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Shirley Fong-Torres (Pictured above, one of the wonderful desserts sampled by Shirley and Wro at The Heritage, the restaurant operated by the Hospitality Education Department of Grand Rapids Community College) My honeybear,Wroburlto, wholeheartedly embraces the "Field & Stream" lifestyle, especially macho flannels and vests with secret pockets. So, dressed appropriately, he began hunting for his own personal Hemingway experience -- by pestering me to visit Grand Rapids. Wro pointed out that Michigan's Second City is the gateway to the state's legendary lake country and that for three centuries now, the moguls of Chicago's markets and Detroit's factories built "Gatsby-class palaces" on the east shore of Lake Michigan.
(Ah-Nab-Awen riverfront park in Grand Rapids -- Photo courtesy Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau) (What is it about F. Scott Fitzgerald that so intrigues gay bears?) Mommy acquiesced to Wro's wishes for her own reasons: Western Michigan produces some of the most distinctive regional foods in America. The people here have always enjoyed a special relationship with the woods and waters. The pre-European settlers, the Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomi, were great hunters and fishers, besides being good stewards of the land. The largest groups of European settlers came from Poland, Ireland and Germany, lands where nobility had always reserved all rights to hunt and fish. So they, too, treated the wildlife of America's forests and lakes with the respect of the newly enfranchised. A Dynamic Ethnic Culture The
west side of Grand Rapids is still Irish and Polish. Festivals try to preserve
their ethnic traditions. There is also a large contingent of the lost boys of
Sudan, who came here with help from the Dutch Reform Church, which is big here.
Vietnamese came before them, and now Dominicans are settling here. So, the city
has the kind of dynamic ethnic culture that always insures interesting food. Microclimates here have created some little known wines of distinction, and the old ethnicities have led to some amazing artisan cheeses and beers. Unknown to coastal foodies, Grand Rapids is also home to an extraordinary culinary school. Grand Rapids' Extraordinary Culinary School So
our first stop, even before checking into our hotel, was at the Hospitality Education
Department of Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), where some 500 students are
enrolled in the two-year program. The philosophy here is more hands-on than at
many culinary academies, and the staff is more distinguished for their real-world
experiences than their academic backgrounds.
"We tell students they can go and work anywhere in the world," Charlie explained, adding that, next to the resorts of Michigan's lake country, more students are placed in Hawaii, Oregon and at various Disney properties than anywhere else. Dinner at The Heritage -- A Great Dining Bargain We had dinner with Charlie at the school's restaurant, The Heritage . Like most working restaurants in culinary schools, this is one of the great dining bargains available to travelers. Wro particularly liked the fact that all the waiters were students, a demographic group he finds "hot." One waitress, Nuria Amela-Querol, told us that her summer internship had been at Barcelona's El Bulli, currently the hottest restaurant in the world. "My family has known (El Bulli owner-chef) Fernan Adria since he was young. He used to do most of his shopping in our store," she explained. So what is a seriously well-connected Catalan doing at GRCC? "I checked out culinary schools on the internet," she said. "This one looked like by far the best for the money, anywhere." At $9G for a two-year program, she showed some math skills, too. But back to dinner… A Feast to Remember Our night at The Heritage corresponded with a special Michigan Game Feast, with all courses coming from the state and paired with Michigan wines. First an onion tart tatin, then a wild mushroom marsala, with a trio of heirloom tomatoes. Following that was a yellow perch tempura, then a quince sorbet, and the main course, venison Wellington, with morels and porcinis (from gypsum caves south of Grand Rapids) and a grilled asparagus salad with Michigan cherry vinaigrette.
(The very creative Chef Gilles Renusson) As for showing off, we'd only just begun. For dessert Professor-Pastry Chef Gilles Renusson and his students sculpted a dozen courses of eye-dazzling treats inspired by the sugar ferries of west woods. Some desserts were placed in edible, wrapped boxes made from spun sugar. One was enclosed in a candy apple. Wro summed the dinner up in four words: "Be still, my heart."
(Another wonderful dessert -- Wro has the right expression: "Be still, my heart.") We
heard that Gilles came to the college from our hotel, the Amway Grand Plaza (AGP).
Before that he had worked for Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons, so Wro and I upgraded
our expectations for the hotel. We were not disappointed. One doesn't expect to find such services in a town this size: 24-hour room service, a full fitness center and shops. In five-star fashion, the hotel accommodates just about everything, except animals -- honey bears, of course, are excepted. Basically the AGP seamlessly connects a glass tower of modern amenities to the gilded English Adams ornamentation of The Pantlind, a restored hotel built in 1913. The Pantlind lobby has the nation's largest gold leaf ceiling. Wro said that sitting there made him think about F. Scott Fitzgerald, who "could have been happy if he had only dumped Zelda for a gay honeybear." (I knew it was time for bed, before he hit on anyone). A City Famous for Design and THE Calder After a quick break the next morning, we decided to take a walk in a city famous for design. Grand Rapids has been known as "Furniture City" since 1837, when cabinetmaker William Haldane set up shop. Industrial barons commissioned houses here by Frank Lloyd Wright and other great architects. Today half a dozen pieces by Alexander Calder grace the city, but the 54-foot-long, 43-foot-high, 42-ton La Grande Vitesse (French for "the grand rapids") is the one known as THE Calder. We saw it in front of City Hall, where the city's Festival of the Arts has been held since 1970.
(Alexander Calder's La Grande Vitesse -- Photo courtesy Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau) Wro particularly enjoyed Maya Lin's Rosa Parks Circle, exuding from a sculpture named Ecliptic, which doubles as an amphitheatre hosting blues concerts in summer and ice skating in winter, with free skate rentals. The park's grassy sculpted banks suggest waves, or rapids, and a reflecting pool emits water vapor. The paved Riverwalk lines both banks of the Grand River from the Fulton Street Bridge to the wrought-iron Sixth Street Bridge. From Fulton Street, walking north along the east side of the river, we found Michael Singer's River's Edge sculpture, a sculpted granite floodwall built into 600 feet of riverbank. Wro talked to the ducks here, telling them to beware of cute culinary students. Wro Liked Kinnebrew's Kid's Katwalk In Sixth Street Bridge Park, Wro hopped around on the balance beams of Joseph Kinnebrew's red steel Kid's Katwalk. Two blocks south of Sixth Street Bridge on the river walk, we found Kinnebrew's Grand River Sculpture and Fish Ladder, where people watch salmon and steelhead jump graduated steps up, and over, the Sixth Street dam. In Ah-Nab-Awen Park, near the Gerald R. Ford Museum, we visited the Indian Burial Mounds honoring the Odawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi.
(The Grand River Sculpture and Fish Ladder-- Photo courtesy Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau)) Art always makes us hungry, so we headed out to Marie Catrib's, a wildly successful new Lebanese deli and café in Eastown. Marie's story reminds me of driving, at least the way I drive. (Have I confessed that I am responsible for most Chinese driver jokes?) One Woman's Odyssey to a Great Lebanese Deli & Cafe At
any rate, I can relate to a woman who got from Upper Michigan to Western Michigan,
by way of Vermont and North Carolina and Wisconsin. Sounds right to me. "So I went to New England Culinary School, and I chose Montpelier campus because it was smaller and because it reminded me of Houghton. You could walk anywhere in town. "From there I went to North Carolina, to the Biltmore Estate, to do my internship. That wasn't even five years ago yet. It was really nice, but it made me decide I didn't want to work for other people. So, here I am back in the business again. You know what, once you are bitten by the bug…" she didn't bother to fill in the rest of that sentence. So how did she end up in Grand Rapids? "My son was living here," she explained. "I was looking for places in North Carolina, but it was like swimming against the current, just because I wanted to get back in the business again. Then in the meantime I got a nice job at University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, as pastry chef. " It was a good job, but after one year the management changed and I knew I wasn't going to like working hard for the new people. "By then, my son was acting like the parent to me being the kid. He was living here, so I asked him to help me with some appointments, and I came down two years ago and met the guy who owned this building. He liked what I had to say, and here we are." Fresh Middle Eastern Foods, Divine French Pastries Marie
and her son are partners in Marie Catrib's. She opened on Thanksgiving 2004. The
fresh Middle Eastern foods, divine French pastries and coffee house ambiance have
been so well received that the restaurant doubled in size in less than a year.
Wro tried some baba ganoosh, tabouli and and hummus and thought they were spiced
with chilies. "In Houghton, everybody eats pasties," she said. "These are similar with dough wrapped around fillings (like corned beef and kraut, etc.) "Oopers" (for U.P., or Upper Peninsular) are sweet pasties -- the dough is wrapped over dates and other sweet things." So,
what did Marie learn on her long and winding road to and from Michigan. A
Wonderful Gallery Association
(A view of the Grand River Bridge illuminated at night -- Photo by Brian Kelly courtesy Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau) Scott LaFontsee said he opened the gallery over 20 years ago, in what was a then a totally run-down, deserted area of empty warehouses and factories. His gallery formed the nucleus of a Gallery Association that has gone from three members to 14. Scott's wife Linda took 12 years off from her career to help get the gallery moving. Scott drove a cement truck as second job for first four years and kept a framing business on the side. Representing mostly local and regional artists, they grew from 600 square feet to 20,000 over the years as the art scene they founded attracted other businesses to the neighborhood. Now they are looking to move on. "The
gentrification has raised rents, to the point where artists and art dealers are
priced out of the market," Linda explained. "It's the law of supply and da damned," Wro quipped. We ventured on to a Grand Rapids icon, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park .This 125-acre attraction features outdoor sculpture, including some stunning Andy Goldsworthy "Stone Arches." It also includes indoor and outdoor gardens, a tropical conservatory, nature trails, a guided tram and a new Children's Garden. The place hosts summer concerts and a Christmas show, plus a Butterfly Show every Spring and an Orchid Show every January. Rita Williams -- Another Amazing Woman Gardens always make us hungry, so it was off to the Sierra Room to meet another amazing woman who took a most circuitous route to the restaurant trade. Rita Williams is the CEO of Gill Industries, where she manages 700 employees. She's also the mother of 12, and one of 13 kids herself. As soon as all her kids were old enough, she went into nursing. "Then I decided the family business needed me more than the medical profession did. So I cleaned bathrooms and did every job in the company," she explained. The business has two plants in Georgia and several more in Michigan. "We specialize in mechanisms like head rests and , well, just about anything in your car that moves," Rita explained. Since all my problems in cars result from movement, you can imagine how much I admired that. The Sierra Room was the dream of one of Rita's daughters. That didn't work out for the daughter, so Rita and another daughter, Colleen, stepped in. Wro loved the look of the place, "like something Antonio Gaudi would have designed for himself." Sierra Room was the first new restaurant to open in the area around the Van Andel Arena. That venue revitalized downtown Grand Rapids, with several good restaurants. We also visited the Chop House, a steak and cigar place, and Bar Divani, a wine and tapas joint with a most multi-cultural menu. Sierra Room Attracts Serious Foodies But the Sierra Room is the one restaurant downtown that can pull serious foodies away from the lavish hotel restaurants. Set in a grocery and furniture warehouse that dates to the 19th century, the building has original steel pillars, hardwood floors and industrial scales. The rest is pure whim, a fusion of Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau that bends classic angles with spirals and softens steel with a heavy touch of velvet. Hand-crafted metal stampings and serpentine walls play a Gaudi tune, too. The women's bathroom is excessively elegant, and Wro calls the men's bathroom "Space Age Deco." The main dining room has draped booths for privacy and a balcony seating area handles private parties, utilizing a Victorian feinting couch where Rita or Colleen cat nap during their 18-hour work days. A garden area is a summer delight, with the restaurant's herbs grown in an improvisational arbor where customers sip wine. The restaurant stays cutting edge, partly thanks to the culinary college. Colleen was a health care professional in Hawaii when she moved into the restaurant business and enrolled at the culinary college. She graduated number one in her class and became pastry chef for the Sierra Room, but later hired another of Gilles' star pupils to take that job over. Chris Perkey Makes Magic Chris Perkey is the chef. He had his own restaurant in the suburbs before going to work for the Williams. He trained at Chicago's Spiaggio, under James Beard winner Tony Mantuano. Great products are rife here. "I want to keep things based around freshness and light sauces, some Asian and Southwestern hints,"but mostly traditional American and continental," Chris explained, while serving us a confit of Muscovy duck tamale. "We use Chef's Garden vegetables from the Lake Erie area of Ohio, they go way beyond organic. I like Broken Arrow, a Texas hill country supplier we have endorsed, for antelope and boar, but struggle with venison because of all the bad hunters here who bring a horrible preconception about deer meat," he said, referring the fact that deer must be killed cleanly, with one shot. Otherwise wounded deer poison their own flesh with the hormones of fear. "So I prefer wild boar, with home-made kim chee," said Perkey. "I like White Marble Farms for pork, it's free ranged and organic and has more marbling than any other I have found. I love using whole sides, introducing cuts to people and keeping our costs down. Bellies and cheeks just melt in the mouth. I like bellies with juniper, brown sugar and salt, braised in caramelized brown sugar." Chris made us exquisite grilled quails on potato gnocchi with porcini stock. Both fresh and wild mushrooms are Michigan treasures. A local company called Midsummer Exotics is led by Western Michigan scientists who were the first to grow morels indoors year around. They also raise shiitakes, oysters, cinnamon namekos (mostly for the Japanese market) and black poplar mushrooms, popular in Eastern Europe. We also learned that the Leelanau Peninsula produces quality wines. "We're
starting to see good Michigan Rieslings and blends and even some chardonnays,"
Colleen explained. "It's not like the old days when sparkling wines were
the only thing drinkable coming out of Michigan." "Oh fantastic," they said. "Our challenge is other nights, getting people to come to downtown just for dinner when there isn't something going on at the Arena. Arena nights are fabulous with one exception - Kid Rock night. We should have closed before the concert was over. Next time, we will." I
made a note of this. On nights when there is nothing going on at the arena, there
should be all kinds of places to park. LaFontsee
Gallery The
Heritage The
Chop House The
Sierra Room Frederik
Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Bar
Divani Marie
Catrib's (Click
below for more travel).
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