Restaurants in Grosse Ile

Fat Fish Blue warmly welcomes diners of all stripes and polka dots to kick back with live entertainment, cold drinks, and New Orleans style comfort fare. The eatery's kitchen blends Louisianan staples such as gumbo and Cajun burgers with steadfast American favorites such as fried chicken and pasta. Five nights a week, live musicians and entertainers regale the audience with on-stage showmanship, and on the other two nights, the microphone belts out "Born on the Bayou" all on its own.

Over the course of its 176-year history, The Commercial Building has purportedly been a stop on the Underground Railroad, a route for bootleggers during Prohibition, and a watering hole for Abraham Lincoln, who prosecuted cases at the nearby courthouse. Situated on the first floor of the building, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Dégagé Jazz Café draws contemporary crowds with its combination of live music and French-inspired cuisine.

Chef Jacob Jacobsen, a Toledo native and French Culinary Institute grad, crafts seasonal menus inspired by French and New American cooking. Dishes range from salads with locally grown apples and pears to slow-braised baby-back ribs and wet-aged rib-eye steaks. Other entrees incorporate sustainable seafood, including wild, line-caught Atlantic king salmon and local walleye from Port Clinton Fisheries. Servers carry dishes to weathered wooden booths inside the club-like dining room or float them onto its outdoor patio via attached mini-parachutes.

Sugary sculptures of characters such as Yoda, Hello Kitty, and Barbie grace custom cakes at Cherry Tree Bakery and Floral, where confectioners also whip up muffins, scones, and other baked goods from scratch each day. For heartier appetites, they also prepare café fare ranging from oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon or dried cranberries to salads, sandwiches, and soups. Additionally, florists pack a glass display case with flowers fashioned into artful bouquets or trompe l'oeil donuts.

Upon entering Damon's Grill, guests must first pass under a quartet of bronze athletes immortalized in midpass or midswing. Once inside, the aroma of grilled steaks, ribs, fish, and chicken pulls them in one of two directions: toward quieter dining spaces, or toward the raucous energy of the clubhouse bar. In the clubhouse, revelers gather around the eatery's exclusively operated DTV––an entertainment system comprised of flat-screen TVs beaming with live sports and news broadcasts. Using tabletop speakers, guests control the audio station, volume, and frequency to curb the behavior of any nearby rabid canines. They can also compete with each other and players nationally with sports and trivia games. For outside gatherings, Damon's Grill's culinary crews assemble plated menus, buffets, and grilled meat packages.

Celebrating 10 years of service this year, Molly’s Diner serves up comfort-fare classics such as juicy burgers and country-fried steak in a sunlit dining room with a checkered floor. Breakfast, served all day, plates stacks of pancakes and griddles of eggs, hash browns, and bacon. Health-conscious diners can round out meals with fresh side salads or munch hearty chef’s salads topped with smoked ham, swiss cheese, and turkey.