Toski Sands Market

We popped into Toski Sands Market before visiting Petoskey State Park (across the street) with hopes of grabbing deli sandwiches for a picnic. From that perspective, Toski Sands proved a disappointment. Rather than a delicious array of prepared salads and gourmet sandwiches as we'd hoped for after visiting the market's website, we found a basic deli counter hidden in the liquor area of what felt, at first glance, like a small strip-mall grocery store.

It wasn't enticing, so, stomachs grumbling, we explored the rest of the store. Despite its initially uninspiring appearance, Toski Sands actually offers an interesting mix of supermarket basics and upscale packaged goods—everything you might want to stock your vacation-home kitchen. We spied good-quality meat and fish, imported cheese, local produce and intriguing European cookies. And our picnic? We improvised, snagging a quart of fresh gazpacho from the produce cooler and a basic Asiago loaf from the bread aisle. Taken together, it made for a summer-day beach lunch, even if it wasn't quite the one we expected.