Don’s Drive In lights up the night sky in Traverse City.
Traverse City is known to be a foodie town. Mario Batali spends his summers there with his family, and chefs both well-known and undiscovered make their meals in the scenic resort town. So it’s hard to narrow it down to five best bites in Traverse City.
1. Don’s Drive In’s burgers & fries.
This little diner serves up the usual diner food — mostly at great diner prices. The burgers and fries are cheap eats, but the homemade shakes can be expensive if you go for the fresh fruit.
Don’s Drive In burger, all wrapped up.
Don’s Drive In burger, unwrapped.
2-3. Red Mesa‘s fajita twister and Latino chopped salad.
I’m a recent convert to south-of-the-border food. This restaurant serves traditional Mexican and Latin American cuisine using fresh and local ingredients (a common theme in TC restaurants).
Red Mesa fajita twister.
My husband and I split the Latino chopped salad and a steak fajita twister for lunch — and it was nearly too much food! The twister is a fajita baked in the oven so the tortilla gets good and crispy; I can’t wait to try recreating it in my own (decidedly non-Latin) kitchen.
Red Mesa Latino chopped salad.
4-5. Dinner at Aerie Restaurant and Lounge, inside Grand Traverse Resort.
This is how grownups eat when they don’t have the kids with them (or so I imagine — we so rarely dine out without the kids). Anyway, from the moment the elevator doors opened to the 16th floor of the Grand Traverse Resort, we knew we were in for a fancy dinner.
Scallop appetizer at Aerie Restaurant and Lounge.
And fancy it was, complete with window seats and a view of a beautiful sunset. While we did get to enjoy the nice sunset, the result was less-than-ideal light for food photography.
Lamb chop at Aerie Restaurant and Lounge.
