“I don’t give people what they want. I give them what I want to give them and what I want to share,” said Chef Diana Davila, who is the mind behind Mi Tocaya Antojeria, a renowned Chicago antojeria, Michelin Bib Gourmand selection, and 2018 semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s award for Best New Restaurant. Upon opening in 2017 in…
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Fine design
In November 2017, Prime + Proper, a luxurious steakhouse experience, opened in Detroit, and quickly garnered attention for its elaborate interior design and approach to fine dining. Less than two years later in June 2019, McIntosh Poris Associates, the firm behind Prime + Proper’s distinctive style and preserved historic details, received a pair of Restaurant Design Awards from the AIA’s…
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La Crême
Charming and fresh, stepping into La Crême café is not unlike walking into a French crêperie, where serving thin, pancake-like crêpes is a defining characteristic. Located in Zeeland, Michigan, the Parisian-style creamery and crêpe shop was started by Scott and Kim De Young after they were inspired by warm spaces with specialized menus on the west coast of Oregon. As…
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Hint of summer
The visual summer landscape of northern Michigan is often matched by its flavors. Crops like tomatoes, fresh greens, and Traverse City’s famed cherry varietals bloom in time for a vibrant tourist season and at Aerie Restaurant & Lounge, the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa’s acclaimed high-rise restaurant, its flavors will be captured in a Taste of Summer menu set to…
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Experiential art
Profound similarities can be drawn between the assembly of flavor and sound, as can many practices within different art forms. Cooking itself can be considered a visual art, requiring the same steps from a chef as a musical orchestrator, sculptor, or other artistic disciplinarian who crafts by hand. It involves a purposeful layering of ingredients; an attention to which senses…
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Time curated
In cities where the dining is plentiful, the physical design of a restaurant is instrumental in creating its mood, personality, and the overall experience guests can have. For Butch’s Dry Dock in downtown Holland, Michigan, what started as a concept focused on deli fare and wine retail, has evolved in the last two decades to include an array of dining…
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Nutritional alchemy
“When I started cooking it was more about just healthy food, and then it evolved into a highly specific diet,” said Kendra Peterson, founder of the private chef services firm Drizzle Kitchen in Chicago, Illinois. “We focus on the presence of nutritionally dense foods. I like to use the phrase ‘nutritionally dense,’ because I find that ‘healthy’ is such an…
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Savoring season
By R. Collins For years Aerie Restaurant & Lounge in Acme, Michigan—Grand Traverse Resort and Spa’s award-winning in-house dining venue—has annually crafted two seasonal menus to showcase Michigan’s diverse harvests. This summer’s newest three-part menu featuring starter, lounge, and dinner menu sections, is delivering a new grouping of ingredients to the many national and international guests the resort draws…
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The Dish
A food event brings the competitive fire to the ingredient list. The culinary arts, as a field of study, is often described as the preparation of food or the art of cooking. It is a process that combines art with science, practical training with passion, innovation with technique, and during a recent event held in Holland, Michigan; a dash of…
