Munising Restaurants

Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore
(906) 387-3008
Sandwiches ($6.50) are made fresh to order with bread, bagels, and meats and cheeses from Marquette's New York Deli, where Don Curto successfully pursued his vision of bringing a real New York Deli, with sourdough rye bread, and acceptable corned beef, to the Upper Peninsula. New York Deli also supplies the soups ($3.50 a bowl). Hot dogs and bratwurst round out the menu. The old-fashioned soda fountain here is the social hub. It serves Jilbert's ice cream cones and espresso, cappuccino, lattés, and other coffee drinks, plus regular coffee for a dollar a cup. For more about Falling Rock, see the downtown point of interest. Customers can play board games, bring their laptops to use the free high-speed wireless Internet, and relax and read on several sofas. Year-round concerts (donation requested) are Saturday nights at 7.

MULDOON'S PASTIES
(906) 387-5880
The menu consists of three kinds of pasties (currently $5): traditional with beef and rutabagas; chicken; and veggie with broccoli, cauliflower, and two cheeses. Good crusts stand out. They come with gravy and cole slaw. There are tables inside, in the yard, and on the deck.

THE NAVIGATOR
(906) 387-1555 ; eatonthebay.com
Munising's only restaurant with a view of the bay and Grand Island is right downtown. Lots to choose from for breakfast, (up to $9). Popular $10 Friday fish fry with lightly breaded beer-battered trout and whitefish from the lake. Good ribs—$15 a half rack, $19 for a full rack. Homemade meatloaf, soups, $2.45 a bowl (most popular, when available, is the mushroom beef barley).

DOGPATCH
(906) 387-9948
Though the food is nothing special, Dogpatch has been a year-round visitor favorite for decades, especially with snowmobilers. Still, this is a place with a full menu and a kooky atmosphere where you can get a drink with your meal. The 26-item soup and salad bar is another plus. There's fresh fish and homemade fruit cobblers. Not much for vegetarians except the salad bar. (The Dogpatch/L'il Abner theme goes back to the hillbilly comic strip, written and drawn by Al Capp from 1934 to 1977.

SYDNEY'S and the SHARK BAR
(906) 387-4067
Local people and repeat visitors appreciate Sydney's for its consistent food, excellent fresh whitefish and lake trout, good service— and because it's always open, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 365 days a year. Another plus: no smoking in the dining room, only the bar. There's a full menu, with steaks for dinner and prime rib Saturday night, and a lunch menu with sandwiches and homemade soups available all the time. Among various burgers is a menu item hardly ever seen in the U.P.: the heart-smart cherryburger ($6.25 with choice of potato) made with Plevalean, about 30% cherry hamburger, the invention of butcher Ray Pleva in Cedar, Michigan, a neighbor to Leelanau County's cherry orchards. Owner Peggy Cromell insisted on pinboned fish when she opened, and eventually the local fishery bought their own pinbone machine to get her big fish business, so now Sydney's—and every other restaurant in town—can get really fresh fish, locally caught. Fresh lake trout or whitefish on a lunch plate with fries, a cup of soup, and slaw is $8. A larger portion at dinner with potato and an all-you-care-to-eat salad bar is $12, fresh perch is $14. (The soup and salad bar alone is $7.) Vacationers in a hurry like the breakfast and dinner buffets in summer. Breakfast is $7 with coffee, dinner is $14 to $16, depending on that day's entrees. (For children 6 to 12 it's half off, 5 and under free.) BBQ pork ribs on Thursday, the Friday seafood spectacular (all three local fish plus crab legs and other seafood), and Saturday's prime rib increase the cost. Every day's buffet brings a chicken, fish, and beef entrée, plus vegetarian lasagna. Children can get a small portion of most any menu item—a big plus for parents who don't want their kids to survive on fried chicken strips and French fries. Year-round there's a local kaffee klatsch at and after breakfast. The $7 "Bonser special" is big—three eggs, two strips of bacon, 2 sausage links, hash browns, and juice. Peggy has never been to Australia—she's born and bred in Munising—but she has always liked kangaroos and wanted to have fun with something different when she opened Sydney's in 1993.

GOLDEN HEART RESTAURANT
(906) 387-5445
Golden Heart is mostly Chinese with 17 Thai dishes. The locally popular dishes here like sesame chicken are often breaded and deep-fried, then served in sweet and sour sauce. But there are healthier choices, still a bit heavy on the oil, like cashew dishes with snow peas or Chinese vegetable dishes. For kids who are picky eaters, there are egg rolls and chicken rice soup. Lunch dishes are $6 to $7, dinner dishes from $9 to $14.

CHERRYWOOD LODGE
(906) 387-5400
Up the hill in Wetmore, three miles east of Munising on M-28, the Cherrywood is part of the Best Western motel complex. It has a pleasant, history-minded atmosphere, ample natural light, and a varied menu in its dining room with fireplace and in its lounge. Same food, prices and owner as Dogpatch downtown. Smoking in lounge only.

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