adventure is all about. We all seek that special, Up North spot with outstanding food, good wine, a friendly proprietor, a stone fireplace, and a sunset over water.