Summer isn't over for a month, and if the persnickety local weather cooperates, there's still time to park yourself on the grand outdoor patio of Webber's Waterfront Restaurant & Lounge, a fixture on Michigan's Lost Pensinsula, for some delicious fish.
Of course, you can always choose an inside table by the restaurant's large bay window if desired, and you can also order plenty of dishes besides seafood.
The array of meat possibilities includes barbecued or blackened chicken breasts ($13.50 each); prime rib (till the kitchen runs out of it) on Fridays and Saturdays ($15.99 to $18.99, depending on the size of the cut); filet mignon or New York strip ($20.99 each), and traditional surf & turf consisting of a 12-ounce steak with an Australian lobster tail, definitely pricey at $39.99.
But like the River Caf & Marina, its next-door neighbor on the Ottawa River, Webber's stock-in-trade has always been seafood, from walleye to whitefish, shrimp to scallops. Together they make the Lost Peninsula a favorite dining destination.
The obvious choices at Webber's are freshwater yellow perch and walleye ($15.99 each), served with tartar sauce and lemon. Saltwater entrees run a familiar gamut: deep-fried or broiled sea scallops ($16.99), steamed Alaskan king crab ($27.99), jumbo French-fried shrimp ($15.99), and a shore dinner ($18.99) that assembles shrimp, scallops, frog legs, and perch into one super-sized meal.
Being of sound mind and hungry body on a recent twilight evening, a group of us planted ourselves on the patio and ordered seafood - all of it listed on the menu as fresh (although "freshwater" fish from Lake Erie differs vastly from "fresh" saltwater entrees flown in from the East Coast).
Among the usual assortment of appetizers, I recommend the Beach Bread ($6.25). It's Italian bread with blue cheese, provolone, cheddar, garlic butter, onions, and tomatoes - what a creamy surprise. Also worth trying is the buffalo shrimp ($6.95), smallish bay shrimp with either spicy or barbecue sauce and blue cheese. While waiting, the restaurant serves warm, dark bread and crisp house salads.
Tender walleye, ordered whole ($17.99) or as a fillet for $2 less, came broiled with a burnish ofpaprika. Also tried was deep-fried perch which, though too heavily breaded, was still moist and flaky inside. Ditto the more lightly breaded whitefish. The one disappointment was swordfish ($15.99), on the dry side, apparently left in the broiler too long.
For neophytes who have yet to venture this far north, a word about Webber's location: It's on the outer edge of Point Place, where Ohio ends and Michigan begins. Getting there from downtown Toledo means driving up Summit Street to 131st Street, where you take a right. It becomes Edgewater Drive as it bends along the Ottawa River to Webber's. This becomes Erie, Mich., although it sure feels like Ohio to me.
Contact Bill of Fare at fare@theblade.com
First Published August 27, 2004, 12:35 p.m.
