LENAWEE COUNTY, MI – Believe it or not, warm weather is just ahead in Michiga, and Two Lakes Tavern is cooking up new items for a spring and summer menu.
Misty Robertson has owned the restaurant in Manitou Beach in the Irish Hills, near Devil’s and Round lakes, since 2019. The menu has always been known for its smoked items, but more specialty items are coming, she said.
“When I go out to eat, I don’t order something I can make,” Robertson said. “That’s why I go out to eat. And that’s what we’re trying to find, new things that people enjoy.”
The restaurant will take advantage its smokers to cook up new sweet and spicy items that will create a fine dining out by the lake atmosphere, Head Chef Steve Gossett said.
Related: Grab a bite at Two Lakes Tavern and get a ‘Taste of the Irish Hills’
“(We are) someplace where you can come get a nice meal to sit down, have a romantic dinner,” Gossett said. “Or you can also come in off the lake, have a burger and go back out and have a good time.”
People can expect to see a shrimp boil option on the menu that includes corn, lemons and redskin potatoes. There’s also a salmon dish, topped with apple-slaw and placed on a jalapeno cream sauce.
“(The sauce) gives it kind of a kick, and then with the apple slaw on the top, it adds sweetness,” Gossett said.
The menu also features pork belly burnt ends, served with pickled jalapenos and honeydew. Some new and improved burgers, such as a bacon cheeseburger, will find its way to the menu as well, he said.
“We’ve never really been a burger place,” Gossett said. “We’ve definitely expanded this for the summer.”
Other burgers on the menu include a grilled cheese burger, which is a patty shoved between two grilled cheese sandwiches. He came up with this concoction after customers couldn’t decide between which sandwich to order, he said.
The new items are currently being offered as occasional specials at the restaurant, but will make their way to the full menu for the spring and summer as people come back to Devil’s and Round Lakes
Two Lakes Tavern, 110 Walnut St. in Manitou Beach, is open 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
More information about Two Lakes Tavern can be found on its Facebook page and website.
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