This month we're St. Joseph, MI-bound and are looking for recommended restaurants either for families or parents-only outings--open to St. Joe and surrounding areas.

Also looking for reco'd outings such as orchards, art galleries, etc?

I live in Michigan and visit the Lake Michigan coast quite often. I currently subscribe to the following, but their online is packed full of helpful suggestions as well.....

www.lakemagazine.com

i believe you can do searches for the various cities along the lake...enjoy

Highly recommend a visit to Tabor Hill Winery and Restaurant which is about 20 min from St. Joe. We went there for dinner and were blown away by the place. Great food and fantastic wine and ambiance. They will take you on a tour of the winery as well. You'd swear you were in Napa. My bro took us there while we were staying with him last summer. Busy place so phone ahead.

There is a restaurant called "Schu's" that is right downtown in St. Joe. More of a family place with good burgers, etc. My teenage kids love it when we visit there. Also, if you drive north towards South Haven, there is a pick-your-own blueberry farm that we love going to every summer. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it, but it's right on the main road going from St. Joseph to South Haven. We've gone there and picked blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. You may need to check to see if these will still be in season when you will be there.

I also second the vote for Tabor Hill. We have had dinner there several times and the food and the atmosphere are wonderful. You do feel like you are in Napa! I would say that Tabor Hill for dinner would be an adult or an older child activity as it is a very nice sit-down restaurant.

I thought of one more thing, depending on how long you will be in the area. If you have time, drive north to Saugatuck (I think it's about an hour from St. Joe). It is a very cute and quaint waterside town with lots of shops, galleries, ice cream places, etc. It's a very fun place to spend a day strolling around.

OK, I'll stop after this...The blueberry place is called DeGrandchamp's. They have a website with a phone # to call for their hours.
Enjoy St. Joe--we missed going there this summer and are going through withdrawal!

and a third vote for Tabor Hill.

cfntmpn - where in Michigan do you live? I'm in Grand Rapids.

There are many other winery tours and great restaurants about 1/2 hour inland. I don't know how far you consider "surrounding" areas.

In Paw Paw - there are good winery stops with free tasting at Warners and at St. Julian's with a Black Star Farm's also available as a tasting only venue.

St. Julian's tour is excellent and includes real close up viewing of all the stages.

They both have restaurants attached but Warners has a new one called Kevin's which is exceptionally good and I have had both superb lunch and dinner there. They also have outside dining on the Dowagiac Creek.

Actually, the blueberries are almost to the end, and you may have limited picking- so call ahead. I go to two others near Paw Paw. But Peach is open right now. google for some Cass County choices. I just follow signs when they are up.

I could give you many more restaurant rec's if you want them, but they are all inland from St. Joe by at least 1/2 hour or more. Dowagiac has a place called Woodfire that is tops.

I'm in a litle community called Clark Lake - located inside of the "Irish Hills" area. I grew up in Mishawaka/South Bend, where I spent every weekend at Warren Dunes - and later as an adult tons of trips to Tabor Hill. I cannot get over how the area surrounding the Dunes has turned into such a great place to visit. When we went to the Dunes the only place to stop on the way home was the ice cream place on red arrow highway and the Sausage/Cheese place (Drummonds? Drurys? - i remember the pictures of movie stars that visited in the past.)

We tend to go futher north now-days - right outside of your neck of the woods, Grand Haven - though we have been to all of the cities along the coast - love them all!

cfntmpn,

Hmmm... we may have to have a Grand Haven GTG soon... I just found out Lillipets is from Grand Rapids too.

I can't believe how much the dunes area has changed either - I used to just blow by there on my way to Chicago. Now sometimes I take the long way home - stopping frequently to check out the wineries, of course!

ethanb
We dry docked our boat in St Joe and always ate at Clemintines : http://ohmydarling.com/

Opps
Clementines