In the alleys behind Ann Arbor restaurants, workers dump the used oil into large metal containers. Most belong to three collection companies: Evergreen Grease, G.A. Wintzer & Son Co., and Buffalo Biodiesel. They sign restaurants to lengthy contracts that create a near-territorial system.
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If you were at Taste of Ann Arbor on June 1, then you might have noticed a little shift in participants. For the first half of the event, Tabe, the new Asian fusion eatery on S. Main, had a table out with the rest of the tents, displaying an array of sushi rolls. They weren’t officially part of the event, so they were taking cash payments for sushi sample boxes, instead of the official pink tickets. People lined up to try their beautifully crafted offerings.
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The wage war began in 2018, when One Fair Wage, a national coalition of activists, workers and organizations fighting for a higher minimum wage for tipped employees, gathered 370,690 signatures to put the decision up to voters. If the measure had passed, the wage paid to tipped workers, then set at $3.84, would gradually be increased to match the statewide hourly minimum wage—which the same proposal would increase to $12 by 2022 and thereafter index to inflation.
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Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw opened Zingerman’s Delicatessen in 1982. It became the cornerstone of a Community of Businesses that today has a staff of 700 and annual sales of more than $80,000,000. Along the way, Weinzweig has published more than two dozen books on food, business, and leadership. This article is excerpted from his latest, a hand-bound chapbook that connects his early life to his work today.
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“One day we were driving around looking for some good food,” Jackson relates. “[Andre] was like, ‘Man, I know this crazy pizza spot in Toledo. You got to come try it out with me.’ So we drove all the way to Toledo from Detroit to try this pizza out, and it was just mind-blowing, amazing. We kept taking that trip.”
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They’d noticed that most coffee shops in North America treat chai as a secondary offering at best, Noman says, so they decided to feature it foremost. “We went and tried chai in all different regions of India and Pakistan and Bangladesh,” he says. “We formulated our own blend of chai. Our chai comes from Assam, India. It has a bold flavor.”
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A nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts farmhouse built by a president’s brother has been inaugurated for a fifth term as a restaurant. Upscale casual dining at 42 North Social House succeeds the Fillmore Bar & Grill, which followed Terry B’s, Tuscan House, and Cousins Heritage Inn.
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Husband-and-wife team Dan and Sarah Kolander—longtime owners of Dan’s Downtown Tavern in Saline—purchased Chelsea Burger, in the space formerly occupied by Seitz’s Tavern. In an interview before a planned late-September opening, Dan Kolander says they’ll serve a “simple, easy menu” of burgers, sandwiches, wraps, and weekly specials—and they’ve applied for a liquor license.
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An expert in Detroit-style pizza and a veteran restaurateur are collaborating on a full-service and takeout business they expect to appeal to both Saline locals and destination diners. Joe Maino and Jason Branham’s DropTop Pizza includes a vivid dining room and bar along Saline’s main drag, with a back entrance for takeout orders and grab-and-go food and drinks.
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What do a British telephone booth, pillar post box, park bench, and two signposts with Chinese and English flags behind the Hot Pot Chen restaurant have in common? Does the Chinese signage on the shipping container behind the objects hold a clue? And why is everything pink?
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In July, the Michigan Supreme Court restored a 2018 law that raised the state’s minimum wage, expanded sick-leave requirements, and phased out the subminimum wage for workers earning tips.
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What follows is an imaginary itinerary across the continents, all within greater Ann Arbor. Whether in search of the familiar favorites that constitute our own version of soul food, or an adventure into ever-widening horizons, it can be found here, and without the jet lag.
Read MoreA fast-casual Asian eatery offering stir-fries, poké, salads, and smoothies recently opened in the former Blaze Pizza storefront at Cranbrook Village.
Read MoreNamed to invoke one of Brazil’s most recognizable cultural elements, Samba Bowls brings a taste of the country’s rich food traditions to downtown Ann Arbor. Jamille and Lucas Chamon’s first culinary enterprise offers an array of tropical bowls and smoothies from a refreshed storefront on W. Washington St. that long held Vogel’s Lock & Safe.
Read MoreKorean-born pharmacometrician Sunny Chapel started two businesses last year, a clinical pharmacology consultancy called A2-Ai, and Banh Mi Street Food in the Courtyard Shops. The consulting business has taken off and already has seventy employees. That made it difficult for Chapel to devote enough attention to assuring the restaurant’s quality, so she put it on indefinite hiatus.
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the latest owners of the longstanding Moon Winks Café have expanded into full-service dinner and drinks with Moon Winks Tavern. The new adjacent tavern features Cox and McCardell’s own handiwork, including a twelve-seat bar planed from live edge slabs of honey locust.
Read MoreAdding about eighteen of the company’s beers to the lengthy tap list will be the biggest change at the rechristened Arbor Brewing Company Session Room.
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Megan and Aaron Stevens have turned a shared bubble-tea passion into a mom-and-pop shop with their own recipes.
Read MoreThe core offering is a build-your-own egg sandwich starting at $3.75, with a runny yolk and a zippy mustard-based signature sauce.
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