By JJ Brudi | December 2024 | Journalism Class
After a few years working for Ford Motor Company designing classic mustangs, Harlan (Pete) Peterson became a cooking aficionado and ended up owning a restaurant for 25 years in Northern Michigan.
“I went to college for almost three years and I was hired by Ford, and I moved to Michigan to work for Ford,” Peterson said. “But I started getting other interests. I had always liked to cook.”
As a hobby, he decided to take cooking classes and thought about going into the food business.
“And then I saw something about a school in Paris, France, and I ended up quitting Ford and moving to France,” he said. “I took classes over there. It was very cool.”
While gaining cooking skills, Peterson was able to see all the interesting and historic sites.
“All the historic things like Notre Dame,” Peterson said. “You know, taking the boats down the river, going to French bakeries, going to wineries. Just learning. Staying in a hotel. Seeing what kind of diets, what was their breakfast like and you know things like that.”
Peterson was there for just about three or four months before he headed back to the United States and tried to get into the food business.
“So one thing led to another. And I mean big jumps here, but I read about this little restaurant in northern Michigan, which I admired and thought maybe I should try to work there and see if I like this business,” he said.
Peterson moved to northern Michigan to work at the small french-style restaurant.
“It was a good formula and eventually the restaurant became kinda famous,” Peterson said. “One thing led to another and I started a bigger restaurant.”
His restaurant was called Tapawingo.
“The name is a native American name for a place of peace. So it seemed like a good name for a restaurant,” he said.
The restaurant was in Ellsworth, Michigan and became hugely popular.
“I was written up in a lot of newspapers because it was a good restaurant,” Peterson added.
It was so successful that Peterson ended up owning it for 25 years.
Eventually Tapawingo closed because Peterson thought it was slipping away.
“I eventually moved to Traverse City to teach one or two classes at NMC in culinary,” Peterson said. “I then helped start another restaurant. It was not mine but a good friend owned it.”
Peterson eventually moved to Cordia Senior Living, in Traverse City this past summer.
He now enjoys watching football and basketball, and reminiscing about his past love for motorcycles — at one point he had owned four or five motorcycles.
“That was my hobby even though I had a restaurant. After the restaurant closed, I would go through the country roads and it was a good relaxing way to end the day,” Peterson said.
Peterson doesn’t have a motorcycle any more and since he is older and has problems with both knees.
He lives in a small apartment at Cordia Senior Living, and he still helps out with dinner and has a place for motorcycles in his heart.
“I just live right around the corner right there and I have a cabinet full of all kinds of motorcycle things and supplies,” he said.
Peterson still enjoys learning and reading about motorcycles.
Motorcycles are cool but family is important to Peterson too.
“I have two older sisters and a brother,” Peterson said.
They stuck pretty close together and were a tight family.
Unfortunately though Peterson’s older brother — who was a highway patrolman in Montana — passed away a few years ago.
Peterson’s sisters were both teachers and are very close to him.
“We still are a tight family. The sister that is closest to me in years helped me move here, and she will probably come here in the next few months,” Peterson said.
They try to see each other more often, but growing older has its disadvantages.
“We are getting old so we can’t travel to see each other,” Peterson said. “We stay in touch and that is very nice for me.”
Harlan (Pete) Peterson may be older now, but the legacy he left on Tapawingo and the cooking world will not be forgotten any time soon.