Steis's Villiage Inn, Lexingon, Michigan

During out boating break last week we enjoyed eating out at two highly recommended restaurants. As mentioned in my post about the food at Cadillac House, harbour towns tend to have wonderful little restaurants. Harbour town restaurants are usually family friendly and casual with reasonably priced food. Steis's Village Inn is located at 5523 Main Street in the picturesque harbour village Lexington, Michigan. It is only a block away from the Lexington harbour. While Steis's is well known for their handmade pizza we decided to go with an appetizer and full dinners. Unfortunately they do not appear to have a website which is a shame but don't let that stop you from visiting!

Steis's Village Inn is packed full of atmosphere. You can't help but like it! It's comfortable and cosy with very friendly wait staff. Their food is excellent and very reasonably priced. Both my husband and I gave this restaurant two thumbs up. It is definitely on our list of must stops on our next boating trip to Lexington.

Hot Spinach Dip

We ordered the hot spinach dip appetizer. This generous sized appetizer came with with a lovely tasting spinach dip and warm pita bread wedges. Hot spinach dip make a lovely, easy to make appetizer at home. Change the flavour by adjusting cheeses used and amounts

Method: Wash fresh spinach. Steam until just limp. Place spinach, about 1/2 c of mayonnaise, cream cheese and shredded cheeses about 1/2 cup each in food processor. Pulse on chop a couple of times. Pour into oven proof serving dish. Bake at 350ºF until cheese is melted and bubbly. Served with warmed pita wedges.

Panfried Walleye

My husband ordered the all you can eat walleye. Walleye is a mild, Great Lakes fish that is sure to please. The meal came with herbed mashed potatoes, tarter sauce, lemon wedge and a generous helping of panfried walleye. Now just look at this lovely presentation. The coating on the fish was much like I would do on any fresh caught fish at home. It is simply dredged in a little seasoned flour with cornmeal then pan fried to a crispy golden brown leaving the fish moist and tender. When my husband was finished his meal another helping of fish came out.

For those who are dieting, fish is one of the best foods you can eat. It is low in calories especially if baked or grilled. Pan frying will add a few calories but not a lot. So lean towards having at least one meal of fish per week.

Broasted Chicken

Broasted chicken is a true delight! It is cooked in a pressurized deep fryer so the meat is very moist and tender yet the outside is nice and crispy. Unfortunately this cooking method cannot be duplicated at home because it includes a special marinating procedure and special equipment only available to restaurants. The special pressurized fryer equipment is called a broaster, hence the name. The end result is the broasted chicken is moister but less greasy than fried chicken. This really is a specialty dish that is available only when dining out.

The meal consisted of a half of broasted chicken, baked potato and baked beans. Now this was quite lovely and well worth ordering. As promised the chicken was moist and tender yet the coating was nicely crisped. For those with smaller appetites they will package up left-overs to go.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Vegetable Water

Keep a container in the freezer for leftover water from steaming vegetables. When you have enough, use it to make vegetable broth. Leftover water from steaming vegetables can also be cooled then used to water your garden or houseplants.

Cadillac House - Lexington, Michigan

The weather has been unseasonable cool and wet so we have not been able to do a lot of boating. It's as if Mother Nature is saying I'm going to force you to stay home and not spend money because there's a recession going on, don't you know! My husband has been anxiously watching the extended forecast for signs of a couple of good days where we could go out for an extended stay on Lake Huron. Last Wednesday he declared it safe for departing on Thursday morning and returning Friday night or possibly Saturday morning.

We arrived safely at our destination, Lexington State Dock on Lake Huron. This is a gorgeous, scenic harbour at the quaint, tourist town of Lexington, Michigan. Arriving by boat means you have to walk everywhere you want to go. We have been there before but always talk to the harbour master for his recommendations of great eating spots as they do change. The harbour master will not steer you wrong. There are several small, unique shops to browse through, a few good restaurants and usually a lot of different events at Lexington. Friday night we enjoyed music in the park and Saturday morning while walking for coffee we saw several vendors setting up on the closed street for art in the park. We would have liked to stay a bit longer but had to be home by 1:30 pm for the plumber (long story) so after enjoying our coffee we headed out onto the lake.

Cadillac House

Honestly some of the best food is found in sleepy little towns off the beaten track. Many of these tend to be small pubs and grills with rather non-descript exteriors but lots of atmosphere inside. They are essentially the places you would never stop at unless by word of mouth that hey this is a great place to eat!

The harbour master recommended the Cadillac House at 5502 Main Street in Lexington. This was about a 10 minute slow walk from our boat. This is a historic building built in 1840 as the first hotel in the village. It was rebuilt in 1860 and has remained a hotel with restaurant since that time although it has passed through different ownerships. This really is a must eat at place! The food is good and it has a wonderful atmosphere with excellent wait staff. Oh and apparently it is haunted by a resident ghost but we saw no signs of that.

Whitefish

What was rather interesting about this meal was we met another boater and his son a couple of slips down from us. Well they were going for dinner and we were going for dinner so we ended up going together. I ordered the broiled Great Lakes whitefish. This really is one of the nicest tasting fish there is.

Whitefish is a nice mild fish that really doesn't lend itself to heavy seasoning. It is best broiled but can be pan fried or baked. The broiled whitefish was served with mashed redskin potatoes, sautéed onions and zucchini, lemon wedges and tartar sauce. It did not come with a side salad or drinks.

Lake Walleye

My husband ordered the all you can eat lake walleye. Now this really was a good deal! According to my husband it would be well worth driving to by land. It was a rather unpretentious meal with pan fried walleye served with French fries and sautéed onions and zucchini. As promised it was all you can eat so it really was a good deal.

Our total bill at the Cadillac House was $36.99 with two meals and alcoholic beverages. As meals go this was quite reasonable! The atmosphere was quite lovely and the service was excellent so we enjoyed our time there. This definitely is a must stop at eatery when in Lexington, Michigan!

She Said (1) - Maple-Sauced Chicken

If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

Maple-Sauced Chicken

We are having a lot of fun with this little contest. I decided to make the Maple-Sauced Chicken. I just love anything with maple syrup! For this dish I used 100% maple syrup that by definition meets the ingredient classification of a 'maple-flavored syrup'. I used Heinz 57 for the steak sauce and Not Cool 100% certified organic habanero hickory smoked hot sauce. I also used 100% pure cider vinegar and Dijon mustard. There is a lot of room for varying this recipe simply by changing the steak sauce, mustard and hot sauce. I liked this sauce enough that I'm going to make a larger batch to can for ready use. However, it is easy enough to make fresh while the chicken is grilling.

I served the chicken with steamed butter and chive potatoes and a fresh garden salad. The chives, Grand Rapids lettuce, Chinese mustard, Lemon Boy tomato (yellow) and nasturtium were picked fresh from the garden. A red slicing tomato, red onion and baby English cucumber wedges completed the salad.

Maple-Sauced Chicken
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 270

¾ cup ketchup
⅓ cup maple-flavored syrup
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp bottled steak sauce
1 tbsp yellow mustard or Dijon-style mustard
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp black pepper
pinch ground cloves
several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce
6 whole chicken legs.

Combine all the ingredients except for chicken in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 15 minutes uncovered.

Heat the grill to medium. Place the chicken legs bone sides up on grill over the filled drip pan. Grill for 50 to 60 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink, turning once halfway through the grilling. Brush with the sauce during the last 10 minutes of grilling. Heat remaining sauce until bubbly to spoon over the chicken.