Boathouse Restaurant Traverse City Michigan

Why the Boathouse made the SteakMap list

Almost every steak on this menu is American wagyu from Snake River Farms in Idaho. Not one wagyu showpiece next to a rack of commodity Prime — the whole beef program.

Snake River Farms crosses Japanese Black wagyu genetics with Black Angus, which yields marbling far past USDA Prime while keeping the beef eatable in steakhouse portions. Committing an entire board to it is a costly decision, and the Boathouse made it.

The steaks

The core cuts are a 6oz wagyu filet and an 8oz wagyu Manhattan strip, each offered two ways: House, with potato dauphinoise, parsnip purée, black garlic, grilled asparagus and the restaurant’s BH 15 steak sauce; or Classic, with a twice baked potato, demi glace, broccolini and sautéed mushrooms and onions.

Above those sit a 14oz wagyu ribeye with smoked tomato aioli, chimichurri and balsamic cipollini, and an 8oz wagyu hanger Oscar topped with snow crab, duck fat potato and béarnaise. Hanger is a butcher’s cut with far more mineral flavor than a filet, and wagyu hanger is a genuinely uncommon thing to find on a menu.

Dinner for two

The room’s statement dish is a Chateaubriand cut from 20 ounces of center-cut wagyu tenderloin, served with morel mushroom cream and black truffle demi glace. There is also a surf and turf of two 5oz filets and two 8oz lobster tails. Both include salads for two.

Even the raw bar leans beef: a wagyu carpaccio with black garlic, 24-month parmesan and pickled shishito.

Old Mission Peninsula

The restaurant sits on Peninsula Drive, out on Old Mission Peninsula between the arms of Grand Traverse Bay, and the wine list is where that pays off. Bowers Harbor Vineyards late harvest Riesling and pinot grigio, Brys Estate reserve rosé and Black Star Farms gamay noir all pour by the glass — all grown within a few miles of the dining room.

The kitchen also runs a morel and chanterelle bisque with white truffle oil, and caviar service in American white sturgeon and prime ossetra.

Menu prices

From the Boathouse dinner menu: wagyu Chateaubriand for two $199, surf and turf for two $179, prime ossetra caviar $150, seafood tower for four $129, American white sturgeon caviar $99, wagyu ribeye 14oz $89, wagyu Manhattan strip 8oz $75, wagyu filet 6oz $68, wagyu hanger Oscar $65, sea scallops $65, halibut $58, rack of lamb $54, oysters $24 a half dozen or $45 a dozen and wagyu carpaccio $21.

See every wagyu steakhouse in Michigan, or read the guide to the best steakhouses in Michigan.