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By mixing a love of
cooking with innate food
savvy, Patricia Panozzo
whipped up a soufflé of
the good life. She has
been at it for quite a
while, but her long,
blond hair and girlish
figure belie her age.
She appears to have
jumped off a billboard
espousing healthy
eating.
Two decades ago, Patty
was one of the early
re-settlers of the area
in Michigan that was
newly being called
Harbor Country. In 1985,
when the once thriving,
but long dormant town of
Union Pier, began to
show signs of life, she
opened a natural food
café for the people who
purchased vacation homes
there.
“I’m from around
Kankakee, [Illinois],”
she recalls. “I come
from agricultural land,
a couple thousand acres.
So I know food from the
roots. I was a chef at a
health spa when I found
Harbor Country and fell
in love with it.”
She has now lived in
southwest Michigan for
21 years, watching as
wealthy Chicagoans
bought houses in New
Buffalo, Union Pier and
Lakeside. She noticed
that their cocktail
parties were in need of
hors d’oeuvres, their
dinner soirees in need
of dinner. She gathered
that these folks didn’t
want to spend too much
time in the kitchen.
After all, they were on
vacation!
So, following the
closing of her Panozzo’s
Café in the mid-’90s,
she created Panozzo’s
Pantry in New Buffalo.
“My theory is high
flavor units, low
effort,” Panozzo says.
“Using just a few
ingredients, you can
have a delicious meal.
You know when people are
gathered around a table
and breaking bread
together, it’s a
beautiful thing.”
And now she is trail
blazing again. She
recently moved Panozzo’s
Pantry from New Buffalo
to Benton Harbor’s
burgeoning arts
district. For her,
involvement in a new
community is yet another
form of nourishment.
When a long-time
customer stops by to
view her airy,
high-ceilinged digs,
Panozzo shows her
around, explaining:
“These grape seed oils
are high in
anti-oxidants and
blended with different
things like roasted
garlic.” She motions the
customer to try the brie
with chutney, on display
for grazing, and hands
her a recipe for beef
tenderloin, using a
coffee barbecue rub she
sells — another example
of the simple and
divine.
“These vinegars are easy
to use,” she continues.
“For instance, this
black fig vinegar — a
drizzle of that over ice
cream or pound cake with
poached peaches or pears
is wonderful. Just a
little bit goes a very
long way. You don’t have
to do much.”
As the woman’s eyes grow
to the size of large
olives, Patty brags
about the products
assembled here, as if
she were their mother:
“This goat cheese has
edible flowers. Martinis
are a hot thing, so [I
have] lavender,
rosemary, chocolate
martini mix; all you add
is alcohol.”
It’s not just food, it’s
nourishment, of both the
body and the soul. “I
just try to get people
involved in the food so
there is a connection,”
Panozzo says.
The thing she is most
passionate about is how
food brings people
together the way a
hearth does. That notion
fills the “Family Table”
segment of her food
talk-radio program on
Radio Harbor Country
106.7 FM. “People talk
about an experience
they’ve had growing up,”
she says, explaining
that the aim is simply
“to gather people around
a table to share
stories, to share
experiences.”
In the store, Panozzo
stirs up enthusiasm by
getting the whole family
involved. “I’ll bring
kids into my store’s
kitchen, get the skillet
out, make some pancake
batter,” she says. “We
start making pancakes
and they love it. When
they flip it and you can
see their eyes light up
and it’s an
accomplishment, it’s
empowerment,”
Panozzo also teaches
classes in preparing
dinner, brunch and
seasonal/holiday family
events; and she is the
author of two cookbooks,
“Breakfast at
Panozzo’s,” and “A Need
to Feed.” The latter’s
also the name of her
show on Radio Harbor
Country, a program she
describes as “tasty
listening.” In her spare
time, she writes a food
column for the Benton
Spirit newspaper. She is
also the events chairman
of Benton Harbor’s new
arts district, working
to heighten awareness of
the nouveau locality.
According to Patty:
“Superstores have
homogenized our nation …
it is the small
communities that provide
unique flavors.”
Churning exuberance like
butter, Patty thinks of
her community
involvement as one more
form of nourishment, yet
another “need to feed.”
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