Restaurants in Big Rapids

Snyder's BBQ & Meat Market co-owners Kraig and Sue Snyder cater to carnivores of all stripes with their selection of high-quality raw meats and prepared foods. Inside the store’s display cases are USDA Choice and higher all-natural beef made without hormones, sausages crafted in-house with lean pork, and hand-picked chicken breasts marinated with seasonings such as garlic butter. Fresh and frozen seafood varieties include wild-caught cuts such as sockeye salmon and mahi mahi. Deli adornments such as specialty cheese and dips reside beside handmade chicken, macaroni, and potato salads.

The market’s pizzeria, meanwhile, turns out hot, doughy pizzas topped with cheese, veggies, and meat, while frozen to-go meals, such as penne pasta with marinara, can be taken home and heated or worn around town as a poorly conceived Halloween costume. Flagship and seasonal beers from local microbreweries, as well as numerous wine varietals, help to wash down meals.

With a name inspired by the idea of a healthy baking revolution, The Flour Uprising’s bakers Annette Pratt and Linda Spyke battle the stereotype that healthy food isn't delicious. Each day, they churn organic and Michigan-farmed ingredients into healthy traditional, vegan, and gluten-free breads and treats. As the rich, energizing aroma of fair-trade coffee fills the café, they roll out and stir up whole-grain breads, gluten-free cupcakes, and vegan brownies. Annette and Linda also cook up weekly lunches that include soups, sandwiches, and fresh buns stuffed with meats, veggies, or Russian nesting buns.

At Take 5 Catering, chefs make midday feasts fresh daily, transforming ingredients from local farms into sandwiches, salads, soups, and signature cakes. Every house-made menu item jumps off the pages of recipes created by master chef Angelo Darin and master baker Kelly Bordeaux, including the signature italian meatloaf sandwich, made with braised meatloaf stuffed with mozzarella and spinach.

Caterers deliver orders of $20 and up free of charge and ferry lunches to diverse locations such as homes, offices, and disembarking blimps within 45 minutes of order placement. Clients can solicit their meals by phone or email, and party-throwers can spruce up spreads with custom-frosted sheet cakes.

Under the quality-driven guidance of owner Jesse Pohlad, the team at JD’s Pizza Co. pile hand-rolled pizza crusts with house-made sauce and fresh toppings. Along a long counter, they top tomatoe-y swirls with custom combinations of veggies, sausage, and cheese while patrons gaze at their deft hands from behind a glass barrier. After a ride on a pizza peel and a quiet meditation session in a gunmetal-gray oven, each pizza—including JD’s signature Chicago-style deep dish—sports a crispy crust and bubbling surface of cheese. For those in the mood for other casual Italian fare, grinders, salads, and pasta dinners round out the menu.

Balancing on its hind legs, a polar bear stares intently outward, unaware of the grizzly rearing up behind it. This is the taxidermy trophy room at Whitlow's Forerunner, where heavy forks subdue similarly ravenous appetites in the adjacent dining room. Sirloin steak is paired with eggs at breakfast, or a juicy porterhouse arrives with a baked potato and greens from the salad bar, both of which accompany all of Whitlow's Forerunner’s dinners. American staples such as griddlecakes and patty-melt portraits of President William Howard Taft fill out the menu, but the kitchen's surprise specialty is seafood. The chefs casts a wide net, reeling in perch, rainbow trout, and even frog legs, which are among the marine delicacies deemed tasty enough for their all-you-can-eat dinners.