ELIZABETH’S CHOP HOUSE, Marquette’s fine dining restaurant, is in new hands. Owner and Chef Tom Wahlstrom is bowing out after nineteen years, and Sean Hennessy, a classically trained chef with decades of experience behind him, takes over.
“I love what I do,” says Hennessy, who grew up in Marquette but left with his family when he was thirteen. “I go to bed thinking about food, I wake up thinking about food.” He was trained at the New England Culinary Institute, he apprenticed under a French master chef. More recently, he worked as a sous chef and a deli coordinator for an organic market in Washington state, before returning to Marquette.
Any changes at the Chop House? Nothing major. The name stays the same, and most of the menu items remain, although Hennessy says he will be offering seasonal dishes. Everything will be made in house. “I think you could say we will continue to offer contemporary American food,” he says. “But if you asked, I would say that I lean into the French style of cooking…without the pretension.”
As for Wahlstrom, this ends a 60-year career in the restaurant business for him, as well as an 80-year history for his family in the business in Marquette. “We’re proud of what we created here,” he says. “Our legacy is not just the food and the dining experience we provided, but the people we worked with and the customers we served over the years.”
Now he and his wife Elizabeth can look forward to a retirement filled with family and friends, where cooking fine food can be a pleasant activity…and not a time-consuming job.
RIGHT NOW, IT remains just a big, empty field. No heavy equipment ready for action, no foundations laid, not a worker in sight…The 17-acre old hospital site, the future home of a $166 million mixed-use housing development, shows no signs of life, even though we were told last year that construction would start this spring. “We don’t want to rush this,” says Veridea CEO Bob Mahaney. Veridea is building the development. “We want to do this right. We’re constantly tweaking our site plan.”
Mahaney goes on to explain that Veridea is still waiting for Brownfield approval from the state, and the housing market has changed in the last year—interest rates are up, construction costs have soared, and there’s been a slowdown in residential buying.
“We’re still bullish,” he insists as Veridea works in close collaboration with the city to get the much anticipated project underway. Most likely start date for the project now? Next year.
“IT’S LOOKING LIKE mid-August.” That’s developer Tom Dolaskie telling us when the breakfast-and-lunch spot, Earl E. Byrds, will open on Front Street downtown…The kitchen equipment has come in, the staffing is pretty well set with employees from Slabz and other Dolaskie restaurants in Munising filling in initially (they are looking to hire more, though), but no health inspection has been scheduled yet. That should come shortly…Schedule for the restaurant? Seven days a week, from 7 am until 2 pm.
THINGS ARE MOVING more slowly at The Gallery, the Dolaskie coffee shop set to open at the corner of Front and Washington…They’re still dealing with code and compliance issues, and it’s somewhat complicated because the venue is changing its use from retail to food-and-beverage. Not just coffee in the daytime, but also liquor at night…Expected opening? Late this year…So, what’s going to make this place different from all of the other wonderful coffee shops in town? Not much, Dolaskie concedes except this: “It might be the busiest retail corner in the entire UP.”
YOU HATE TO see this…Blackbird North, that cute and classy women’s boutique on Third Street, is shutting down at the end of August after nearly a ten year run…“Last year was difficult,” says owner Brett Stiles. “People just don’t want to spend money like they used to.” She’s near tears as she explains her difficult decision to close the store—she loves what she does and sells, she loves her customers, she loves Marquette, but it’s just time to step away and re-assess her life. Plus, her mother recently died…Stiles expects to lean more into her creative side—making jewelry and painting—once she shuts down Blackbird North…Meantime, through the end of August, all clothes at the store are 50% off.
WE AGAIN HAD a spectacular fireworks show over the Independence Day weekend, but afterwards, we were hearing murmuring that this might be the last show in Marquette because it was too expensive and too few people were stepping up to support it…That pessimism is overstated, according to Michael Bradford, who’s a member of the Fireworks Celebration Committee. “It’s been an uphill battle every year,” he explains. “The misconception is that the city pays for the fireworks. It doesn’t. It provides services to support us, but we actually have to raise the money for the fireworks from private donations.”
And donations are down, he says, amid economic uncertainty. The fireworks, themselves, cost about $25,000…A worthy investment, though. The Downtown Development Authority estimates that the Fourth of July activities, climaxed by the fireworks, bring 30,000 people downtown.
AUGUST 10TH IS the official kickoff date for the campaign to build a new summertime dog park in Marquette…The final design for the park on about 10 acres off of County Road 550 (Big Bay Road) has been approved. It’ll be a fully enclosed park with sections for both large and small dogs, and a parking lot…The city has been involved in the planning and designing of the new park, but funding for it—an estimated $350,000—will come strictly from donations…
A small, local grass roots organization has been leading the charge for the new, much needed park…Although the official campaign launch doesn’t occur until next month, the group has just set up a website marquettedogpark.org to explain the need for the park and to solicit donations…If sufficient donations come in—from private individuals, businesses, and foundations—the new park should be open by next summer.
THE CHOCOLAY TOWNSHIP BOARD is facing a controversial public hearing and vote on August 10th…The Board will be asked to vote on a measure that would make it easier to locate mining operations in the Township. Specifically, it would remove the required 1000 foot setback between mines and residential properties, and it would eliminate the need for hydrological and geological studies before a mining permit is issued…Instead, it would give the Township’s Planning Commission full discretion over setbacks and studies on a case-by-case basis…
Residents opposed to mining in Chocolay—and there’s already a sand pit business in operation (above)—claim that the Planning Commission is heavily pro-development, and would impose no restrictions on mining operations. Further, they say, if the new measure is approved by the Township Board, they’ll campaign to bring it to a vote of all Township residents.
THIS CAN’T BE good…130,000 Michiganders are dropping their Affordable Care Act coverage because they can’t afford to pay the rising costs now that some of the subsidies have expired…Ever since COVID, sign-ups for ACA (also known as Obamacare) had been increasing every year, according to Bridge Michigan, but now, we’re seeing a sudden and dramatic drop…A change in national policy will leave 130,000 Michigan residents without medical insurance over the next year.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“A big reason I ultimately decided to run was because of my family's experience when my mom was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and did not have health insurance at the time.”
—US Senator Elissa Slotkin
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