Holiday Restaurant, Ann Arbor

On chalkboards mounted above hanging lights and family-style booths, Holiday Restaurant’s servers carefully record the day’s specials. Many of the servers chalking in prices have been at the eatery for years, pouring hundreds of cups of hot coffee and setting countless plates of housemade meatloaf, sirloin pot roast, and tuna-melt sandwiches. Cooks also griddle buttermilk and banana pancakes for breakfast and ladle hollandaise sauce over eggs benedict—a dish that they serve until 4 p.m. In the warmer months, an outdoor garden thrives with green peppers, gleaming eggplants, various tomatoes, and strawberries that brighten from green to red. Those vibrant fruits and vegetables go into crisp salads, BLTs, and fruit cups.