Skeeter Barlow's Grill & Bar

George Stathis had already learned what a chicken-and-ribs kitchen could do in Harrow, so when a lakeside lease came up in Bright's Grove, he built the same idea on better water. Skeeter Barlow's Grill & Bar sits right on Lake Huron, a comfortably casual dining room and patio where the sunset is part of the order, and the kitchen has spent three decades doing the two things it set out to do well: fresh marinated chicken, broasted golden, and slow hickory-smoked baby back ribs.

The chicken is the tell. It marinates eight to twelve hours before it ever hits the broaster, then comes out dusted in house seasoning, golden, with coleslaw and a choice of side. The ribs run alongside it, smoked low and finished on the grill under the house BBQ sauce, and the half-rack-and-quarter-chicken combo exists for the table that refuses to choose. From there the menu fans wide. There is a serious seafood streak running through it: a platter of sea scallops, crispy shrimp, broasted pickerel, and steamed mussels; lobster and crab folded into ravioli; bacon-wrapped scallops and a warm lobster-artichoke dip to open a meal. Broasted pickerel turns up again on its own, the same golden technique applied to a Great Lakes fish that belongs on a Lake Huron menu. Pastas lean Cajun-rose, like the Louisiana chicken-and-sausage penne; the burgers come two-handed, the Bistro stacked with two patties, Forty Creek BBQ sauce, cheddar, and onion rings.