Sept. 3, 2004
Summer's not over until you've been to Leland
Whether you're a local or a tourist, every Michigan summer has to have a little Leland in it. If it isn't because of the ineffable quaintness of picturesque Fishtown and the lovely views of the lake and the Manitous, it's the way the town just stays the same, year after year.

Our Leland visits this summer came compressed in a two-week stretch of August. First we spent two nights there on a sailing cruise with friends, and ten days later we went there with visiting relatives from England. And the restaurants we chose reflected some key reasons why Leland has been a part of our lives since Graydon's childhood summers in the 1930s.

In those days, just about the only restaurants in town were the Bluebird and the dining room at the New Nicholas hotel. The New Nick is now the Leland Lodge, and the Bluebird is still there too, even if it is considerably bigger than it was back when the late Martin and Leone Telgard ran it.

The Bird is where we landed for dinner on our cruise. It was a trip marked by unintended destinations. We originally planned to go to Beaver Island, but north winds led us to choose Leland, instead. After tossing a coin, we tried first for dinner at the Riverside Inn (another of our favorites), but the outside table they had left wasn't what we wanted on a chilly night. We were delighted when the Bluebird came up with a window table overlooking the river at just the time we wanted.

Although the Bluebird is now run by third-generation Telgards, change comes very slowly there. Hostess Sandy Tietje has been greeting and seating guests for 30-plus years, and every diner still gets a cinnamon roll, and they're still made by the same recipe Leone used when the Bluebird was a tea room in 1929.

Aside from whitefish and perch (and a salad bar that's practically a Leland landmark), the menu is far more sophisticated than it once was, but that didn't faze us a bit. All four of us had perch, and all agreed it was as if Chef Dave Slater had learned the secret at Leone's feet even though he's been at the 'Bird only a decade. Lightly breaded, perfectly sautéed, it came with the most savory tartar sauce in Michigan history, and with an ample supply of tender, fresh green beans and flavorful, buttery, fingerling potatoes from the Bardenhagens' Leelanau farm.

That all this bounty cost just $30 a head, including wine and tip, is another of the nice, old-fashioned things about Leland. Granted, we did not have dessert. But we did have some nice French bread. We took our cinnamon rolls with us. We enjoyed them the next morning at breakfast on the boat (under the watchful gaze of tourists to whom the boaters in the marina are just another local attraction).

Our return to Leland 10 days later was with a vanload of kin--a nephew and wife from London and four grown kids who came complete with prodigious appetites. They were much less interested in old family cottages than in Fishtown, the fishing vessels, and the nets drying at Carlson's. And they were ecstatic when they spied Rick's, the outdoor, harborside deck at Rick Wanroy's Cove restaurant. Rick's casual atmosphere and fishtown menu proved perfect for the appetites of young and old alike. We enjoyed the delights of savory Caesar salad and chicken-breast sandwiches; cups of creamy, flavorful, seafood chowder, and (what else?) burgers and fries. We passed around a platter of whitefish pate and crackers while waiting for lunch to come, and we washed it all down with an inexpensive, local wine--an appropriately named "Fishtown" white.

It was a quintessentially Leland meal, and the Brits loved every moment. Mind you, they said, there's plenty of good food in England these days, but they were enchanted to have it in a harbor by a spillway. They want to come back when the salmon are running.

Nor is this a pricey spot. For all the high-rent real estate up and down the beach, it's remarkably affordable. The tab for our entire table of eight--beer, wine, and tip included--scarcely topped $100.

Our visitors have gone now, and so have yours, in all likelihood. And summer may be almost over. But it's still not too late to enjoy Leland. The Bluebird is year-round. The Cove stays open until late October (and this weekend it marks summer's end with a "Farewell to Fudgies" party on Labor Day, complete with the raucous music of the Fabulous Horn Dogs).

DATA:
Bluebird Restaurant and Bar, 102 E. River St., Leland; 231-256-9081
(www.leelanau.com/bluebird).
The Cove and Rick's, 111 W. River St. in Fishtown; 231-256-9834
(www.thecoveleland.com).