Food & Drink in Bay City

LaZeez International Market & Deli culls tastes and trinkets from across the globe to stock its store, deli, and restaurant with distinctive finds. In the Indian eatery, tandoor-style ovens unfurl to crown plates with marinated meats and naan bread as cauliflower, potatoes, and paneer mingle to forge a slate of meat-free dishes. A children's menu offers pint-size American dishes for hungry kids and picky founding fathers, and many dishes can be bundled to go from the in-house deli. The international market takes a more global approach by stocking grocery and gift items hailing from countries such as China, Greece, and Brazil to let shoppers bring their own piece of foreign flair home via unique spices, drinks, apparel, and incense.

Roxy’s Beauty Bar began as a popular Bay City tanning salon and has since expanded into a full-service salon, offering everything from trendy cuts to airbrush makeup. Stylists help heads adopt a new shade with coloring and highlighting services or add bling in the form of hair tinsel, hair crystals, and feather extensions. Nail artist Xaviera dresses fingertips with intricate designs, such as zebra stripes and Burberry-inspired plaid, and eyelash extensions pump up each wink’s flirt factor with semi-permanent strands by Reese Robert. Staying true to its tanning roots, Roxy’s also continues to bronze bodies with airbrush tans, which are sprayed on by a trained technician instead of by a machine or an artistically trained elephant.

Combining various fitness disciplines with solid nutritional counseling, Seung-ni Fit Club's trainers send bodies through a muscle-maintenance assembly line that leaves them trim and fit. Sweat sessions can include the fat-blasting Aerobic Kickboxing class, which sets self-defense, dance, and kickboxing techniques bouncing to a choice of upbeat contemporary music or mash-ups of 18th-century Scottish funeral dirges. Plyo Pump's high-intensity jumps and bounds condition bodies to explode with greater speed and power, and lean muscles surface with Body Sculpt's non-impact dumbbell workouts. Zumba sessions fuse energetic Latin dances with resistance training. Motivational instructors provide students with personalized nutrition programs and weight-loss tracking charts for settings goals and marking progress. Flexible schedules at both locations allow all challenge-accepters to get their muscles' worth in eight weeks, much like the two-month mail-order process for purchasing mussels from a shady internet sea captain.

Since 1888, the Bavarian Inn has transported visitors to an Old World village whose whimsical fairy-tale spires and cascading waterfalls sprawl across 13 acres of riverfront. Amid the restaurant's polished oak confines, strong-armed contenders in the Bavarian Strongman contest will hoist a 1-liter glass stein of Hofbräu into the air, then keep it there until either their brawny bicep gives out or their arm snaps off at the shoulder. The current claimed world record for holding time is 19 minutes. Those who outlast all foes in their round progress to the state finals on August 14, where they'll face off against an entire gaggle of brew-bearing Michiganders in order to win a trip to New York City, ultimately vying for a chance to win a trip to Germany during Oktoberfest. Win or lose, contestants will get to add their souvenir stein to their collection of less impressive teacup- and Coke-lifting trophies—and drink the beer it contains as a reward for their feat of strength.

Though Macy's is primarily known for its clothing and home decor, the renowned department store is just as adept at feeding its customers as it is at fashionably clothing them. Inside the retail haven's many locations, casual eateries welcome shoppers with classic American dishes updated with fresh ingredients. Lighter plates, such as chopped salads and turkey sandwiches, are served up alongside favorites including grilled burgers and Alaskan cod and chips. Hearty, homestyle entrees of oven-baked meatloaf, chicken pot pie, and macaroni and cheese complete the menu.