Northern Michigan’s Most Iconic Eats, 2024 Edition

Legendary dishes to put on your must-eat list

By Craig Manning | May 4, 2024

Rich, chocolatey fudge has been a staple in northern Michigan for decades. Authentic Vietnamese pho is a more recent addition to the local food scene. But what do these two (very different) culinary delights have in common? Both are part of the 2024 class of Northern Express’ Iconic Eats series.

Back in 2018, we started cataloging local dishes that we thought fit into northern Michigan’s foodie hall-of-fame. You know the kind of menu items we’re talking about: dishes that people come from far and wide to sample, or that locals make sure to talk up to all their friends. Five years on, we’ve spotlighted 24 distinct dishes, from pizza to pie to pozole, and this year’s installment brings the number to 29.

Read on to find out what we picked!

The Good Bowl: Vegan Pho Saigon with Turmeric Tofu (pictured)

Traverse City

“Soon always jokes that she opened up a Vietnamese restaurant in Traverse City because she wanted to eat more Vietnamese food.”

Those are the words of Tony Vu, executive chef for The Good Bowl. He’s talking about the mission of owner Soon Hagerty, who established the restaurant back in 2018. Central to the menu is the restaurant’s Pho Saigon, which Vu says was always intended to be one of the core pillars in The Good Bowl’s goal to bring authentic Vietnamese food to Traverse City.

“It’s my favorite food of all time,” Vu says of pho. “You have this hot broth, you have these slippery noodles, you have all these different toppings, and then you have this cauldron of amazing flavors, from sweet to sour to salty to spicy to umami,” he says. “It’s just so unique, and so Vietnamese.”

When Pho Saigon first debuted, Good Bowl customers only had the option of a standard bone broth version. It was later, after taking a pilgrimage to Vietnam, that Vu hit upon the idea for a vegan version.

“I came upon this Buddhist-led restaurant in Dak Lak, which is a coffee-growing region in Vietnam, and they made this incredible mushroom broth,” Vu says. The experience inspired Vu to try his hand at a mushroom-broth-based pho, which ultimately opened the door for a totally meatless version of the Pho Saigon.

True vegans or vegetarians can keep the soup meatless with the addition of a spicy grilled turmeric tofu, though Vu says many fans of The Good Bowl’s pho—himself included—often mix and match the mushroom broth with other protein options, which include chicken, beef brisket, and ribeye.

“It’s really savory and quite delicious,” Vu says of the mushroom broth. “I often have my pho with the mushroom broth, but then add in all the other toppings.”

Clam Lake Beer Co.: New England Clam Chowder

Cadillac

It’s all in the herbs. So says Gunner Myers, Clam Lake Beer Co.’s kitchen manager, when asked about what makes the brewery’s New England clam chowder so darn good. Any establishment with “Clam Lake” in the name is required to have a clam chowder on the menu—even if you won’t actually find any clams in Cadillac’s nearby lake—and this recipe doesn’t disappoint.

“‘Staple’ is definitely the word I’d use,” Myers says when asked about the popularity of the soup. “It’s on our menu every day, and we’re well-known for it. I’ve never actually been to New England, but I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s the best clam chowder they’ve had outside of New England.”

Beyond making the chowder fresh every single morning, Myers says the key to the soup’s local following is the fresh rosemary and thyme included in the recipe. “The herbs really give it the signature flavor that everyone enjoys,” he says. “Well, that, and a few other little secret twists in the recipe…”

So, which Clam Lake beer should you pair with your chowder? Myers recommends the 106 Golden Ale.

“That’s our standard golden ale; everybody loves it, and it’s got a light enough flavor that’s not going to overpower the delicate flavors of the cream and the seafood,” he says.

The Manitou: Sauteed Lake Perch

Frankfort

A seasonal restaurant, The Manitou in Frankfort had its 2024 opening day on Friday, April 19. Restaurant co-owner and head chef Lisa Machugh knew exactly what the first customers through the door were going to be looking for.

“Our first weekend is always really super heavy on our fish dishes,” Machugh says. “We have a lot of other things on our menu, and those things pick up steam the longer we are open. But that first weekend, it’s always going to be all about our whitefish and our lake perch.”

Machugh is celebrating her 40th season at The Manitou this year, and she says the restaurant’s fish dishes have always had a special X-factor, whether in winning over newcomers or satisfying longtime regulars. Key to the “crazy popular” nature of those dishes, she thinks, is The Manitou’s signature sauteed preparation.

“We’ve always served some version of Great Lakes yellow lake perch, but when I first started here, it was beer battered and deep fried,” she explains. “Eventually, we started running a Monday night special where we did sauteed perch. It was always pretty simple: We put the fish in a dry batter—like a Drake’s kind of thing—and then we sauté it in butter, throw some fresh garlic in, and finish it off. And that became really popular.”

Served with tartar sauce—but flavorful enough to “stand on its own,” per Machugh—the sauteed lake perch has been a top seller at The Manitou ever since.

“People just love sauteed fish,” she says. “It’s simple, it’s flavorful, and it’s consistent. People know they are going to get the same product every time they come in, and I think that’s why it’s so popular.”

The Filling Station Microbrewery: The Spartan/Wolverine Pizzas

Traverse City

When the Express profiled The Filling Station in early 2020, owner and general manager Todd Klepper said the brewery had landed on flatbread pizzas as its go-to food option thanks to an operational philosophy of “keep it simple and do it well.”

While that proposition sounds simple, The Filling Station has always done pizza a bit differently than any other local restaurant with an adventurous collection of toppings. For instance, where else in northern Michigan can you get a pizza with pear, prosciutto, and brie?

If there’s an iconic option to be found on The Filling Station’s wildly popular pizza menu, though, it has to be the brewery’s university-inspired double header of “Spartan” and “Wolverine” pizzas. Michigan State fans get marinara sauce, cremini mushrooms, olives, red onions, pepperoni, prosciutto, and mozzarella on their Spartan pie. University of Michigan supporters, meanwhile, get the Wolverine, a sweet-and-spicy smorgasbord with marinara, pepperoni, fresh pineapple, jalapeños, and mozzarella.

Which of these delectable pizzas you order might depend on your football allegiance, or it might just depend on whether you’re more of an olives person or a pineapple-on-pizza person. At least when it comes to dining at The Filling Station, though, living in a house divided is fun: order a pizza half Spartan and half Wolverine—or better yet, come hungry and get one of each!

Doug Murdick’s Fudge: Plain Chocolate Fudge

Traverse City

Cherries might be Traverse City’s signature food, but there’s another sweet treat that is borderline synonymous with northern Michigan’s small towns: fudge! And while the number of chocolatiers, candy shops, and ice cream parlors offering this chocolatey concoction in the region has increased exponentially over the years, our top northern Michigan fudge comes from the TC-based Doug Murdick’s brand.

Here’s the story: In 1964—60 years ago this year!—Doug and Doris Murdick opened Doug Murdick’s Fudge Store at 116 East Front Street in downtown TC. For Doug, fudge was a birthright: His grandfather, Henry Murdick, had started Mackinac Island’s first candy shop—called Murdick’s Candy Kitchen—in 1887. That establishment became world-famous not just for making delicious fudge, but also for turning the process of making fudge into a spectator event.

The Mackinac Island store, now called The Original Murdick’s Fudge, still operates today. The two Traverse City locations aren’t affiliated with that store, or with any of the other various Murdick fudge shops throughout northern Michigan. They are, however, part of the esteemed Murdick’s lineage, with Doug Murdick’s children—Debbie and Dave—carrying on the family business as proprietors and fudge makers.

The business itself isn’t the only thing they’re carrying on: When asked why Murdick’s fudge endures as a beloved local staple, Debbie credits one thing: Never, ever changing the recipe.

“Being consistent is so important,” she says. “I know some other fudge stores have changed their chocolate, or swapped out other ingredients, and people can tell the difference. We’re dedicated to using the same quality ingredients that my parents did. That can be hard when the cost of chocolate is going up and the cost of sugar is going up. But we don’t change, because we want to keep making the same quality product that our customers have loved for years and years.”