The tree-lined drive along I-94 as it moseys from Chicago up the coast to Michigan is marked with billboards for Kenny G’s next casino performance, the state’s number one deck builder (“yeah, we build in winter”), and countless dispensaries. But take Exit 1 for the Red Arrow Highway and a different scene emerges: a lakeside region with beaches that stretch farther than your eyes can follow, idyllic dunes, and water as blue as a tropical postcard.
This is Harbor Country—a cluster of eight small towns abutting Lake Michigan, all within a 15-minute driving radius. Just an hour and a half from Chicago, three hours from Detroit, and two and a half hours from Indianapolis, it’s a paradise of old-school taverns slinging rightfully famous burgers and kitschy ice cream stands that have sustained visitors for generations. It’s also home to a new wave of producers and restaurant owners making the most of the nearly 150,000 acres of farmland at their doorsteps, deepening the community’s ties to the land, and the people, around them.
Chuck Ritter Memorial Lighthouse in New Buffalo.Photograph by Christina Holmes
At the start of Michigan’s fruit belt are sprawling apple and peach orchards, and endless berry patches begging you to stop by and stain your fingertips. This abundance can be found at countless farm stands but also in packaged juices, jams, granola bars, and McDonald’s apple pies across the country. Beans, grains, hops, asparagus, and all manner of produce grown here finds its way onto the menus of the Windy City’s best restaurants. Rent a cottage with a decent kitchen and you have a world of chef-worthy ingredients at your fingertips. And when you dine out, you’ll eat like a king.
Plan your trip by first booking a coveted dinner seating at Granor Farm. The nationally acclaimed tasting menu series is an extraordinary example of hyperlocal foodways at their best, set in the prolific organic farm’s prism-like greenhouse. Then build out the rest of your itinerary with roadside burgers, big sandwiches, cider and bowling (sometimes simultaneously), ice cream, treasure hunting, dune hikes, and beach napping. Return home relaxed, inspired, and with a suitcase full of whatever fruit is in season.
The Essentials:
Don’t leave town without: Beans, jams, and grains from Granor Farm and New Buffalo Farmers Market. Check Instagram for sourdough availability from local baker, Dune Dough Bread Co.
The best place to stay: The Harbor Grand Hotel. It feels like a big-city boutique hotel with Midwestern hospitality. With breakfast in bed, fireplaces in every room, an indoor pool, spa, and bikes for guests, it’s worth every penny.
For breakfast, an egg-topped Reuben or fresh pastries
Make New Buffalo—a walkable, tiny lakeside town—home base for the weekend. Its main street, Whittaker, winds through downtown and slopes to the public beach. In the summer a line snakes outside David’s Delicatessen—and for good reason. Owners Joe Lindsay and Emma Brewster offer hearty bagels, sandwiches, and deli sides (and Intelligentsia coffee to boot) in a homey space decorated with vintage photographs and paintings by local artists. David’s is famous for its breakfast Reuben—a hedonistic stack of corned beef ribbons, an oozy fried egg, and Russian dressing. Keep an eye on the chalkboard for specials that are big on local veggies and puns, like the We’re Going to Live On, We’re Going to Surv-rye-ve! with golden beet, roasted onion spread, spicy carrots, dill-pickled snap peas, parsley salad, and vegan herby mayo on toasted rye.