Iron River Restaurants

ALICE'S
(906) 265-4764
"Cucina de Mama" (mother's cooking) says the sign in front of Alice's. That's a picture of mama on the sign - owner Alice Tarsi's mother, Concetta. Her cooking was locally famous before Alice ever opened her restaurant. The mild red meat sauce is made the way Concetta did it - in the U.S., not in the Marches of central Italy, where she came from. All the pasta is made fresh here each day, and the gnocchi (potato dumplings) hand-dimpled. Favorites include spaghetti or gnocchi with a grilled pork chop ($10 or $15), meat or cheese ravioli dinner ($10), and a delectable capeletti soup ($4/bowl). Dinners (up to $20 for steak tenderloin) come with salad or soup, starch, and a basket of homemade breads. Half-portions are available. Saturday specialties are babyback ribs ($17 and $21) and chicken breast Valdostanna with mushrooms and cheese ($15). There's a separate lounge and a good selection of Italian wines. The interior is cardinal red, with a seasonally changing display of colored lights and artificial plants. Reservations taken, advised in summer and on weekends.

DEPOT RESTAURANT
(906) 265-6341
The soups are wonderful, the bagels made from scratch, the coffee fresh-ground, and the atmosphere is effectively retro and romantic - a train dining car with linens and little lamps on the tables, and the sound of piano standards. Lunch features meal-size salads (around $7-$8 with bagel, quite a variety of specialty sandwiches (around $5.50 to $7 with cole slaw and chips), and soups - the house specialty. Breakfasts are based on waffles, pancakes, omelets, and bagels - a softer bagel that's steamed, not boiled. Call for the dinner menu and special monthly beer and wine tastings. Owners Jo Werner and Steve Shepich try offer entrées not found elsewhere in the area.
    Jo was ready for an adventurous change when she turned forty, and Steve obliged in buying the old Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad depot, built around 1910. When estimates on renovating the handsome but decrepit brick depot proved unaffordably high, they decided to bring in two railroad cars for the restaurant. Actually they're Long Island commuter cars from perhaps the 1960s, but they've been redone with a 1940s feel. The dining car and its deck look out onto the depot. Now in 2005 the depot itself has finally been refurbished for special events.

RIVERSIDE BAR & PIZZERIA
(906) 265-9944
Pizza at the Riverside has enjoyed a big local reputation since 1946. Its crust is thin and cracker-like (a style encountered elsewhere in the Upper Peninsula's iron ranges), its sauce spicy and made on the premises, and the sausage custom-made. For many natives who've moved away, the Riverside is a must stop on each return trip. The limited number of classic toppings includes anchovies. The only other foods in this vast, family-oriented sports bar are the Friday fish fry ($5.95) and a foot-long hot dog ($4.25) that comes with homemade sauce and is available any time. It's one big room, so smoke can drift. Blatz beer memorabilia constitutes the main décor. The yellow tables and orange booths are memorable in a 1970 way. No credit cards.

KERMIT'S BAR, PIZZA PUB & GRILL
(906) 265-2790
The menu at Kermit's isn't ambitious, but what it does, it does well. This well-run bar is a regular lunch place for people who care about good food. Tasty char-grilled chicken breasts appear in a delicious chicken pita sandwich with cucumber dressing ($5.25), chicken Caesar salad ($6.25), and more. A spicy beef mix makes for good taco salad ($6.25), taco pizza with lots of toppings, and chili. There are breaded seafood dinners (mostly $6.50), nachos and bar food. A 1/3 pound burger is $3.25. That competes with McDonald's down the hill, and the atmosphere is lots nicer at this spiffy, unsmoky sports bar with pool, darts, and stacks of oak highchairs for little ones. One big room. Expect some smoke

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