A cool June evening found us at Black Star Farms on the lovely Leelanau Peninsula. We were in the area for my wife’s birthday, an event so important that we spent the whole weekend up there. But for this meal, the meal before the big birthday meal (Stella’s in Traverse City, in case you were wondering), we went for something a little lower key. Eating fish and drinking wine on a patio sounded just right.
Black Star Farms
At we enjoyed our glass of Riesling while the food was boiling, we were joined by a pair of complete strangers who happened to live in East Lansing, about 10 minutes from our house. In fact, the man even worked in a building that I had worked in previously. What are the odds? (No, really, are there any statisticians that can figure that out? I’d be curious.) We got along so well that they invited us back to their room. No, no, not like that – just to show us what it looked like. I was surprised they did this because I was carrying a chainsaw and had a ski mask hanging from my belt, but some people are more trusting than others.
For dinner, we had a choice between trout and whitefish. I chose the latter, and I didn’t choose incorrectly. Flaky and cooked wonderfully, it had a mild flavor then went great with the wine. The pound of salt they add to the boiling fish doesn’t add a salty taste to the fish at all, which is hard to believe, but true. The big downside to this whitefish was the large number of bones I had to pick out. They were easily spotted, though, and no food blog writers were injured in the eating of said fish.
Black Star Farms fish boil
Along with the fish were coleslaw, potatoes, corn on the cob, and a roll, all thoroughly edible. This was followed by a large piece of carrot cake that WAS harmed during the filming of this blog. I shouldn’t have eaten it all, but I did, and thankfully I was able to walk off enough of it during Sutton’s Bay art walk that I didn’t pay too dear a price for it later in the evening.
If you haven’t tried a fish boil, do so. The Black Star Farms boil and the Cherry Point Market boil in Shelby have both been fun experience with excellent fish, so give them a shot.
Michigan Foodies 