Lie in bed late, perk up with a cup of locally roasted Joe then go be your best brunch self at one of these on-point Northern Michigan restaurants. Read on as we follow our morning hunger to some of the North’s best brunch spots.
This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.
Sugar 2 Salt | Traverse City
S2S brunch is all love and synergy. It’s the delicious dialogue between a fish cake, bacon marmalade, confit’d fingerling potatoes and a sunny side egg. It’s a palate cleanse of citrusy single-origin coffee after a rich bite of scone. It’s the chemistry between sweetheart co-proprietors and chefs Stephanie Wiitala and Jonathan Dayton as they bring their culinary creativity and passion for good food driven by local farms to bear each morning on the breakfast tables at their stylish micro-eatery in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. The brunch menu’s offerings are seasonally fluid and non-traditional in all the best ways: One day might bring cellar vegetables like butternut squash cooked in a savory morning risotto with oyster mushrooms and bacon or 10-grain porridge slowly simmered with buttermilk, farmer’s cheese, spiced nuts and last autumn’s apples.
Sugar 2 Salt’s spent grain pancakes: lemon curd, preserved and fresh fruit, whipped cream, cranberry simple syrup, apple butter.
Cafe 106 | Ludington
If barn building is on your Saturday agenda, tuck into 106’s Country Benedict: grilled biscuits with poached eggs, sausage and, yes, sausage gravy. Better schedule a nap between roof joists.
Birch & Maple | Frankfort
Have you ever enjoyed a meal-sized Bloody Mary that wards off hunger for hours? If not, you’ve never been to Birch and Maple. The chicken and waffles are legit.
Martha’s Leelanau Table | Suttons Bay
The charming eatery serves made-from-scratch specialties with European accents, plus a full espresso bar and fine pastries. Bottles of Mawby bubbles pop and froth for brunch mimosas.
Archie’s Social House | Traverse City
Choose from Bennys four decadent ways: classic, mushroom, duck confit and short rib. Then settle in with a brunch cocktail.
The Towne Plaza | Traverse City
Chef Chris Hoffman’s unbridled pork evangelism extends to the breakfast table with his Surf & Turf: TP’s piece de resistance built with fried oyster, pork belly and poached eggs covered in red-hot vinaigrette and served over cornbread.
Palette Bistro | Petoskey
Spike your morning blood sugar with brioche French toast slathered in apple maple syrup or be responsible and order a Caprese omelet stoked with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil.
Small Batch at The Cupola | Harbor Springs
This decadent Harbor Springs dining room serves up lemon-glazed ricotta pancakes and an incarnation of avocado toast on grilled focaccia with pickled onions and fried eggs.