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MOOSE-JACKSON CAFÉ
(906) 776-2233
This northwoods coffeehouse offers coffee drinks and healthy light food like muffins, quiche, cheese strata, and fruit smoothies in a comfy setting with sofas and magazines that invites patrons to relax and chat. Big windows look out on historic A Street storefronts. The wait staff is at once friendly and cool. Quiches and pasta salads are in one glass case, sweets in another. Half a panini sandwich with soup or pasta is under $6. A blackboard publicizes upcoming events in town. The name comes from the owner's two dogs. Call for live music on occasional evenings.
221 East A Street north of U.S. 2/Stephenson. Mon-Sat 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sundays. Wheelchair accessible. Family-friendly. No alcohol. PEKING CHINESE RESTAURANT
(906) 779-5588
Best Asian food in area. Lots of repeat business from people who care about quality food. Full menu, but most diners choose the buffet.
1439 Stephenson Ave./U.S. 2 east of downtown, north side of hwy. between Mountain Host Inn and Sherwin Williams. 10:30-9 daily. No alcohol. HA. B's COUNTRY CAFE
(906) 774-4401
B's gives visitors a chance to see an often lively local diner—unpretentious, friendly, with big helpings. Daily lunch specials are things like meat loaf or copious slices of roast beef or turkey smothered in gravy on white bread with peas and a big mound of mashed potatoes. They run about around $6. Breakfast any time, with six different omelettes for breakfast ($6.50). Dinner classics include liver & onions, boiled cod, and a 6-ounce sirloin steak ($8.75). The pies are homemade.
629 South Stephenson (U.S. 2), on the same side of the street as the courthouse, just across C Street, on the southern edge of downtown. Open Mon-Sat 5:30-4, Sun 6-2. Wheelchair-accessible. JEAN KAY'S PASTIES
(906) 774-0430
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 | | Iron Mountain has lots of places that make pasties. Jean Kay's is a favorite. | Plain and old-fashioned, this Iron Mountain eatery is where the highly regarded Marquette Jean Kay's began. The enterprising Brian Harsch, who developed the popular Jean-Kay's in Marquette, built his business on the pasty recipe from his parents' original place here, named after his Cornish mother. (It actually started with doughnuts and added pasties later.) The current owner uses Jean Kay Harsch's original recipe for its classic pasty: cubed flank steak, not ground beef, plus optional rutabagas, and Crisco, not lard, in the crust. Brian believes that on the U.P.'s mining ranges, the deeper inland you go, the more people make pasties at home and the better they are. Jean Kay here also makes a vegetarian pasty ($4.25) involving cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, potatoes and more.
204 East B Street, half a block east of U.S. 2 downtown, a block north of the courthouse. Mon-Fri 9-5 Central Time, Sat 9-2. Handicap access: help needed to get in the door. DAMIAN'S PASTA WORKS
(906) 774-3058
It's takeout only at this drive-through kitchen in a former house. There's also a walk-in entrance in front. At lunch there are a few salads, a pasty, and a porketta sandwich ($3.75 on a Kaiser roll). Starting at 3 the fresh pasta is ready: ravioli, the highly regarded lasagna ($5/portion, large pans also available), and more. Now Damian is selling frozen pasta dishes wholesale to grocers here and in Escanaba and Marquette.
909 South Stephenson/U.S. 2 east of downtown Iron Mountain. Noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Wheelchair access through drive-up window. FONTANA'S SUPPER CLUB
(906) 774-0044
Fontana's is always mentioned as one of the Iron Mountain area's big three family-owned Italian restaurants. Points of pride are fresh pasta, made daily, and fresh-cut steaks grilled to order. The staff takes the time to do things right. Portions are large, so that leftovers from the Italian Holiday dinner (gnocchi, cheese ravioli, and spaghetti) could make two extra meals. There's a congenial, casual, family atmosphere, with cozy booths in several rooms and a separate bar. Décor highlights local sports heroes, including Detroit Lions' coach Steve Mariucchi and MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo, of course. Non-smokers and smokers are seated in separate rooms. Reservations advised for parties of six or more.
The official address is 115 S. Stephenson/U.S. 2 across from The Timbers motel, but the entrance and parking are in back. Turn at sign. Open Monday through Saturday from 4:30 for cocktails, 5 for dinner Central Time until 9 or later, depending. Wheelchair accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar. ROMAGNOLI'S
(906) 774-7300
To aficionados of Iron Mountain Italian food, Romagnoli's is always mentioned as one of the three leading restaurants. It's a friendly, casual place with a big round bar and separate dining area with muted lighting like you find in so many Italian restaurants. All the expected favorites are here: tasty lasagna, ravioli, spaghetti, gnocchi. They also offer steak, seafood, big meal-sized salads, broasted chicken, and even a couple of barbecue dinners. The little warm loaf of Italian bread with a hard crust that comes with dinners is quite good. A spaghetti dinner runs $8.95. The most expensive is the 24-25-ounce porterhouse steak, $24.95. Service is excellent.
On U.S.2 north of downtown, east side of highway, west of the bowling alley and Comfort Inn. Open Tuesday through Saturday 4:30 to 9:30 or 10 Central Time. Wheelchair-accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar. EL KAPITAN
(715) 696-3493
EL KAPITAN
(715) 696-3493
A local Italian food-lover who grew up on good home cooking rates El Kapitan as his favorite area restaurant for its quality ingredients and careful preparation. Pasta is made right here, as are the gnocchi (potato dumplings) and bread. The red sauce, made with meat drippings and simmered for hours, isn't spicy like others in the area. It's a subtle tomato sauce, known in Italy as a "bitter" sauce but not unpleasant. There's also a white clam sauce and Alfredo sauce. The founding family is mostly from Capistrano in the Abruzzi.
The exterior of this third-generation family restaurant is unassuming. Inside it's white tablecloths, burgundy, mauve, and lace in the dining room. There's no partition between it and the bar, so smoke can drift over. Another negative for some people: the rest rooms are on the lower level.
Beef and tuna are hand cut. Some dinner favorites: spaghetti ($9), ravioli ($12), Italian Holiday sampler ($14), shrimp in red sauce, 8 oz. beef tenderloin. Especially recommended: cheese ravioli, and tournedos alla Rossini (tenderloin filet beneath Canadian bacon, sliced tomato, mozzarella, and mushrooms). Dinners come with a good house salad and bread. Reservations necessary for holidays and special events.
Spread Eagle was a bootlegging center during Prohibition, known as "Little Hurley." Both towns took advantage of their Wisconsin location across the state line from the more staid company towns in Michigan. El Kapitan goes back to 1926; a tunnel connected it with a storeroom for illegal booze.
On U.S. 2 in Spread Eagle, Wisconsin, 6-7 miles northwest of Iron Mountain. Tues-Sat 5-9, Fri & Sat to 10 Central Time. From May thru August open to 10 every day except Sun. Wheelchair ramp in rear. Restrooms not handicap-accessible. Family-friendly. Full bar BIMBO'S WINE PRESS/L'TORCHIO DI VINO
(906) 774-8420
Once a typical corner bar, Bimbo's blossomed into a center of local Italian-American and sports culture under the ownership of the late William “Bimbo” Constantini, a great booster of the north side and its food. He lived next door. Bimbo was still a teacher when he bought the bar in 1978, to protect the value of his property. The new name came from the wine press perched on the roof. He and his wife, June, introduced some Italian food; the parking lot was fashioned into a semi-enclosed pavilion for Fourth of July pig roasts of the Italian-American Paesano Club.
After Bimbo's premature death, his daughter Debbie and an enthusiastic staff carry on, and Bimbo's continue's to be a busy naeghborhood gathering spot. But cutbacks have been made. No more capelletti soup. Shorter hours. Porketta sandwiches (spicy pork roast on a hard roll) are made up ahead of time and generally available. Hot beef sandwiches are Friday and Saturday. Currently the thin-crust pizza comes out Wednesday and Friday at 6, Thursday and Saturday at 9 p.m.
314 East Main at Vulcan. Vulcan, the main street of the Italian north side, parallels U.S. 2. Get there from the south by turning east onto Third near Hardee's. From the north turn onto Margaret across from the A&W. Open Wednesday through Saturday. Friends stop by for morning coffee beginning at 8 a.m. The bar closes at 11 or midnight weekdays, possibly longer on weekends. Handicap accessible. Not rough, but not so much a place for kids. Full bar.
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