Southwest Michigan: New Boston’s Stray Dog Bar & Grill and Beer Church Brewing Company
This week we are visiting 2 places in New Buffalo Michigan, The Beer Church and The Stray Dog Bar & Grill. Both of these places are a great place to stop if you are in the area. We go to Chicago a lot and are always driving by the billboards on I-94 advertising these location in New Buffalo so we finally decided to exit the highway and check them out. Both places have great history or backstories, both have wonderful food (though the Stray Dog has a more expanded menu) with full bars and they are literally 2 blocks from each other.
We’ll start with The Beer Church. In 2017 John Lustina and Jane Simon opened the Beer Church brewpub at 24 S Whitaker Street in Downtown New Buffalo. The Beer Church seemed to fit the place perfectly since it is housed in an old Methodist Church that was built in 1861 and still looks like a church today, with the exception of the Brewery sign. The building itself has some great history behind it dating back to the Civil War when the Union Army used it as an armory. You may notice one of the churches original pews in the waiting area or along the side wall. The alter is being used for ordering carryout or beer and the hostess stand is the original lectern from back in the day.
This place is really cool! It is really an old Church and started with just a taproom inside. Soon after opening they added a multi level outdoor beer garden nearly doubling their seating capacity. It is a beautiful setup with open air seating and a covered upper level with TVs and a bar, perfect for the non winter months in Michigan. months. Finally in 2019 John & Jane finished up with their third phase of renovations opening up the new taproom / restaurant inside. The inside renovation brightened it up quite a bit with the mufti colored hardwood floors, high ceilings and colorful murals on the walls. The feature of the inside is the wood fired pizza oven located at the back, where the pulpit would have originally been. It is a Vesuvio Pizza Oven which was made from clay that was formed at a mountain in Naples and flown in from Italy. It is Tiled to read “Chiesa Della Bira” which is Italian for Church Of Beer. Installing the oven took some ingenuity they had to cut a hole in the back wall of the church and add steel beam reinforcements un the floor underneath it to support its weight.
Their menu, also known as the Hymnal, is a multi paged colorful representation of who they are. It is loaded with colorful pictures and creative names like the Mother Mimosa, Blessed Mary and Adams Short Rib Melt. The menu starts with breakfast and brunch selections, on the first couple pages, that are available daily until 2. Next are the oven backed sandwiches and pizzas which are 12” hand tossed pies. To close it out they have 3 full pages of specialty drinks, “church shots” and craft cocktails and their in-house craft brews. The play on names is entertaining throughout the entire menu.
Since we had already eaten our plan was to just stop for a beverage and move on, however we did end up ordering food to take home. We tried their Fennel Sausage Pizza and the Meatball Sub which both traveled well and heated up nicely that evening. We really enjoyed The Beer Church and will definitely be going back again. The only downfall is that they are a bit pricy on their food compared to The Stray Dog which happens to be next…
The Stray Dog Bar & Grill is located right down the street across from the Oselka Marina.
This place truly is a great come back story. Owners Marc & Leslie Danesi opened The Stray Dog in it’s current location at 245 Whitaker St in 2003. The Danesis were not new to the restaurant industry, they have been part of the restaurant scene in New Buffalo since 1991 when they opened Dakota’s Restaurant and Trattoria Enzo in 1998 in LaPorte, IN just 15 miles south which they still own today. The name came from Jack, the original “Stray Dog” who was a stray that friends of the owners had taken in and is the inspiration for their logo.
Today, a portrait of Jack still hangs over the fireplace.
In 2010 Madeline Danesis, the owners oldest daughter, founded The Jack Foundation to help raise money for animal related causes. A new t-shirt is designed annually and is sold at their gift shop across the street from the restaurant at their Gear Shop. All the profit form the t-shirt sales are donated to various animal charities.
We did say this was a comeback story. Here’s why: The owners lost the restaurant to an electrical fire on July 17th 2012. The fire broke out around 9PM with smoke billowing out of the roof and structure. Thankfully no one was injured thanks to the Stray dog Staff who were able to get everyone out in an orderly fashion.
The community pulled together to help rebuild the place and less than a year later they reopened on June 27th 2013 with 70% of their staff returning to work. To thank the community, they held a soft opening on the 25th with a “practice makes perfect” luncheon. Here is a link to the story about it in the newspaper. FIRE
After the fire, the owners were looking for the portrait of Jack and found it at the bottom of a pile of rubble nearly undamaged. The portraits artist added a 4 leaf clover to the upper left corner of the picture while cleaning it up after the fire. After they re-opened the restaurant, they issued a call to patrons to bring in pictures of their dogs and the response was overwhelming. You will see pictures of all the furry friends throughout the restaurant, even in the bathrooms.
The restaurant itself is quite spacious and we can see it being packed during the summer months.
Not only is there a good amount of indoor seating with a full size bar, they also have an upper level patio and bar on the rooftop (which is 21 and over) which we believe would be a great place to have a drink while enjoying a beautiful Michigan sunset.
The menu is not over the top complicated. It has the standard “bar” look to it. Apps, ½ lb burgers, tacos, sandwiches, soups, chili etc. of course at an elevated level. In the starters section you will find your typical Buffalo Wings and Nachos that you would expect but you will also see Truffle Fries, Buffalo Shrimp and Ahi Tuna Tostadas. There are 7 different salads, 5 types of tacos (which come 3 to an order) and they even have Cilantro Lime Rice and Ahi Tuna Poke Bowls. The burgers and sandwiches are next and they have a lot to choose from. There are 9 different burgers ranging from their Classic Burger to the Yum Yum Burger with Asian BBQ sauce, avocado, jalapeno, napa slaw, rice wine vinaigrette and Siracha mayo. For sandwiches you can get everything from a Turkey Club to a Grilled Shrimp Po’ Boy.
We had their Grilled Cajun Grouper sandwich, which was a special they were running the day we were there, and the Italian Beef Sandwich along with a basket of onion rings.
The grouper was a perfectly cooked Cajun filet served in a ciabatta bun with a corn and black bean relish and slaw. The fish was light and delicious and the roll was surprisingly light for a ciabatta roll. It was just as good on the last bite as it was the first.
Since we were coming home from Chicago the Italian beef caught our eye. Honestly it catches our eye whenever we see it on a menu, thanks to the show The Bear, Italian Beefs have become very popular. Theirs was legit. The tender beef with the giardiniera of veggies and tasty dipping sauce were perfect. We added some provolone cheese to add to the deliciousness.
And then there were the onion rings. We like onion rings, but sometimes they are just OK. Not these! These were some of the best we have had in awhile!
If you are not familiar with New Buffalo, it is located at exit 1 off I-94, it as far west as you can go on 94 and still be in Michigan. So, if you find yourself out in that direction make them a destination, you won’t be disappointed. We will definitely be going back to both of these places, there is so much more we want to try.
The Stray Dog is open daily from Noon to 11PM. They do not accept reservations They work on a “first come first serve” basis . . . but are worth the wait!'
Until next time . . . live well, eat well and enjoy life!
-Keith & Teresa Becker