Haab-nobbing

I spent most evening this past week hanging out in classy restaurants with my girlfriends. We managed to hit four Ann Arbor Restaurant Week participants and not order the restaurant week menu at a single one of them. Mostly we ordered cocktails and bar food, to be perfectly honest (which is fantastic when most of the bar food comes fried in duck fat, as it does at Grange). I certainly didn’t need to go out to dinner last night…but after dealing with working/not-working heat, maintenance people trampling in and out of our house, and the joy of going to the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon (the one perk of not having a 9-5 job: grocery shopping during off-hours), neither Noe or I were much in the mood to make something. We decided to take the easy way out.

We went to Haab’s.

Haab’s Restaurant in Ypsilanti  is pretty much the opposite of every restaurant I described above. There is not a single thing on the menu that could be described as “fancy,” although much of it is fried. There are no slick cocktails with ingredients like muddled mint or candied ginger. What there is is simple food that’s pretty damn good when that’s what you’re in the mood for.

Noe and I were seated at a booth in the corner, a lucky occurrence since Haab’s was fairly busy. We were also by far the youngest people in the restaurant (although another young-ish couple were seated about twenty minutes after us). We looked over the paper placemat menu, not that we needed to – it rarely changes, aside from a few specials and seasonal items (helpful hint: in the summer, Haab’s makes an amazing gazpacho). I ordered my glass of house Chardonnay (why not?) and Noe ordered his coke from our very friendly server (service at Haab’s has been friendly every time I have dined there – we’ve never had a service issue).

We started with the fried mushrooms. Haab’s has managed to find some kind of mutant white mushroom to fry for this appetizer – they are always big and meaty, with ample flavor. They are battered and fried in a light, crispy, batter – heavier than tempura, but lighter than breading. They always come out crackling and never soggy. They are served with cocktail sauce (?) but Noe and I prefer to eat them plain.

Mushrooms with bonus onion rings!

As we worked on the mushrooms, we discussed entrees. Every once in awhile we veer off the beaten path, but on this visit we decided to stick with our favorite: fried chicken, or as Haab’s calls it, “Chicken in a Basket” – one-half of a fried chicken, served up with shoestring potatoes and a biscuit, as well as your choice of side.

"If it's in an oval, you know it's good."

Noe and I chose a salad and soup, respectively, as our sides. My personal favorite thing about Haab’s side dishes is that they come served in metal bowls. I am assuming these bowls stay cold in the refrigerator (they are always chilled for salads) and help keep the soups hot. At any rate, my vegetable soup (not something I really order anywhere except Haab’s) contained many large chunks of veggies suspended in an almost meaty broth.

The chicken arrived in all its gloriousness: piled with shoestrings in the aforementioned basket, a bag containing a hot biscuit and a packet of honey perched on top. I always start with the biscuit because I have learned the hard way that biting into a piece of Haab’s chicken fresh from the fryer results in a scalded tongue. I prep my biscuit with a smearing of whipped butter and drizzle it with honey. I know that I am exposed to and enjoy all kinds of fancy honeys at Zingerman’s (Fireweed Honey is a personal favorite) but on a hot buttered biscuit, the generic honey packet tastes A-OK to me.

The chicken is worth the brief wait: fried to perfection (not soggy but not burned) and perfectly seasoned. The meat inside is always tender and moist – I have never had a dried-out piece of chicken from Haab’s. I always tackle the dark meat legs first (Noe always gives me his) while Noe prefers the white meat breast. There’s not much conversation while we eat the first piece, as we concentrate on getting the perfect combination of crispy skin and tender meat in every bite.

The KFC down the street can not even begin to compare – and, at $11.95 for a basket of chicken, shoestrings, a biscuit, and a side, I don’t think it offers much comparison price-wise, either.

Last night, we really lived it up and ordered dessert as well. Haab’s desserts are not particularly sophisticated – but who wants creme brulee after you’ve just eaten fried chicken? We ordered the apple strudel (I watched Inglorious Bastards recently and had to have strudel after hearing Hans Landa wax poetic about it in the movie) – warn, puffy pastry surrounding chunks of hot, spicy apple and served up next to a heaping scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Quite tasty.

I have no plans to give up “fancy food” in my lifetime, but sometimes simply-prepared, homestyle food hits the right notes – and on those nights, Haab’s is hard to beat.

Oh Cabin, my Cabin

Aside from our Labor Day jaunt to Traverse City, I hadn’t been to northern Michigan since before our move to Connecticut in 2007. While I still have yet to make it over the bridge, we finally managed to get up to the Grayling area for a weekend of R&R with some friends.

Image: sledheadsusa.com

My family owns a cabin in Frederic. If you happen to be a snowmobiler, there is a great chance that you know where Frederic is located. If you are not a snowmobiler, it is quite likely that you’ve never heard of it. Located between the thriving metropolises of Grayling and Gaylord, Frederic is a town consisting of a post office, a gas station, a bar, and a restaurant. And that’s pretty much it, aside from Sledheads of Frederic, a snowmobile shop owned by “Pete the Greek,” who, in addition to running the snowmobile shop, also dabbles in real estate and posts the daily snow and trail conditions. He also occasionally finds dead bodies and takes trips to Alaska. All of these delights can be found on his website.

I digress.

The cabin is actually outside of the town center, making it pretty remote. However, it’s withing driving distance of some of the best Michigan downhill skiing (Shanty Creek, Boyne, Nub’s Nob), cross-country skiing (the trails at Hartwick Pines), and tourist delights such as the aforementioned Traverse City. It also boasts a halfway decent sledding hill. We never have trouble filling our winter hours at the cabin, because even when we’re not jamming them with activities, we’re holed up by the fireplace, drinking beer and playing cards, or maybe just relaxing.

View from the cabin window

We eased right back into our old MLK Weekend tradition, caravaning up on Friday night and meeting for a late dinner at Spike’s Keg O’ Nails in Grayling. The SpikeBurger ranks pretty highly on my list of favorite burgers, and it did not disappoint (although the fish fry, usually so crispy and delicious, was not up to par on this visit).

Heavenly.

Post-Spike’s, we sat in the warm and toasty cabin, enjoying the fire and the growlers of Ypsi Gypsy and Red Snapper we’d hauled up from the Corner Brewery. We also surveyed the remarkable amount of food we had gathered to feed five people.

On Saturday, we drove through Kalkaska (stopping at Jack’s Sporting Goods for snowpants) and on to Traverse City. Lake Michigan in the winter is amazingly beautiful. We were treated to breathtaking views as we drove up the Old Mission Peninsula, stopping at several wineries along the way.

Almost prettier than in the summer.

Our first winery stop was one of my personal favorites, 2 Lads. I was finally able to try their Pinot Noir, and I was knocked out by it. The minute I got a noseful of that damp, earthy smell (it smelled so FRENCH!) I knew I was a goner. I almost didn’t even need to taste it…but I did, of course, and was treated to the lovely cherry, plummy, flavor that seemed to have a little meat behind it. YUM.

These glasses look familiar...

Other stops were Chateau Chantal (blah) and Chateau Grand Traverse, which produces some fantastic Rieslings behind that touristy exterior. I also enjoyed the Gamay Noir, a cold-climate red that I have not encountered very often. It had some characteristics of a Cab Franc but was subtly different somehow.

Tasting tokens at Chateau Chantal

Some of the day's spoils.

I digress AGAIN.

We could have eaten dinner in TC – it is sort of a northern foodie paradise – but we had the meal to end all meals planned back at the cabin. Steve smoked up four racks of ribs. He marinated/mopped them in a couple different homemade concoctions, and we ate them with pimento cheese mac and cheese (an experiment by me to get rid of leftovers that was wondrously successful) and a salad that Sandi put together of fresh greens, bell peppers, tomatoes, dried cranberries, candied nuts, and feta.

O.M.G.

We were still full at breakfast the next morning.

We spent most of Saturday night sledding (the difference between sledding as an adult and sledding as a child? Beer.) and all day Sunday on the slopes of Shuss Mountain at Shanty Creek. It snowed lightly but continuously the entire time we were up north, creating the perfect atmosphere.

What a wonderful way to get reacquainted with the northern part of the mitten. I already want to go back!

Zingin’ in the Rain…err, Snow

I don’t think there is anything that I could write about Zingerman’s Delicatessen that hasn’t already been written in some form or another. Also, I really have no business writing anything about Zingerman’s as I have just wrapped up a holiday season under their employ (though I worked at their Mail Order operation and not at the deli itself).

I suppose I could note that I used to be a hater, but since my hatred was mostly based on lack of funds and knowledge (and I’ve solved at least the knowledge portion of that equation), I don’t even have an interesting turning point or redemption story to write about. Bottom line: I enjoy Zingerman’s. Yes, it is very, very, very, very expensive, but once again, better defenses of their prices have already been written. It is up to you to decide whether or not you are willing to pay them.

I am. (However, for this trip we didn’t have to – Noe and I each received a voucher for showing up for all of our holiday shifts.)

I can hardly contain my anticipation.

I ordered the #74, Dave’s Open Road (I just wasn’t in a pastrami or corned beef mood today). Big, moist chunks of Amish free-range chicken mingled with thick-cut Nueske’s applewood-smoked bacon and homemade ranch dressing and some mild but nonetheless tasty muenster cheese. A crispy green piece of lettuce rested delicately atop this pile of food, carefully sandwiched between two grilled pieces of thick, fresh challah baked at Zingerman’s own Bakehouse.

Dave's Open Road

I was fairly certain that I had died and gone to sandwich heaven until I noticed Noe’s #11, J.J.’s Pastrami Special. Juicy pastrami smothered in high-quality swiss cheese and (the best part!) oven-roasted onions. I adore onions in any form, and the slight sweetness that comes from roasting them paired excelently with the pastrami. The fact that this deliciousness was sandwiched (ha ha) between slices of my very favorite Zingerman’s bread, the Jewish Rye, caused me to wonder how I had missed this sandwich when placing my own order.

J.J.'s Pastrami Special

Despite the dazzling array of choices in the salad case, we played the side dishes relatively safe with garlic potato salad. Delightfully goopy without being TOO goopy (goop generally grosses me out), this salad tastes of much more than mayonnaise. Huge pieces of perfectly-cooked redskins were enhanced by lots of garlic, black pepper, and sherry vinegar. The whole thing had a pleasantly acidic tang that I really enjoyed. Noticing my selection, an employee informed me that, in her opinion, garlic potato salad was the “only potato salad that matters.” I had to agree.

All this was served up with a Zingerman’s pickle. I thought I didn’t like pickles. I have, since this afternoon, changed my mind. Why on earth would I think that I did not like pickles?! I enjoy cucumbers, salt, and vinegar. The “old” pickle that accompanied my sandwich was sour to the point that it almost burned my tongue, and I LOVED it. Noe’s “new” pickle had a more fresh, cucumber-y taste. It was good, but we preferred the old variety.

With sides and pickles

We poked around the retail section for awhile after eating, pausing to taste lots of olive oils, fig vinegar, and multiple cheeses before heading back out into the snow, which by that time was starting to get pretty heavy. I can not think of a more delightful way to have spent a partial afternoon. Hopefully I’ll make some serious cash in the near future so we can go back for more!

Here’s to you, Jamie Oliver

I am a big fan of British chef Jamie Oliver. His Food Revolution cookbook contains simple recipes that have yet to yield a poor result, and I fully support his mission of attempting to get more people cooking at home (with better ingredients).

Yet despite all my Jamie successes (ground beef wellington, mini-shells with prosciutto and peas, glazed pork chops), I had always used a Martha Stewart method/recipe for roast chicken. However, faced with a chicken to roast last night, I thought, “Why not give Jamie’s roast chicken a chance?”

Best (chicken-based) decision ever.

Jamie’s roast chicken is prepared very simply: rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and fresh paper. A lemon poked over and over with a fork and some aromatics (thyme, rosemary) are stuffed into the cavity (I also included several cloves of garlic and rubbed a very small bit of mashed garlic under the skin, along with drizzling the chicken with a small amount of juice from the lemon). Set atop a “trivet” of veggies (some roughly-chopped onions, celery, and carrots), the chicken goes into an oven that was preheated to 475 degrees and gets cranked down to 400 after the bird goes in. I swear, you can hear the skin start to crisp immediately.

Chicken ready to go in the oven

Out of the oven and resting

Instead of roasting my veggies in the same pan, I (at Jamie’s recommendation) partially cooked them by boiling first, then tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, added a few garlic cloves, and put them in the oven on the lower rack about 45 minutes after the chicken had gone in (A 3.5 lb. bird needs about an hour and twenty minutes). When the chicken came out, I moved the veggies to the upper rack for another 15 minutes while the chicken rested under a foil tent on a cutting board and I worked on the gravy.

Boiling prior to roasting

Seasoned and spread in a single layer

I’ve actually never made homemade gravy of any kind. However, all Jamie’s roasts are served with gravy, so I decided to give it a whirl. I mashed up the veggies that had formed my trivet and cooked them, the meat juices, and a heaping teaspoon of flour in a saucepan. I added a glassful of dry white wine and some chicken stock, then cooked it to the consistency I wanted and strained it to get rid of the larger chunks of veggies.

YUM.

We served our dinner with a Caesar salad and cornbread provided by my sister, Kristen. She also brought brownies for dessert. We had the brownies al a mode with gelato that I procured during my holiday season at Zingerman’s.

Hail Caesar - and my serving gear

Sides, dessert...and some 3-Buck Chuck.

Best prize ever.

All in all, this was an excellent meal and ridiculously easy. The chicken has crispy skin and a moist, flavorful meat. The carrots add a subtle sweetness to the veggie blend. It’s also not hard to juggle the cooking of the bird, veggies, and gravy, even in a small kitchen with one oven. If you’re looking for a hearty roast dinner, give Jamie a try.

Aut and Black

When I woke up feeling extremely queasy on the morning of December 31, I did not have high hopes for either New Year’s Eve or the beginning of 2011. Luckily, a nap on the car ride home from Indianapolis and an additional nap when we arrived seemed to do the trick (I think I was suffering from severe indigestion due to the junk food I ate continuously throughout the week) and by around 8:00 I was feeling good enough to partake in our group’s New Year’s Eve tradition.

There’s not much to our tradition – Jess, Soph, and I put together a smorgasbord of snacks, Jess and I drink sparkling wine all night, we find something sweet and preferably peach-flavored for Anthony, and then we alternate playing video games and watching Dick Clark.  Last year’s game of choice was Rock Band. This year we opted for a dancing theme, with Just Dance and Just Dance 2 for the Wii and Dance Central for the Kinect. A most excellent time was had by all.

With 2010 going out on such a high note, it seemed appropriate to ring in 2011 in style as well. Patti, Ricki, and I decided to celebrate New Year’s day with brunch at the Aut Bar and a screening of Black Swan.

The Aut Bar is one of the most welcoming brunch settings in town. The first-floor interior of the bar retains a house-like layout, with lots of cozy nooks to settle into. The walls are painted in shades of warm reds and yellows. The staff is always friendly and the food is very good. Much of the Saturday brunch menu has a Mexican theme, an ode to the owners’ previous career of operating a Mexican restaurant.  All the better for the patrons – I can think of very few brunch foods I would prefer to a plate of Huevos Rancheros with black beans and rice (and a side of the Aut Bar’s terrific guacamole!) A nicely-spiced Bloody Mary (served with e garnish of celery, a hot pepper, and an olive) completes the feast nicely. A cup of locally-roasted coffee didn’t hurt, either.

Properly fueled up by our fantastic brunch, we headed over to the Quality 16 for Black Swan. All three of us girls are big Natalie Portman fans, so we were very much looking forward to what some critics say is her best performance yet.

All I can say after viewing this movie is WOW. First of all, it made me think of “Swan Lake” in an entirely new light (a pretty messed-up story, when you consider it). Secondly, this film is perfectly cast. Not only does Natalie make the best little-girl-turned-psycho-ballerina, but after seeing Barbara Hershey as her mother and (my favorite) Vincent Cassel as the director of the ballet company, I couldn’t  begin to imagine anyone else playing those parts. Bonus: Mila Kunis does a complete 180 from her role as ditzy Jackie on “That 70’s Show” playing a rival ballerina. Third, it’s a beautiful film to look at – the costumes and sets for the ballet scenes are extravagant and sumptuous.

All that said, this movie is not for everyone. It’s got a horror movie feel (and using classical ballet music instead of cheesy horror movie music during the scary scenes very effectively adds to the suspense). You really identify with Natalie as she starts to mentally break down. It’s pretty intense – but if you can handle it, it’s amazing. (I would recommend going to a movie theater near a bar – the three of us had to decompress with drinks at Weber’s.) Check out the trailer below if you’re interested:

I hope everyone was able to send 2010 out and ring 2011 in as pleasantly as I did. Happy new year, and here’s to a new year’s worth of adventures!