The hottest restaurant table on the southwest coast of Lake Michigan isn't in a restaurant. It's on a train.
Fennville Station, which opened in May, seats its customers in a restored 1940s rail car complete with white-tablecloth tables, curtained windows and vintage suitcases in the overhead luggage racks. Waiters are clad in buttoned-up porters' uniforms.
All that's missing is the swaying.
The restaurant was created by David and Deb Barton, who own the successful White House Bistro in neighboring Saugatuck. White House Bistro, however, is a rock-themed, global-menu restaurant in Saugatuck's tourist epicenter. Fennville Station, a classic Italian restaurant in a location that's not even on Fennville's main drive, is another animal altogether.
"It wasn't exactly in the 10-year strategic plan," David Barton acknowledged. "It was something that just came together.
"I had decided in May to slow down," Barton added, "and promoted my son to general manager of White House Bistro. And my wife said that now that I had less responsibility, it was time to move the corporation forward."
And so the Bartons took on this Fennville property, which consists of a onetime railway station (now a cocktail lounge), two 75-foot silos that belonged to a grain company (now housing twin semiprivate dining rooms) and the dining car, a onetime passenger car that has been gutted and restored to 1940s splendor.
The train car includes an overhead luggage rack occupied by various pieces of out-of-date baggage, some of them provided by locals and covered with travel stickers indicating exotic locales. Barton maintains what he calls a "liar's case" of stickers to dress up otherwise mundane baggage. Customers get a free appetizer for their donated luggage.
Overseeing the kitchen is chef Hans Riem, a former corporate chef. "He was retired," Barton said, "but wanted to get his hands back into restaurants." Riem's menu covers all the expected dishes: chicken piccata, veal marsala, eggplant parmesan and a selection of five pastas that customers can order with their choice of four sauces. A pair of boneless pork chops, matched to summer squash and firm polenta, is a menu highlight.
The food isn't fancy, unless you count the tableside preparation of Caesar salad, arguably the least practical offering possible in an already-narrow dining room. But it seems popular judging by how often Riem can be seen lugging his bowls and ingredients down the aisle. Most entrees are in the midteens.
Fennville Station,115 E. Fennville St., Fennville, Mich.; 269-561-4030; fennvillestation.com
pvettel@tribune.com
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