After going on tastings at several of the Zingerman’s locations in Ann Arbor MI, Shae and I were taken to dinner at Zingerman’s Roadhouse by Greg (from Frequent Miler) and his wife.
Zingerman’s Roadhouse opened its doors in 2003 and was the seventh business to become part of the Zingerman’s community. The restaurant focuses on fresh ingredients from local farms to create a menu featuring dishes from all over the US.
Here’s a review of our meal at Zingerman’s Roadhouse:
We had a 7pm reservation and arrived at 6:50pm, so we had to wait a few minutes for our table to become available. Even though we were visiting on a Wednesday evening, the restaurant was packed so you’ll want to make a reservation if you’re planning on having dinner there. (n.b. the photo below was taken as we were leaving, so it was a little quieter by that point. There’s lots more seating in the restaurant further back to the right.)
Zingerman’s Roadhouse has a fairly large drinks menu, so I didn’t take photos of that. We got a bottle of red wine for the table, while I ordered some whiskey.
Our server brought over a bowl of warm bread which was very tasty. It was presumably baked at Zingerman’s Bakehouse which we’d visited earlier that afternoon.
The Zingerman’s Roadhouse menu has a variety of options. That makes it good for all palates while simultaneously making it harder to choose what to get!
For a starter, Greg ordered pimento cheese with celery sticks for the table. He and Shae had tried a couple of different types of pimento cheese earlier that day during our tastings at Zingerman’s Creamery and Zingerman’s Deli; this pimento was also slightly different to those.
After spending an inordinate amount of time deciding what to order, I finally made up my mind. Having eaten a ton of BBQ in South Carolina and Alabama, I was curious to get a Michigan take on it. I therefore decided to get the plate of pit-smoked BBQ pork which comes with mashed potatoes and bacon-braised greens.
The menu said that it came with a choice from three BBQ sauces, although our server said she’d bring all three on the side for me to try. For some reason I only ended up with two but wasn’t bothered. That’s because I think the missing one was the Eastern North Carolina vinegar BBQ sauce which I wasn’t particularly interested in trying anyway.
My meal was very good. The greens did indeed have plenty of bacon in them, while the BBQ was delicious – the South Carolina mustard BBQ was my favorite of the two sauces. I think I’d still give Rodney Scott’s in Charleston SC the edge when it comes to pit-smoked BBQ pork. To be fair though, Rodney Scott’s is a dedicated BBQ restaurant, so the BBQ at Zingerman’s Roadhouse is still excellent considering that’s not their focus.
Something the Roadhouse is apparently known for though is their macaroni and cheese. That’s a focus Shae can get on board with, so she ordered the macaroni, chicken and Monterey Jack as her entree – she loved it.
Despite all the food we’d eaten that day, Shae and I decided we had just about enough room for dessert. Zingerman’s Roadhouse has both a dessert menu and cheese menu:
I went for the fried jumbleberry pie which was lovely – it reminded me a little of the blackberry & apple crumble dessert my mum made when I was a kid after we’d gone picking fresh blackberries. In hindsight, I should’ve added the optional scoop of vanilla gelato as that would’ve complemented it perfectly.
Shae’s all about the chocolate when it comes to dessert, so she ordered the brownie sundae, swapping the vanilla gelato for chocolate. I tried a little of it and it was phenomenal – if we eat at Zingerman’s Roadhouse again, I think I’d order this for dessert.
While we were eating our desserts, someone came by to refill our waters. It turns out that he was Ari Weinzweig, one of the principal owners of Zingerman’s. Shae and I were both impressed by this as it meant the boss of all these great businesses was doing what many would regard as one of the most “lowly” jobs – refilling waters.
Greg knows Ari, so he introduced him to us. Ari later brought us a small goody bag containing candy bars from Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory. We’d already bought some of those bars earlier, so it was great being given even more of them for free!
Final Thoughts
We had a great meal at Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The food was excellent, as was the service.
Eating at the Roadhouse was a great way to round off our tour of Zingerman’s locations. We’ll hopefully eat there again in the future when we return to Michigan on our 50 state road trip.
Our Rating
Food = 4.8 / 5
Price = 4.3 / 5
Atmosphere = 4.7 / 5
Decor = 4.4 / 5
Service = 4.8 / 5
Total = 4.6 / 5
Address
Zingerman’s Roadhouse, 2501 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Angela (ALC) says
Hi Stephen
You’re clearly still enjoying the 5 year ‘holiday’! Looking at all the food photos, I do wonder if your stats should include a weekly weigh in for you both and a monthly graph to plot your progress!! Only kidding, but big respect for your eating stamina x
stephen says
Hahaha! We publish our spending / points stats each month, so maybe we should include a monthly weigh-in with that. Judging by how many pounds I’ve put on since we started the trip, it’d probably be some much-needed motivation to get back on the treadmill!