Le Petit Boulevard Market, in the heart of downtown Saline, is a specialty shop with a mission—to ensure people have access to good-quality food.
Garnette set off on a lengthy web search, looking through coffee shop franchises with drive-thrus. He says he wanted to avoid a brand that was already in the area, which ruled out Biggby and Tim Hortons. He discovered Ziggi’s Coffee, based in Longmont, Colorado, which has 125 outlets across the country.
Checkered floors, yellow walls, and a huge black-and-white print of an Amsterdam street scene greet customers at the Golden Pancake Cafe on Saline’s west side, which opened this past June.
The griddle is now operational in a big, airy space formerly occupied by Seitz’s Tavern, with Motley Crepe Co. opening in the last moments of September.
You’d be forgiven for thinking JDs Stage Bistro has always been there.
Nestled into three levels of a historic building downtown, this passion project of Chelsea’s native son Jeff Daniels (who also founded the Purple Rose Theatre) feels right. It fits Chelsea’s vibe so perfectly that if a place like this didn’t already exist here, you’d expect the ancestral spirits of the town would magically conjure it into place, like Brigadoon.
Vintage Sterling speakers shipped from a Seoul shop add a high-fidelity vibe to Dough Objects, a new bakery/café just south of Raising Cane’s in the student-focused South University district.
Read MoreEve Aronoff Fernandez now serves up Cuban street food at Frita Batidos in four cities, but when the space next to the original downtown location opened up, she and her culinary collaborators responded with their typical enthusiastic ethos: “Why not?!”
In our May issue, Adam Baru of Mani Osteria detailed plans for Le Mec, a French-inspired bistro at the corner of W. Liberty and S. First St. But he says a literal nightmare awakened him to realize that “we were trying to do something that ultimately was pretty far outside of what we do really well."
Longtime employees of the restaurant take over as owners. The music plays on.
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Food trucks can be a convenient—and trendy—way to get a fast meal and support an entrepreneur. They can also be a regular feature at gas stations, even if the surroundings are less than romantic.
Not since Borders has a retailer founded in Ann Arbor expanded as widely as Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, now with thirty-seven locations in a dozen states. The latest, in Pierpont Commons on U-M’s North Campus, is a homecoming of sorts for founders Wei and Lisa Bee, who are both U-M alumni, as are their three sons.
Read MoreNearly forty years ago, new life was fashioned from a former lumberyard office on Depot St. Brainchild of prominent local developer Bill Martin, the cozy, quaint Casey’s Tavern became a classic townie hangout, known for its burgers and other comfortable pub grub.
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Sweet Hop Swedish Candy, in the former Ginger Deli on E. Liberty, specializes in what’s become a global phenomenon fueled by social media. Randy Thompson says the wide range of fruity, sour, and salty confections imported from Sweden is more than just a commodity.
Read MoreAvalon Bakery & Café reverts to Pretzel Bell, A2 is down a Qdoba, and Zales & INTY.M Gallery at Briarwood close.
Read MoreAt Picture Perfect Selfie Studio, customers can take unlimited photos in twenty-two distinctive booths.
Read MoreLate Plate offers smashburgers, chutney and avocado bowls, chicken and falafel sandwiches, and milkshakes.
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Media personality and provocateur Dave Portnoy, a 1999 U-M grad, called it “the best college campus pizza I’ve ever had” in a 2022 YouTube video with over 448,000 views.
Read MoreOn E. Liberty, just around the corner from her namesake first restaurant, Orijin is itself a play on the name of partner Jin Gorian, hired three years ago as executive pastry chef at the Boro, a component of Dixboro Project.
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Cocktails can seem simple—in a gin and tonic, the name is also the ingredients and the recipe—or exceedingly complex (fat washing, anyone?). But all across Ann Arbor, regardless of what a menu tells you about a drink, there’s a secret ingredient to most of the greats you won’t see listed.
Read MoreAfternoon Delight, Shalimar, Bløm, and more hang For Sale signs.
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