Crossroads Lounge

A long, low-slung tavern with Keno in progress on one TV and sports events on the others, Crossroads Lounge consistently wins the Mining Journal’s Reader’s Choice award for Marquette’s best Friday fish fry. A Marquette favorite since the 1950s, it offers a broad menu that ranges from skillet breakfasts to half-pound burgers to hand-tossed pizzas to a bottomless soup-salad-breadstick lunch every day from 11am to 3pm.

We list it here not for any of those items (which might be good) but because it serves a fine example of the U.P.’s signature specialty, the pasty. Crossroads’ pasty is big and beautiful and culturally correct — a sturdy pastry crust packed with beef, pork, carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, and onions. It is a full one-pounder, true to the heritage of the dish, being an easy-to-eat whole meal at a reasonable cost. Last we looked, a pasty and a drink at the Crossroads Lounge will get you plenty of change from a $10 bill.