Fitzgerald’s is most commonly known as ‘The Fitz’ and is the restaurant in the hotel of the same name.  It is located on the shore of Lake Superior where you can watch boats in the distance or wind surfers right out the windows of the restaurant.  The hotel only has about a dozen rooms but it’s the way to go where the sound of the waves will lull you to sleep after a heavy meal and a trip to the bar that offers a huge selection of Scotch and other whiskeys.    The bar is on a slightly raised level from most of the small dining room and there are tables outside.  A lower ceiling, lots of wood, a few photos and some music in the background make up this casual dining room.  The bare tables were set with paper napkins and based on the food, the server should have brought extras to the table.  The check in counter for the restaurant and hotel are at the entrance to the room.  The menu is a la carte and while it has some sandwiches it is all about the barbecue.  One special note is that they do not accept American Express, so have cash or another type of credit card.  The plates are served with fresh vegetables but a side salad or soup will cost you an extra $5.  

 

After we ordered the server brought a pair of delicious corn muffins.  They were served with little balls of maple butter that was a bit too hard to easily spread on the soft, crumbly, moist and warm muffins.  Bits of corn were in the body of the amazing muffins.  They didn’t really need the butter but when you could get it together it was a wonderful combination.

 

For a main plate we had the Douglas Houghton’s Anchor which was a half rack of ribs, a quarter pound of beef brisket and pulled pork and your choice of two sides.  The mac & cheese was thick, creamy and cheesy.  It was made with two kinds of cheese and pretty good.  The French Fries were the coated variety, and came out nicely crisp.  They were medium thin.  The Carolina Coleslaw included peppers, onions and a light mayo.  It was nice.  Jim’s Baked Beans were thick and slightly sweet.  They were seasoned with something strong but I couldn’t identify it.  They were thick enough to hold their shape without moving.  (They were on a separate plate as the order was messed up and mac and cheese was on both, so the server brought them out separately).  Green beans were the fresh vegetable and were not cooked enough for me.  There were a couple yellow beans thrown in the mix and overall they were good green beans.  Of the meats the ribs were smokey and tender.  You got 5-6 in the half rack.   The pulled pork came on a bun, which was easily moved off the plate.  The meat had lots of burnt ends that were tasty but overall it was on the dry side.  The brisket was in slices and cut from different sections so some were nicely fatty and moist while other were more lean.  It was all nicely smoked, tender and good.  A really good thick sauce came with the plate that was in a separate cup.  It really complimented all of the meats.   This plate could have easily fed 2 people but without that pre-advice we each ordered one.  A large to go box was in order and no room was left for dessert.