How Mia & Grace came to be has pretty much been left to fate.
Chefs Jeremy Jamie Paquin are "Southerners" growing up and going to school in the Houston area. Jeremy Paquin was born in Michigan but moved early in life to Texas, only to return to work in his grandmother's rural restaurant near Manistique in the Upper Peninsula.
Jeremy worked one summer in the kitchen at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island but for the most part developed his culinary career in the Houston and Austin areas. Jamie's family comes from New Orleans but she also went to school in Houston. It was a food show in Austin that brought the two chefs together.
When it was time to begin a family, these urban pioneers decided to leave one of the hottest economic regions and head north to be near extended family in West Michigan.
"I tell the folks back in Houston that you have to work twice as hard in Michigan today for half the money," Paquin said: only half-jokingly.
The Paquins looked all over West Michigan for the perfect place to launch their culinary vision. "Muskegon has a small-town feel but the culture and exposure of city life. And since we've been downtown, it has just grown. We have seen the changes. We want to be a part of that." They fell in love with the Third Street building due to its age and character.
After months of hard work initially on the second level residential apartments and then the downstairs restaurant and commercial kitchen, the interior was completely recreated. New drywall, wooden floor, front door, tile in the alcove entry and ceiling were part of the renovations. The owners did 90 percent of the work themselves except for mechanical items. Mia Grace then opened as a "farm-to-table" restaurant concept serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with tasteful ambiance.
