Note: While these features largely focus on the culinary scene, keep your eyes on this space, we plan on traveling back to Grand Rapids soon to further check out the travel attractions like the Gerald Ford Museum and Presidential Library, local art museums and much more.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, USA -- When I told my California culinary friends I was heading out to check out the food scene in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was met with incredulous stares all the way around. Grand Rapids? For food? What are they having a meatloaf festival? While I admitted I didn't know much about place, I had it on good authority from some Midwest foodie friends that there were surprising things going on there.

After visiting I had to wonder how a place that was so filled with culinary visionaries had previously escaped my radar. I encountered chefs and restaurants at all ends of the price and style spectrums that would impress even the most jaded of big city gastronomes. If your travels take you anywhere near Grand Rapids there are several stops well worth going out of your way for -- and that's just in the restaurant department. You'll also find world class attractions like the Frederik Meier Gardens and Sculpture Park, The Grand Rapids Museum of Art, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, and a city full of world class art and architecture to stroll through.

Located just 30 miles from the west shore of Lake Michigan - a tourist hot spot whose tiny towns' populations swell to ten times their normal size in summer, Grand Rapids is a city with a diverse and sophisticated palate that's ever evolving. The food scene is thriving here, both in the metropolitan area, in the nearby towns of the lakeshore, and in the surrounding agricultural communities who are the heart of this locally-oriented sustainable food system.

Of course, where goes fine food goes art, and vice versa. Grand Rapids has a vibrant art scene that includes world class museums, sculptures by globally reknown artists literally littering the downtown area, not to mention Michigan's only professional ballet and opera companies, America's second largest community theatre, and one of the nation's finest regional orchestras.

My entire time in and around Grand Rapids was filled with surprises - restaurants, shops, bakeries, food purveyors and attractions that far exceeded expectations. Foodie culture was everywhere - even the local community college gets into the act with a culinary education program that rivals some of the country's finest cooking schools. Their fine dining restaurant, completely run by students, is a not-to-be-missed way of getting a glimpse of up and coming culinary talent - before they get famous.

From casual lunch spots, to hip and trendy tapas and wine bars, to the ultra elegance and superb service of the Five Diamond Award winning 1913 Room, and my new favorite restaurant find (see the Everyday People Café entry below), Grand Rapids has the menu to satisfy the most discriminating of palates. Some of these places are well known and easy to find, but others are little known gems you might otherwise miss.

Read on for our inside look at Grand Rapids area highlights.

• Old World Elegance -- The 1913 Room - Michigan's ONLY 5 Diamond Award Winning Restaurant
• Everyday People Café - Anything but Ordinary
• Tasting America's Culinary Future at the Heritage Restaurant & the Culinary Education Program at the Grand Rapids Community College
• Hip & Trendy Grand Rapids Downtown Spots - Bar Divani, Mezze Café and Cabaret, San Chez Tapas Bistro
• Connecting with the Past at Crane's Orchards
• Casual Lunch Spots and a Foodie's Shopping Spree
• Exploring the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

Practicalities

The Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau can help you plan any visits to the area. Call them toll free at 1-877-VISIT-GR or at 616-459-8387 or click to their website www.visitgrandrapids.com.

Downtown Grand Rapids is any easy 20 minutes from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. The restaurant and entertainment district is in easy walking distance of downtown hotels like the Amway Grand and the JW Marriott.

Grand Rapids is a wonderful weekend getaway from many Midwest cities. Check out the mileage from these cities to Grand Rapids: Lansing - 63; Detroit - 160; Chicago - 184; Toledo - 185; Milwaukee - 279; Indianapolis - 296; Cleveland - 301; Columbus - 331; Cincinnati - 352; Toronto - 379; Pittsburgh - 426.