Mission Table

Oct. 14, 2016

SPIRITED FARE

Legend has it that the stately structure housing Mission Table, which in the early 1900s served as a wealthy Chicago lumber baron’s summer home, is haunted by the ghost of his jealous wife, Genevive. But what’s legendary about the restaurant these days is the food being conjured up in the kitchen by Chef and General Manager Paul Olson and his crew. And the soul of this cuisine – inspired by the land and waters of northern Michigan – is very much alive.

People from around our region may remember that this venerable Old Mission Peninsula property was long known as Bowers Harbor Inn, an acclaimed fine dining destination. Set amid tall oaks and pines rising from an expansive rolling lawn, it enjoys unparalleled views of Bowers Harbor and Power Island. Olson, a Michigan native and Michigan State University graduate, spent 18 years on the East Coast at the Culinary Institute of America. He later worked at and co-owned several dining establishments in New York and Connecticut. He came on board as head chef at the Bowers Harbor Inn in 2006 and has continued in that role since the restaurant was renovated and reopened in 2010, with a new look and a new concept, as Mission Table.

FARM, FIELD AND FISHING LINE TO FORK

Olson says that while the name certainly honors the restaurant’s location, it also embodies the philosophical mission that he and his wife, Barb, as well as their local partners Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell, envisioned: to emphasize fresh, seasonal, sustainably produced ingredients from the region’s famers, growers and fishermen. “Barb [who is event manager for Mission Table] also wanted this big community table in the main dining room, and she came up with the full name in the end,” said Olson. “My personal mission is to make people happy and give them a memorable dining experience.”

Last winter, the partners undertook a further renovation. “We opened up the kitchen and redid the floors and the tables in the bar area, making it a warmer, more intimate space to gather,” Olson said. “We also added a chef ’s table in an adjoining semi-private space. We’ve gone through a lot of changes here over the past several years — good changes. The Bowers Harbor Inn needed a facelift. It had a great run, but it was too formal for the times. I felt we needed to make the restaurant more casual and to focus on the food. I like working with our area farmers — we know them personally and have good relationships with them. It’s nice to be able to make a phone call and have just-picked heirloom tomatoes in an hour. It’s not like that year round, but during the growing season, it’s pretty amazing.”

WORKING WITH NATURE

Deciding to use purely local sources for menu ingredients is not without its challenges, however. ”These people all work so hard, and their products are so good, but — with the farmers, for example — one week they may have those heirloom tomatoes, and the next week there’s a storm or a freeze, and that’s the end of it. It’s brutal,” said Olson. “As a chef, you have to be flexible when those things happen. You have to improvise a lot, but that’s OK — it can fuel your creativity.” And, he adds, “Cherry Capital Foods has definitely made my life easier.”

Olson’s menus read like a food lover’s wish list. A sampling from the current fall version includes intriguing small plates like flashfried cauliflower with garlic-jalapeño vinaigrette; lively salads like salt-roasted beets with local greens, lemon basil, goat cheese and pickled radish; and tempting mains like lake trout with crispy Brussels sprouts, quinoa, pancetta, Nomad cider and cranberry butter. Pastry chef Corinne Slosnerick’s desserts add more mouthwatering options — among them blueberry-lavender cheesecake with Bam Biere caramel shards, balsamic reduction and crispy basil. A three-course tasting menu for $25 is available at 5pm, Sundays through Thursdays.

With its predominance of earth tones, unpretentious painted wooden tables and metal chairs, stone and wood floors, filament bulb light fixtures, and large-scale photos of local produce gracing the walls, the interior of is as unfussy as it is cozy. It seems to echo the essence of Olson’s menus, and that is intentional, he said. “Both the food and the interior are designed to be simple, clean and inviting. That is both my wife’s vision and mine — we’re a good team. I need her female perspective, and her eyes see different things than mine do.”

ALL IN THE FAMILY

The various dining areas can accommodate groups of all sizes and ages. “This year was our busiest summer ever, and we got a lot more kids in here, which is awesome, because when this was the Bowers Harbor Inn, you would never bring your two-year-old with you to dinner,” said Olson, the father of two. “But now I see babies and young children, and we really welcome that. We love to have families here. We get a lot of repeat business, too, and it’s especially nice when we get guests from out of town who come here two nights in a row, saying they liked it so much that they wanted to come back. That makes my day, because there are a lot of good restaurants in this area, and if they choose us — not once, but twice — it’s very satisfying.”

One of the many unique features of Mission Table is that it offers spirits — in this case, the alcoholic kind — that are distilled on site. Beer and wine lists are also exclusively local. “Some people embrace the idea, because they’re ‘Up North,’ and they want to taste something from here; and others wish they could have their Absolut vodka or Jack and Coke,” said Olson. One plus for wine lovers: They can bring their own bottle for a $15 corkage fee.

And speaking of spirits, while dinner at Mission Table does not come with a guaranteed visit from the resident ghost of Genevive, there have been several reported “sightings” and peculiar occurrences inside these walls over the past century. And October is, after all, the month that celebrates all things otherworldly … .

Mission Table is located at 13512 Peninsula Dr., on Traverse City’s Old Mission Peninsula. Fall hours for the restaurant are 5pm– 9pm ,seven days a week. Reservations are encouraged. Note: The restaurant will close for the season on Oct. 30 and open again at the beginning of May 2017. For more information, visit missiontable.net or call 231-223-4222. $$