The joy and genius of what happens when apples are elevated beyond snack food sits unassumingly on the Vander Mill taproom menu, listed third among starters, just between the smoked whitefish toast (delicious) and crispy fried smelt (this is the Great Lakes, after all).
The dish in question is called “Ham + Doughnuts,” and it’s simple enough: three dense, slightly larger-than-a-half-dollar apple cider doughnuts feted in thin slices of Kentucky ham, chunks of a cheddarlike white cheese and a light pool of rust-colored apple butter.
RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR
Each ingredient is robust and tasty on its own, but twirl them together on a fork, and the results are a glorious punch of richly sweet, savory and smoky. The dish is mind-blowing, eye-opening and mouth-tingling, and what ties it all together is the humble apple. It’s in the doughnuts, in the fruit butter smeared across the plate and, at Vander Mill’s new taproom near downtown Grand Rapids, in the glass sitting nearby.
For me, that glass was filled with a dry, crisp, lightly funky cider made of Ashmead’s Kernel apples. It both washed away and accented those dense, delightful flavors while also refreshing the palate. And then it did something similar for the roasted beet salad and hanger steak that followed. The golden yellow beets had a lovely tenderness balanced by the crunch of hazelnuts and creamy goat cheese. The steak’s exterior was charred to perfection, its center pink and tender. It arrived beside a pool of a sweet-savory house-made steak sauce that featured — you guessed it — apples.
With more than a dozen ciders spilling from Vander Mill’s taps, what was in the glass kept changing — drier, sweeter, carbonated with nitrogen for a creamier body — but the mingling of cider and a hearty meal unfolded with delight.
Although wine has typically been the pinnacle of food and beverage pairing, and craft beer’s ascendance has made beer-pairing dinners strikingly routine (perhaps a bit too routine judging by some recent menus), the finest pairing can often be the unheralded cider. Particularly dry ciders.
The growth of the cider industry is slowly returning the beverage to its rightful place beside a meal. Cider-focused bars, like The Northman in Chicago and Upcider in San Francisco, are among those leading the charge. But increasingly, so are cider-makers themselves.
In recent months, Vander Mill has hired a mini-dream team of Chicago chefs to revitalize its two kitchens. And about 40 miles south of Grand Rapids, in Fennville, Mich., Virtue Cider has hired a chef of its own: Missy Corey, former chef de cuisine at Chicago’s Publican Quality Meats and a champion on the Food Network reality show “Chopped.”
Corey, who had deep experience with meats and as a butcher before Virtue, admits she knew little about cider before joining the industry. Now she sees the drink — which at heart is nothing but apples and yeast — as an ideal accompaniment to many foods: pork, cheese, crepes, spicy dishes and brunch in place of a mimosa.
“There are key notes in cider that are easy to work with,” Corey said. “The acidity pairs really well with food and can cut through rich dishes. The mild sweetness can be complementary to savory courses.”
Virtue has not announced plans for a restaurant on its southwest Michigan farm, but Corey said the goal is to open something akin to a concession stand serving meat pies (rich, bready-meaty snacks meet dry cider — perfect), along with a retail area selling “rustic farm fare,” like meats, cheeses, crackers and pickled things that can easily become a picnic at the Lake Michigan shore, about 6 miles west.
Corey said she favors pairing cider with food these days because it’s often cheaper than wine and doesn’t fill the belly like beer.
“It’s not beer, and it’s not wine, and we’re not trying to replace either,” Corey said. “We’re just trying to be a third option.”
Vander Mill is eyeing a big-time restaurant experience, albeit in a fairly laid-back taproom overlooking its cider production operation. Vander Mill founder Paul Vander Heide has hired Justin Large, formerly of Chicago’s One Off Hospitality Group (Blackbird, Avec, Nico Osteria and The Publican, among others). His sous-chef is Greg Bastien, who left The Winchester restaurant in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village at the end of 2015.
The goal has been twofold: improving the menu at Vander Mill’s original location in Spring Lake, Mich., where sandwiches and pizzas rule, and creating a high-minded (braised lamb shank: $39) but approachable (ham + doughnuts!) concept at the restaurant in Grand Rapids, which features a long red wall with the Vander Mill logo in the shape of an apple.
Vander Mill’s cider tilts sweeter than Virtue, but the menu included a handful of dry and barrel-aged ciders and even a couple of beers (an IPA and a brown ale) made for the restaurant.
Heide said he began to think more ambitiously about food when visiting Chicago restaurants while promoting his cider. Importing the minds behind that food struck him as an opportunity.
“It’s common around the world that high-quality cider is paired with high-quality food,” he said. “We want to set a high bar for ourselves and everyone else.”
Twitter @joshbnoel
If you go
Vander Mill has two locations: its new production facility and restaurant (505 Ball Ave. NE, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 616-259-8828; www.vandermill.com) and an original location serving bar food (14921 Cleveland St., Spring Lake, Mich.; 616-842-4337).
Virtue Cider features a tasting room and bottle shop, and it offers tours (2170 62nd St., Fennville, Mich.; 773-868-6878; www.virtuecider.com).
RELATED STORIES:
Put Short’s Bellaire Brown at top of your brown ale list
Benjamin Schiller shows you how to make a Statler & Waldorf
Seeing the Hoosier State in a different kind of Indy car
Pig out: Spam Museum has new home in downtown Austin, Minn.
12 trips and tips, including Disney deal and bike ride with Jens Voigt
![NEW YORK (AP) — A cruise ship sailed into a New York City port with a 44-foot (13-meter) dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said. The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn on Saturday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2021/09/17/YNEADLAFKNBKPIRMBZSJEKNB5Q.jpg?w=535 "NEW YORK (AP) — A cruise ship sailed into a New York City port with a 44-foot (13-meter) dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said. The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn on Saturday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]")