Muldoon’s Pasties & Gifts – Munising, MI

When you’re in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan, you need to eat a pasty (pronounced “past-ee”) – it’s a sort of lunch-time hand pie filled with chicken or beef, or they have vegetarian versions. They also throw in a lot of root vegetables like potatoes, turnips, carrots, and other things before they bake it. They’re delicious.

Muldoon’s is ranked highly in the grand scheme of pasties, so we thought we’d go check them out. These things are densely packed, but in a good way. D.Rough and I got a chicken one and a beef one, with gravy. I have heard tales that people know you’re an outsider if you get your pasty with gravy, but I don’t care – that’s one of the things I like about them. (They do have a special pasty sauce, which is sort of like ketchup, but I prefer the gravy.)  The chicken one has a chicken gravy and the beef one has a beef gravy. Both were served with coleslaw, as well – bonus!

These things are substantial. When you think it isn’t enough food, you’ll end up being wrong and having to pull your car over for a nap in about 45 minutes. That’s just science. Muldoon’s has some great flavor in theirs and I liked both equally. Packed full of veggies and perfectly baked. I really can’t go much into a more in-depth review, since the whole concept is simple, but it’s worth getting. Muldoon’s is a great place to grab a pasty!

www.muldoonspasties.com

Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery – Marquette, MI

D.Rough and I were in Marquette, Michigan, for a big beer festival with my sister PalmMapper and brother-in-law Uncle DumDum. We needed to do some sobering up afterwards, so we headed to a well-rated creole restaurant called Lagniappe. We had to wait a bit for a table since it was fool of beer festival folks.  A group of folks we recognized from the beer festival decided to buy our first round while we waited for our table – Did we need them? Nope. Did we drink them? Yup. I got a Vieux Carre Cocktail, which was Sazerac rye whiskey, courvoisier, sweet vermouth, B&B, and a lemon twist, so it might have had some booze in it… Possibly.

The menu at this place is pretty substantial, but everything looks great on it. We looked at the appetizer section for a bit and then the server came back and told us our new beer fest friends were now buying us the alligator bites for an appetizer.  That worked out super well, since I was definitely going to order that anyway! 

And it was wonderful. The bites were battered and deep fried, which was great because then you could actually taste the meat. Perfectly cooked and not dried out, and also delicious. There was a REALLY light mustard sauce on these, but it was so perfectly light, it didn’t overpower anything. These were really quite good.

I wanted everything on this menu, especially the etouffe, the jambalaya, and the gumbo. But I got adventurous and got the Bayou Bouillabaisse. D.Rough got the frog legs and catfish platter – something she wouldn’t normally get, either. We were feeling sassy and thought we’d step out of the safety zone today.

D.Rough was really happy with her fried catfish on this platter, but she wished there were more than just the one piece. She was just ok with the frog legs, but I thought they were pretty delicious. Great seasoning, but you could taste that chicken/fish combination of the meat inside. I liked them a lot. The hushpuppies were also really good and not too onion-y, like at some places. And tons of fries, in case you weren’t full enough! I liked her dish a lot.

My dish was even better than I expected. Each bite felt like there was something new in it. It had delta catfish, gulf shrimp, crawfish meat, andouille sausage, red potatoes, and other veggies in a tomato broth. Seriously, each thing in here, you could taste, and then you’d go back in for more. I thought the portion size was going to be too small, but by the time I finished the whole thing, I was stuffed. It was plenty of food. It had a little bit of heat to the seasonings, but mostly just fantastic flavor. Get this thing.

Normally, we’re not dessert people, but since we thought we’d split one four ways, we opted in. The bread pudding sounded great to all of us, and I’m glad we got it. When it came out, you could tell right away it was dense. Like, the densest bread pudding I’ve ever had. And it was slathered in what we’d soon find out was Jack Daniels sauce. Super boozy and tasted just like they reduced Jack Daniels. It was great, but immediately made us all ready for a nap. (but we went back to the hotel and drank more – hahahaha)

This place was one of the best Cajun/Creole places I’ve ever been to, and I’m definitely going to recommend this to anyone I know that goes to Marquette, Michigan. The servers were fantastic. The managers were really nice and talkative, and the food was out of this world good. I’ll go out on a limb and agree with the people that rated this the best restaurant in Marquette.

Top 5 things about Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery

1. Bayou Bouillabaisse
2. Alligator Bites
3. Frog Legs and Catfish
4. Bread Pudding
5. really extensive food, cocktail, and beer menus

Bottom 5 things

1. You will likely have to wait (but it’s worth it)
2. It isn’t bar food prices, it’s real restaurant prices (but it’s worth it)
3. It’s got a loud but fun energy inside
4. Who am I kidding? There’s nothing bad about this restaurant at all!
5. ?

www.marquettecajun.com