A Visit to Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, MI

We were in Ann Arbor today for some Christmas shopping.  After a trip to Sears and Macy's we headed across town to the Hallmark store.  Before making the trip back to Bellville for stops at Dunham's, Dick's, and Kroger, we decided to find a place to eat lunch.

As luck would have it, the Hallmark store shares a shopping center that includes Zingerman's Roadhouse. Click here to read more about Zingerman's.

The front door area at Zingerman's Roadhouse on Jackson Road.
This cell phone picture doesn't do justice to the sign.
I wish it had been dark outside. It must be amazing at night!

Here is a view of the drive through area aka Roadshow constructed from a vintage Airstream trailer.

 

Here's another view of the drive thru at Zingerman's Roadhouse.
 

And in case anyone doubts the authenticity of the bbq served at Zingerman's,
here's a picture of their smoker behind the restaurant.

 

This alternate view of the bbq smoker includes a bag of Kingsford charcoal.

The menu includes many comfort food choices including chicken,
smoked ribs, bbq pork and beef, and grits of course. I thought about
trying the whole hog, but opted for the pork sliders.

  

The Traffic Light Pulled Pork Sliders were excellent.
They are the perfect choice for sampling the variety of bbq pork
 on the menu. They were served with all three choices of bbq sauce with
a side dish of mustard coleslaw. I also ordered the twice
cooked sweet potato fries. They are baked in the oven and fried. Ummm...
Linda had the Grilled Cheese a Go-Go with cheddar cheese.

I didn't take any pictures of them, but the walls are decorated with hundreds of salt and pepper shakers stored in glass cases. Click here to read more about the salt and pepper collection.

I enjoyed reading about how the collection was built, especially those that arrived at the roadhouse via Jim Metzler of Elkhart, Indiana.

From the Zingerman's website:

If you head back through the hallway past the entrance to what we’ve come to call the “fireplace room” you’ll be looking straight at an entire case of shakers that came courtesy of Jim Metzler of Elkhart, Indiana.
 

And...last but not least here are a couple of pictures of the pork slider sandwiches:

The sliders are small bites of bbq goodness.
I detected a healthy amount of vinegar on the pork.
It definitely reminds me of the first time I ate bbq pork
more than 20 years ago in Dickson, TN.



If you look closely past the slider, you can see the
 mustard coleslaw and twice cooked sweet potato fries.

For the non-believers who can't travel to Michigan to check it out first hand, here's a list of awards for the restaurant:

James Beard Award, Best Chef Great Lakes – Alex Young, 2011

James Beard Nominee, Best Chef Great Lakes – Alex Young, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Current 2011 Dining Guide – Friendliest Wait Staff, Friendliest Bartenders, Best Place to Dine Alone

Alton Browns’ Food Network Show Best of – Best Comfort Food in America, Macaroni and Cheese

Bon Appetit – Top 10 Barbecue Restaurants in 2010

Open Table Diner’s Choice Award Winner – Fit for Foodies, Most Booked, Great For Lunch, American

Lifetime Achievement Award, Bon Appetit 2007 – Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses

Coolest Small Company in America, Inc. Magazine, 2003 – Zingerman’s

Real BarBQ Canton

I lived in Plymouth, Michigan from 2004 - 2007 and during that time there wasn't a barbecue restaurant to speak of in the Plymouth-Canton area. So after we moved back to the area in July 2011, I was kind of excited to see an "Opening Soon" sign on Ford Road announcing a new barbecue restaurant.

I lived in temporary housing for several months waiting to close on our home and stopped by the restaurant several times hoping to eat some barbecue. My smokers were in storage and I wanted to cure the craving for some 'que. But each time I pulled in the parking lot, the "Opening Soon" sign was still being displayed.

We were running errands today in Canton and were surprised to see Real BarBQ open for business. After cooking 35 lbs of brisket and pork butt for a work event later this week, we weren't craving bbq but after waiting 10 1/2 months for the opening we couldn't resist giving it a try.

Pork ribs, beef brisket, burnt end baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread.



The house bbq sauce at Real BarBQ

I ordered the Ribs + 1 (my plus 1 was brisket) and Linda ordered the Real Chop Shop (pulled pork served on a brioche roll).

While we waited for our meal, I was offered a tour of the kitchen. I didn't ask for permission to take a picture, but they did show me the Southern Pride they cook everything on - 1,100 lbs of pork butts is a lot of barbecue goodness.

I liked the ribs and brisket. I'm partial to my own homemade bbq, but it was good restaurant bbq. The atmosphere is very nice - actually much nicer than I anticipated. The staff is very friendly and the kitchen was organized and clean. Linda is a tough critic for pulled pork and didn't "love" it.

We'll definitely go back and will certainly recommend it to friends and co-workers. After driving an hour to eat at Slow's in Detroit to be told there was a 3 hour wait, it's good to know there is a nice bbq restaurant option much closer to home.

In case you're wondering what a brioche roll (I know I was) here is the definition from Wikipedia: brioche

What Makes a Great Restaurant?

I am sure the answer to that question varies from state to state, town to town, and person to person.  It also depends on the perspective of the customer or the perspective of the restaurant owner. But, I'd like to outline the answer to this question in my own words based on my own experience as a customer, as a restaurant employee, and as a former manager of a quick service franchised restaurant (non-barbecue related by the way).

1.  Above all else it must be clean. When you walk in to the restaurant is it inviting? Are the windows clean? Is the entry way uncluttered? Is the floor swept? Is the entry point easy to identify?

I'm continuously surprised and amazed at restaurants that fall short on most, or all of those basic considerations. If the glass door has hand prints all over it and it looks like it's not been cleaned in several days, can you imagine what the kitchen might look like?

2. How's the lighting?  Some may disagree with me, but I like a lot of natural lighting. I know a lot of "fine dining" establishments like to keep the lights down, but I'd prefer they turn the lights up a little. I always wonder what the low light is trying to compensate for. And besides, if it's dark inside it's kind of hard to judge my first requirement (see #1).

3. How are the prices?  I've paid $75 for a breakfast for two and I've paid $75 for a dinner for two, but I'd prefer to pay less. For a reasonable bbq dinner with meat and two sides, I'm comfortable paying $25 - $35. After all, are people likely to flock to a restaurant that charges $75 for dinner for two day in and day out? I'm sure there are exceptions - I can name a couple of non-bbq restaurants from own experience, but on the whole I doubt a lot of restaurants can stay in business long at $75. It kind of reminds me of that old business adage I hear from time to time:  "I'd rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 people (i.e. $1-$3 from 200 - 300 customers per day) than 100% of my own efforts (i.e. $10-$12 from a few handfuls of customers per day).

4. How's the food? Is it mainstream? I like variations of simple foods like chicken, pork, beef, and fish. I'm not a cous-cous fan, nor am I a fan of small portion sizes of "foo, foo" foods. I took French language courses in high school and college, but I don't speak or read it fluently any longer...and I don't like French food.

5. How's the service? Are the waitstaff friendly?  There's a steak place near Orlando that amazes me in this regard.  We were there eating with friends and I ordered my steak medium-well.  Understandably, some will say, "you don't go to a steak place and order anything more than medium", but I did and still do.  When they brought out my steak, it was still bleeding on the plate. I mean it was actually pooling. The steak was closer to medium-rare than to medium even. I can eat medium, and often do, but I can't eat steak that's still mooing. How do you predict that the waiter acted when I asked them to cook it a little more? If you guessed that he said something along the lines of, "We don't cook steaks to medium well. At finer steak houses, the steaks are cooked to medium at most." Really? I didn't want to make a scene or anything, but the rest of my meal was less than enjoyable. And yes, they did accept my payment for the overpriced steak that I could barely choke down.

I could go on and on about my dining experiences. I enjoy eating out, and as you may have guessed...as a bbq cooking enthusiast and former restaurant employee for a variety of franchise quick service concepts...I also enjoy critiquing them.

And in case anyone is wondering, if I had a lot of extra money and the chance to open a restaurant I would gravitate toward a breakfast oriented diner concept. The profit margins are bigger and it's much easier to meet requirements #1 - #5.  There's only one way to cook bacon and sausage :-)

C & K Smoke House BBQ in Parrish Florida

Located in rural Florida between the communities of Ellenton and Parrish on Hwy 301, C & K Smoke House BBQ has been turning out pulled pork, ribs, and chicken since 2003.  It's an unassuming and simple white building, but it's pretty popular with local residents.

From CKSmokeHouseBBQ.com:

"...dry rubbed with an elite blend of flavorful seasonings and spices. The meat is slow-smoked over aged oak wood for the perfect flavoring that makes every meal, a mouth-watering, lip smacking experience...Our restaurant offers old fashion BBQ cuisine, side dishes, in a charming little Smoke House that is clean and friendly with a stunning country view."

My only regret is that I haven't been able to try the food.  I've driven by the restaurant several times, but it's always been before or after lunch time. :-(

Martin's BBQ - Big Apple Block Party

Pat Martin, proprietor of Martin's BBQ in Nolensville, TN near Nashville, was interviewed on the Leonard Lopate radio show during his visit to the Big Apple Barbeque Block Party in June.

Mr. Powdrell's Original Barbeque Restaurant

During a recent visit to Albequerque on our summer vacation, we stopped by for supper at Mr. Powdrell's Barbeque (recommended by several of my readers). It's not quite the kind of hard core barbecue joint I was expecting, since it serves some non-traditional bbq menu items too, but it was well worth the trip. The baked beans were very good. I kind of wish I had the recipe.

They have a separate entrance for carry out orders (the round building). The entrance to the main dining room, is on the left hand side.

Smokey Bones: Going Out of Business

According to a news release yesterday, Darden Restaurants is making plans to close 56 of their Smokey Bones bbq concept restaurants citing performance as a deciding factor. Darden is seeking a buyer for the remaining 73 bbq restaurants.

I used to live a couple miles from one of the first Smokey Bones ever opened in Casselberry, FL. The restaurant seemed to be busy most of the time, but the article explained that frequency of returning visits is lower than in its other restaurant concepts.

It kind of makes sense to me. Compared to their other successful concepts including Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Red Lobster, I understand that customers would be more likely to visit Olive Garden for lunch more than once per week and I guess I understand the Bahama Breeze popularity.

Although I'm a bbq nut, I have to admit that I don't eat bbq more than once per week. I'm probably not a "typical" Darden customer though. I make my own bbq and don't eat at Olive Garden or Red Lobster more than about once per year. Olive Garden is popular for lunch with my co-workers, but I don't personally know anyone that actually eats at Red Lobster regularly.

Could it also be that the profit margins for bbq are less than the profit margins for for seafood and pasta dishes?