The bar that doesn't advertise. The Tuesday-night dinner you'd never find by Googling. The donut shop that sells out by ten.
A scratch bakery on Helena Road that's been turning out muffins, cookies, and scones since the 1980s, plus a lunch built on house-made aioli and vinaigrette. The lemon blueberry muffin French toast and the salmon bagel are the two orders regulars steer newcomers toward. Open Monday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only — closed Tuesday through Thursday, which catches first-time visitors off guard. The patio is the better seat when it's running.
A Rowell-family diner on Cayuga Street serving breakfast anytime and lunch through 2 p.m., closed Mondays. The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich and the Country Style Eggs Benedict are the two dishes that show up in every local recommendation, and the pies and bread come out of the same kitchen. It's the only restaurant in Antrim County with motorcycle parking, which tells you something about the regular crowd on a Saturday morning.
Joe Short opened this pub in 2004 inside a 100-year-old former hardware store on Bridge Street — the original location of what's now one of Michigan's best-known breweries. Twenty beers and Starcut Ciders run on tap, house-made pretzels and pizza cover the food, and local art and live performances fill the room most weekends. This is the pub that put Bellaire on the state's craft-beer map before the Elk Rapids facility existed.
Saturdays, 2 to 6 p.m., downtown Alden next to Higgins Store — produce, baked goods, and local crafts running mid-May through Columbus Day weekend. The market shares its Monday evenings with the Alden Car Cruise, 4 to 7 p.m., if a Saturday doesn't work with the trip. Small enough to walk in fifteen minutes, worth the stop anyway for whatever's peaking that week.