Restaurants we'd send our parents to, breweries we'd send our brother-in-law to. Filtered by quadrant where it matters — sun on the dock at six, dinner by seven.
Named for the mahogany runabouts that still cruise Walloon's three arms, Barrel Back sits below Hotel Walloon with private slips at Legacy Water Sports directly underneath — tie up and walk upstairs. Glass garage doors open the dining room to the lake on a clear evening; a wood-fired oven and rotisserie smoker handle the brisket and pizza. Twenty-three taps, a cantilevered deck built for the sunset side. Open year-round, lunch and dinner daily.
An 1891 inn at the foot of the lake, renovated in 2014 without losing the wide porch or the private dock where guests still arrive by boat for dinner. The kitchen runs a seasonal American menu with a wine list that's held Wine Spectator recognition for years. Dinner only, 5 to 9 nightly. Reserve ahead for a table on the water side once the July calendar fills.
The Junction has anchored the entrance to Walloon Lake Village since the 1870s — older than the hotel, older than most of the cottages up the shore. Open Thursday through Sunday only; the kitchen goes quiet Monday through Wednesday even at the height of summer, which the regulars know and the weekenders often don't. Burgers, nightly dinner features, and a bar that fills with the same faces every weekend.
Petoskey's downtown bar and restaurant has occupied this 1875 building since it was McCarty Hall's billiard parlor, and the back room is still called the Hemingway Room for the young writer who drank here before he was anyone. Prohibition tunnels and a house ghost are part of the pitch; steaks and whitefish are the reason to stay. Open daily 11:30 to 9, eight minutes north of the lake.
A one-room candy and ice cream stop across from the village beach, scooping more than twenty Moomers flavors alongside retro candy by the jar. Hotel Walloon sends its turndown chocolates from here, which says something about what the neighbors think of it. Open afternoons into evening, later on weekends. The stop after a swim, not before one.
Twenty rotating taps in a downtown Petoskey taproom, with vinyl to flip through and board games on the shelf, plus a basement lounge called the Root Cellar for when the main room's full. Closed Monday and Tuesday; open to 9 on weekends. Burgers and a fried pickle plate cover the food side. The pick for a rainy Wednesday when the wineries feel too far to bother with.