Looking for Lunch

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On Saturday this past weekend while @mrsbozz and I were camping at the tip of the "thumb" in Michigan, we decided to head out on Saturday and look for some lunch. In case you aren't familiar, the state of Michigan is shaped like a mitten. That is why it is often called "the mitten state". Don't believe me? Take a look at a map, you will see what I mean. The area to the mideast of the state is aptly called "the thumb" because duh, and the town we were camping near is called Port Austin right at the tip of the thumb.

Make sense now?

So we got up on Saturday morning and after taking a quick walk around the campground and then having some breakfast we spent a lazy morning reading and enjoying the slow crawl of the sun up the sky from the horizon. Around noon we decided to head into town to get some food.

Our original intent was to go to a place call The Bank 1884. It's located in an old bank building and apparently they have some tables in the vault that you can sit at. Unfortunately, there was a street fair happening in the town, so the place was packed. After waiting about fifteen minutes to get a table and realizing they were severely overwhelmed, we decided to leave. We figured even if we did get a table, there was a good chance the service and food would be sub par due to them being "in the weeds".

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So we decided to walk through the street fair quickly to see if there was anything interesting there or any food trucks we could visit for lunch. Unfortunately, there were pretty much no food trucks except a single one selling smoothies or something like that. There was a place that had some craft made bratwurst and I was tempted to stop there. You can see it on the right hand side of the photo above. They had about a dozen coolers all with different kinds of bratwurst.

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We did stop by a small Amish stand and I picked up these amazing molasses cookies. They are probably some of the best molasses cookies I have ever had. They are soft and rich and so enjoyable. I think we got about a dozen in the package and I am going to be really sad when they are finally all gone.

There were plenty of other options of places to eat in Port Austin, but given the commotion of the street fair, we figured they would all be pretty busy. We decided to head out of Port Austin to a small town named Kinde to a place called "The Pasta House". Can you guess what they specialize in?

On the way out of town we passed The Garfield Inn. That is the opening photo. It is an old private residence that was built by Charles G Learned after moving to Michigan from New York. Apparently he was a successful business man there, but he was interested in the frontier of Michigan and eventually settled in Port Austin.

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Imagine the most desolate town you can think of and then scale back your expectations by about 100x. That would be Kinde. We turned off the main road into what is supposed to be the "business district" of Kinde and sadly the photo above is about it. We were worried for a second that the Pasta House might not even be open, but then I noticed the neon sign in the front window saying they were.

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We hesitantly entered to find ourselves in what can only be described as a retro diner feeling establishment. I was more expecting red and white plaid tablecloths and the whole classic Italian restaurant vibe, but that isn't what we got.

There were two larger parties just getting their lunch in the restaurant as well as an older couple sitting next to each other at a four top table and then @mrsbozz and I. We felt a bit out of place, but sometimes the off the wall places like this can have some of the best food.

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They actually have a pretty robust menu consisting of pasta dishes, pizzas, and other American fare like burgers, sandwiches, pork ribs, and all other kinds of stuff. We decided to start with the deep fried jalapeno ravioli. They were delicious and after our long trek to find lunch, we were starving. We finished them in record time!

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@mrsbozz got the grilled chicken hoagie that was on special that day and some amazing onion rings. She let me have a bite of her sandwich and it was pretty amazing. The chicken was marinated well and there was a good mix of cheese and veggies in the sandwich that made every bite the perfect bite. She ate half the sandwich and took the other half home.

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Since it was called the Pasta House, I decided I had to at least try the pasta (the ravioli doesn't count). I got the fettucini with alfredo pesto sauce and I had them add some grilled chicken to the dish. It was very good, but as you can see from the photo above, there was entirely way too much sauce. I don't know if it was because I got a half order and they measured the sauce for a full order or what, but it was basically swimming.

I ate maybe half the dish and then I strategically put the rest in a left over container trying to separate the noodles and chicken from the over abundance of sauce.

At close to $75 after tip, I am not sure the food justified the price, but it wasn't the worst meal I have ever had. If I found myself in the area again, I would likely stop at The Pasta House (there really isn't anywhere else to stop!), but I would probably get something different.

My sister and her husband are traveling to this area next month and I told them to check out the Pasta House if they wanted a decent Italian meal.

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With our bellies more than full, we headed back to our campsite for an afternoon of relaxing and reading as well as another amazing sunset!

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My Sports Account - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced