The Best Restaurants in Traverse City, Michigan

Traverse City has become one of the best food destinations in the Midwest. The combination of a serious local agriculture scene, proximity to some of the best fruit-growing land in the country, and a population that eats well has produced a restaurant community that punches well above the city’s size.

Trattoria Stella

Located in the lower level of the Village at Grand Traverse Commons — a converted 19th-century asylum that is now one of the most striking mixed-use developments in Michigan — Trattoria Stella has been one of the top Italian restaurants in Northern Michigan for years. Handmade pasta, local sourcing, and a wine program that knows what it is doing. Reservations are recommended.

North Peak Brewing Company

North Peak sits on Front Street in downtown Traverse City and serves as one of the anchors of the city’s food and drink scene. The building is a converted warehouse with exposed brick and high ceilings, and the food program treats the kitchen as seriously as the brewery. Their Wanderer IPA is one of the more approachable Northern Michigan craft beers.

Read the full North Peak Brewing Company spotlight

Rare Bird Brewpub

Rare Bird combines a craft brewery with a working used and rare bookshop in a way that sounds contrived until you experience how naturally it works. On Lake Ave just off the main strip, it is one of the most original spaces in Northern Michigan. The beer rotates frequently and the bookshelves are worth browsing.

Read the full Rare Bird Brewpub spotlight

The Cooks’ House

A small, serious restaurant with a changing menu built around what is available from local farms and producers. The Cooks’ House operates with a level of intentionality that is rare anywhere. If you are eating one meal in Traverse City, this is the kind of place where that meal becomes a memory.