I’ve heard the fall colors up in the northern part of lower Michigan are at their peak. That means many of you may be heading north for a fall color tour. If you’re heading in the Traverse City direction, I’ve got a couple of food suggestions for you.
The ‘Red Mesa Grill’, offering Latin American Food & Fun. (With locations in both Traverse City and Boyne City.) We went to their Traverse City location on US 31, ½ mile from the state park.
I ordered their ‘Tacos – Create your own combo’. I got 3 tacos with the corn tortilla, no cheese: I chose 3 different tacos, the Shredded Ancho Chicken, the Spiced Ground Beef and the Shredded Beef. The combo comes with Panama red rice and refried smoked pintos. The manager came out and said they wouldn’t be able to serve me the rice because it contains butter (nice catch Mr. Manager), but that they would instead give me a double batch of the refried smoked pintos. Win!
I don’t have a picture of my food. Sorry about that. It really was a very nice presentation and oh, so delicious. I literally inhaled all 3 tacos and devoured the pintos, then looked at Kevin and said, “I should’ve taken a picture.” So, you’re just going to have to take my word for it that the food is great.
We stopped at each of the next two places on two separate occasions. Once last year and again this year.
‘Milk & Honey Café & Ice Creamery’, offering both dairy ice cream and vegan ice cream options. Seven vegan options to be exact, in a nice variety of flavors. If you’re ordering vegan ice cream because you are allergic to dairy, please tell your server. Your server can then get your ice cream from the back to avoid cross contamination with the dairy ice cream.
- Round 1: Chunky Monkey – Vegan chocolate ice cream with banana, Oreos and roasted salted pecans. They didn’t have the gluten free Oreos, so I just had the bananas and salted pecans. I can’t even tell you how enjoyable it was, for Kevin and I to be able to walk into an ice cream shop, both place an order for ice cream and each eat our dish of ice cream together. (Over the years, I’ve watched Kevin eat lots of ice cream as I drank a lemonade or Coke.) My review: Yummy, even without the Oreos.
- Round 2: Vegan Rocky Road – Vegan chocolate ice cream with marshmallows and roasted almonds. My review: Yum! And again, so fun to go out and eat ice cream with Kevin.
“Third Coast Bakery’, a gluten free, dairy free, soy free and vegan bakery. How wild is that? Baked goods are so tasty and both times we were there, the place was hopping. Bonus: They also sell many of their baked goods in the freezer section of grocery stores up north.
- Round 1: I was a little hesitant to order, still seemed a little too good to be true, also, I was kind of full. (This is where I should mention we’d already picked up some Third Coast Bakery items at the grocery store near the campground we were at. A two pack of chocolate cupcakes, a gingersnap cookie and a lemon/lavender cookie.) I don’t even eat baked goods once a week and now I’d been grazing on them several times a day. That being said, in the name of research, we forged ahead and ordered a chocolate donut and a chocolate chip cookie. My reviews:
Chocolate Cupcakes: They were divine.
Gingersnap cookie: Good – if you like ginger. I like ginger, Kevin not so much.
Lemon/lavender cookie: I’ve discovered while I enjoy the scent of lavender, I don’t like eating it. (Kevin, Brent and Jamie echoed my sentiments.) Cookie had good texture. The lemon flavor came through nicely, but I just couldn’t get past the lavender taste.
Chocolate Donut: I like chocolate, and the flavor was good, but it just wasn’t a doughnut; which is what I’ve been craving for 10 plus years. (But we still definitely ate it.)
Chocolate Chip Cookie: Nice hearty cookie, great taste. Something I enjoyed sinking my teeth into!
- Round 2: Feeling emboldened by our previous experience, I ordered an almond milk vanilla latte, Kevin a latte with caramel and we both went with a beautiful, thick slice of lemon blueberry cake. (A slice as thick as any self-respecting grandma would serve to her grandchild. Now that’s a slice of cake!) My reviews:
Almond Milk Vanilla Latte: Very good, I enjoy a good, hot latte.
Lemon/blueberry cake: Oh my, it was SOOOO good. It had just the right balance of lemon and blueberry and the lemony icy on top was just what was needed to top off perfection. Coupled with my latte, eaten at our campsite, well, it just doesn’t get much better than that.
Ok, I’ve regaled you with tales of eating, lots of eating and nothing about where to find this year’s best fall colors. I’ll let you figure out the color tour, I’ve covered the food for you.
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping!
Brenda