It’s no doubt that ice cream steals the spotlight on those hot summer days. Cool off and treat yourself to some quality scoops from a few of the best local ice cream parlors. Here’s some (but not all) of our favorites.

Serving up Great Lakes fish is something Trevor Bethke had always wanted to do as a chef. But because of some rather Byzantine laws regarding wild-caught fish, food safety and distribution, it has long been difficult to do what seems so simple: see fish, catch fish, serve fish.

In Michigan, “patio” is its own season. At the first sign of 65-degree weather, we open the back door, sweep off the remaining dead leaves (and sometimes snow) and break out the camp chairs. Really, does anything beat drinking a cold beer on the back porch with a cool breeze cutting the humidity, listening to your favorite summer jams? Probably not.

On a recent weeknight at Little Bird, smack-dab in the heart of Monroe Center, I had the place virtually to myself.