All The Tastings At Zingerman’s In Ann Arbor, MI

In addition to blogging here on No Home Just Roam, I’ve been writing for Frequent Miler since the beginning of 2018.

During our week in Toledo OH, Greg (the owner of Frequent Miler) invited Shae and I up to Ann Arbor. He’d planned a tour of many of Zingerman’s locations in the city, with tastings at several of them.

I’d never heard of Zingerman’s before this, but they’re an Ann Arbor institution. Starting out as a local deli in 1982, they’ve since expanded around the city into additional niches – a bakery, coffee shop, creamery and more.

They all fall under the umbrella of the Zingerman’s Community, with the businesses being unique but complementary to each other. The partners are all supportive of each other, so Zingerman’s Bakehouse uses cheese from Zingerman’s Creamery, Zingerman’s Delicatessen sells candy from Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory, etc.

Not only did we get to do tastings at several of them, but we also got to go on behind the scenes tours at a couple of them. We had an amazing time – here’s what we got up to.

Zingerman’s Bakehouse

We met Greg that afternoon outside Zingerman’s Bakehouse, along with Josh who’d be giving us the tour and tastings.

The first thing we noticed as we entered was how amazing the bread looked. All of the bread at Zingerman’s Bakehouse is baked on site, with dozens of different types of doughy goodness.

These breads are baked on a set schedule each day, so if there’s a particular type of bread you want then you might need to visit at a certain time.

Josh took us out back where we got to see them preparing the next batch. Other than a few hours of downtime over Thanksgiving and Christmas, Zingerman’s Bakehouse is baking bread pretty much 24/7/365.

After Josh had shared a little about the Bakehouse, it was time to do some taste testing. The most impressive-looking of the loaves was the country miche. This is an enormous (and tasty) loaf that’s large enough to double up as a spare tire.

We got to try a couple of other breads, including a chocolate cherry sourdough which was delicious. Shae and I ended up buying a farm loaf for the friends we were staying with, a baguette for ourselves, as well as some stuffed cupcakes. Shae got the OMG Stuffed Cupcake which was worthy of its name (I got to help her finish hers the next day), while I got one with chocolate and salted caramel which was also lovely.

Zingerman’s Creamery

Next to the Bakehouse is an outdoor area with picnic tables where you can have lunch you’ve just purchased from inside.

A couple of doors down from there is Zingerman’s Creamery where they make several of their own cheeses and gelato.

First up was some cheese tasting with Zach. I’m not a fan of cheese, so it was up to Shae and Greg to sample all of the Creamery’s goodness. They tried cream cheese, goat cheese, Manchester, Lincoln log (an aged goat cheese) and pimento.

While they were tasting the cheeses, I listened in to the information Zach was sharing and wished that I actually liked the taste of all this.

After the cheese sampling, Zach took us to the back of the Creamery where they were in the process of making some different cheeses.

These ones were in the process of having the whey drain away. Once that process finishes, these cheeses will end up being about half the size.

When the cheese tour was over, we headed back out to the front where we got to try some of their gelatos and sorbets. The Buenos Aries Brownie was lovely, as was the Cherry Cream Cheese which is made with Michigan cherries.

Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory Store

Next up was Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory Store where they make their own chocolate, fudge and more.

In fact, when we arrived they were in the process of making a fresh batch of chocolate fudge.

I think she could sense our thoughts, as soon after she came out and gave us a sample of the fudge. It was soooo good!

That fudge would end up in one of their What The Fudge bars. On the walls of the store were pictures of the insides of their candy bars – this is a great idea as it gives you a much better idea of what you’ll be getting.

Shae and I ended up buying a pack with one of each of their candy bars. My favorites were the Wowza bar (which contains raspberry) and the incredibly sweet What The Fudge bar. Even though she’s not normally the biggest fan of cashews, Shae’s favorite was the Cashew Cow bar.

Zingerman’s Coffee Company

After our quick stop in the candy store, we made an even quicker stop next door at the Zingerman’s Coffee Company.

We were due to be at Zingerman’s Deli shortly after which is in another location to these other outlets, so we just popped our heads in to see what it was like.

Zingerman’s Deli

Next up was a trip to where it all started – Zingerman’s Deli. The Deli’s split into several different sections – we entered into the cheese and meats area.

Shae and Greg tried a couple of different cheeses, including a pimento cheese which was slightly different to the one they’d tried at the creamery.

We then got to try a few different specialty meats. The one that most intrigued me was ‘Nduja which is a spreadable salami.

This isn’t the carnivore equivalent of Cheez Whiz though; it’s just a much softer version of salami which had a great taste.

Next up was Wagyu beef salami. The only other time I’d tried Wagyu beef was in my donut burger at Jack Brown’s, so I was pleased to try it again.

This was probably the best salami I’ve ever tasted, but there’s a reason why – it comes with a price tag to match!

After that, we tried Cinta salami made by La Quercia.

That salami was tasty too, although not quite as amazing as the Wagyu beef one.

Having sampled some unexpectedly expensive meats (the extent of my “expensive” deli meat experience is usually $8.99/lb Private Selection roast beef from Kroger 😉 ), we headed back into the olive oil and balsamic vinegar area of the store.

Greg’s wife met up with us at this point and the four of us got to sample several different oils and vinegars with Marshall who was working back there.

First up was an extra virgin olive oil…

…a balsamic vinegar which is $35 per bottle…

…sweet cava balsamic vinegar and more.

If you’re just wandering through the store, there are a few olive oils and balsamic vinegars already set out for tastings, along with small pieces of bread to dip in them. One of them was this Tunisian extra virgin olive oil…

…while this white truffle salt olive oil was the nicest truffle-flavored thing I’ve ever had.

If you really want to splash out, Zingerman’s Deli has $450 and $600 bottles of balsamic vinegars for sale.

Finally, we headed further back into the Deli to what’s more of a restaurant. You can order food to go from here or eat it outside in their courtyard.

That was the end of our Zingerman’s tastings experience, although it wasn’t the end of our entire Zingerman’s food day as we then went to dinner at Zingerman’s Roadhouse.

Final Thoughts

We had a wonderful day touring all the different Zingerman’s locations in Ann Arbor. Everything we tasted was delicious, while all their staff were extremely friendly and helpful.

This was just a day trip up to Michigan while we were in northern Ohio, so we’ve added Zingerman’s to our list of places to visit once we properly visit Michigan on our 5 year, 50 state road trip as we definitely want to return.