A Selection Of Great Dining Options, That Just Keeps Growing
Pictured is Main St Market pan seared Alaskan halibut w/ citrus chive butter, au gratin potatoes, and asparagus.
It was a recent summer Thursday evening and Main Street in Gaylord offered sensory overload in sounds of live music, the smell of a great variety of food and people watching.
In the past golfers had to be dragged away from the 15 courses and 11 lodging partners that make up the Gaylord Golf Mecca. The golf is that good. The dining options at the courses and resorts are that good. It remains a stay-and-play paradise.
But if you want to sneak away say for just one night of dining, you have seemingly more options than Treetops Resort has trees.
It also seems each visit to America’s Summer Golf Mecca this year reveals a new restaurant, or at least a new one for me.
The Main Street Market, Treetops Sports Bar, Snowbelt Brewing Company, Tap Room 32, Bearded Dog Lounge and Alpine Tavern & Eatery have been stops made this Mecca summer. All were winners, by the way.
Years ago it seemed there was the Sugar Bowl Restaurant or bust in Gaylord, and the Sugar Bowl is coming back after changing hands and undergoing extensive renovations. The restaurant has been around for 97 years, and the new owners promise an updated classic.
So add some Sugar Bowl, and Gaylord has sweetened the pot of available dining options, pun intended. Even some interesting major chains have come north like Buffalo Wild Wings, Tim Horton’s and Five Guys. Yes, Five Guys for four guys who want burgers and fries makes perfect sense after a round of golf.
The real takeaway here is that there is something for everyone with Bamboo Palace, El Rancho Mexican Restaurant and La Senorita, The Blind Squirrel, The Iron Pig Smokehouse, Big Bear Deli, Porterhaus, The Duck Blind Grille, Arlene’s, Jet’s Pizza, Diana’s, Inn The Woods, and of course I’m leaving a few out because there are so many to mention. Nobody is starving in Gaylord if they have a little cash.
Here’s a favorite foursome of places to check out from my recent Golf Mecca pilgrimages: Alpine Tavern & Eatery had great food and service; Snowbelt Brewing Co. offered great live music; Tap Room 32 had beer and more beer; and a Gaylord Golf Mecca member must, The Summit Grill at The Ridge, which is part of The Loon Golf Resort group, offers the great golf setting on the balcony to go with the food for those who just don’t feel the need to sneak away downtown.
-Greg Johnson
