BITS & BITES: Fresh Take Opens, Island Orchard Gets Honor

Island Orchard Cider Earns Best in Class Gold Medal

Island Orchard Cider’s hopped brut apple cider has won the Best in Class gold medal in the Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition, the world’s largest and most prestigious hard-cider contest. It drew 1,351 cider entries from participants in 19 countries. 

Island Orchard Cider competed in the commercial producer division. Its winning hopped brut features a blend of apples from its orchard on Washington Island and Cascade hops, also grown in Door County. The result is a citrusy, lightly effervescent, semi-dry, hoppy hard cider.

In addition to the Best in Class gold, Island Orchard’s apple cherry cider earned a gold; its apple lavender cider and brut apple reserve cider brought home silver; and its apple ginger cider, ice cider, Kingston black cider, Pomona and Still Beauty received bronze medals.

Taste these varieties for yourself at Island Orchard Cider’s taproom, bottle shop and production facility, 12040 Garrett Bay Road in Ellison Bay.

Fresh Take 42 Brings a New Chapter, Menu to a Familiar Space

10420 Water St. (Hwy 42) in north Ephraim

Located in the building that once housed Joe Jo’s Pizza and Gelato, Fresh Take 42 is giving customers a new look and a new, streamlined menu that’s an eclectic mix of comfort-food dishes made from fresh, robust flavors and locally sourced products. 

Sticky Chicken (tempura-style chicken thighs, white rice, house-made citrus-teriyaki sauce and cilantro); Schnitz (a thin-and-crispy breaded pork cutlet, apple-cabbage slaw and a pork-mushroom-herb gravy); and veggie egg rolls (hand-rolled egg rolls filled with bok choy, green cabbage, carrots, celery, ginger, garlic and a side of lime-chili dipping sauce) are a sampling of the lunch entrées. 

For dinner, take a hearty appetite for dishes that include herb-seared pork tenderloin (with cabbage-apple-citrus slaw, local cherry glaze and fresh parsley); Top Blade & Tuber (hard-seared flat-iron steak with a parsnip puree and chimichurri compound butter); and the Grinder (meatballs, tomato-basil red sauce, mozzarella, Havarti and a house-made bread loaf). For dessert, you can’t go wrong with the house crème brûlée.

Taste-test the lunch menu Friday-Sunday, 11:30 am – 3:30 pm, and the dinner selections Thursday-Tuesday, 4-8 pm. The restaurant is closed on Wednesday. 

Healthy Way Market’s Build-Your-Own Deli Expands Hours

216 S. 3rd Ave. in Sturgeon Bay

Wish you could enjoy the build-your-own sandwich, grain bowl or salad that you had for lunch at suppertime, too? Well, now you can. Healthy Way Market’s delicatessen has expanded its hours to 9 am – 6:30 pm to offer all of your build-your-own favorites. Set yourself up with a sandwich, grain bowl or salad for dinner, or prepare your lunch for the next day.