Restaurants in Ann Arbor

The green grocer sources local and sustainable sustenance from area farms and gourmet suppliers to offer locally harvested consumers from a new Midtown storefront. Local produce harvested bi-weekly from the Eastern Market is available for the picking or juggling alongside perishables and dry goods from local and socially responsible vendors. Stock up on organic spices to season your award-winning mole sauce, or gift a selection of gourmet teas and coffee beans from The Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company to the chronically thirsty member of your acting troupe. Creamy confections and rBST-free dairy delights from Michigan’s Caulder Dairy will delight dairietarians and provide the perfect complement to the crunchy breakfast crumbles of Randy’s Granola.

The wait staff bustles in and out of the swinging doors to Stone Fire Bistro’s kitchen delivering upscale American and Italian dishes created and lavishly plated by executive chef Eirik Kauserud. The bistro’s dozen pizza selections rise to a golden hue inside a brick oven, while hand-pounded veal cutlets and housemade meatballs that refuse to pay protection money to the chefs end up in classic pasta entrees. The dim lighting fills the cozy dining room with a warm ambiance, and an old stone bar doles out glasses brimming with wine and whiskey. Post meal, guests can gather around the double-sided fireplace to sip drinks and while away the evening.

Sweep aside the gauzy marigold curtains and natural light streams through Table 7’s wide windows, glinting off hardwood floors. Within this warmly lit dining room, Mediterranean motifs abound: mosaic tiles, zithers, and tambourines deck the walls, and ornate chandeliers hover above arched doorways. Those motifs extend to the menu, highlighting grilled beef kebabs, hummus, and fluffy pita bread. In addition to traditional dishes, chefs expand their scope to include pasta dishes with creative flourishes such as feta-cheese stuffed meatballs, and Table 7’s juice bar doles out fresh-fruit juices, fruit smoothies, and the occasional festive fruit hat.

JB’s Sarnie Shoppe’s owners, Gareth and Bruce, helm a bustling kitchen where fresh bread, baked in-house twice daily, embraces a cavalcade of hearty sandwich fillings. Guests can build their own sandwiches, referred to as sarnies, with wholesome ingredients, such as Boar’s Head meats, thick slices of cheese, and housemade roasted-red-pepper spread. The menu ventures beyond the breaded with cobb salads and creamsicle smoothies, and names items using slang from overseas: “sarnie” (sandwich), “crisps” (chips), “biscuits” (cookies), and “cookies” (biscuits). Outside of the shop, it caters any event that has at least five people capable of chewing.

Carrying on the tradition of his father Labib Hajjar, a restaurateur who opened the original Poco Piatti location on Monroe Street, Elias Hajjar and his wife Joy have created a welcoming new space where locals can experience Mediterranean cuisine. Diners choose from Greek classics including moussaka, Italian-inspired dishes such as prosciutto crepes with basil and homemade sundried-tomato sauce, or Middle Eastern-style kabobs with swordfish or beef tenderloin. The owners have designed the interior to resemble a Spanish villa—the mural above the bar colorfully depicts rolling Mediterranean hills, and a stone oven churns out freshly baked pita bread or lights the miniature Olympic torches of waiters jogging by.

Since 1996, Labib has given back to the community as the co-chairperson of Share our Strength's Taste of the Nation Toledo, an annual food and wine event that, according to The Toledo Blade, raised more than $100,000 to help fight childhood hunger in 2011. Elias also follows in his father's community-minded footsteps by electing to source his ingredients from local suppliers.

The cherry-red Diners, Drive-ins and Dives convertible idles beside a giant rooster statue in the Gizzard City parking lot. Inside the diner, Food Network's Guy Fieri stands over a deep fryer, a full burger battered in his gloved hand. With a sizzle and a grin, Guy drops the entire creation into scalding oil, yielding Joe's Gizzard City's newest creation, the Triple D burger. After spending years battering chicken in his grandmother's secret blend of ingredients, co-owner Joe Bristol Jr. decided to experiment with the hot oil, and now deep fries hot dogs, Oreos, and even whole burgers. But the eatery isn’t called Gizzard City for nothing. Pressure cooked in garlic and celery powder until tender, Joe's namesake chicken gizzards arrive to tables cloaked in Cajun spices or crowded into the cheese-filled confines of an omelet.

Hesitant diners begin to sample gizzards, cautiously at first, but then letting forth happy sighs that reverberate off neon beer signs, a projection TV, and a weathered wooden bar. The staff operates on the same irreverent attitude that led them to deep-fry a Twinkie, joking with one another and playfully asking guests to help with the dishes. Booths the deep red hue of a lobster with lost cue cards cradle lingering patrons who chat with Joe Jr. about his numerous Tennessee Country Music Association awards.