Restaurant of the Week: Migizi Burritos
BARAGA, Mich. (WJMN) – Migizi Burritos offers a flair of fresh food and southwest cooking in Baraga.
“We had a couple of different things that we wanted to do, but we really wanted to do something that was fresh, something that was a healthier option,” said Monique Jondreau, Owner, Migizi Burritos. “There’s not a lot of healthy options around here, unfortunately. A lot of it is mostly fried food, lots of pizza options, which there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s your thing. We wanted to do something a little bit different. We felt like maybe it could work in this community, and it really has.”
Migizi is the Ojibwe word for bald eagle.
“I’m Migizi clan,” said Jondreau. “So that wasn’t necessarily the driving force behind the name, but we were sitting out here trying to figure out, you know, what are we going to call this place? We’re sitting here and an eagle landed in that tree right over there. W’re like, ‘Migizi Burrito.'”
“This has always been home,” continued Jondreau. “I’m originally from up here, but my dad was in the military, so we moved around all over the world. He was in for 25 years. He’s an Air Force vet. Then I met my husband, who’s also an Air Force vet. We ended up in Colorado. We were there for quite some time, and wanted to come home, made it happen. We realized that we missed the flavors of the Southwest. So we took it upon ourselves to get this place going. My cousin and I had the opportunity to buy the building together. He’s since passed. It’s been his goal his whole life to create exciting food and share it with people and realize that it was lacking with the nachos and the burritos and flame grilled and all that stuff. So that’s what started it.”
Their menu started with four items.
“We’re now two pages,” said Jondreau. “So front to back. Obviously, burritos were the first thing that we wanted to explore. They’re so big. It’s not for everybody to have something that big for lunch. So they brought up that they were interested in tacos. So we added tacos to the menu. That went really well. The kids love the quesadillas, so there’s something for kids as well. My niece loves the chicken quesadillas and the guacamole. Our guacamole is made fresh. Everything is made fresh. We soak our beans overnight. He came up with a signature recipe for his marinades that everything is marinated overnight and grilled fresh every day. Pico de Gallo is made fresh every day. We try to find the freshest ingredients available. We cut avocados up and smash them every morning. Everything is made fresh every day. We added nachos to the menu as well. Those have been a big hit.”
Being right on Keweenaw Bay, it was the perfect location for this season restaurant for people who are locals or ones from out of town to come and enjoy the food.
“I am a tribal member,” said Jondreau. “Being part of the native community, we have people that come up specifically to eat here from Wisconsin, from Minnesota, like we’re a destination for other tribal members and other communities, even in other states. So it’s been super important to me.”
Migizi Burritos id located at 615 S. US-41 in Baraga. They are open Wednesday – Friday from 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
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