Yoon’s Bakery
“American-style bread is a little tough and big,” says Ms. Kim, a customer at Yoon’s Bakery. Ms. Kim said she’d rather not give her first name, but she did offer to serve as a translator for Sunhyup Yoon,...
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Seafood Driven and Pita Cruiser
It’s good that I don’t live far from Mark’s Carts–and its companion business for libations, Bill’s Beer Garden–because it took several attempts to try Seafood Driven, the newest cart in the...
Read MoreMayonnaise Sandwich
Knowing that we’d emptied the kitchen before we left, we stopped for groceries on our way home. We were just back from Cuba, and the overflowing American supermarket was a stark reminder of just how scarce food was there....
Read MoreTrue North
Traffic completely clogged downtown Ann Arbor, as RVs chugging in for Michigan’s football spring game mixed with cars full of young people anticipating the next day’s Hash Bash. In the face of gridlock, it seemed a...
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Common Grill
“I’m still having fun,” says Craig Common, whose Common Grill is celebrating a quarter-century on Main St. in Chelsea: “It has been phenomenal, a great run, with lots of people who have been with us a...
Read MoreBill Knapp’s Chocolate Cake
“I still dream of Bill Knapp’s chocolate cake. It was the best,” a dessert enthusiast was overheard saying recently. Despite the restaurant chain’s bankruptcy in 2002, that dream is about to rematerialize...
Read MoreAntonio’s Coney Island
We ate a lot of black beans and eggs and fried chicken the month we spent riding buses around Guatemala–enough, actually, that we grew tired of those otherwise tasty staples. It was the rainy season, and alternatives in...
Read MoreYee Siang Dumplings
When reviewing a Chinese restaurant, I’m usually baffled about where to start. Most menus are so vast it’s almost impossible to test a representative sample. Moreover, everyone has his or her favorite dishes,...
Read MoreGrizzly Peak
In fall 2015, Grizzly Peak Brewing Company marked several significant milestones in interesting ways. Aficionados celebrated the 4,000th batch of beer brewed at the Washington St. pub with a hoppy but balanced “4K”...
Read MoreCookie Exchange
For M.L. Slater, a sixth-generation Ann Arborite, getting ready for Christmas has always meant baking “her” cookies. She’ll whip up some delicate cinnamon stars, but it’s springerle she’s most...
Read MoreChristmas Shopping
For my husband’s family, conversation–even the exchange of trivia–is highly prized, so dinner with the in-laws is always a lively, animated affair. The actual meal, though, might be less inspired. My own...
Read MoreBack2Roots Bistro
If you dine out with vegans, you know that ordering a meal often involves more questions than an episode of Jeopardy. Is there meat in the soup or its broth? Butter in the cake? Lard anywhere? I’ll never forget a harried...
Read MoreTaste Kitchen
What’s a new restaurateur to do once it becomes clear the public isn’t interested in their enterprise? Changing concepts is hard and expensive and often means forfeiting a dream. Naturally enough, many instead try...
Read MoreSalt Springs Brewery
Michigan has become a craft beer hot spot, and its southeast got another pin on the map when Salt Springs Brewery opened in Saline in July. A local partnership, backed by fifty citizen investors, built the brewery and artisanal...
Read MoreMacheko Grill
Having worked in restaurants for years, I knew why Macheko Grill’s entire crew was sitting down at the end of the night to a staff dinner of Jet’s pizza. No matter how wonderful the food, or enthusiastic the crew at...
Read MoreIt’s Food Truck Season
As it turned out, June 17 wasn’t the best evening for the Ann Arbor Farmers Market’s first food truck rally of the season. Like much of the spring, the weather was rainy and cool, and with the trucks spread out...
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