New Saugatuck Restaurant Hosts Celebrity Chefs & Honors Local Morels at Spring Foraged Dinner

Morel mushrooms are the black truffle of the Midwest. They are one of Michigan’s most prized and fleeting culinary treasures. On May 5th and 6th, The Southerner, a new restaurant in Saugatuck, Michigan, will host a spring foods event with the region’s most noted foragers—Michelle and Andy Davis.

Michelle and Andy, experts in all things wild and edible, will team up with Southerner owners Katie Fris and Matthew Millar to offer a unique opportunity to eat through spring’s finest offerings, from field and forest. Millar, a two-time James Beard Award semi-finalist chef, is enlisting the help of some high profile friends to join him in the kitchen to prepare what Andy and Michelle forage.

The event begins on Tuesday, May 5th, when Andy, Michelle and the chefs will spend the day foraging for morels, ramps, violets, watercress and all manner of other wild foods in preparation for the next day’s meal. Event attendees are invited to join in the experience and learn proper foraging techniques from the Davis family and discuss with the chefs how to cook what is found.

On Wednesday, May 6th, the chefs will spend the day preparing an unparalleled seven-course feast showcasing the spring bounty, the first official meal to be served in the Southerner’s dining room. In addition to the spring edibles, the talented chefs will utilize the best produce, meats, cheeses and breads from the area’s best producers.

Local luminaries Matthew Pietsch of Salt Of The Earth and Matthew Green of Reserve Wine and Food will be joined by Joel Wabeke, chef de Cuisine of Wright & Co.—one of Detroit’s hottest new restaurants; James Rigato, head chef of The Root in White Lake and Top Chef Boston contestant; Chris Pandel, chef/owner of The Bristol, Balena, and Formento’s in Chicago; and Paul Virant, of Perennial Virant, Vistro & Vie in Chicago—a James Beard Award nominee and author of The Preservation Kitchen.

The Beervangelist, Fred Bueltmann, will assist with beer and spirits pairings, courtesy of New Holland Brewing Company.

The Southerner hopes to open to the public in early June for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 880 Holland Street in Saugatuck. As the name implies, the restaurant will focus on southern comfort foods, namely handmade fried chicken. Chef/owner Matthew Millar says it’s “a love letter to Appalachia,” where his mother’s family has roots and where his immediate family lives today.

“As a kid traveling to east Tennessee, I think I may have been even more excited by the food than the mountains,” he says. Owner Katie Fris adds that “sitting around a well-laid table, with the ones you love, is the foundation for living well.”

Tickets for this two-day culinary experience are $200 per person and space is limited to 40 people. For tickets, visit, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/morel-mushroom-dinner-tickets-16370951958

Like The Southerner on Facebook for for info and updates.

Food Dance welcomes local forager Andy Davis for spring "From the Wild" Dinner - Thursday, May 17

Join Saveur magazine’s “Local Forager of the Year” Andy Davis for an exclusive spring-themed dinner at Food Dance in downtown Kalamazoo, on Thursday, May 17. Foodies are invited to savor the bounty of Davis’ ways during the “From the Wild” Dinner. The dinner runs from 6-8pm and cost $49 per person, plus tax/gratuity.

Among the items that Chef Robb Hammond will be crafting into the four-course dinner are ramps, morels and fiddleheads. The exact menu will be a surprise, based on the harvest in the days leading up to the dinner.

Andy and his family – wife, Michelle and their three children – collectively love the outdoors and have found foraging a joyous recreational activity that they can all take part in.

“Foraging gives us powerful tools for teaching our kids about the world and helps to satisfy our need to be in the wild,” Andy says. “ Foraging encourages the kids’ curiousity and interest in nature, while providing a template for introducing them to economics and planning, as well as the importance of good stewardship and respect for others.”

Andy – a builder, geologist and field naturalist, and Michelle – a geographer and experiential/environmental educator – share a passion for living close to the earth and have a small piece of land outside of Kalamazoo where they keep a large organic garden, raise heritage meat chickens, make maple syrup and landscape for biodiversity.

“We both have a lifelong interest in all things edible and collectively have years of experience finding, tasting, testing and tracking down wild edibles to set on our table,” says Andy. “In doing so, we have developed an intimate relationship with the habits, habitats and haunts of our local flora and fauna.”

To make reservations for the Food Dance “From the Wild” dinner with Andy Davis, call 269-382-1888.

Food Dance is a locally-owned company committed to growing profitability through positive relationships between suppliers, staff and guests. As one of the original West Michigan farm-to-fork restaurants dedicated to using locally-produced food, the culinary team at Food Dance works to provide a positive environmental impact and educates its staff and guests on the importance that this mindset has to the culture and community in which we live. Food Dance also supports the belief that we are all mutually-accountable to obtain excellence, by providing opportunities that create community engagement through great food and great service.

FOOD DANCE
401 E. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo MI 49007

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