Iconic Restaurants of Ann Arbor

CLEAN , WELL - LIGHTED PLACES . In every corner, cul-de-sac, and nook and cranny, one is sure to find local favorites and student standbys—places that were around for years and many that are still here. Some are a never-ending party; others are warm and cozy places where customers can get a quick snack or perhaps breakfast at 2:00 a.m. Still others are the quiet and solitary type, places where folks can be anonymous for an hour or two, nursing a cup of coffee, doctoring grits, and listening to trains passing in the night. Peppy’s/Biff’s (above) was a quiet and popular all-nighter best known for its cheap breakfast specials. Biff’s hamburger secret was a pat of butter on the bun. It stood at the corner of East William and Thompson Streets and later became a succession of Korean restaurants. (Courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library.)

NIGHTHAWKS . They can be found at this diner, but morning people are welcome, too. In fact, all kinds of people hang out here. The Fleetwood is still there serving hippie hash (hash browns covered in vegetables and topped with feta). The Fleetwood began as the Dag-wood Diner, named for the Toledo company that made the building kit that owner Donald Reid constructed the diner from in 1949. It was also Ann Arbor’s first sidewalk café. Mark Hodesh bought it in 1971 and renamed it the Fleetwood. It has had several owners and several closings, but at this time, it thrives, as current owners have added Greek food to the burgers, sandwiches, and the two greatest words in the English language, “breakfast anytime.” The last of Ann Arbor’s 24-hour diners lives on. (Both, authors’ collection.)

ALWAYS A PARTY . Every day was pretty much a celebration at Mr. Flood’s. Twenty-five-year-old Ned Duke opened it in 1969, and there was almost always a line to get into this Tiffany-lamped West Side bar. A great jukebox and frequent free drinks were also a draw. Johnny Winter played there, Alan Ginsberg read poetry there, and Bonnie Raitt hung out there. Even the bartender was famous: John Leslie was an adult film star and director. Duke opened Leopold Bloom’s restaurant next door, but the party was over in 1980. (Courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library.)

ENJOY THE RIDE . Look up at the corner of Forest and South University Avenues. If it is the late 1970s, there is a man on a unicycle, wearing a jersey and holding a beer. Not only could folks get a frosty one or a hummer at Bicycle Jim’s, they could munch unique sandwiches like the hot damn and the gobbler. The fried mushrooms were craveable. Former Bicycle Jim’s cook Frank Corollo remembers cooking them at lunch, running off to class, then getting admiring sniffs from nearby students. (Courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library.)

THE BIRDS , THE BEES , AND . . . For many locals, spring starts when Casa Dominicks opens. Since 1960, this charming hangout started by Dominick DeVarti comes to life the Monday after U of M’s spring break and closes after the last home football game. Many a student has spent long sunny afternoons sipping homemade sangria or beer from a mason jar—before mason jars were trendy. The outdoor courtyard, an Italian garden complete with cherub fountain, is filled with picnic tables and happy chatter. Admire the Oxford-like Law Quad from the balcony while eating an Italian sub. Inside, there is a wonderful collection of vintage Ann Arbor Film Festival posters. Upstairs is a hidden gem: original 1879 etched glass rescued from the Capitol Building Dome in Lansing during renovations. All in all, second-generation owner Richard DeVarti does not change things up too much. And for that, everyone is grateful. (Both, authors’ collection.)

MILK AND MORE . Mornings taste better with coffee and donuts at Washtenaw Dairy. Groups of regulars make it their ritual, with a special fondness for maple-glazed and chocolate. The Washtenaw Dairy no longer makes its own ice cream, but it sells a lot of it (the best-selling flavor is vanilla). It also still runs two commercial delivery trucks a day and stocks a fine selection of dairy products. Opened as a grocery store with a soda fountain in 1934, it still looks much the same, complete with original floor. Over the years, everyone from Bo Schembechler to Clint Eastwood (okay, his assistant) has stopped by for a hand-dipped cone. The Washtenaw Dairy also donates ice cream to many charity events. (Both, authors’ collection.)

BIMBO ’S . He was often billed as “The Friendly Yugoslav,” while others called him “Bimbo,” a nickname he acquired in his youth, but in any case, Matt Chutich (left) was one of Ann Arbor’s most celebrated “Founders of Fun.” Chutich was trained as a barber and attended the University of Minnesota before starting up the first of a series of popular pizza emporiums. By 1962, he had already experienced several successes and failures when he opened Bimbo’s in Ann Arbor and that big striped awning first appeared over the entrance of 114 East Washington Avenue (now the Ann Arbor Brewing Company). Inside, there were long tables; “Keep Cool with Coolidge” signs; big photographs of Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd; peanuts shells on the floor; plenty of pizza; and lots of beer and Faygo by the pitcher to wash it all down. (Left, courtesy of Kerry Price; below, courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.)

AND THE BANDS PLAYED ON . After any Michigan sports victory, everyone at Bimbo’s would literally rock the place, raising their glasses and singing “The Victors,” led on by the evening’s entertainment. It was where one could hear Mike Montgomery and the Boll Weevils, Kerry Price and The Mother’s Boys, Ragtime Charlie & Sister Kate, the Gaslighters, and more. Pictured around 1968 are, from left to right, Brent Herald, Don Dygert, Pat DeLoughery, Rich Bloch, Dennis Huntley, and Kerry Price at the piano. (Courtesy of the Charles Rasch Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.)

VILLAGE INN AND BIMBO ’S ON THE HILL . Springboarding off the success of the Ann Arbor Bimbo’s, Chutich opened a second Bimbo’s along Washtenaw Avenue. It was ready-made for him, as it had recently been vacated by a pizza parlor chain known as the Village Inn. Known as Bimbo’s On the Hill, it immediately became a popular place for the nearby Eastern Michigan University crowd. Today, it is home to Paesano’s. (Courtesy of the Charles Rasch Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.)

SAY WHAT ? Since the dawn of sprouts, Seva has been serving up creative vegetarian food. Housed in a former VFW post (above) on Liberty Street that also contained Birkenstock shoes, The Wild Weft, and Wazoo Records, Seva was formerly the Soybean Cellars restaurant and natural foods grocery. In 1973, Steve Bellock bought and renamed it Seva Longevity Cookery. Depending on who one asks, the name is a variation on the French phrase ça va , Sanskrit for “satisfaction,” or just a word that means “black bean and sweet potato quesadillas,” a menu favorite for almost 40 years. The Jackson family, who bought Seva in 1997, moved it, complete with some of the original stained-glass pieces, to the west side of town in 2014 (below). Happily, Seva is still one of the top vegetarian destinations in the Midwest. (Above, courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library; below, authors’ collection.)

FISHED OUR WISH . From a retail case in Real Seafood to what Saveur magazine called “The fish market we wish were next door,” Monahan’s Seafood is the real deal. Moving to Kerrytown in the 1970s, Mike Monahan is the reason people who did not know they liked fish actually love fish. From the Bernie’s chowder (named after a longtime employee) to bluefish teriyaki and fresh oysters, customers can eat there or have the kind (and patient) Monahan tell them how to cook it at home. In his spare time, Monahan also fishes. (Authors’ collection.)

A MOVEABLE FEAST . Chef Dan Huntsbarger and his wife, Carol, assumed ownership of the Moveable Feast, a small restaurant and catering business, in 1996. Transforming the historic home at 326 West Liberty Street (above left) into the award-winning Daniel’s On Liberty, they managed their much-heralded catering business from the same location. Over time, Dan’s cooking won many accolades from Zagat, Gourmet Magazine , and even Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. Preferring to focus solely on catering, Dan and Carol closed Daniel’s in 2005 and now operate out of nearby Manchester. (Authors’ collection.)

WHERE NIGHT OWLS PERCHED . The Pantree, on Liberty Street above Community Newscenter, was one of the few 24-hour downtown melting pots. A favorite of bar and restaurant staff after their shifts, nurses, students pulling all-nighters, and anybody with spare change, the Pantree was big on breakfast anytime. Some craved their nachos, and they even made a good gazpacho. Eventually they trimmed their hours, then closed their doors in the late 1980s. (Authors’ collection.)

MUFFIN MAN . Though named after a one-hit wonder, the staying power of Afternoon Delight is delightful. Tom Hackett opened it in the former Fisher Pharmacy in 1978 with unique salads (a salad bar was added in the 1980s), sandwiches, and omelets. And if a bran muffin was ever beloved, this is the one. There is almost always a line full of patient people. Families now bring their kids and grandkids to enjoy Afternoon Delight. Hackett added partner Joanne Williams and catering in 2000, and now he says he is “down to working just 7 days a week.”

SUMMERS OF LOVE . “Nothing from a can” was one of the mottos at Indian Summer, and folks could taste that care and love. Everything was made from scratch, even the yogurt. In 1971, natural food pioneers Rick Peshkin and Ken King (of Frog Holler Farm fame) opened this State Street spot (formerly the Virginian). The communally-run kitchen dished out favorites like miso soup, vegetable tempura, and a healthy but wicked deep-dish pizza. Being close to the Diag, Indian Summer was an especially popular munchie must during the Hash Bash. (Authors’ collection.)

FROM WAKES TO BAKES . Few know that this building began as Dolph’s Funeral Home (“Finest Funeral Furnishings”) in 1891. A birthday celebration alternative to the Pretzel Bell, Dooley’s was a noisy, jock-filled bar with surprisingly good pizza—like the Troll and the Fungus Amungus. Madonna cooked that pizza and waited tables here in the mid-1970s. It was also known for Monday night dime beer. And yes, Shakey Jake ate here. Now Scorekeepers, it still smells like beer; the embalming continues! (Courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library.)

TRUE BLUES . A cozy cavern known for world-class blues, Tom Isaia and Jerry Delguidice (who spent time in Europe as exchange students) birthed the Pig in 1971. It was named for a slang term for speakeasies during Prohibition. Many people tried their first cappuccino or espresso there in what was Ann Arbor’s first coffee house. The food had a European flair, like crostini sandwiches, spinach soup, cheese plates, and biscotti. It all traveled down a dumbwaiter to the basement, where blues greats like Koko Taylor and Boogie Woogie Red played through dense smoke. Amazingly, these dishes came out of a kitchen that consisted of only hot plates and a toaster oven! The bar served only top-shelf liquor, unusual wines, and beers like Guinness on tap. In the 1980s, the Pig became a rock nightclub. In the 1990s, Nirvana gave it a shout-out on MTV, calling it their favorite place to play ever. In the Ann Arbor food continuum, Tom Isaia owns Coffee Express, and former manager Monique Deschaine started Al Dente pasta in nearby Whitmore Lake. (Both, Tom Isaia.)