Small Towns, Big World
In Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan, EARL BERNARD finds entrepreneurs who embody the American Dream.
In the centres of adjoining Michigan college towns Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, casual restaurant chains are few and far between. Residents will tell you there's a direct correlation between their town's high quality of life and the dominance of independently owned restaurants, breweries and food specialty shops that also support other businesses, including local farms and artisanal producers.
ANYBODY FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA will point to Zingerman's as the entity at the forefront of the progressive dining scene since 1982. What began as a Kosher-style deli and compact-but-comprehensive specialty food market has since evolved into an impressive operation opening doors for other food-minded entrepreneurs.
The expanded family today includes Cornman Farms (a quaint farmhouse venue for special occasions and cooking classes); Zingerman's Bakehouse (a bakery offering classes); Zingerman's Creamery (an artisanal ice cream and cheese shop), Zingerman's Roadhouse (Southern and Southwestern BBQ and comfort food); and Miss Kim, borne out of a very Ann Arbor mindset: a restaurant weaving Michiganfarmed ingredients into time-tested Korean recipes.
However, Zingerman's is not the only institution that's made its mark. Other entrepreneurs have found the region to be an ideal place to start businesses appealing to the international and cosmopolitan population of students and permanent residents.
The prevalence of beer pubs and pizza places is a well-worn American college town cliché. But in a town like Ann Arbor inventive beer and comfort food enthusiasts are finding interesting ways to turn old tropes into successful business ideas.
To say the decade-long evolution of the craft beer and distilling scene is exciting in Ann Arbor is an understatement. A prime example of this is Bigalora, a neighbourhood spot with 48 beers on tap (primarily Michigan brews) and a menu focusing on pizza and other Italian comfort foods. It recently acquired Arbor Brewing Company (established in 1995) and its ABC Brewpub in Ann Arbor and Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti. This gives Bigalora status as the `establishment,' even with its mom-and-pop underpinnings.
As Bigalora and its brethren have dozens of taps to fill, there is a “build it, and they will come” mentality driving many independent brewers to set up shop. Pileated Brewing Company is the very definition a micro-brewery, with its five-barrel system
producing nine beers with more in the works, including a British-style India Pale Ale, Midwest-style IPA, Celtic red ale, Belgian-style single ale, Belgian-style Saison, London-style porter, and a Double American Stout.
Other beer producers want their shops to create more than just good brews and loyal customers. Ypsilanti natives Patrick Echlin, Brian Jones-Chance and Alex Merz opened 734 as a place with universal appeal and a tasting room that is an airy art gallery-like space.
Mariah Gavin, who presides as 734's head brewer, is better known for her skills and knowledge than the novelty of being a female master brewer. While she excels at food-friendly and approachable beers, she also has customers with adventurous palates covered with her amber ale, cream ale, fruited cream ale, IPA, oatmeal stout and sparkling apple cider.
HOMES (spelling out the five Great Lakes framing Michigan: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior) endeavors to make all beer and food fans feel at home. Against an edgy backdrop created by Detroit street artist Paolo Pedini, brewer Nick Panchame spins hop-forward, seasonal beers with lots of personality, including IPAs and ales, gose (an unfiltered wheat beer), sour beers, strong bitter, and oatmeal stout. The kitchen's philosophy is, “anything but burgers and pizza,” and Noerung Hang, owner and chef at No Thai in Ann Arbor, fulfills that goal with a menu of pan-Asian street food with Thai, Korean, and regional Chinese flavour profiles that stand up to Panchame's bold brews.
Ann Arbor's newest cocktail bar, Nightcap, and The Graduate Hotel's bar put the city's spirit into liquid form. Higher-end Italian restaurants new and old, meanwhile, are serving fresh, updated spins on familiar Italian-American favourites as well as refreshing cocktails riffing on familiar Italian libations. The three-decades-old Gratzi in downtown remains a must-do thanks to its elegant environment, saucy murals, substantial main courses, pastas, pizzas and cocktails. Mani Osteria's wood-oven baked pizzas provide a contemporary contrast to Gratzi's old world menu. The kitchen brings a lot of big flavours to small and shared plates, cocktails, and a wine and beer list with selections from Michigan and elsewhere.
It is always fun to hit any city's weekend farmers' market. However, if you can't stay in town over a weekend, Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample's Argus Farm Stop takes the farmers' market experience indoors along with 75 Michigan farmers and producers. The couple's two-fold goal for this magnificent micro grocery is evident — sustaining and supporting small-scale farms while providing the public and chefs with heirloom vegetables, herbs, fruits and ingredients yearround. Other specialty shops tailor made for home entertaining enthusiasts include Cherry Republic, capitalizing on one of Michigan's most important cash crops, Fustini's Oils & Vinegars (outfitted with a cooking school) and The Brinery, specializing in pickles and fermented foods.
World Beat
Travelling to Ann Arbor's outskirts allows one to explore other parts of the world. Ayse Uras' Turkish Café is so true to her native Cappadocia that she writes out the daily menu just before lunch and dinner, based on what is in season and what her purveyors have available. On different days, one will find protein and vegetarian dishes running the gamut from lentil soup or yogurt soup, to cold salads, pilavs, boreks (savory phylo-based Turkish pastries), vegetarian stews, chicken eggplant, kebaps, zucchini stuffed with lamb, meat pies, white bean stew with lamb, or moussaka.
Abdul Mani, owner and chef of Casablanca (opened in 2015 and built into a cleverly repurposed Taco Bell on the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti border) has an iron-clad fan base that includes some of Zingerman's top brass. Within the tiny location, he manages to create a Marrakesh-sized souk's worth of Moroccan dishes with
intriguing sweet, savoury, and herbaceous flavours that enliven tagines (stews with couscous), bistillas (phylo pies stuffed with omelets and ground meat topped with sugar and cinnamon), salads, soups, baked lamb and chicken platters, and such staples as hummus and babaganoush.
Chef Eve Aronoff's restaurants and companion cookbooks helped put Ann Arbor on the map in the dawn of the food television era. One of her best-loved endeavors still thriving today is Frita Batidos, whose name is inspired by two of her favourite Cuban dishes. Her love for the cuisine stems from her youth in Miami where a convergence of Latino influence informed her cooking.
Alex Young, meanwhile, is one of Zingerman's highest-profile alumni. His macaroni and cheese was crowned “Best in America” on Alton Brown's Food Network show. He is a James Beard Award recipient who was bombarded with job offers from major cities on both coasts. That buzz stems in part from Zingerman's Roadhouse, which he opened in 2003 with founders Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw. By 2017, he was ready for a change and opened Standard Bistro & Larder, which is French Countryinfluenced, down to its sleek art deco influences and evocative paintings created by his father. True to Ann Arbor's character, his take on haute cuisine is at once accessible, traditional and inventive.
Michigan at Aventura is dedicated to a variety of Iberian classics ranging from Basque pinxto, cocas, and tapas appetizers to abundant paellas originating in Chef Raúl Cob's native Valencia, and ice cream made to order using liquid nitrogen — a molecular gastronomy technique pioneered at the groundbreaking Catalonian restaurant ElBulli.
A Place at the Table
Zingerman's continues to build on its mission through its more recent openings. Cornman Farms grew out of Alex Young's efforts to keep things fresh during his “Roadhouse” days. Young had a 75-foot garden planted behind his home in 2004 to counterbalance comfort food with fresh produce but it ultimately outgrew the original plot. In response, Zingerman's purchased Cornman Farms in 2013 with the intention of expanding that vision to the other properties.
The Farms' 1834 homestead was restored to its original appearance and fitted with a modern exhibition kitchen. Executive chef and managing partner Kieron Hales became the force behind the farm, infusing English country flair into the project. The Devon, England native successfully transplanted his impressive resume — from training at the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts to command cooking performances for the Royal Family and three US presidents — to the homestead. While his persona is warm and happy-go-lucky, his serious commitment to food manifests in his meticulous attention to detail.
Ji Hye Kim, who came to the U.S. as a child, arguably attained an “American Dream” through a high-paid position as a health insurance executive in New York. However, as working 70 hours a week proved not to be her idea of a dream come
…Zingerman's is not the only institution that's made its mark…
true, she threw caution to the wind to do something that “spoke to her soul.” Over traditional Korean dishes re-imagined with Michigan-grown ingredients, she described how her real education began working food prep jobs at Zingerman's Deli. As she caught on to the company's successful business models while refining her culinary skills, she started making dumplings to reconnect with her Korean roots. A Korean street food cart supported by founder Weinzweig gave way to Miss Kim this past year.