Saugatuck side dish: A taste of Fennville
By Phil Vettel | Tribune restaurant critic
July 8, 2007

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What-Not-Inn

Viewed from the outside, this close-to the-interstate roadhouse looks like a good place to start (and probably lose) a fight. It does not look like a place to grab some cinnamon-raisin French toast for breakfast and a bargain-priced slab of prime rib for dinner, nor does it look like the best joint within miles to go for sophisticated live jazz.

But that is the What-Not.

"If you don't like it, go to hell," says the waiter as he brings us food, though it's worth noting that most of the table consists of regulars, and it is with them he's joking.

Indeed, dining and/or drinking at the What-Not is like sneaking into somebody's party, with guests and hosts chatting like lifelong friends in between (and sometimes during) courses.

Patty Wright and her mother, Dortha Earl, bought the venerable restaurant nearly three years ago and set about making improvements right away. They expanded the music program, bringing jazz combos smack-dab in the dark-wood dining room Fridays through Sundays, and featuring open-mike "jazz jams" on Mondays.

As likely as not, Wright herself will take the mike on a Monday or late Saturday (it's always an anxious moment when the boss wants to sing; luckily, Wright is a capable vocalist).

The kitchen isn't in the same league as the Journeyman, but fried chicken with two sides for $9.95 is tough to pass up. And on weekends the dining room features prime rib with potatoes and soup or salad for $17.95.

Weekend breakfast is a good time to visit; there's no live jazz, but you will find a very good seafood omelet and a respectable eggs Benedict, among other dishes.

Wright's sister, Jan Woods, runs the other family business, the you-pick-'em Earl's Berry Farm, a few miles south of the What-Not. Which explains the berry pies on the What-Not menu, and effectively gives the family control of two of Fennville's "must" experiences. It's a foolish visitor indeed who leaves Fennville without hearing a little music at the What-Not and without picking a few pints of succulent strawberries, raspberries or blueberries (depending on the time of year) from Earl's.

What-Not-Inn, 2405 68th St., Fennville; 269-543-3341; whatnotinn.com. Open lunch-dinner Mon., Wed-Sun., breakfast Sat.-Sun. (Sun. breakfast summer only). A, DS, M, V.

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pvettel@tribune.com