One By One, Families Are Giving Up On Long-Time Restaurants
Reasons vary, but they are leaving customers bereft
Welcome to the President’s Weekend edition of the CulinaryWoman Newsletter. A special hello to new subscribers, and thank you to repeat readers. CulinaryWoman looks at topics in the ever-changing food world, and my goal is to help you understand what’s happening, in places large and small.
This week, the mental map of my community had a long-time name erased. The Original Cottage Inn, long a mainstay near the University of Michigan campus, abruptly closed. It’s the third vintage business to shut in Ann Arbor during the past couple of years, and represents a pattern.
Families and owners are giving up on places that are embedded in community memories. The reasons vary, but all of the departures leave people blinking in disbelief, and sometimes blinking back tears.
On Feb. 7, Cottage Inn announced on its website that it was closing immediately. Long operated by the Michos family, part of Ann Arbor’s vast network of Greek-American restaurant owners, the Cottage Inn was sold to Coratti's Pizzeria Bar and Bocce, a small Michigan chain.
In retrospect, we all should have realized that the move was going to happen. Last fall, the terra-cotta painted 11,200 square foot restaurant, which encompassed three storefronts, was put up for sale. The asking price was $3.4 million, or alternatively, a lease of $23,000 a month.
That might seem like a lot for a city of 125,000 people, but real estate in Ann Arbor has gone sky high in recent years. Developers are swooping in to snap up vacant lots and put up mid-rises and high-rises, changing the character of our Midwestern college town.
An unexpected closing
What shocked everyone was that there was no chance to say goodbye, or at least, there hasn’t been yet. Peering in the windows last week, the tables, high tops and bar stools are still there. I could easily see myself sitting at them.
I have been eating at Cottage Inn my entire life. It was a place that catered to diners of all ages, from babies up to elders. Two of my friends had their rehearsal dinners there. Staffers from the Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan student newspaper around the corner, used it as a hangout after closing the day’s issue.
As a teen saleswoman at Jacobson’s Department Store two block away, I’d join my colleagues in a fast dash to Cottage Inn on our dinner breaks. There would be a few items that we could order and scarf down in our alloted 30 minutes.
Cottage Inn specialized in pizza (a spinoff pizza delivery chain remains in business) and pasta, with lots of salads and appetizers, a full bar, and desserts. It kept up with food trends, adding Beyond Burger faux meat to its menu, and offering big portions.
In short, the kind of cafe where everyone could find something to eat. It was nicer than fast casual, but more casual than fine dining. The sort of place you’d find in every town of a decent size.
A Longer Farewell
Cottage Inn’s departure comes as Ann Arbor’s restaurant world is changing, as is the restaurant world everywhere.
In some cases, owners are ready to retire and younger generations, who saw how hard their parents worked, don’t want to devote their lives to headache filled jobs. Costs are rising for food, labor, packaging, utilities and rents. Given how hard it’s become to turn a profit, building owners are finding those deals from developers irresistible.
In December, Angelo’s, a daytime dining spot near the U-M hospital complex, closed after 67 years. It was also owned by a Greek-American, Steven Vangelatos, whose father Angelo started the business with his wife.
Angelo’s was legendary for thick slabs of raisin toast, big plates of breakfast food and lunch dishes like club sandwiches. With Angelo’s, there was a long goodbye. News of its closing came last May, giving everyone who wanted to bid farewell a chance to do so before Christmas.
No one could blame Steve for the move: Angelo’s was hemmed in by tall university buildings, including one going up across the street that took away its auxiliary parking lot.
Although Steve held out for years, he ultimately got an offer he couldn’t pass up. The University paid $4.5 million for the cafe and its small parking lot.
Meanwhile, another venerable restaurant has now been replaced by a Dunkin’. The Cloverleaf, a corner coffee shop, and a third Greek-owned spot, survived the pandemic, and endured in two locations for more than 50 years. But its owner, George Stamadianos, the son of the restaurant’s founder, had trouble getting staff and worked alone on some days. He was ready for a break.
Dunkin isn’t as ubiquitous in these parts as it is in Massachusetts, where Dunkins sit opposite each other in many places. I was curious to see how it was doing here, so after attending a movie one night last week, I drove past the Cloverleaf’s corner and glanced through the front windows.
Even in the evening, there was a line of customers inside and a case of doughnuts and pastries. Ann Arbor, it seems, definitely runs on Dunkin.
Ben Affleck Wins The Super Bowl And Gets On The Menu
If you watched last Sunday’s Super Bowl, you no doubt saw the Dunkin ad that featured a phalanx of celebrities.
That crazy combination of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Tom Brady as the DunKings, and Ben’s wife Jennifer Lopez giving them side-eye, was widely considered the most memorable commercial during the multi-hour telecast.
Now, the ad has led to a new drink lineup as well as merchandise. Dunkin introduced the DunKings Iced Coffee, based on Ben’s go-to order. The drink combines iced coffee with “notes of vanilla” and cream and is then topped with sweet cold foam and a dusting of cinnamon sugar.
You can also buy a skewer of Munchkins, aka doughnut holes, or as Tim Horton calls them, TimBits. And, Dunkin is selling the DunKings’ day-glo orange tracksuits and fuzzy bucket hats, as well as 40-ounce stainless steel drink holders. There is even an extended version of the commercial now.
I keep Dunkin in reserve for road trips — the last time I ordered one was on my way home from Saratoga Springs, New York last summer. I used to love drinking it when I lived in Boston, only to find out that the default for a Dunkin large iced coffee with milk was four sugars. No wonder it tasted like a coffee shake.
Jamie Oliver Honors Mary Berry
If you asked Americans to name a British cookbook author, it might come out to be a tie between Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry. So, it was fitting last week to see the pair of them charmingly together.
Jamie named the conference room in the offices of the Jamie Oliver Group in London after Mary, and invited her to come and cut the ribbon. Not surprisingly, there was cake.
Though there is a 40-year age gap between them (yes, Jamie is 48 now), the pair have been friends for years, often doing joint events and popping up to support each other.
In a 2013 interview, Janie praised her relaxed style, saying, “Mary has always done it very naturally.” In turn, Mary said she admired how Jamie had connected with millennials and Gen Z viewers. “Jamie makes it fun for the young. You stayed being yourself,” she told Good Housekeeping.
Two Farewells In The Food World
A pair of very different but influential food figures have left us. Bob Moore, the founder of Bob’s Red Mill, died at age 94. Your local supermarket probably has a big display of Bob’s nutritious whole-grain products, ranging from flour and cereal to all manner of mixes.
He launched the company in 1978, after he and his wife Charlee decided to embrace healthier eating. Bob’s Red Mill grew to more than 700 employees, who own the company through non-trading retirement accounts, and tens of millions in annual revenue.
Bob’s was one of the first companies to make gluten-free alternatives available to home bakers. And, Bob’s Red Mill built a huge red store and cafe in Milwaukie, Oregon, that became a major visitor attraction.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the New York restaurant world is mourning chef David Bouley, who died last week at age 70.
He was one of the leaders of the nouvelle cuisine movement that defined New York’s French restaurants during the 1980s and 1990s. His first restaurant was Montrachet, which received three stars from the New York Times, and he operated Danube, Bouley at Home and Bouley Bakery.
Chefs from the Bouley kitchens have gone on to open Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Dan Barber), Le Bernardin (Eric Ripert), Annisa (Anita Lo), Milk Bar (Christina Tosi), and more.
Interestingly, he wasn’t French. He was born in Storrs, Connecticut, but he studied in France and worked with a variety of famous French chefs including Paul Bocuse, Joel Robuchon, Gaston Lenôtre, and Frédy Giradet. He spent time in notable places like Le Cirque and La Cote Basque before opening his own places.
Lent Is Here; Will You Observe It?
With carnival season behind us, Lent is underway. It’s traditionally been a time to give up something. I know many people who stop drinking alcohol, which I did as a precursor to quitting altogether. I often gave up chocolate; one year, I gave up coffee, and another year, French fries.
Chocolate was always the hardest, though. Since there are 45 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday, my mother’s practice was to indulge on the Sundays during Lent. Through grad school, I used to keep a little chocolate on hand to eat after midnight, during Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.
A few years ago, I decided to stop giving things up, and begin taking positive actions. I am conscious each day during Lent to do something kind for someone else. I should do this anyway, but I really focus on it now.
That could be a compliment, a social media post, or helping someone as I’m walking through the endless hallways at the University of Michigan medical center - whatever opportunity I have.
Are you observing Lent this year, and what steps do you take?
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
I put on my automotive writer’s hat last week for my latest column in the Boston Globe. I looked at the fight that the United Auto Workers union faces in organizing car plants across the South and the West.
The essay was a chance for me to pay tribute to my union ancestors, including my grandfather and uncles who were part of a famous, and ultimately unsuccessful effort to organize furniture plants in 1911.
My mother’s work paid off, however. She helped organize pink collar workers at Eastern Michigan University, who joined the UAW and went on strike to gain a contract.
It gave her opportunities for raises and promotions, benefits like free tuition, which helped her earn another college degree, and she had a pension and retiree health care benefits until her death at age 102.
Here are some ways for you to get in touch with me.
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
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I’m back tomorrow for our paid subscribers with a review of a delicious French film that I think any food lover will enjoy.
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