Traverse City Record-Eagle,  November 21, 2003
Climate change at the Weathervane
It had been a long time since we'd been to the Weathervane in Charlevoix, so one night recently we decided to go back to see if it was the way we remembered -- predictably good food and polite, well-drilled service in a welcoming setting with a lovely view. We were pleasantly surprised, for the 'Vane was better than we remembered.

It was late October when we were there, so we were offered the "autumn menu," and (this being fruit-growing country) apples figured in every dish, from a potato soup starter garnished with leeks and apples, to desserts of caramel-apple bread pudding, apple-cinnamon crème brulée, and apple strudel with crème Anglaise and raspberry sauce.

We arrived while there was still a little daylight left, and our table by the picture windows overlooking the Pine River Channel gave us a lovely look at the color on the trees across the way, while the wind blowing briskly in from the lake made us glad to be inside by the fire. The Weathervane may be too big to be truly intimate, but it swaddles diners in the comfortably homey, cozy atmosphere that all the Stafford's Hospitality restaurants seem to have.

By the time you read this, the Weathervane will have moved on to November's "Taste of Italy" menu, so you'll just have to take our word for it that our dinner was grand and make a note to try it yourself next year.

Needless to say, we had apples for dinner. We began by sharing an exquisite apple-pheasant sausage, thinly sliced and fanned on the plate with a light and savory mustard-cream sauce and apple garnish. It made a very satisfying starter, just enough to gear up our appetites for the main course.

One of us had a Northern Michigan autumn classic of pork tenderloin, stuffed with a filling of dried cherries, apples, leeks, mushrooms, spinach and wild rice. It was sauced with a cider demi-glace and accompanied by an autumnal serving of whipped sweet potato.

Our other main dish was a classic "chicken Normandy," which we ordered out of an urge to compare it with a favorite dish we sometimes make for ourselves at home out of a book of recipes from (of all things) members of Britain's House of Commons. In ours, we sear the breasts and then braise them for an hour with apples and mushrooms in a mixture of cider, stock and cream. The Weathervane dusts the breasts with flour and sautés them, then deglazes the pan with cognac and finishes the sauce with cider, apples, shallots, cream and thyme. Their version's flavors had more clarity than ours, and has us rethinking our approach to chicken Normandy

The portions were ample enough to let us enjoy taking the remains of both dishes home, which in turn let us enjoy sharing a finale in the form of a generous slice of house-made apple pie and some lovely cinnamon ice cream

We had a bottle of wine with all this, too, and in providing it, the staff demonstrated why the Weathervane (and all Stafford's restaurants) has a fine reputation for service. The first wine we ordered, a $22 Zinfandel, had run out, so we ordered a back-up label priced at $24. Then the waiter somewhat sheepishly returned to say they were out of that, too. Rather than disappoint us, however, he brought with him a bottle of a much more expensive Zin, and offered to uncork it on the spot for the same price. That's a "bravo!" at any season

Our main dishes, like all on the Weathervane menus, were $19.95 each. The starter and dessert added about $12, and with that lovely, expensive wine weighing in at only $24 our bill for this meal came to about $84. Not economy class, maybe, but to our minds it was an awfully good value for the sort of food, service, and atmosphere we enjoyed

It certainly was enough to make us think of running up there one night soon for this month's pollo alla Parmigiana, veal saltimbocca, and tiramisu.

DATA: Stafford's Weathervane, Bridge Street (US-31), Charlevoix, north of the Pine River at the bridge; 231-547-4311 ( www.staffords.com ).