Meet the Top Chefs of Michigan
The words “top chef” and “Michigan” have a long history together. There are celebrated chefs whose culinary skills were first shaped in Michigan before they went off into the world; those who made their mark in the restaurant industry before returning to their roots; and those who chose to make the Mitten State their home and find inspiration in their surroundings.
Before Grant Achatz staged at El Bulli and ignited Chicago’s dining scene with Alinea, he was working in his family’s restaurant in St. Clair. (His dad, also named Grant, is a renowned pie maker.) A decade before Frontera Grill’s Rick and Deann Bayless took their first trip to Mexico, they met at the University of Michigan and got married in Ann Arbor.
Meanwhile, many Michiganders have worked their way from the kitchen to people’s living rooms by way of the TV competition “Top Chef.” Kentwood native Kristen Kish impressed everyone by emerging from elimination to the final victory, and she is now the show’s Emmy Award-nominated host. Sarah Welsch, who co-founded Detroit’s Marrow before moving on to open Umbo in Traverse City, was a season 19 finalist. And Dearborn’s Mei Lin worked in her parents’ kitchen and was a cook for the Detroit Lions before going on to earn the winning title on season 12.
Watch chef Mei Lin prepare a strip steak with cherry puree inspired by Michigan.
Of course, television isn’t the only road to fame, and the chefs who find inspiration in Michigan’s woods and waters have forged their own paths to culinary success.
A Course-by-Course Journey Through the Michigan Woods
For Lane Regan, owner and chef of Milkweed Inn in the Upper Peninsula, the woods offer an abundance of ingredients that spark creativity. “I preserve berries in so many ways – misos and vinegars and jams – that I can serve throughout the year. There are also lots of mushrooms and wild greens.”
Chef Regan, who was raised in Indiana, rose to fame with their Chicago restaurant, Elizabeth – which earned Michelin stars for several consecutive years. Along with their wife, Anna, they purchased a dream cabin deep in the Hiawatha National Forest and opened Milkweed Inn – hosting their first weekend guests in 2020.
For guests, a stay at the Milkweed Inn is a chance to go completely off the grid. As you spend days doing everything from kayaking and fishing to hiking and stargazing, the real stars are at mealtime. A weekend stay features both a Friday family-style dinner and Sunday brunch, and a 15-course tasting menu on Saturday celebrating the fruits of the forest.
“People are always surprised by eating tempura fried milkweed pods – which this year we served with an elderflower miso,” says Regan. “They also love mushroom preparations. A staple is lobster mushrooms seared in lobster mushroom miso aged for one year, dandelion flower vinegar and wild blueberries preserved in molasses.” Also directing the menu are ingredients sourced from CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes straight from local farmers, along with Regan’s famous homemade bread.
“[A 15-course meal] flows like a story or a piece of writing. We think of it like a walk through the terrain in the specific season we are in,” says Regan.
Experiential Dining, Made in Michigan
For Marquette chef Carrie Masters, who is from Detroit, the Michigan woods is where she first found her passion for foraging.
“My dad is an avid gardener and outdoorsman and taught me a lot of what he knew as far as edible and medicinal plants. I learned mostly just by walking with him though our garden, parks like Belle Isle and, most memorably, on our summer camping trips to the Upper Peninsula.”
Masters spent time working at Milkweed Inn and was inspired by chef Regan’s vision, and the two have since collaborated on experiential projects. Her food and art collaborative, bird & toad, specializes in pop-up events, residencies and private events with a plant-forward, farm-to-table focus.
“My inspiration mainly comes from the northwoods. I love the colors, textures and patterns of nature and try to translate that to the plate.” She often walks through the woods in search of staple ingredients like wild blueberries, sugar plums, sweet fern, sorrels and mushrooms.
Masters’ concept fits right into the dining scene in Marquette, and she also finds inspiration from local purveyors – from the wines and cheeses at Everyday Wines to the fresh-caught and smoked fish from Thill & Sons Fish House. And, of course, there’s the beloved Downtown Marquette Farmers Market.
“I’m able to plan whole menus by just taking a walk through the market. My favorite farms here are Full Plate Farm, Big Creek Farms, and Seeds and Spores Family Farm. We have a very short growing season here in the U.P., and what the farmers are able to bring to the market is nothing short of miraculous.”
Learn the art of modern foraging in Marquette with chef Carrie Masters.