Apr. 2, 2004

NMC Culinary Institute is TC's new class act
Listen up, food lovers, because this isn't going to be your ordinary restaurant piece. That's because the place we're writing about isn't your ordinary restaurant. It's the Lobdell, and you're forgiven if you've never heard of it, even though it has some of the most interesting food in Traverse City and a stunning view of the bay that any restaurateur would die for.

The Lobdell is the restaurant at Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Culinary Institute, which occupies half of that spectacular display of architecture on the north side of Front Street just east of the Holiday Inn. Lobdell, for the record, is the name of a Michigan restaurant-operating family that made what a college spokesperson called "a very generous contribution for the naming rights."

Name it whatever you want; the place is just plain gorgeous.  The design is airy, spare, elegant, and contemporary, with solid glass walls that take maximum advantage of the view of the bay only a few yards away. Yet for all the feeling of sheer space, the room itself is almost intimate, softly lighted and simply furnished.

The educational raison d'etre of the whole operation -- the kitchens -- are spacious, lavishly equipped and gleaming in their newness. They are also as visible to the patrons as the bay, because they're stretched out behind a wall of glass along one side of the restaurant's entry corridor. New meaning for the term "theater kitchen."

NMC's 90-odd culinary students moved in last January, and have been serving up periodic dinners ever since for a welcoming and curious public. Within a year, we're told, the Lobdell will be open to the public on a regular schedule--lunch during the fall semester and dinner-hour service come spring. And yes, if you enjoy a little wine with your meal, they'll have that, too.

The inaugural series of public meals has followed ethnic themes. French Creole, Spanish and Mediterranean menus were displayed through winter. April will bring Thai and Vietnamese menus. (Don't even try to book. They're sold out.)

The night we were there last week, the place was certainly was solid with patrons. The meal that was a Mexican menu planned and prepared by the students. Students also staffed the buffet and provided the table service. The veteran director of NMC's Culinary Institute, Fred Laughlin, hovered proudly, dividing his time between supervision, meeting and greeting, and keeping watch over a lavish display of luxurious desserts.

Mexican, perhaps, but this was not your basic Tex-Mex of tacos and nachos and burritos. It was real food--alimento mexicano delicioso y auténtico. From what we tasted, we can't wait until these students start taking jobs in the real-world restaurants we spend so much time in.

The meal had a very pleasing balance of flavors, textures and colors. It began with a stellar tortilla soup, rich with flavor, studded with buttery soft cheese in the manner of a soupe à l'oignon, and garnished with crisp tortilla sticks. It was served at table by students, but the meal thereafter was buffet, starting with a bright salad of fresh greens that was alive with chopped blood orange, peppers and onions and jicama julienne. It came with crisp corn-chip croutons and two salsas--one savory-sweet with mango and one of tomato and peppers with a little bite. The main-course buffet offered turkey and cod. The turkey, shredded and plated on a crisp tortilla, came with a smooth, dark mole rojo of tomatoes, almonds, cinnamon, cloves, dark Mexican chocolate and a whole spectrum of dried chiles. The cod was roasted in a crunchy cornmeal crust. Spiced green rice and a rich chorizo-zucchini ragout completed the course.

Dessert was a tour de force of tarts, tortes, pies, puffs, puddings, cakes, cookies, lemon bars and the inevitable dark, Mexican chocolate. It took great courage and forbearance not to sample one of each.

It's hardly surprising that a community dominated by the hospitality industry is home to a good culinary school. But there's no rule saying it has to be a thing of breathtaking architectural beauty. Traverse City is lucky to have this facility, and we expect a lot of us will be enjoying the food there as time goes on.

All we worry about is those students. After they graduate, poor things, they may never again work in so marvelous a kitchen or such magnificent surroundings. Poor them. But lucky us.