THE TRAVEL CHANNEL is coming to town.
It’ll be shooting segments for the show Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations, hosted by Andrew Zimmern.
As best we can tell–and all of this has been hush-hush–the show’s producers and camera crew will be visiting Thill’s Fish House, the Vierling, and Lawry’s Pasty Shop, all in Marquette, and Trenary Toast in Trenary, over the next five days or so.
At Thills, they’ll be looking at the processing of smoked fish. At the Vierling, the preparation of whitefish. At Lawry’s and Trenary Toast, well, you can figure that out.
The show, despite its name, does not focus on truly “bizarre” foods. More like iconic regional foods, and it sounds like they’ve just about nailed it with their selections.
Other espisodes have featured shrimp and grits in Charleston, BBQ brisket in Austin, and falafel in Tel Aviv. Not bizarre, just delicious.
Zimmern is a longtime star for the Travel Channel. He’s won the James Beard Award for TV personality three times, and he’s also a chef, writer and teacher. From what we understand, he will not be making the trip to the U.P.
Still, publicity like this is priceless.
SPEAKING OF WHICH, sounds like its been a banner summer for most Marquette and Munising businesses.
Crowded sidewalks, hungry tourists.
Get this: Johnny Dogs in Munising says it’s serving as many as 1000 hot dogs a day. One thousand.
The Vierling estimates it’s turning away as many as 100 diners an evening when it gets too crowded.
Donckers? Try finding a table on the top floor around noontime. Good luck.
Vangos, which always seems to do well spring, summer, winter, and fall, is up at least 10% over last summer.
Marquette merchants, hoteliers, and restaurateurs say many of their customers and guests are coming from Munising because Munising, at this point, can’t handle the load. Marquette’s got a lot more hotel rooms and restaurants.
And with air temperatures this summer lingering around 80, and Lake Superior water temperatures at the shore reaching 75, we’re becoming the Yooper Riviera.
The secret about this hidden gem in the North is getting out.
Not everybody will be happy about that.
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