Restaurants in Holland

Beneath the baked bread and vegetable du jour of Restaurant Toulouse's signature cassoulet, pork sausage and duck confit stew with great northern beans, bacon, carrots, onions, and tomatoes into one simmering pot of flavor. A staple of the French countryside, the dish is one of Chef Adam Smith's renditions of dishes from classic French cuisine. His other creations include onion soup and a medley of pan-seared scallops and mushrooms smothered in gruyère cream sauce.

The flavors of each dish are complemented by selections from a revamped wine list curated by staff from East Village Wine Shoppe. Bartenders also mix up an extensive assortment of cocktails, including Kahlua- and tequila-spiked coffee or the French Connection, a slowly stirred blend of cognac and amaretto over ice. Wait staff serve these feasts in a refurbished turn-of-the-century building replete with art deco–style posters and a wood- and screenplay-burning hearth, as well as a heated, enclosed patio.

Though it's been a family secret since 1936, Mangia Mangia owners Emilio and Maria Dacoba award ample clues to guests who come dine at their tables topped with red-and-white checkered cloths. The secret's in the sauce—specifically, Nonna Rosa's spaghetti sauce, a family favorite that flavors many of Mangia Mangia's dishes. Along with creating Italian feasts the traditional way using family recipes, the duo caters to dietary restrictions with gluten-free pasta options and gluten-free crusts on some of their pizzas. For parties too large for the normal dining room or too devoted to wearing hoop skirts, Mangia Mangia also offers a 70-seat banquet room, an ideal locale for family reunions and rehearsal dinners.

When Todd, Pam, and Nina Meyer opened Nina’s Cafe in 1998, they created a space that captured exactly what they wanted in a restaurant—a smoke-free room filled with the scents of all-day breakfast feasts and tasty soups and chili made from their own family recipes. Bottomless cups of fresh coffee accompany plates of eggs florentine or pancakes and waffles topped with rivers of warm syrup. For lunch, expect feasts of burgers, chicken salad wraps, and quesadillas. Since Nina’s 45-seat diner is cozy, guests are advised to call ahead to avoid the long lines of eager patrons and sprawling tent cities that spring up in front of the restaurant each morning.

Named for the British prime minister’s official country residence, Chequers of Saugatuck pays homage to British culinary traditions with a focused menu of popular Scottish, Welsh, and English pub dishes, along with a few Irish staples for good measure. Shepherd's pie, Guinness stew, and fish ‘n’ chips all make appearances, as do some of Chef Adam Smith's American favorites, including crab-cake sandwiches topped with roasted red-pepper sauce. The bar harbors similarly Anglophile predilections. Taps release pours of Bass ale and Guinness, backed by a generous number of bottled brews from Yorkshire's Samuel Smith and Michigan's Saugatuck Brewing as well as Strongbow cider. Beer and bites pair off in Chequers’ two dining rooms, one modeled after classic pub decor, the other an elegant English tearoom but without the traditional potato guns stuffed with crumpets.

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.

Sometime around the dawn of man, a human discovered that dough is worth more when tied into intricate shapes. Fast-forward a couple millennia to the present, and you’ll find that Nautical Knots has taken the next step in pretzel innovation. Since 2001, the Grand Haven boardwalk has benefited from the skillful tying of the eatery’s pretzel knots, which come in 11 sweet and savory varieties such as asiago cheese, frosted raisin, and sesame seed. In addition to stretching the dough into traditional pretzel shapes, staffers also twist it around frankfurters to make a signature treat they call the Nauti Dog, served with reckless amounts of ketchup and mustard. The waterside stand, which is open from May to September, also loads baked potatoes with cheese, chili, and salsa, and whips up frozen strawberry and mudslide drinks that combat the summer heat nearly as well as turning off the sun.