Goodale’s Bakery & Deli
I typically only go to Northern Michigan once a year in the spring. Maybe twice a year if I have to go to a second conference in the fall but that’s not the case this year.
I was surprised last week when my colleague asked if I could make a trip to Grayling with him on Thursday. I asked him if he realized that would be over six hours just in the car but it was something that really needed to be done.
We got up early and started the drive towards Crawford County. We got to town about 10:00 AM then worked most of the day. We wrapped up around 2:00 PM, loaded up the car and started towards home.
I wanted to grab lunch though. I was hungry and didn’t want to eat gas station food. We did that for breakfast earlier in the day stopping at the Beacon & Bridge Market in Fife Lake.
I didn’t want to sit down for a meal though and neither did my co-worker. That’s fine. I had a couple of good ideas for lunch.
We ended up at Goodale’s Bakery on Norway Street and Ottawa Street just off downtown Grayling. The family owned bakery has bee a staple in the Grayling community since the early 1970’s. The building is a large two story brick building but the retail space of the bakery takes up just the bottom floor. There is no parking lot but there is plenty of free street parking in the area.
You get a little overwhelmed when walking in the front door because there is so much to see and so many baked goods that jump out at you right away. The area right inside the door is packed with fresh made bread and caked goods stacked on shelves that take up most of the space in the bakery. The space has a very old school feel with wood panel walls and drop ceilings.
The bread selections range from sandwich breads to sweet dessert breads.
The sweet treats are placed all over the bakery with stacks of cookies wrapped up neatly in plastic bags having a whole rack all to themselves.
I was there for a sandwich though, not cookies…as good as they looked. I got kind of confused by the menu though. When one of the women behind the counter asked me what I wanted, I asked if there was a sandwich menu. The board hanging behind her just said “Yummy Fresh Made Sandwiches” then showed types of bread and a price.
She said there was no menu. Just pick meat and cheese from the display case and choose which bread. I walked over to the display case and saw they had pastrami so I ordered a Pastrami and Swiss on Rye bread.
When she was done making the sandwich, I looked over at the hot bar part of the deli and saw Mac & Cheese. I asked for a half pound of that to go with my sandwich.
So, to recap, I got a pastrami and Swiss sandwich, a half a pound of Mac & Cheese, and a bottle of Pepsi. The total cost was $11. Not a typo, it cost $11. As you’ll see, I got a lot of food and it cost me about half of what it would cost me to eat at McDonalds.
There is a small dining area off to the far side of the building but we grabbed our meals to go. We still had a three hour drive and the hope was still to get home before 6:00. We both ended up eating our sandwiches standing outside by the car because they were too big to try to eat while driving so we probably should have just sat down and ate before leaving.
The Pastrami and Swiss sandwich I ordered was massive for the price. There were several thick cut slices of pastrami and a very thick slice of Swiss cheese on homemade rye bread. They have some veggie topping choices but I stuck to lettuce and pickles plus a horseradish mustard. This sandwich was so dang good. It was cold pastrami..I should have asked if they could have popped it in the microwave but it was still incredibly delicious as it was. I still can’t believe this sandwich only cost $5. That’s crazy….this thing is a meal in itself.
I waited on the mac & cheese until I got back to Kalamazoo. I was starting to get hungry again after the three hour drive so it actually worked out well. The macaroni noodles were covered in a really thick cheddar cheese sauce. It was a pretty simple, pretty standard deli mac and cheese. Nothing super special but it definitely hit all the right comfort food notes.
Goodale’s Bakery & Deli is such a Northern Michigan gem. I was a little confused when we first walked in because I couldn’t find a sandwich menu but it turns out, I was overthinking it. It’s simple, delicious, and incredibly affordable. This is not a place I ever would have stumbled upon on my own but my obsessive Googling for “sandwiches” whenever I travel turned out really well.
SW Michigan Dining 