Gratzi

Gratzi loyalists, I'm sorry.

Overrated. I'm watching Survivor online as I write this review, and this show is more exciting than my last experience at Gratzi. I hate to come off catty and rude, but I was just so disappointed and feel safe letting it out here.

I went last year for a friend's birthday and was actually quite satisifed with that experience. I had something reminiscent of the Filetto de Manzo off the current menu - herb crusted beef tenderloin served on a portobello cap with tomato, goat cheese, roasted potatoes, and shallots. It was very enjoyable and perfect with a side of asparagus. I remember leaving with a smile on my face that night.

I went again last week for another friend's birthday. I don't often get an occasion to go out to the Main St restaurants, so I was pretty excited. The place is lovely; classic and upscale. The host/ess (a guy took care of the people in front of us, then I turned around and some tiny girl came to help us) were great. I'm sure service is usually great, but our server didn't really seem to know what was going on when she first came to help us. She wasn't sure if we had been seen to, had to ask us, then wasn't sure if she was supposed to be serving us, came back saying that apparently she was our server, etc. In her defense, she was very nice and attentive after that first bit of confusion. After perusing the menu, birthday girl CL got the Gnocchi con Pancetta Affumicato e Gamberi, AU got the Orecchiette Rustica, and I had the Spezzaino di Cinghiale. A bunch of fancy Italian words for mediocre. CL's gnocchi was served with shrimp and applewood bacon in a tomato sauce with red pepper flakes for a kick. It was definitely the best of the three dishes, but still nothing that I'm going to be thinking about tomorrow. AU's orecchiette was served with sweet Italian sausage, broccolini, and radicchio. It was decent. I think it could have used more garlic or anything else to give it a little more flavor and more of a kick. And now we get to my dish, on which I have the most criticism. I have no idea what spezzaino means, and Google is no help. Cinghiale means "wild boar"... so you can guess what the protein in that dish was. I knew this going in and was really excited, having never had boar before. I was debating between the boar and a risotto dish that was a special that week. Then I asked myself, "when else am I going to have wild boar?" The menu says "a savory stew of Texas farm raised boar simmered in wine, tomatoes, juniper and rosemary, served over hand cut pappardelle pasta." The description reads as delicious on paper, but honestly... I can do better than this in my kitchen at home. I thought I was going to be getting a hunk of meat. Not necessarily in steak form, but definitely not the ground meat mish mash that did end up on the plate in front of me. The meat itself is lean, tastes a little porky (which makes sense), I want to even say a little beefy, not too gamey. The preparation was nothing fabulous. The meat and the sauce was just spooned on top of the pappardelle, so the pasta had soaked up absolutely zero flavor. Eh, I mean... I really don't have much more to say other than passable. I'm thinking now that I should have gone with the risotto.

Gratzi's one saving grace for this review is the birthday deal. 1/n (where n=number of diners) off the check and a birthday cannoli served with fresh fruit. Thank goodness for the birthday cannoli, the best part of the meal. Wow, I'm being such a negative Nancy. It's just that if I'm paying $20+, I want to really enjoy myself and have my palate satisfied. The only reason I'd be able to enjoy another experience like this is if I'm with company as great as I had that night.

Jung-Ah and I originally set out to write only good reviews here, but I think it's only fair to everyone that I give my honest review. But hey, maybe it was just a bad night. Nothing was horrible, it was just not up to the caliber of what I had expected. I'll be open minded and give it another shot... when it's not $25 out of my own pocket. There are definitely other items on the menu that I'd like to try and have a feeling will warrant a better review than this one. Yummers?

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www.gratzirestaurant.com/pages/gratzi.html

Café Felix

Ann Arbor Restaurant Week was last month, and I had really wanted to go to Café Felix as their restaurant week menu sounded quite appealing. Needless to say, that didn't happen, but I did get the opportunity to go the week after.

For whatever reason, Felix is one of the Main St restaurants that always slips my mind. Big mistake. This was my first time at Café Felix (definitely not my last!). The interior is classy (I mean, "Café" is spelled with an accent. It's gotta be classy, right?), cozy, warm and romantic if that's the context, cute and hip if that's the context. I'm sure it's a totally different vibe in the evening versus the afternoon.

JH and I got there around 9.45pm, just in time to beat kitchen close. We were seated at a small round table at the front window, which was nice when it started snowing by the end of our evening. Our server brought over multiple menus (dinner, tapas, and martini), reminding us of 1/2 off specialty martinis as it was Monday night (my inside info for the readers, Wednesdays are 1/2 off bottles of wine). JH started by requesting a custom martini for me and rattled off select ingredients, to which our lovely server very happily obliged. Something girly, but still boozy. We got something off the menu for him, with the assistance of the server's recommendations. I think it was the Lazy Limbo? I seem to recall there being coconut involved, and a second look at the martini list tells me that that is the only drink with anything coconut. In any case, it was not spectacular, and we both much preferred my custom concoction, which was actually pretty delish. As it was so late, neither of us were particularly starving, so we ordered off the tapas menu. Surprise, Nari isn't starving for once. I probably could have had an entrée off the dinner menu, but I suppose I should be a lady and restrain from gorging alone when my dinner companion wants to take it light. I think I made the correct decision because our selection was absolutely divine. We got the Giant Portobello Mushroom Caps, two large portabella caps with gorgonzola and a sage cream sauce. I don't think you understand. It was to die for. I love portabello mushrooms, I love gorgonzola, I love sage, I love cream sauce, put them together and it's a delectably polygamous marriage.

If length is a sign of endorsement, I wish I could make this review longer! But I didn't sample a whole lot that night. I was definitely more than pleased with my experience, and there are many other items I'd like to try off the tapas, dinner, and martini menus. I also think it would be fun to get outdoor seating in the summer and do brunch. Crêpes, yum. Hm, now I'm craving Café Zola. I sense another review coming up...! Café Felix, yummers!!!

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www.cafefelix.com

Ann Arbor

Any Ann Arbor readers? Any readers, period?

We've clearly done a bad job of writing up restaurants from our Thanksgiving extravaganza, but it will be done! Also to be reviewed are a couple of places from our trip to Las Vegas a couple of weekends ago. And to the joy of all (ha!) of our Ann Arbor patrons, I'll be making some stops around campus and downtown, so get excited for that.

Requests for A2 and/or DC? Please leave comments :)

Angelo's

Angelo's is another beloved Ann Arbor institution. It even has a song (you can hear it on the website)! If you ask someone where to go for breakfast/brunch/lunch, you'll probably hear "Angelo's".

Warning: Angelo's is very popular, but also a little on the small side, and the two together aren't necessarily a great combination. While it makes for a very local, casual atmosphere, it also makes for horrible parking and sometimes a long wait. They have two parking lots, one behind the restaurant and one across the street, but they're both on the small side. There are parking structures and street parking in the area, but that doesn't mean you're going to find a spot on the first go. As Angelo's is located just off the University of Michigan medical campus, the parking structures are reserved for cars with permits (e.g. staff); and as Angelo's is also located near a residential rea which also houses a university research building, the nursing school, and two dental offices, open street parking is often hard to find. Moral of that story being - set aside time to find parking if you're planning on meeting someone there.

On two out three visits that I remember, I've been lucky not to have a wait ahead of me to be seated. Another time there was a bit of a wait. If you're someone who's just in the mood for something quick like breakfast pastries and coffee or soup or a sandwich to go, Angelo's on the Side - a branch of the restaurant next door - is at your service. Here, you can pick up baked goods, coffee, and takeout orders. The actual Angelo's has kind of a homey, diner-y feel to it. There's some great Michigan football art on the wall which I hear is painted by one of the staff. That aside, let's get to the important stuff - the food!

Angelo's is only open for breakfast and lunch, and you can get breakfast all day. BT and I went last Friday and again this Friday, this time joined two friends. Last week, we were insanely hungry, a bit overwhelmed by particular items on the menu, and took much longer than necessary to put in our order. BT had her heart set on breakfast food, I had my heart set on any food. The first thing that caught my eye was an item on the breakfast specials menu, the crab cake benedict. I love crab cakes, and I love eggs benedict. Naturally, this should be double love. We kind of had our orders set... then saw a server bring over a plate to a table next to us that made our jaws drop. A huge mountain of some sort of breakfasty goodness under a mound of fruit and whipped cream. After asking our server, we learned that it was deep fried French toast with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream, and he recommended going with our other options over the deep fried French toast. And then we saw that Friday's special is fish and chips. Oh my goshhh, I think the last time I had really good fish and chips was in Saudi a very very long time ago. After much internal conflict, I went with my initial crab cake benedict and BT had pancakes (I think?) and a bowl of fruit. I didn't get a taste of the pancakes, but my crab cake benedict was awesome. Two big crab cakes served on two pieces of toast topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I was really happy with it, and I don't think it was just because I was hungry. Either the toast or the crab cake was drier than ideal, but the overall effect was more than satisfactory. I would definitely order it again. As for BT's order, my position is that pancakes are always good, and the fruit bowl gives you pretty much every fruit you could ask for at brunch - strawberries, blueberries, bananas, honeydew, and pineapple.

This past Friday gave us a little more variety and a second chance at the items we only got to dream about last week. Melanie started with a cup of hot chocolate (as per usual) and got the eggs benedict, Amanda had a cup of clam chowder, BT got the fish and chips (served with tartar sauce and a side of coleslaw), and I had the deep fried French toast. Eggs benedict are a little hard to share across the table reaching over a napkin holder, so I didn't have a taste of that. The eggs benedict comes with canadian bacon and green pepper (surprise!) on their homemade toast topped with hollandaise. I haven't met an egg I didn't like, and I enjoyed the hollandaise on my benny last week. Combine that with the salty kick of canadian bacon and the crunch of green pepper, and it can't fail. The clam chowder and fish and chips were more accessible to me, so I did get a taste of those. The clam chowder was really quite good, and Amanda was happy with it as well. It was creamy, had just the right amount of garlic, and was zesty, which I enjoyed as soup can sometimes be boring. The only fault is there was no actual clam in the chowder. Clam flavor, but no clam. Deceiving? Maybe they should advertise it as clam flavored chowder? Or maybe they should just throw some clam in it and call it a day. I can forgive them for skimping on the clam because it was good, and I would order it for myself next time. The fish and chips had me salivating before BT's order even came to the table. That's because the man right behind me ordered it as well and the smell wafted over and invited itself right up my nose and into the pleasure center of my brain. After BT had her fill, I snagged the leftovers. This might be a strange comment, but I really liked the tartar sauce. It wasn't too mayonnaise-y (which is gross) and not too pickly (the crunch was actually more reminiscent of straight up cucumber than pickle, so I was confused... was it even pickle?), it was just right. As for the actual fish, it wasn't bad, but I don't feel it was anything to write home about. It was good, not fabulous. It was probably better when it was hot, so it was potentially slightly better than good. Now... the moment you've been waiting for. Deep fried raisin toast with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. So... sigh... ok. It didn't blow my pants off. First of all, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the fruit and whipped cream piled on top of the toast last week, not set on the side in tiny cups (tiny cups = poor fruit/w.c. to toast ratio), the mouth-watering sight having stimulated that pleasure-center of my brain (it gets a lot of action, apparently). So I was a little disheartened right off the bat. Wow, disheartened is a little strong, so whatever word means that to a lesser degree. I arranged my fruit across the toast (which came with a very sad shower of powdered sugar. I'm sure I could have asked for more but I don't want to be that annoying customer) and then laid across the whipped cream. The fruit was just fruit. I expected it to be syrupy from being drenched in sugar, like at IHOP. 'Twas not the case. I took my first bite and decided I needed maple syrup. I poured some maple syrup over it, took another taste, decided I needed more maple syrup. The toast was dense, the fruit was not sweet, and I was basically disappointed. Maybe this is what my server last week was disguisedly (yes, that is a real word, look it up) warning me of. I couldn't finish it all - firstly because it was too heavy, and secondly because it didn't live up to my expectations, leaving me full but not satisfied. Maybe it someone else would have thought it was good, but I had my standards set to high and was didn't allow myself to enjoy it, I'm not sure.

I have to be up in 4 hours, so, though I have at least 4 more restaurants to write up, I'll leave you with this for now and call it a night. And by "call it a night", I mean catch up on last week's episodes of Conan and get 1.5 hours of sleep. I apologize for ending on a sour note with that deep fried French toast, and I hate to say anything bad about Angelo's. So let's me end by saying that Angelo's is an Ann Arbor legacy that you must try - just pass on the deep fried French toast :) I'll go back again to bring you more positive reviews like the crab cake benny and clam chowder. Yummers!!

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www.angelosa2.com

Totoro

Classes started today, and this past weekend saw the craziest influx of kids I feel like I've experienced in my college experience. Usually, I feel like it's a somewhat gradual increase in student body presence over the week or so before classes. This time, it was *bam* Friday, EVERYONE is here. It's nice to have people back, though. A college town isn't quite the same without... college kids.

Now that more of my friends are back in town, this should give me more opportunity to go out to eat and share my findings, including two from this weekend: Sava's and Totoro. Sava's has a great story and I fell in love with it immediately, so I'll write about that after I make at least two trips back (and I know exactly what I'm getting).

Totoro. Say it. Totoro! Isn't it fun?? It's more fun if you say it really fast in almost a light whisper, so the words tumble off your tongue in that giddy Japanese schoolgirl way. Totoro-san, hai! Clearly, it's a Japanese restaurant. I went with a couple of girlfriends for lunch on Sunday. My first time. We walked in and the waitress greeted us by pointing out the udon + cali roll special for $8.45. I was pretty much ready to order then. But the three of us sat down and pondered over the menu, considering at one point or another everything from bowls to bento boxes.

We settled on ordering and sharing 3 rolls - crunch crunch, tempura california, and spider roll. Back to the basics. Nothing adventurous, but all very crunchy. I was worried from the moment we ordered until I took my final bite that 3 rolls would not be enough. I'm the kind of eater that doesn't understand the concept of full, and it isn't until I'm rolling around on the couch short of breath that I realize I shouldn't have had that fourth helping. After being dubbed "The Masticator" this summer, I decided I should learn to control myself, so after we finished off our rolls I told myself that I was content and didn't need to order another. To my surprise, the end of our post-meal chitchat found me... full. I guess that satisfied feeling that you get near the end of your meal is a sign that it's a good time to stop eating so you don't suffer through being overstuffed.

Why is this turning into a self-reflection of my eating habits? Back to the subject, spider rolls are always a favorite and I was not disappointed at Totoro. The crab was light, crispy, and perfectly tasty. The crunch crunch is tempura shrimp and avocado topped with tempura crunch and masago with eel sauce. Tempura california is, you guessed it, deep-fried cali roll. Maybe my least favorite of the three because it seemed heavier, what with it being wholly dunked and fried in batter. I don't have a "fancy phone" like someone, but I snapped a few shots with my dinky flip phone. The food looks washed out, but I promise it was yummy! And the sushi chef laughed at me when I took pictures of the restaurant. I don't know why.

Unfortunately, Totoro probably won't be my most frequented restaurant for sushi... but that's because there are literally 3 sushi places within 2 blocks of where I live (a bone of contention which I'm sure I'll rant about some day). But I dare say it may be one of my top three of sushi in Ann Arbor. Will try more special rolls in the future. Yummers!!!

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No website, but you can find the menu and pictures here.

Zingerman's Deli

Second share from my night of sad steak.

Zingerman's (deli and marketplace) is always a favorite, but I save it as a special treat. Not to mention it's an Ann Arbor landmark. Apparently people get it delivered across the country, so I guess I'm pretty lucky to have it a stone's throw away.

There are often samples given out at the front door, usually of the special salads offered that day (by special I mean salads not on the menu). The store itself is small, which lends itself to being very cozy and personal. To the left are cheeses and meats, and the employees are always willing to offer their expertise and let you try whatever you want. To the right is the bakery booth (for lack of better words) where you can buy breads and pastries brought in from the Bakehouse (next to which is also located the Creamery). To the front are salads and where you place your sandwich orders. Continue on to the right past the bakery where you'll find the register and a trove of goodies - high quality olive oil and vinegars (samples of which are set out with bread for tasting and an employee that actually knows what he/she is talking about), condiments, pastas, sweets, and more.

Next door is... Zingerman's Next Door, appropriately named. Here, you can find coffee, tea, desserts, chocolate, ice cream, and affogato. Between the two is a deck/patio with tables and benches where you can sit and enjoy your food and company. One of the areas is also tented so you can still have a good time if it starts to rain. There is also plenty of seating Next Door, so don't let the tight space of the Deli scare you into thinking you need to get your food to go.

My go-to sammies: Bob & Roz's Fiesta and Tarb's Tenacious Tenure. Bob & Roz's Fiesta is chicken on lettuce with tomato and meunster cheese, roasted green chiles, and a great roasted red pepper sauce. Tarb's Tenacious Tenure is turkey with meunster cheese, lettuce, tomato, Russian dressing, and - the best part - avocado. Their sandwich menu covers everything from corned beef to fish to hot dogs, using quality ingredients including free-range chicken and all-natural turkey. They also have a small part of the menu dedicated to Jewish foods.

But what I really want to gush about is the best mac and cheese EVER!!! Ever. My guess is the Vermont cheddar. Actually, I don't know what it is. What I do know is that it's divine. Like... little macaroni sprites dancing on my tongue in an aromatic breeze of spices and cheese. That didn't come out quite as poetic as I had intended. Take-home message: it's amazing! Must try!

Next on the wish list: Zingerman's Roadhouse! Yummers!!!

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www.zingermansdeli.com