Food, recipes & lodging
Places to eat with a story
Dining rooms in old banks and depots, taverns from the stagecoach days, family tables that have fed a town for generations, and the orchards and cider mills of the fruit belt.
- Places to eat34 places with a story: old banks, depots, family tables
Places to stay14 inns and bed & breakfasts in old houses
Recipes from the Valley Kitchen36 old recipes, with the pages they were printed on
Where the food came fromOrchards, mills, celery and the stove town
The map opens here.
Places to eat with a story 34 places
Michigan
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George & Sally's Blue Moon Diner (Gilmore Car Museum)
This 1941 diner was restored in 2004 and moved more than 800 miles from Meriden, Connecticut, to the Gilmore Car Museum, where it opened in 2005.
Hot dogs, blue-plate specials, pie and frozen custard in a real streamlined diner on the museum grounds; open with the museum’s season.
6865 W. Hickory Rd., Hickory Corners, MI 49060
Nearby: Gilmore Car Museum, next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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The Livery
The brewpub is in a restored 1800s building in the Arts District that once housed the Palace Livery, a horse livery stable.
Craft beer, pub food and live music in an old brick livery.
190 5th St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Nearby: Morton House Museum, 0.4 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Thistledown & Row
It occupies the Redden Building, which brothers Samuel and Levi Redden built in 1884 and which then stood empty for years. The building was restored after 2020, and the restaurant opened on January 1, 2025.
Modern American food with house-made ciders, meads and Michigan wines in a restored brick building downtown.
103 Days Ave., Buchanan, MI 49107
Nearby: Pears Mill, next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Blackbird Waterhouse
George Klotter opened this building in the late 1920s as the Wil-O-Paw Station and Inn, a barbecue stand with a car repair shop out front, and by the 1940s it was a supper club. The Immers bought and renovated it in 2018.
Smoked meats, steaks and live music in an old roadhouse.
4896 Paw Paw Lake Rd., Coloma, MI 49038
Nearby: North Berrien Historical Museum, 1.6 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Jollay Orchards
The family has farmed this land since 1857, and the eighth generation now works it.
A u-pick fruit farm whose market sells fresh cider, baked goods and apple-cinnamon doughnuts.
1850 Friday Rd., Coloma, MI 49038
Nearby: North Berrien Historical Museum, 2.4 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Oink's Dutch Treat
This family-owned ice cream shop has been a New Buffalo landmark for more than 36 years.
A pig-themed ice cream parlor with a long list of flavors.
227 W. Buffalo St., New Buffalo, MI 49117
Nearby: Harbor Country Museum of History + Rail (formerly New Buffalo Railroad Museum), 0.5 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Redamak's
George and Gladys Redamak started the place in the late 1940s. Jim and Angie Maroney took it over on July 15, 1975, and their family still runs it.
A Harbor Country burger institution open about eight months a year.
616 E. Buffalo St., New Buffalo, MI 49117
Nearby: Harbor Country Museum of History + Rail (formerly New Buffalo Railroad Museum), 0.6 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Bit of Swiss Pastry Shoppe
When St. Joseph's Whitcomb Hotel closed in 1966, Emil Tosi bought its bakeshop equipment and set it up in a cabin on his family's property. The hotel's former baker, Hans Kottmann, opened the bakery there in 1967.
A European-style pastry shop known for tortes, pastries and breads.
4333 Ridge Rd., Stevensville, MI 49127
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Grande Mere Inn
Pete and Nancy Racine opened the restaurant in 1980, and their son Charley and his wife Tricia carry it on.
A family-run dinner house with sunset views over the lake and Michigan-farm cooking.
5800 Red Arrow Hwy., Stevensville, MI 49127
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Journeyman Distillery & Staymaker
The distillery and its restaurant, Staymaker, fill a refurbished 1800s factory that once made featherbone and corsets.
Tours, tastings and a restaurant in a big brick factory.
109 Generations Dr., Three Oaks, MI 49128
Nearby: Region of Three Oaks Museum, next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Holden Green Tavern
The building was the village post office from 1897 to 1957 and later held a barbershop and a thrift shop. Steve and Shelley Schroeder bought it in 2018 and opened the tavern in 2021, keeping an old telephone booth and barber chairs more than 100 years old.
A cozy downtown tavern known for its pizza and sandwiches, with old photos of Cassopolis on the walls.
151 S. Broadway St., Cassopolis, MI 49031
Nearby: Sinclair Station, next door
No website: call ahead · Directions · ·
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Caruso's Candy & Soda Fountain
Antonio and Emilia Caruso opened the shop in September 1922, and it is now run by their granddaughter, the third generation of the family. The building dates from about 1874, and a candy and ice cream business called the Chicago Candy Kitchen was already on the site by 1910.
An old-fashioned soda fountain where candy is still cooled on a big marble table, known for homemade chocolates and ice cream.
130 S. Front St., Dowagiac, MI 49047
Nearby: Heddon Museum, next door
No website: call ahead · Directions · ·
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Wood Fire Trattoria
The restaurant fills a downtown Dowagiac building that the tourist council describes as about 150 years old, which had been a restaurant before Wood Fire's founders took it over.
Wood-fired pizza and Italian dinners in an old Front Street storefront next door to Caruso's.
134 S. Front St., Dowagiac, MI 49047
Nearby: Heddon Museum, next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Wounded Minnow Saloon
The saloon fills the ground floor of the Elks (BPOE Lodge 889) Temple, which opened in 1913 with the lodge's lounge, meeting rooms, pool hall and theater on the two floors above. Over the years the street-level space held grocery stores, the state liquor store and taverns, including Hook's, before the Wounded Minnow.
A casual downtown tavern serving sandwiches, burgers and drinks, named for a classic local fishing lure.
234 S. Front St., Dowagiac, MI 49047
Nearby: Dowagiac District Library – Genealogy & Local History, next door
No website: call ahead · Directions · ·
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Old Tavern Inn
It opened in 1835, before Michigan became a state, as a stagecoach stop with food, drink and beds, and later held the town’s meetings and dances. It has been sided, added onto and turned to face a new way, but its original beams survive in the basement, and Michigan counts it as the state’s oldest business still running in its first building.
A small, old-time tavern known for its burgers, with old photographs of the building on its walls.
61088 Indian Lake Rd., Niles, MI 49120
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Bell's Eccentric Café
Larry Bell started a homebrew supply shop in 1983 and began selling his own beer in 1985. The Eccentric Café opened next to the brewery in 1993, and Discover Kalamazoo calls it the first brewery pub in Michigan.
A craft-beer landmark with a full kitchen, a beer garden and a music hall.
355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Nearby: Kalamazoo Valley Museum, 0.3 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Louie's Trophy House
Louie's says it has served the community since 1918, starting as a soup kitchen, and calls the Trophy House Kalamazoo's oldest bar.
A bar and grill with walls full of mounted game, which gives it the feel of a northwoods cabin.
629 Walbridge St., Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Nearby: Kalamazoo Valley Museum, 0.5 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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La Cantina Ristorante Italiano
Amo and Rose Scotese founded La Cantina in 1936, and the third generation of the family runs it today.
A lively family Italian restaurant serving pasta and pizza every night.
139 W. Michigan Ave., Paw Paw, MI 49079
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Clementine's
The restaurant fills the former Citizens Bank building, built in about 1897 and refurbished with its period look intact. One family has run it since 1982.
A busy downtown spot known for burgers and onion rings under the old bank's high ceilings.
500 Phoenix St., South Haven, MI 49090
Nearby: Michigan Maritime Museum, 0.2 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Sherman's of South Haven
Sherman's started as a dairy in 1916, turned to ice cream in the 1950s and opened its South Haven stand in 1958. After 66 seasons it closed in fall 2024, then reopened in 2025 under new owner Mike Schimanski.
A classic summer ice cream stand famous for towering scoops.
1601 Phoenix St., South Haven, MI 49090
Indiana
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Goshen Brewing Company
The brewpub opened in May 2015 in a former office building of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), and it reused copper left in the building for its beer flights.
A riverside brewpub with a beer garden, local food and live music.
315 W. Washington St., Goshen, IN 46526
Nearby: Goshen Public Library – Indiana Room, 0.2 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Kercher's Sunrise Orchards
The Kercher family came from Ohio in 1851, and William Wheeler Kercher started growing apples commercially on 40 acres in 1922. The fourth generation, Tom and Maureen Kercher, runs the orchard with their children.
A fall farm stop with apples, pumpkins, a corn maze, wagon rides and a market of homemade goods.
19498 County Road 38, Goshen, IN 46526
Nearby: Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen College), 1.0 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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South Side Soda Shop & Diner
The building opened in 1910 as a grocery that also held a post office. It became a soda shop in 1940, closed in the early 1980s, and reopened as the South Side Soda Shop in 1986; the diner-car addition came around 1994.
A retro family diner known for its chili, shakes and malts, and in-house pies, and seen on TV's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
1122 S. Main St., Goshen, IN 46526
Nearby: Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen College), 0.7 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Das Dutchman Essenhaus
The restaurant has served Amish-style home cooking since 1971 and has grown into a complex with an inn, a bakery and shops.
Indiana's big family-style Amish restaurant, famous for noodles, fried chicken and pies.
240 U.S. 20, Middlebury, IN 46540
Nearby: Middlebury Community Historical Museum, 1.0 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Coppes Commons
The complex fills the 1887 factory where the Coppes company, founded in 1876 by Frank and John Coppes, built the famous "Hoosier" kitchen cabinets and shipped them across the country.
A restored cabinet factory with a coffee shop, deli, bakery, pretzels, ice cream and a small cabinet museum.
401 E. Market St., Nappanee, IN 46550
Nearby: Coppes Commons and Coppes History Museum, next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Blue Gate Restaurant
Mel and June Riegsecker bought and fixed up an old Shipshewana factory building in 1984. In the mid-1980s they opened a 50-seat restaurant called Der Strudel Haus, which grew into the Blue Gate.
Family-style Amish cooking and pies in the center of Shipshewana, with a theater next door.
195 N. Van Buren St., Shipshewana, IN 46565
Nearby: Shipshewana Area Historical Society Museum, 0.2 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Shipshewana Auction Restaurant
The first Auction Restaurant opened in 1930 in George Curtis’s garage, run by the women of the Methodist church; Milo and Ruth Miller took it over in 1940, and Fred Lambright built a new one in 1950.
Breakfast and lunch at the Trading Place on auction and flea market days (Wednesday 7–3 and Friday 7–2; breakfast until 11).
345 S. Van Buren St., Shipshewana, IN 46565
Nearby: Shipshewana Flea Market & Auction (Shipshewana Trading Place), next door
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Heston Supper Club
It has been family-owned for more than 40 years, run by Tim Ohlund and his wife Jackie, in an old-style building set back among the cornfields.
A classic Midwestern supper club with neon signs, steaks and homemade desserts.
2003 E. 1000 N., La Porte, IN 46350
Nearby: Hesston Steam Museum, 1.0 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Leeds Public House
The pub opened in 2019 in a longtime downtown building at Fourth and Franklin that was once a bank and later Ryan's Irish Pub.
A downtown gastropub with weekend brunch.
401 Franklin St., Michigan City, IN 46360
Nearby: Barker Mansion, 0.2 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Midway Tavern (Martha's Midway)
The tavern turned 100 in October 2024. A Belgian immigrant family took it over in the early years, Martha ran it until she died at 91, and her descendants run it now. The barroom was remodeled in 1933 and looks much as it did then.
A neighborhood bar with a back room known for live blues.
West Fourth St. near Smith St., Mishawaka, IN
No website: call ahead · Directions
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Barnaby's
George and Ruby Stratigos opened Barnaby's in 1969, and their son John runs it today. It stands where his grandparents built a brownstone house in 1920; his grandfather Spyridon also ran the Stratigon Grille downtown from 1914 to 1963.
A neighborhood pizza and sandwich spot across from Howard Park in the East Bank.
713 E. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, IN 46617
Nearby: South Bend Museum of Art, 0.5 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Rocco's
Rocco's has been making pizza near Notre Dame since 1951 and is now owned by Warren and Linda Verteramo.
A homey Italian place known for its old-style pizza.
537 N. St. Louis Blvd., South Bend, IN 46617
Nearby: Leeper Park and the Studebaker Fountain, 0.6 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
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Sunny Italy Cafe
It opened in 1926 as the North Niles Avenue Cafe, and Notre Dame students nicknamed it "Rosie's" after owner Rosie Vumbaca. Jimmy and Josie Bamber bought it in 1940 and named it Sunny Italy.
South Bend's oldest Italian restaurant, a red-checkered-tablecloth place with old-school charm.
601 N. Niles Ave., South Bend, IN 46617
Nearby: Leeper Park and the Studebaker Fountain, 0.4 mi away
Their website › · Directions · ·
Before you go
- Call or check first. Hours change with the seasons, and small places close for holidays and family days.
- Make a day of it. Pair a meal with the museums nearby, the Broadway walk or a festival.
- Know a place with a story? Tell us, with what you know of its history.
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Every place here was chosen for its history and checked against its own website, or a city, county or tourism page, in October 2026. No place paid to be listed; any sponsor will always be marked as one. Places marked “check before you go” could not be fully confirmed online.