Waterside Dining at Boatwerks, Holland, Michigan

Every once in a while I’ll get an email out-of-the blue from Patty Lanoue Stearns. Patty is one of the more well-known food writers here in the state of Michigan, having written quite a few books on Michigan foods and authoring an even larger number of articles on the subject. One of Patty’s current gigs is that of food contributor to the coffee table mag “Michigan Blue“. This magazine focuses on living in Michigan on, or finding entertainment and activities near, one of these four Great Lakes. (Ahem … yes, I know there are five, but Lake Ontario doesn’t apply here.) Since I can look to my left at the moment and see Lake Erie, “Michigan Blue” applies to Mary and I in many ways.

A year or so ago one of Patty’s questions was this: Was there anywhere down here in southeast Michigan where a boater on Lake Erie can dock the boat and enjoy a good meal? I told her of a few places; Weber’s on Lost Peninsula, Bolles Harbor Café, and Erie Party Store, an Oliver’s Pizza franchise in a fishing shop that also owns a marina in Bolles Harbor. A lot of folks dock at the Erie Party Store and walk the thousand feet or so to Bolles Harbor Café for one of Chef Silverio’s delicious meals.

The Party Store and Bolles Harbor Café made it into the final printing, but Weber’s didn’t. That may be because of the Lost Peninsula location which, if you don’t really understand it, it’s kinda weird. Ok well, it’s kinda weird anyway … Lost Peninsula is what George Clooney would call a “geographical oddity”. While it’s not “two weeks from everywhere”, and it is part of Michigan, you can’t get there from here without going through Ohio first. You have to take Summit St. south out of Michigan where Summit splits off from I-75 at exit 2. Follow Summit into Ohio. After the bridge, turn left onto 131st St. Follow that till it turns left and you’re heading north again. Immediately after the “Welcome to Michigan” sign on the peninsula, Weber’s will be on the left. As there’s no bridge connecting the peninsula to the rest of Michigan, the Mason Consolidated school buses have to take this route to get these kids to school in a part of the state that isn’t “lost”.

Weber’s does have its own nice marina there in the Ottawa River so dockside dining is a given.

I told you that story to tell you this one.

It’s Patty’s fault that I now find myself looking for these kinds of places where a boat on the Great Lakes can be docked during dining. I don’t own a boat and so have only been on one of the Great Lakes in a boat a few times in my life. But boats are a passion of mine anyway so I’ll keep looking for these places. We found a really nice one a couple weeks ago in Holland, Michigan, over on the Lake Michigan side of the state on Lake Macatawa. I’m not sure if Patty covered this restaurant in her article in her Michigan Blue article. Seriously, I can’t find the darn thing. I think I may have left it at the Erie Party Store.

Patty may not have covered Boatwerks Waterfront Restaurant in Holland as it seems to be fairly new. We spotted it from the road as we were driving by but since they had just opened for the day there weren’t many cars in the parking lot. One of the employees was going inside when I shot this photo and I actually asked her if they were open yet. Of course they were, so we went inside for a Friday lunch.

It was once we were inside that Mary asked if there was outdoor dining. We were taken through the restaurant, past the large panes of glass that made the grill area in the kitchen an exhibition, through the open boathouse dining rooms with the high vaulted ceilings, past the coffee table seating areas with boating magazines on low tables, and outside to the real waterside restaurant

Patty may not have covered Boatwerks Waterfront Restaurant in Holland as it seems to be fairly new. We spotted it from the road as we were driving by but since they had just opened for the day there weren’t many cars in the parking lot. One of the employees was going inside when I shot this photo and I actually asked her if they were open yet. Of course they were, so we went inside for a Friday lunch.

It was once we were inside that Mary asked if there was outdoor dining. We were taken through the restaurant, past the large panes of glass that made the grill area in the kitchen an exhibition, through the open boathouse dining rooms with the high vaulted ceilings, past the coffee table seating areas with boating magazines on low tables, and outside to the real waterside restaurant

I ordered the ground steak cheeseburger on a toasted Kaiser bun with gouda. This was served as you see it in the first photo of this post. Those chips are handmade from whole potatoes in the exhibition kitchen. The burger itself is made from very flavorful ground meat and grilled to perfection. The bun was fresh and was toasted just the way I like it. The gouda was thick, probably 1/8″, and as it was so thick its own flavor set the burger off nicely. And those chips were rather remarkable and delightfully crispy. If I could duplicate them at home with the same flavors, I would.

Mary had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Souns simple, doesn’t it? The menu describes it best:

Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Herb marinated breast of chicken, grilled and topped with applewood smoked bacon, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion. Served on a unique pretzel bun.

Yeah, that’s a pretty good thing, there. You can just imagine it, and then it’s even better than that. Mary thoroughly enjoyed it.

Boatwerks Waterfront Restaurant is the kind of place we’ll definitely go back to when we’re in the area once again. Maybe by boat? Who knows …