Bowers Harbor Inn, the venerable, circa-1886 fine-dining spot several miles out on Traverse City's Old Mission Peninsula with its legendary ghost, Genevieve, is no more. Well, she may be making appearances here and there, but the name,
Mission Table & Tasting Room, and its mission, sustainability, fit perfectly with today's enlightened attitude about food.
As chef, general manager and managing partner, Paul Olson is the culinary force behind Mission Table & Tasting Room and
Jolly Pumpkin Restaurant, Microbrewery & Distillery (formerly the Bowery). His mission: find the shortest distance between the food source and the table, and prepare fresh, exquisite dishes that play up local flavors. That means a luscious, seasonally changing menu of Michigan's finest ingredients.
Olson, whose dishes have been savored at A Tribute to Billy Joel in 1990, the James Beard Foundation Dinner in 1991, and the Aspen Food & Wine Classic in 1995, holds degrees from Michigan State University and the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. He spent 18 years on the East Coast, developing a passion for bistro cuisine under Chef Fredreric Perrier at La Cite, La Boheme and Café Luxembourg in Manhattan; as executive chef at Luna in Mount Kisco, NY, a partnership allowed him to open five restaurants, including Connecticut's best rib joint, The Cookhouse in New Milford, CT, and The Inn at Newtown in Newtown, CT.
Mike Hall and Ron Jefferies are the Jolly Pumpkin's brewmasters, with 50
years' experience between the pair.
Barbara Olson, Paul's wife and a marketing whiz with experience at MTV, HBO, Comedy Central, Pepsi Cola North America & Kraft Foods North America and the ROR Restaurant Group, is events director. "We've given Bowers some Botox," she laughs. The 100-seat eatery with three dining rooms has shed its front-door valet and starchy white-tablecloth ambiance for a more jeans-and-T-shirt-casual, California-style communal feeling -- including the long reclaimed-wood table that seats 18. "It's kind of like a bar idea," she says, adding that most diners appreciate the change.
Writer: Patty LaNoue Stearns
Source: Barbara Olson
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