By Mike Norton
Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
This tiny Michigan community has acquired an outsized reputation as a “foodie town,” thanks to enthusiastic praise from fans like chef Mario Batali. But that doesn’t mean one has to be a millionaire to enjoy a good meal here.

In fact, there’s plenty of tasty, well-prepared artisanal food to be had in Traverse City at modest prices – even at some of the area’s most prestigious restaurants. One just has to know where (and when) to look.

For instance, look for daily specials like those at the FireFly Café & Lounge, where all sushi is half-off on Tuesdays. And to enjoy a great meal at places like Trattoria Stella, the Cook’s House or The Boathouse without paying premium dinner prices, the smart play is to try lunch instead; the menu is usually less extensive, but the quality is still excellent — at a fraction of the dinner price.

Traverse City boasts a host of small eateries whose chefs are as well-known for their imagination and attention to detail as they are for their reasonable prices – but where lunch (and occasionally breakfast) are the only meals available.

Bay Bread Company is already known for the quality of their fresh baked goods. Their upstairs café, The Roost, serves wonderful breakfasts and lunches — soups, salads and sandwiches made with their excellent breads. There’s a catch – you have to order your food in the bakery and then wait to have it delivered to your table upstairs. But the payoff is great; it’s like eating in an apartment with a view of the Bay, with free Wi-Fi and baskets of books to browse and read.

Centre Street Café is hidden away in a working-class neighborhood east of Boardman Lake –not a chi-chi downtown eatery by any means. But the lunches served here include imaginative sandwiches, made-from-scratch soups, salads with organic greens, and pastas with house-made dressings. (An example? Du Usual Samm: smoked duck breast, prosicutto and goat cheese served with caramelized onion, cilantro and lettuce with an apricot-balsamic reduction on homemade cinnamon pecan bread).

Another “don’t judge a book by its cover” spot is The Dish, a Union Street eatery that’s especially valued for its vegetarian and vegan selections (but that should not dissuade non-vegetarians). Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (except on Sundays, when they close at 4), this little downtown place serves thoughtfully-made soups, sandwiches and wraps, made as often as possible with locally-sourced ingredients. They have a $5 lunch menu – that’s the whole lunch — but all their entrées are less than $10.

In the mood for an early dinner? Consider the Silver Swan on M-22 just outside the city limits, where the three Pepellashi sisters still make mouth-watering Albanian specialties like lemony stuffed grape leaves, hummus and baba ghannouj from scratch – not to mention cream puffs, baklava and tiramisu – and serve them up at stunningly low prices. (They’re open until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, but are closed on weekends.)

The Xylo Bistro Café is located in the rear of a former industrial building in the city’s Warehouse District, but its menu is innovative and fun (their slogan is “We only Cook Food We Like to Eat”) and in addition to some thoughtful sandwiches and focaccia pizzas they serve up items like linguini carbonara and shrimp adobo for a fraction of what you’d pay elsewhere. Even better, they’re open until 9 p.m.(10 p.m. on Saturdays).

In spite of its name and its location at the edge of a shopping mall on Garfield Avenue, the Opa! Coney & Grill is one of Traverse City’s most fascinating (and inexpensive) restaurants. Paul Barbas and wife Brigette fused their family cookbooks to create a place where you can get Greek specialties like souvlaki and moussaka and Polish favorites like golabki and pierogis. They’re open for dinner, but the breakfast menu is especially good, too.

Just across busy South Airport Road is another sleeper: Spaghetti Jim’s Market & Café, where owner Jim Abfalter makes and serves his own pasta — linguine, paparadelle, spaghetti, capellini, bucatini, fusilli and fettuccine (including flavored fettuccine) with homemade sauces, salads, soups sandwiches and antipasti – all for less than $10. It’s a good lunch option – but if you like to eat early, Jim’s open for dinner until 7 p.m.

To learn more about visiting Traverse City, go online.

(Photo of Lunch Rush at the Silver Swan courtesy of the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau)