Lawry’s Pasty Shop

Beware of the sweet roll at Lawry’s Pasty Shop. A few years back, during a Roadfood expedition through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I stopped in one morning before dawn for a cup of coffee and a pastry and ran the risk of destroying my appetite for the entire day. The roll is big and dense: a righteous breakfast if you don’t plan to eat anything for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Temperance won out that day; I ate less than half a pound of sweet roll. I really wanted to be hungry later when I headed back from the Keweenaw Peninsula because Lawry’s pasties are its forte. In fact, Madelyne Lawry’s pasties were some of the first Jane and I ever ate, many years ago in the early days of Roadfood. They are still excellent — hefty, hand-formed half-circles of tender crust loaded with suet-saturated beef, potato, onion and rutabaga.

Beyond good pasties, adventurous eaters need to know about Lawry’s cudighi. That’s a locally-loved Italian sausage made with a bouquet of spice. When you tell the fellow at the counter you want a cudighi, he knows you mean a sandwich built around it. Lawry’s cudighis are painstakingly made, using a process that involves three separate pallets going into the oven: one with the sausage, topped with onions, peppers, and mushrooms, and two more, each carrying half of a sideways-sliced flatbread topped with Italian sauce and cheese. Put together, it is colossal: messy and delicious and a real north country treat.