Talk of the Towns

In a winning trifecta for food lovers, three charming villages in Southwest Michigan—Saugatuck, Douglas and Fennville—offer a variety of culinary choices in a region of vineyards, orchards, farmlands and award-winning beaches.

Though they share the same history and terrain, each has its own distinct character.

In the 1800s, the primary industry in Saugatuck and Douglas—along with an even larger village named Singapore—was shipbuilding, and after the Great Fire, their forests were denuded shipping lumber to Chicago. Singapore was abandoned as drifting sands covered its buildings, but Douglas and Saugatuck were able to re-invent themselves.

Today, Saugatuck, located on a stretch of the Kalamazoo River that winds into Lake Michigan, is a lively destination with marinas, restaurants, art galleries and boutiques as well as lovely city parks. Douglas, just across the bridge, also has shopping and dining options as well as neighborhoods filled with historic, well-preserved and maintained architectural gems. Fennville remains a farming community; its downtown, with restored Victorian-era buildings, is wonderfully inviting.

Food scene beginnings

When Matt Millar, a two-time James Beard semi-finalist nominee for Best Chef, opened The Journeyman in 2003 in Fennville, he was among the first chefs to source from surrounding farms. Now the owner of The Southerner, a restaurant overlooking the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck, he is an avatar for Appalachian-style cuisine. This trendy cuisine embraces southern mountain foods by way of industrial northern cities like Detroit, where so many people settled to work. Millar has created a menu both local and steeped in his family’s heritage.

Being among the vanguard in national food movements is nothing new among the three towns. Before farm-to-table was part of our lexicon, Justin Rashid was foraging and handcrafting products in Petoskey, founding—with New York chef and restaurateur Larry Forgione—American Spoon in 1972 and opening one of their first stores in downtown Saugatuck 10 years later.

“We started with fruit preserves, jams and jellies but now we have so many products,” says Deb Petrie, manager of the Saugatuck store. Shoppers can choose from a vast array that includes salsas, salad dressings, nut butters (think chocolate hazelnut or almond), mustards, drinks mixes and sauces such as their Cherry BBQ Grilling Sauce, which Saveur magazine described as “barbecue sauces we can't live without.”

In 2000, John Jerome had finally had enough of city life, so he moved from Detroit to Saugatuck, where he frequently vacationed, and bought the Butler Pantry, originally opened in 1977 in the historic downtown. (Not far away is one of the buildings salvaged from Singapore and transported here.) The pantry is a cook’s delight, with lots of kitchen gadgets, cookware, knives and palate pleasers like those from Stonewall Kitchen and their own line of foods such as mixes for breads and soups as well as condiments and preserves. 

Margaret Balmer changed the name of the Douglas Dinette to Everyday People Café when she bought it in 1980. Since being mentioned in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune several times, the restaurant has expanded, and guests can opt for outdoor patio and street seating for “dishes that belie its populist name,” according to a write-up in the American Express Departures magazine.

Cathy Halinski, who with her husband, Tom, owns Evergreen Lane Creamery in Fennville, didn’t intend to become a cheesemaker. But that was before a goat wandered into her living room. Unable to find the owner—in a take on the proverbial “When life gives you lemons…”—she decided to make organic cheeses. Now there’s a herd of friendly La Mancha goats and a country store where they sell their products as well as goat walks during warm weather on their 40-acre farm. She also sources Jersey cow milk from MOO-nique Dairy in Vandalia for her cow cheeses, which are also made on site. Among the offerings are Lily Rose Camembert (named after a favorite goat), a goat milk feta aged in brine, Farmhouse Cheddar, cheese curds, Poet's Tomme, Mattone and several flavors of soft, spreadable chevre including French Herb and Sundried Tomato/Garlic. 

Pete Palazzolo, whose mother owned a small restaurant in Saugatuck, is another entrepreneur in the vanguard of the food scene here. He opened Palazzolo’s Artisan Dairy in 1986 and daily produces a large assortment of small-batch gelatos, yogurts, sorbettos, slushies and ice cream sandwiches. Offering more than 600 flavors, the company sells mainly to restaurateurs and stores but also has a small retail outlet on Blue Star Highway in Douglas, open during warm weather.

A self-described back-to-the-land type who moved to the Fennville countryside with his family in 1978, musician Mark Schrock is handy with a hammer and into historic preservation. Among his projects was the restoration of the 10,000-square-foot building in Fennville where The Journeyman was located. Now it is home to Salt of the Earth and continues to source ingredients from many of the surrounding farms and food producers.

“We focus on putting out really honest food,” says Schrock. “We have plant-based dishes now that our executive chef, Henry Ditmar, is putting on the menu, and we’re really excited about that. Our menu changes with the seasons and what is available and we do fun things, like our house pierogi, house-made pastas, pizzas made in our wood-burning oven, and we have a great hanger steak.”

Currently they’re doing creative twists on ice cream, such as one made with root vegetables. Besides wine and cocktails, they carry Michigan hard ciders, including those from Crane’s and Virtue’s, both in Fennville. A good portion of their wines are from Michigan. After all, says Schrock, Fennville alone has five wineries. The craft beers are Michigan-centric, such as those from Waypost Brewing Company in Fennville and Saugatuck Brewing Company in nearby Douglas.     

Stunning scenery and relaxed vibes

Though many lakeside beach towns, as pretty as they might be, aren’t known for their award-winning cuisine, locals say it’s different here. The mild climate of Lake Michigan is key to the growing of grapes, hops, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, creating an agricultural abundance that attracts chefs to open restaurants in these lakeshore communities.

Pair that with stunning beaches such as Saugatuck’s Oval Beach, which Condé Naste Traveler named “one of the 25 best shorelines in the world,” and the appeal is easy to understand.

This exceptional landscape is what lured Missy Corey—a “Chopped” winner and one of Thrillist’s top female chefs in Chicago—to open Pennyroyal Café and Provisions in Saugatuck. The café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the “provisions” side of the business offers restaurant-style community supported agriculture boxes, including 100% Michigan-grown produce, cheeses from Evergreen Lane Creamery, Pennyroyal house-made baked goods and more.

Family History

The multi-generational, family-owned Fenn Valley Vineyards spans two American Viticultural Areas (AVAs)—designated wine grape–growing regions in the United States—says Brian Lesperance, vice president of Fenn Valley, which opened in 1973. The Fennville AVA designation, created in 1981, was the fourth in the nation. The 240-acre winery is more than a destination for wines and cider; they also host live entertainment, educational wine tours, the annual Fenn Valley Wine Festival (June 24 this year), a Sip and Shop Artisan and Craft Market in December and other events. Fenn Valley is also one of just a few wineries producing ice wines, which are made from grapes left to freeze on the vine at temperatures of 20° or lower and then gently pressed while still frozen.

Like Fenn Valley, Crane’s Pantry, Restaurant & Winery is part of the Fennville AVA and the Lake Michigan Shore AVA. Just 2 miles away, Crane’s dates back to the 1870s, when Rebecca Crane’s great-great-great-grandparents bought the land where the family still grows fruit. “In 1958 my parents bought a cider press and sold cider by the glass for 10 cents, all you could drink,” says Crane, who with her sister, Laura Bale, owns Crane's Pie Pantry; their two brothers own farms and orchards on either side of their land. “People would bring empty jugs to fill up.”

Their mother, Lue, baked and sold the pies she made from the fruit harvested from their trees and in 1972 opened Crane’s Pie Pantry. Now there’s also a restaurant, a large gift store and a winery. But pies are still a big draw. “Among our best sellers are our apple crisp, which was one of the first pies my mom sold, and our peach pies,” says Crane, who adds that the region gets more and more visitors all the time. She likes the changes but still, she likes the small-town charm.

“People say to me that Fennville is going to be the next Saugatuck,” she says. “But I think Fennville will always be Fennville, and that’s fine with me.”

 Jane Simon Ammeson lives in Southwest Michigan. She writes about food, travel and personalities. Follow Jane at https://janeammeson.com/.