By Ian Douglas McLaren, M.D.
Noveau Nosh! Ann Arbor’s food scene is forever in flux so it’s definitely time for another update of recent openings, closings and other fluctuations in the eateries and hostelries around town.
In mid-August ’97, a tiny Indian restaurant called Earthen Jar opened by Jerusalem Garden’s outdoor cafe, in the elegant old house beside the library parking lot on Fifth Avenue. The vegetarian and vegan meals are reasonably priced, served buffet-style, and priced by the pound. Only two weeks later, the Fifth Avenue Cafe opened just half a block north on the ground floor of the 301 E. Liberty office high-rise. The Middle Eastern menu resembles a cross between nearby Afternoon Delight and Jerusalem Garden, and the owner’s family runs a chain of seven coffee houses out in Portland, Oregon.
In early September, Domino’s Pizza returned to central campus for the first time since the early 1970s. The Ann Arbor-based company relocated its Ann Street store to the space where Salad Days used to be, at 342 South State, to get closer to campus. The store will provide both carryout and delivery service. Also in September last year, Dan and Carol Huntsbarger closed the Moveable Feast’s Kerrytown Cafe and retail location just months after buying both The Moveable Feast (326 W. Liberty) restaurants and the catering operation. Dan, who was the head chef and general manager at the Gandy Dancer (401 Depot St.), plans to concentrate on fine dining. Initial reports of the Feast’s fare are very flavorable. Some thought that the Gandy initially declined somewhat after Dan left, but Muer Corporation’s new Gandy general manager, Grace Singleton, initiated extensive remodeling soon after her arrival. Mike Monahan (Monahan’s Seafood Market) and his friend, Paul Saginaw, started working at the fish market in Kerrytown back in the late ’70s and bought the place in 1979. In 1981, they teamed up with Ari Weinzweig to start Zingermann’s Delicatessen. Zingers expanded, and in the summer Monahan bought Saginaw out of the seafood market, and Saginaw bought Monahan out of Zingermann’s. Soon after that, Monahan installed a tiny, three-seat raw bar at the end of his order counter where customers can grab a bowl of chef Bernie’s excellent chowder, slug down a dozen oysters, or sample the new entrees. On the Kingsley Street side of Kerrytown, Durham’s Tracklements has added retail hours to their mail-order smoked fish operation. (Tracklements is an archaic term for the condiments and accompaniments that enhance a dinner or festive occasion.) T.R. Durham has been getting great national press for his house-smoked salmon, cod, and duck. Now he wants to concentrate on local business, so the smokehouse is open to the public on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, and all day Saturdays. Ruby Tuesday at Briarwood closed without warning at the end of September when the chain restaurant reached the end of it’s lease, and the space remains unoccupied as I write.
Pretzel stores are back! In October, Twist & Shout, a Birmingham-based three-store pretzel chain opened in Briarwood Mall’s west wing. Customers at the outrageously colorful 500 square foot store, with its curvaceous designs, can watch pretzels being rolled, shaped and cooked. In November, Northern LIGHTs Open-Faced Sandwich Shop opened in Kerrytown, replacing the old Dough Boys Bakery space. It was a new Danish eatery, Ann Arbor’s sole Scandinavian restaurant, with a wide variety of smörrebrod (SMUHR-uh-bred): traditional, open-faced Danish sandwiches. However, it has already closed and has been replaced by Kav’s Cafe.
November sure was a busy month. That’s when the Middle Eastern restaurant Azure (625 Hilton Blvd.) opened in the old Mandarin space beside Bally’s Vic Tanny near Briarwood. They offer yummy dishes from Morocco, Spain and Israel. Around this time, the Kerrytown Bistro (415 N. Fourth Ave.) gained new management and a new head chef. In the past eight years the French provincial restaurant has seen half a dozen owners, innumerable waitstaff, a handful of chefs, and several different managers. Dr. Ronald Creswell bought out partner Scotsman Jim Craig’s piece of the restaurant, and with new manager Michelle Ruiz and head chef Andrew Nichol, subtle improvements have been made both to the lunch and dinner menus.
In December ,Texas-based natural foods retailer Whole Foods market bought out the Merchant of Vino (MOV). This move stopped development of the Merchant’s planned West Stadium store which would have been relatively close to the established Whole Foods established store in the Lamp Post Plaza (2398 E. Stadium), a couple of miles further east. The 2789 Plymouth Road site is now called Merchant of Vino/Whole Foods Market. The official word is that the response to all this from the employees and the community has been excellent, but others on the inside of MOV say that isn’t the whole story ... I personally live close by and use the store a lot (perhaps too much!), and I have found that the service has improved noticeably. A former Marv’s Meats butcher who lost his job to the MOV/WFM buyout has opened his own shop at 619 South Main Market. Scott Staebler bought the Butcher Block in February, and on March 1st he reopened under the name Prime Cuts. He plans to add a seafood counter soon. Also in December, Siam Square (3750 Washtenaw) opened inside the 888 hotel on Washtenaw Avenue just west of the US-23 overpass. It replaced the previous Modern Kitchen there and serves a similar, spicy selection of Thai specialties.
On New Year’s Eve, Tater’s, the food concession inside Bel-Mark Lanes on Jackson road, closed down. The next day, the All-Star Grille opened in it’s place. This is the fifth bowling-center, food-service operation for owner Steve Klein. Hungry bowlers can choose from appetizers, or homemade soups, nachos, pizza, veggie burgers and coleslaw.
As spring-time approached, things were all topsy turvy on Main Street. Jimmy Schmidt redesigned and renamed his ailing Chianti Tuscan Grill (scarcely two years old) on South Main, as the clubby Jimmy’s Double A Bar & Grill (312 S. Main), serving, amongst other things, steaks, chops, and martinis. Jimmy’s is putting a major emphasis on wine by charging customers a surprisingly low $10 over wholesale. Whatever the apparent attraction, hardly anyone seems to go there. There is also an exclusive on the Kerrytown Brewbakers’ new line of cask-conditioned (“real”) ales-Pacific Coast Pale Ale, Helles, Chestnut Premium, London Porter-and their “Brewbubbles” line of soft drinks. In May, Mainstreet Ventures (Gratzi, Palio, and the Real Seafood Company) revealed its plan to open a pair of new places on the same block as Jimmy’s: Star’s Steakhouse and La Dolce Vita, a combination dessert room, cocktail lounge, and cigar bar. But it didn’t happen. Instead, Irish pub Conor O’Neill’s (318 S. Main) sprang up where Star’s was meant to be, and the space between O’Neill’s and Gratzi now has a small sign advertising the Chop House. Conor O’Neill’s is a refreshing standup bar that you can wander into without giving your name, rank and ID to a bored hostperson. It has traditional Irish beers on draft, including Guinness, which my Irish colleagues rate as not bad. It gets very noisy later on, but there’s bags of atmosphere. Slainte! The other newcomer on Main Street is, or rather was the Liquid Lounge (309 S. Main), where the second Full Moon was located briefly. It seems to open late and attract a youngish crowd who gravitate there after dark to gyrate on the dance floor. But last month the name was changed to the Crush Bar.
In March, the relatively recently remodeled Maude’s on Fourth Avenue closed and Arriba opened in it’s place. Mainstreet Ventures took their cues from Chicago’s popular Frontera Grill, and Arriba aims to be authentic Mexican with a menu of Frontera Grill recipes, and a festive courtyard atmosphere modeled on the town square of Rosalita, Mexico. A strolling Mariachi band and a menu of Mexican beers, Californian wines, and killer margaritas add to the festive atmosphere. Hola! Also in March, Kroger Food & Drug finally opened their new 72,000 square foot superstore-the biggest in southeastern Michigan-at 400 S. Maple, on the site of the Ann Arbor Moose Lodge. This replaced the Kroger at Westgate. The new palace was devised to be a one-stop shopping experience and houses a full-service pharmacy, child care center, Great Lakes National Bank branch, expanded floral and natural foods departments, in-store Coffee Beanery cafe, and Corey’s Jewelry Box. Also, Kroger’s is the only supermarket in town that stocks Brewbaker’s microbrews. Not to be outdone, Busch’s Valu Land has expanded its flagship store at 2240 S. Main into two adjacent spaces, boosting its square footage from 36,000 to 39,500. At one end, the produce section has been expanded with a separate wine department, and at the other end is what is called a Special Occasion Station. Lai Da Chinese restaurant at 1151 Broadway, next to the Ann Arbor Thrift Shop, has closed. It had been open for three years and was a favorite with neighborhood residents, but the closing of the Broadway Kroger late last year had cut into its walk-in business.
Did you know that a chap called Alan Stillman invented the singles bar? He was a Manhattan cocktail party boy who bought a bar on First Avenue in New York for $10,000, completed a three-week redecoration, and opened it on March 15, 1965 as the first TGI Friday’s. It’s the same bar where Tom Cruise juggled fifths in the 1988 movie “Cocktail,” and it’s still going strong. Well, in March this year, Ann Arbor got its own TGI Friday’s at 3105 W. Waters, next to the McDonald’s and Meijer on Ann Arbor-Saline Road. The huge menu is the same country-wide.
On April 11th, Andy Gulvezan joined the fray by closing the Flame Bar on April 11th, after more than 40 years in business. In it’s place, in early May, he opened Bab’s Liberty Street Piano Bar (112 W. Liberty), named after manager Barb Corwin. No steaks or chops there, but plenty of martinis and a rotating roster of pianists who tickle the ivories on the baby grand on weekend nights! Some call this new trend Cocktail Culture, some call it Lounge. It’s a retro backlash against healthy eating. Whatever you call it, it’s swinging! There are now hundreds of web sites, newsgroups, magazines and clubs celebrating all things swank: old-fashioned cocktails, cigars, tiki torches, mambo dancing, even the Rat Pack. Also in April, Pizza House moved from 624 to 618 Church Street into larger premises.
In the last week of June, co-owners Eric Best and Amer Bathish finally opened the Screaming Dog (102 S. First) in the old Robby’s/Topinka’s space at First and Huron streets. The idea was to present cocktails and New American Cuisine in a Ricky Ricardo-inspired, swanky, supper club atmosphere, with live music. However, customers were slow to warm up to the pricey supper club, and in early August Best was removed from his position and Bathish took over, renaming the joint Amer’s First Street Grill. He says the prices were too high and the name was wrong. Who wants to eat a $9 burger at something called The Screaming Dog?! Both problems have now been remedied. Mr. Bathish had also originally planned to open a pizza joint called The Underdog downstairs below the Grill where the Oyster Bar and Spaghetti Machine used to be. We shall see.
Well, a while back they finally took down the two-year-old sign “Coming Soon!” advertising the arrival of Cyberzone Cafe on Washington Street. That site, where the ArtCafe used to be, remains dormant. However, in April over at 1220 South University, Web Chateau opened. It’s a combination coffeehouse, restaurant, and Internet cafe upstairs at the corner of South Forest and South University, occupying the space over the McDonald’s/Saigon Garden conflagration. The cafe has ten computers and charges $5 an hour for Internet access. Customers can also plug in their laptops for $3 an hour. This cybercafe serves coffee drinks, freshly squeezed raw juices, pastries, and Middle Eastern specialties.
In July, The Earle (121 West Washington)-that underground haven of good food and wine-expanded. There is now a new 900 square foot kitchen, and the size of the wine bar has doubled. The construction project was very complicated. Basically, space was created where before there was none. The owners bought the Fresh Cream Cafe next door, then tunneled under and around it-very carefully. The new kitchen has grills, broilers and deep fryers, which has broadened the menu. The new wine bar has a glass-enclosed, temperature-controlled wine room.
After some time off, Tamiko Cowen, the culinary mastermind behind Donburi, the Rubiyat, Tamiko’s and most recently, the Kerrytown Grille, all now closed, has just opened Gourmet Garage (2285 South State) as a catering and carryout business. The squat, little, white frame building on State, easy to overlook, serves Cowen’s Asian-American fusion cuisine.
Young Skeen who used to man the Kosmo Deli counter in Kerrytown has resurfaced on the east side of town as new owner of Reuben House Deli at 4645 Washtenaw Avenue. She’s keeping the Reuben’s broad New York-style intact, more or less, although she plans to add her own homemade soups, fish and chips and Guernsey ice cream.
On the south side of town, the Grahams have bought Tripper’s. They’ve kept the sports bar pretty much the same but changed the name to Gallagher’s Eatery & Sports Bar (3965 South State). Televisions abound and the menu has expanded to include pizza, homemade chili, and chicken gumbo, and the bar is “cigar friendly”.
Back in March ’96, Cafe Zola Crepe & Coffee Bar (112 West Washington) opened its doors. It is Ann Arbor’s answer to Europe’s coffee houses where you can sit with your coffee latte, sometimes for hours. However, if peckishness sets in, why not try a thin and delicate three-egg omelet with eggplant and feta, or wild mushrooms and scallions, or perhaps light, airy, sweet or savory crepes made hot to order on the specially imported griddle, and filled with herbed butter and smoked salmon. Sandwiches are made on Zingermann’s Bakehouse bread.
In July ’97, Cafe Felix opened at 204 Main Street, but it doesn’t seem to have exactly caught on and attendance is low. The coffee is OK, and there is a small amount of prime, outdoor, people-watching seating at the front.
Also in July, Haytham Fayyad opened Afundi’s Cafe at 304 South Ashley, next door to the Fleetwood Diner. The original Afundi’s near Tangier boasts the best view in Morocco overlooking the Atlantic on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. Dearborn designer Dia Mata has created the feel of an open-air Mediterranean cafe. The original tin ceiling has been painstakingly restored. The family makes its own shwarma and kafta, and slow cooks its own corned beef, pastrami and roast beef. Afundi’s has two menus; a breakfast selection and an expansive lunch and dinner menu.
Cafe Anzu opened in late August ’97 in the Courtyard Shops at 1733 Plymouth Road Anzu is the Korean word for “comfortable living,” and owners Kyn and Whan Shin decorated their cafe in easygoing, Euro-tech decor. Coffee is made with Lavazza coffee beans, which are good, sandwiches are supplied by Paesano’s, and desserts are from Jane’s in Grand Rapids. In June this year, Cafe Anzu was expanded to include Saica, a new Japanese restaurant where Shabu-shabu and teriyaki are served, but no sushi as yet.
In January of this year, a rather strange thing happened on the coffee scene. Cava Java and Amer’s swapped places. Cava Java (30 South State) assumed Amer’s (300 South Main) lease in the Michigan Union and Amer’s moved lox, stock and bagel into ‘CJs space at Liberty and Main. The actual moves were completed in twenty-four hours. At this time in October, there is still no sign of the promised Starbucks coffee house in Ann Arbor.
Well, food lovers, those are some of the latest changes on the local food scene. As for established eateries, my personal ‘faves include West End Grill and Miki in Ann Arbor, Emily’s in Northville, and if you’re really feeling flush, the newish Tribute on 12 Mile Road in Farmington Hills. Bon appetit!