‘University of Michigan’
Ann Arbor is home to a great many restaurants. Of course, I may be a little biased and assume that they are all amazing, but when I found myself at Taste Kitchen, I was in new territory. You, back when I was a student Taste Kitchen didn’t exist. Plus, if it did it was definitely beyond my onetime student budget.
EDIT: The place has been bought out and is going to be converted to a Southern Restaurant called Buford’s. Hopefully it still appreciates its Michigan folk.
We Michigan people are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. So it stands to reason that my brethren can be found in Pittsburgh, which is just a few short hours on the turnpike from America’s High Five. Owned by a fellow Michigander, Blue Line Grille sits across the street from Consol Arena and has decided to play host to Michigan games. As you might expect, this place was already a winner in my heart, but I still had to try the food to ensure I would be coming back for meals or just drink specials.
It’s funny how a small college town can feel quite big when winter is so long and eating out is so much more money than a box of mac and cheese. (you need that money for beer, not food). So while I was a student at Michigan, I think I made it to Pita Kabob Grill once. But upon my return to Ann Arbor recently, I found myself with someone who had glorious memories of that little Middle-Eastern hole-in-the-wall and so I doubled down on my visits.
Once upon a time I was a student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Sure, Ann Arbor may be famous for having the school, but it is almost as famous for having a little deli called Zingerman’s. Well, back in 2003 they opened a non-deli restaurant called Zingerman’s Roadhouse far off campus and I paid them a visit. At the time, all I needed to be happy was a $1 slice of pizza (okay very little has changed) and I wasn’t much for the fancy stuff. So, at the time Zingerman’s Roadhouse did very little for me and simply didn’t feel special.
There are few things in this world that go better together than football and wings. So when I was taken to Zipps Sports Grill in Scottsdale to watch Michigan play some football, I decided that wings were the only things fit to go in my mouth. Well, wings and fries. Zipps offered a few different wing flavors, and I ended up going with one that looked pretty interesting – Golden Spicy.
Well, the time is upon us. College football has finally arrived, and if you know me, you you know that the past few seasons have not treated me too well. To say that my dear Wolverines of the University of Michigan have been performing below expectations would be like saying Hitler may have had questionable morals. But Wolverine nation can smell change for the better.
As a lifetime Michigan football fan, Jim Tressel has been a villain to me since I first heard his name. Finally, much of the world is realizing how much of a villain he truly is, and not just in football. His villainy transcends sports and reaches into something very dear to me: meat.
After an awesome Michigan Football game, I was a happy and hungry unvegan. Fortunately I had dinner plans outside of normal Ann Arbor at a restaurant called Carson’s American Bistro. Although it was still in Ann Arbor, it was far enough from the Big House that it wasn’t hard to get a table. The name, Carson’s, evoked thoughts of some sort of a cowboy steakhouse, but when I walked in, I found it was anything but. Also, there is no such thing as a cowboy steakhouse in southeastern Michigan. It was actually a pretty upscale place with a nice selection of food. I wasn’t exactly ready for something huge (having partaken in some cheap pizza while leaving the stadium), so I looked to the burgers.
EDIT: Blimpy Burger has moved due to a rent dispute, but it is reputedly as good as always.
After four years of living in Ann Arbor and countless other trips to the city of my alma mater, I have finally made my way to Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. Although I always knew of the place while I lived there, I didn’t realize just how big of a deal it was until I saw it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Since that time, it has been my goal to eat at Blimpy Burger and I can finally cross that place off of my list. But is it any good?
After failing to grab a late-night snack at Red Hot Lovers (if your damn sign says you are open til midnight, I better be able to show up at 11:57 and get a hot dog), we headed to Backroom Pizza. As a college student, this place was the best. Slices of cheese pizza were a buck and pepperoni ran 1.50. No one would ever claim it was great pizza, but at 2:30 am, you don’t need great pizza. Now that I’m no longer a poor college student, I was wondering if it would still have the allure it once did.