A laundry list of reasons to dine at The Laundry

By GABRIELLE  LAWRENCE

When I was younger, I would occasionally think I would have to live in a big city to have “made it.” I now know that mid-size cities (in particular, our city) are my preference, offering a perfect mix of anonymity and familiarity. I love that instead of a rush hour, we have a rush 20 minutes. I love that it’s possible to know the names of all the elementary schools in your local district. And near the top of my list is the ability to aim your vehicle in various directions on the highway and, in one hour, be in a completely different city with a potentially very different vibe.

Obviously, Grand Rapids, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor all meet these criteria. But so does Fenton, a suburb of Flint located an hour northeast of Lansing. (Heavy on the east.) My illustrious co-reviewer and I have long shared a love of Fenton, particularly this month’s subject restaurant, and after years of talking about it, we decided to take a leap of faith and present one of our favorite places to our readers, even though it’s an hour away.

Now that our son is on a soccer team that plays outside our area, we can sometimes use a game as an excuse to tack on a meal at a good restaurant, which is what we did last month after a game in Pontiac. The Laundry is nestled in downtown Fenton, which is downright charming. We headed in for Sunday brunch.

The children were starving, so we immediately requested Jeff’s Pull-Apart Bread ($5) and devoured the syrupy, gooey stuff when it came to the table. I loved the little bites of fluffy bread after a quick dip in the dish of cream cheese frosting. In my continuing effort to encourage my children to try different foods, I refused to order them both chocolate chip pancakes for their main and really held that boundary when I agreed to an order of chocolate chip pancakes ($10.50) for the table. I lament that most home cooks don’t seem to recognize that your pancakes will be 73 times more delicious if you cook them in butter. The Laundry’s pancakes are buttery, crisp on the edges and virtually perfect.

Both children were tired and cranky that morning, so Mr. She Ate and I gobbled down our breakfast sandwich ($15) and Boujee Oats ($14) in order to protect the peace of the other diners. My oats were fabulously savory, with creamy goat cheese, chopped dates and caramelized onions mixed in. They were topped with pistachio butter, apples and honey, and they were incredible. Listen, I’ve been talking about oatmeal for half my life. I’ve hosted oatmeal bars at my house. I’ve insisted upon having one for my own baby shower. If there is oatmeal on the menu, I’m going to get it. This bowl of oatmeal is unique, and it works.

While my children were telling me how disgusting the food was during our first family visit, when we returned for dinner with my brother and their cousins, they immediately regaled the other kids with tales of how good the pancakes and chocolate milk were. Kids, man. What a ride.

They were, however, still starving, so we quickly ordered the caramelized onion dip ($14) and inhaled it. The dip was an extremely elevated version of our QD favorite, served hot, creamy and just a bit spicy, with house-made kettle-cooked chips on the side. Then, service unfortunately lagged as we waited for three kids’ meals and three adult entrees. After a few requests, our two orders of kids’ spaghetti ($8.50 each), kids’ cheese pizza ($8), chicken Caesar salad ($20), meatloaf ($26) and crispy chicken ($26) hit the table.

The kids’ food was better than it needed to be, but you aren’t here to hear me talk about kids’ food. My crispy chicken was cooked under a brick, but I fear it then sat under a heat lamp for too long because the skin was no longer crispy at all. Nonetheless, the Boursin mashed potatoes were a perfect creamy complement to the salty, buttery chicken and my favorite part of the dish, the sauteed kale. Hear me out: The kale was slightly bitter, and without that element, the dish would have been lacking. I wish a different cut of chicken had been used instead of an airline chicken breast — I would have much preferred a bone-in breast.

We requested a bag full of desserts for the road, and the younger kids shared a massive dark chocolate brownie while their older nephew and I split a cheesecake-topped version ($5.95 each). Both were equally chocolatey, fudgy and delectable. We also had a chocolate pot de crème ($6.50) and slices of coconut cake and chocolate cake ($5.95 each), any of which are delicious enough to warrant a trip to Fenton. Make an evening of it and head over. If you appreciate good food, I promise complete enjoyment.

 

By BRYAN BEVERLY

You may be wondering why we chose a restaurant about 60 miles away for our review this month. The answer is simple: because it’s darn good. Mrs. She Ate and I are excited to share our esteem for this place with you.

I first became aware of The Laundry around 2014, when I was leading a series of professional development workshops with Flint Community Schools. A good friend and colleague who lived in the area suggested we have dinner not too far south of Flint, and my mind has been blown ever since. The quaint bedroom community of Fenton has been benefiting not just from good food and libations but also from the cultural hub that The Laundry has become.

Having first opened over 25 years ago in a former laundromat, the restaurant has been an anchor of downtown development and staunch supporter of community initiatives like public schools, art, libraries, charities and the chamber of commerce. They are as proud of that work as they are of the James Beard Award-nominated chefs who grace their kitchen. When you visit the bistro, with its locally sourced ingredients and on-site vegetable garden and beehive, you immediately know you’re in a place that takes food seriously.

Craft cocktails and scratch-made meals are a hallmark, and while you may have prolonged anticipation before some things arrive at your table, they are often well worth the wait. My very first meal at The Laundry was a pork shank osso buco, which is still one of the best plates I’ve ever had.

The restaurant also offers a cheese spread known as Gorg Dip that continues to be a hit whenever I recreate it during the holidays: cream cheese, leek, bacon, apricot and gorgonzola. Trust me: These people know what they’re doing with flavors.

Oh, wait! I forgot to mention The Laundry doubles the fun with a bakery, Crust, as its sister company and a coffee house, Side Door, which is literally the side door to the restaurant. The baked goods are phenomenal, and rumor has it that leftover pastries are captured for the next day’s bread pudding, which, again, is some of the best I’ve ever had.

What’s really good

My much better half and I stole away for a midday excursion to Fenton and enjoyed a late brunch at The Laundry. The coffee was a prime example of an exercise in patience: super slow to arrive but spot-on once we were able to sip the hot, frothy Nutty Professor ($6.25), an espresso-based drink with house-made caramel and macadamia syrup. For a sweet starter, we shared Jeff’s Pull-Apart Bread ($5). Packed with sweet notes of caramel and cinnamon and smothered with a house-made cream cheese frosting, it was near perfect.

What’s superb

I must note the friendly and knowledgeable service. We were made aware of potential delays in receiving plates and drinks, but we never felt like an afterthought; our server checked on us multiple times with the genuine joy you only find when people really like where they work. We were both highly impressed even before she told us about her 56 hours in labor last July as she and my much better half traded birthing stories.

On the food side, I was torn between two items, so our server asked how hungry I was. She encouraged me to order The Money Maker ($17), and I was very much enchanted. A grilled brioche bun held a heaping mound of hot-honey-butter-braised chicken, topped with applewood smoked bacon and a house-made pimento cheese spread. The meat was tender, and the kick from the heat was remarkable but not overblown. The cheese spread is so good that it’s jarred and sold on the way out. I also ordered the roasted potatoes ($3.50), which were just okay, but there was enough flavor in the sammy that it didn’t matter much.

Best bite

My dining mate is on a lifelong pursuit of the perfect French onion soup. She ordered the house-made soup and sandwich ($25), and I think she got as close as possible. Not to be relegated to second billing was the petite croque monsieur with layers of ham, Gruyère cheese and a traditional sauce. Yet the star of the show was the unctuous soup, with broiled Gruyère, croutons and slivers of onion that were caramelized and stewed in a succulent beef broth for longer than you or I would have patience for.