For the last five summers, the after-six map of Old Mission Peninsula had a hole in it at 17015 Center Road. The Bartnicks closed the Tavern in 2020, and the building sat. If you lived here, you learned to route around it: Peninsula Grill for a full sit-down, Boathouse for the view, Jolly Pumpkin when you wanted a beer without a reservation, a winery patio if the weather held.
That workaround is over. Two things happened in 2026 that residents are still adjusting to, and neither of them is a new winery.
Sale of the restaurant to new owners Stephanie Krupka and Brian Daley took place on Jan. 7, 2026, and they re-opened this Wednesday on March 18. The address is the same. The carpet is the same. The team kept the same footprint, plus the existing carpet, tables, and chairs. The walls have been painted a rich, deep blue highlighted by an "eclectic selection of décor."
What changed is the résumé behind the pass. Daley and Krupka have between them 20 years of experience in high-end restaurants: Daley at the James Beard-award-winning Blackbird and Krupka at Sepia, a Michelin recipient situated right around the corner. Daley moved to Sepia after Blackbird closed. Two Chicago West Loop veterans took over a Peninsula Township white-tablecloth room that had been closed for nearly six years, and they did not gut it.
That restraint is the interesting part. Daley has been direct about the tightrope: even producing the favorite dishes with the old recipes would still feel "a little different." So the menu carries featured Sunday Chicken Dinners and Prime Rib Specials, plus simple desserts featuring the bounty of the peninsula, and the bar program is deliberately short. Expect classic cocktails with simple updates, a selection of popular brews, and a dozen wines, by the glass or the bottle, representing our region, plus Oregon, Italy, France, Argentina, and the Iberian Peninsula. For a peninsula whose wine list at every other stop reaches 30 or 40 bottles, twelve is a statement.
One practical note for planning: for this first season, when the weather warms up, guests will find the patio open as a cocktail space. The back room is still being worked out, so weeknight reservations in the main dining room fill first.
The other shift is legal, and if you have driven past Bonobo on a Friday and noticed the music schedule looking different than last August, this is why.
The Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula, Bonobo Winery, and Bowers Harbor Vineyards filed a new complaint in U.S. District Court claiming Peninsula Township is refusing to comply with a court judgment and is taking enforcement actions against wineries for activities the court upheld as legal. The July ruling awarded the wineries nearly $50 million in damages and found that Peninsula Township had "repeatedly and pervasively violated the wineries' constitutional rights through unlawful zoning restrictions and the prohibition of events on winery properties."
Bonobo Winery received a cease-and-desist letter from township attorneys on November 21 threatening to revoke the winery's special use permit and "shut down operations over activities, including music, events, and food service, that the court specifically acknowledged Bonobo is permitted to conduct."
For a resident, the practical read is this: the ten-winery trail is legally permitted to host live music, small plates, and ticketed events, but individual wineries have spent the summer proceeding cautiously while the enforcement question sits open. WOMP is also seeking a declaration that the township's noise ordinance is unconstitutionally vague, protection against further retaliatory actions directed at wineries, and attorneys' fees.
The most reliable move if you want a Thursday winery night with music is to call the tasting room the morning of. Bonobo, Bowers Harbor, and Brys Estate schedules have all moved around this season. Township supervisor Maura Sanders has continued to publish updates through the Old Mission Gazette, and as of April, the Township Board has not been able to reconvene the settlement sub-committee with WOMP. Nothing about that has resolved cleanly since.
While the Tavern was closed and the wineries were in court, one restaurant did not move at all, and that stability has become its own draw.
Major housing development activity on Old Mission has brought a substantial piece of Traverse City's population considerably closer to Peninsula Grill's front door. But even more significant, according to co-owner Jennifer Davies, has been the explosion of wineries on the peninsula. As Old Mission Peninsula has morphed into a destination for wine tours and bachelorette parties, Peninsula Grill has ramped up its day-to-day traffic, too.
The kitchen is doing what it has always done. Longstanding customer favorites, like the cherry chicken salad, the chicken penne pepper-jack soup, and the fried pita chips served with artichoke dip, have stuck around despite the restaurant's twice-annual menu refreshes. The signature beer, the "Motorboater," an IPA brewed in partnership with Right Brain Brewery, remains on tap. And Johnny Rokos is still tending bar. He's worked at the restaurant for 25 years, dating back to its Molly's By Golly days.
If you are a peninsula resident looking for the least-scheduled Wednesday dinner in a five-mile radius, this is still it. Sit at the bar and let Rokos run the wine list; he knows the neighborhood's drink orders better than most of us know our neighbors'.
A few other things have moved this year that will not make the visitor guides:
None of these are new. All of them read differently against a summer where the biggest restaurant on Center Road just reopened and the winery event calendar has one hand tied.
If you already live here, the current after-six routine looks less like the one you ran in 2023. A workable version:
The peninsula did not get a wave of new openings this year. It got one significant reopening, one unresolved court case, and a set of long-tenured operators who did not flinch. That combination is what actually changes how a place feels day to day, and it is the version of Old Mission Peninsula that residents are living in right now, whether or not the visitor guides have caught up.
If you own on the peninsula and are thinking about what any of this means for the value of your property, or you are eyeing a move onto Center Road or down toward Bowers Harbor and want a candid read on the market as it sits this fall, Molly Buttleman works this peninsula every week. Inquire Now for a private conversation.
Molly is Michigan native and has called the Grand Traverse and Leelanau County region home for more than 30 years. Understanding the demands of today's buyers and sellers has allowed her to be a top producing agent when it comes to Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau County real estate year after year. As a relationship building person, she enjoys developing loyal friends and customers. As a Real Estate Professional, she builds those same lasting relationships with both Buyers and Sellers. Service is Molly's top priority.
Molly is known for listening and problem-solving, often putting her own real-life buying, selling, and renovating experience to use for her clients. Her construction industry connections also give her clients an extra sense of trust, especially if they are looking to add value to a property with a remodel.
Inquire Now