How Some Food Places Get Off To Fast Starts
It begins with a great product, but more is involved
Hello, and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! A special welcome to our new subscribers, and thank you to all of you. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful audience.
CulinaryWoman relies on your support to keep publishing. I don’t take ads or have sponsors; we’re completely subscriber funded. If you would like to support us, I’d welcome your paid subscription. You can click this button. We also offer gift subscriptions if you’d like to treat someone on your gift list.
Thanks very much. And, on to some successful food world news.
Last week, I met a new acquaintance for coffee. She asked if we could meet on her side of Ann Arbor, so I suggested getting together at Socotra Coffeehouse. It’s among the Yemeni-owned shops that I wrote about recently for The Takeout.
I was early, so I ordered a non-caffeinated qishr, a croissant and some maamoul date cookies, and grabbed a seat. Within a few minutes, every table around me was full.
There were students on laptops, young businessmen, a mother and grandmother with a baby, and women in conversation. I was amazed, since since Socotra has only been open since Labor Day. But it has alread become a gathering spot, both for Ann Arbor’s Arab-American population and for other guests.
This isn’t the only place I’ve been lately that got off to a fast start. Last week, I also got lunch at Spiedo, a new fast casual cafe near downtown that is decorated in the vivid colors of Morocco. It was my third visit there since they opened about six weeks ago.
Spiedo is owned by chef Brad Greenwell of Takoi in Detroit, who got his start in this very spot in Ann Arbor nearly a decade ago. Probably because of Brad’s reputation, Spiedo is already attracting attention, prompting customers to dine in and get carry out.
The menu is contemporary Mediterranean food, with a number of tasty vegetarian dishes. If you’re familiar with Galit in Chicago, it’s a lot like that, only in quick service form. I’m still working my way through the menu, but thus far, I haven’t hit a clunker.
At a time when restaurants are struggling and closing, Socotra and Spiedo have hit on formulas that made them immediately successful, and they are not alone. I’ve encountered similar quick starts in Chicago and New Orleans, too, and they have some things in common.
Top-quality food and drink
Socotra has a full lineup of caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages. Each is hand-crafted to order. It also has several cases of cakes, Middle Eastern pastries and savory treats, made in house.
Spiedo makes everything on the spot, too, and in just the few weeks that it has been open, it has already made some changes to the menu. Last week, I tried a new dish made from romenesko cauliflower, and they will be adding a different riff on squash soon, too,
Down in New Orleans, Flour Moon Bagels hit the ground running last year with some of the best bagels I’ve eaten anywhere. I’m very picky about bagels, since so many of them are just round bread rolls. But the ones that Breanna Kostyk are as good as any that I’ve bought in New York City. The Pumpernickel Everything is especially tasty.
Location makes a difference
Ann Arbor seems to have craft coffee shops in every corner of town, But there wasn’t anything near the strip mall on the southeast side of town where Socotra opened.
Spiedo is in a little spot on Fifth Avenue that was long the home of Jerusalem Garden. That restaurant has since moved to another location, but everybody thinks of the building Spiedo took as “the old J-Garden.” There’s parking right next door in the Ann Arbor Public Library lot and its underground parking structure.
Flour Moon is in a slightly more obscure place, on the Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood. But it sits near a Whole Foods and is only a block away from Broad Street, a major avenue. There’s ample street parking and it’s easily reached by bike or on foot. Plus, there’s a coffee bar on one side and a brew pub next door, creating a mini-dining mecca for anyone who wants something other than a bagel.
A ready made fan base
Ann Arbor has a mosque on the Northeast side, not far from where my mother lived, and we have a series of Arab-American owned restaurants. That gave Socotra a waiting fan base. We also have another Yemeni coffee shop, 19 Drips, on the west side, which proved that there was a market for their beverages.
Flour Moon could teach a seminar on how to build a following. It began as a Sunday morning Covid-era pop up on the front porch at Coffee Science. Breanna, a pastry chef, regularly sold out of her bagels, so when the shop materialized, people were lined up waiting to get in. It still regularly sells out.
Takoi has gotten much praise from Detroit-area media, which made Spiedo newsy even before the restaurant opened. There are plenty of people around town who remember Brad’s original food truck and were ready to try what he did next.
Many helping hands
Socotra is co-owned by the Alghazali and Al Rabaiei families. Wazira Alghazali, a family matriarch, is in charge of the baked goods. Her daughter, Aliyah, handles marketing while various brothers, cousins and other members of the families staff the counter and make beverages.
Spiedo is staffed by people who have worked at a variety of Ann Arbor food places, including York, a popular wine shop and food spot that has supported the area’s pop up community. Many of those purveyors posted welcomes to Spiedo on their social media when it arrived.
Flour Moon has been a darling of the New Orleans food community since it arrived, with virtually every chef and food person in town making a swing through at some point during the past year. The bagel place got a huge boost earlier this year with its first big attention from Bon Appetit, which said its bagels were among the best in the U.S. outside New York.
Displaying hospitality
All these places share a common bond: friendliness.
During Socotra’s first few weeks, staff members routinely circulated the dining room, offering complimentary tastes of honeycomb pastry.
Spiedo’s staff hands out samples (and sometimes full-sized glasses) of its chocolate-tahini shake, which tastes like melted ice cream and is just the right touch to go with its food. The counter staff welcomes everyone who walks in and comes over to chat when there’s a null in business.
Flour Moon often surprises regulars by throwing in a free blondie, cookie or an extra bagel, and occasionally a cup of coffee on the house. Jeff Hinson, Breanne’s partner in business and life, makes a point to chat with customers and joins other staff in running orders to tables.
It’s remarkable how quickly all these spots found their niche, and they provide a primer for anyone else who’s thinking about entering the food scene.
A Big Spot And A Food Truck Will Go Brick And Mortar
Last week, chef Michael Gulotta went big time — and in a different direction. His first two New Orleans restaurants — MoPho and Maypop — focused on Asian flavors using local ingredients.
Even with that cuisine, Michael displayed a special touch with noodles and pasta, and with his Sicilian roots, it seemed only a matter of time before he opened something more Mediterranean focused.
That moment has come with Tana, a big, glitzy restaurant in suburban Metairie. The story of Tana’s development has been told in a steady stream of Instagram posts and video for the past year. Viewers could see the restaurant come to life from the ground up, literally, since it is a completely new spot.
The menu has a Rat Pack-era feel to it, with a wide variety of appetizers, steaks and chops and nine pastas. It’s bound to be a favorite with the expense account crowd and people celebrating special occasions.
In 2012, the same year I met Michael, I wrote a piece for CityLab about the resistance that food trucks faced in Nola, though they were beginning to flourish in other places. The city placed an onerous set of restrictions on them, ranging from limiting permits to barring them from parts of town to the amount of time they could operate.
Yet, some persevered, including Rachel Billow, the owner of La Cocinita, a truck serving Latin American cuisine.
She led the non-profit New Orleans Food Truck Coalition and successfully won some changes in the restrictions. Ever since, La Cocinita’s red truck has been a common sight around town, and there is a sibling truck in Chicago.
Now, La Cocinita, which means “little kitchen,” plans to go brick and mortar. Next May, it plans to open on Prytania Street, where it will expand its food truck menu and offer more dishes with Latin roots.
La Cocinita will be in the same block as two of my favorite Prytania spots, Gracious Bakery and Creole Creamery, and it’s just down the street from Zara’s Lil Giant Supermarket, which has some of the best po’boys in town. Along with the St. James Cheese Company, it’s going to offer a nice mix of food options for the neighborhood.
Stanley Tucci Returns To The Small Screen
I know a lot of you are fans of Stanley Tucci, and I’m sure you shared my disappointment when CNN canceled his wonderful travel program, Searching for Italy, after two seasons.
But there’s good news: Stanley is returning on the National Geographic network. In January, he’ll begin filming Tucci - The Heart of Italy, a 10-part documentary series that sounds a lot like his previous show. The program is a co-venture of his Salt Productions and BBC Studios’ Factual Productions.
NatGeo says it will follow Tucci “as he unlocks the distinct flavors that define each region and discovers the rich versatility of Italy through those he meets along the journey.”
I’ll keep you posted on when it will begin airing.
The Science Behind Flavored Snacks
I regularly shop in Galleria Market, which specializes in Japanese, Korean and other Asian foods. It has the kind of snack aisle that you often see when you travel oversees, with chips and crunchy things in all kinds of interesting flavors that can’t be found in the U.S.
The same selection seems to be true across Canada, where it’s common to see “all dressed” potato chips, a mix of ketchup, barbecue, salt, vinegar and sour cream and onion, all rolled into one. While Frito-Lay has tried to catch up with special edition chips, they’re a curiosity, not mainstream.
Turns out that there is a science to creating these unusual snack flavors, which must be tailored to individual markets. The Guardian writes this fascinating story about a secretive pair of flavor developers, whose jobs are to determine what might sell and where it should be marketed.
For instance, there are 34 different flavors of Pringles sold in Europe, as well as special edition varieties that appear a few times annually. The most experimental country is China, where flavors bubble up and tend to disappear quickly.
It can take as long as seven years for a flavor to become reality, starting with data on local preferences. There are “seasoning houses” which are tasked with creating powders that can emulate the herbs and spices that a chip requires.
Make sure to read this story on a full tummy. It made me want to run to the kitchen for something crunchy.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
As a regular Aldi’s shopper, I love walking down its aisle of new and limited edition products. Officially, they’re called Aldi Finds, but they’re better known to fans as the Aisle of Shame, supposedly because you feel chagrinned for giving into temptation.
That’s where I found my favorite holiday treat of 2023. It’s Choceur Dark Peppermint Marshmallow Trees, which I wrote about for the Takeout.
You know that I like the Choceur lineup of chocolates. I’m a big fan of their cornflake and peanut bar, and they also have a cream filled peppermint dark chocolate bar for this holiday season.
The trees are a smaller indulgence. For $2.99 (prices may vary), you get about a dozen trees, each about two inches high, which are made in France. Two trees are 110 calories, and they’re a nice break from baked goods and eggnog.
This Monday and next, I’ll be writing for our paid subscribers about some of my other favorite discoveries in 2023. You’re welcome to upgrade to get my Best Things lists.
I’m happy to hear from any CulinaryWoman readers. Here’s where to find me.
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
Email: culinarywoman (@) gmail dot com
LinkedIn: Micheline Maynard
Threads and Instagram: (@) michelinemaynard
Have a wonderful week before Christmas. I’ll see everyone next Sunday for the last newsletter of 2023, and paid subscribers tomorrow.