Restaurants in Jackson

Coffee House Creamery is certainly not just a coffee house. Serving a vast menu that boasts more than 40 types of drinks, the café also offers 24 flavors of hand-dipped ice cream, sandwiches, and paninis pressed in a grill instead of under the seat cushion of a flaming couch. Inside the spacious interior, bowls of daily made soup and colorful salads populate tables where visitors kick back and enjoy free WiFi.

The mood is cheerful at Bobber Down Bar & Grille, where waitresses address guests as "hun" and regulars clink glasses of frosty drafts at the bar. One wall is speckled with photographs of past patrons proudly holding up a freshly caught fish or a roommate they've convinced to pose as a freshly caught fish. As flat-screen televisions glimmer with sports games and a jukebox plays familiar tunes, bartenders dart nimbly behind the bar, uncapping bottles and whipping up martinis. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, chefs use fresh ingredients to prepare burgers, steaks, and pub classics lauded by reporters from the Ann Arbor News.

Mulligans Restaurant and Pub whisks palates on a cross-country journey with American fare inspired by New York's steak houses, Louisiana's shrimp boats, and fishing trips in the Florida Keys. Steaks come in 8-, 10-, or 12-ounce cuts, which can be marinated, char-grilled, or slathered in seasonings. Shrimp swim toward tables in coconut breading or stilt-walk through pastas on Cajun-spiced skewers. Diners can supplement bites with sips or hour-long swishes from the full bar, which includes an extensive martini and wine selection.

Mélange's chefs merge European and Asian flavors and presentation techniques to construct a menu of elegant entrees flecked with contemporary American influences. Dishes unite high-quality proteins including Scottish Atlantic salmon and meats marinated with continent-crossing ingredients such as soy, yuzu, and miso, forging a gastronomic alliance as unique as a snowflake-flavored lollipop. A fleet of sushi rolls totes fresh seafood and umami-packed garnishes, and a cellar with more than 1,500 bottles of wine from France, Italy, and California accessorize any mouthful. Mélange's dining area draws inspiration from old Parisian restaurants, with bamboo furnishings bolstering the multicultural ambiance and 10-foot-tall booths fostering intimate conversing and adrenaline-fueled rappelling.

In 1939, Everett Cook purchased what would become the Cook family farm and was told it was the worst investment he had ever made. But in the spirit of tenacious American homesteaders, three generations of Cooks turned that bad investment into a thriving bison ranch. After years of research, Peter Cook—Everett’s grandson—became a member of the National Bison Association, and ordered the ranch's first 30 bison in 1998. The hulking, majestic curiosities began drawing in groups from area schools, cross-country motor-coach tours, and time-traveling harmonica players to the 83-acre farm in northern Indiana's Amish country.

During the ranch’s signature one-hour tour, guests board a wagon and venture out to interact with and feed the animals as guides regale them with facts about North American bison. After the tour, groups can also sit down for a meal of bison burgers or bison brats. The animals receive no growth hormones or stimulants and graze on the ranch's own hay and grain, which produces tender and healthy meat, unlike animals fed with growth hormones, which produces meat that won’t stop quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Bison burgers, brats, and steaks are available for purchase online or inside the ranch's gift shop. In addition to the tours, the ranch also allows guests to hunt their own game during guided hunts, taking home bison, deer, and wild turkey.

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.