Zingerman's Roadhouse, Ann Arbor

Zingerman's Roadhouse

Zingerman's Deli is famous.  It's so famous that if you want to know why it's famous, you need to be reading a different, better blog.  The Roadhouse is an offshoot restaurant they run; I can tell you about that, because I was there just last week.

Immediately upon arriving, two solid pieces of evidence attested to Roadhouse's popularity: a high level of noise and a long wait.  Eventually, my party was seated, and I had a chance to take in the Roadhouse's interior.  I tried to find proper description of the Zingerman's style.  Was it cluttered?  Yes, but that doesn't really fully describe it, especially considering the long stretches of wall and such that were completely barren.  Was it traditional?  It certainly had traditional elements; the tables and chairs were all polished wood, the booths were pretty simply padded, and many of the light fixtures were just simple metal lamps with light bulbs.  There were some cloth pieces that hung perpendicular to the ceiling, which were clearly meant to cut down on noise (and clearly failed).

Just one of the cluttered pieces you can see on the wall at Zingerman's Roadhouse.

The best phrase I can think of to describe the decor at the Roadhouse is Calculated Ad Hoc.  Some interior decorator worked really hard to make sure you know that the interior developed organically.

My friend Walter, with one of Zingermans' paper menus.

The Roadhouse offered excellent food variety.  Walter ordered some sort of cheese sampler, which suggests that there was more than one type of cheese available.  Joey (who was also there) ordered Barbecue something, and he had to decide between three potential barbecue sauces. 

And that brings us to the Roadhouse's service.  When Joey was asked what BBQ sauce he wanted, he said

"I don't know which BBQ Sauce to get."

To which our server responded 

"I'll bring you a taste of each to try."

After which he departed and fetched not three BBQ sauces, but a sample of brisket and two of pork, each barbecued with a different sauce.  When Walter asked for some applesauce, only to find that they weren't stocking it that week, the waiter asked the chef to prepare some applesauce from their apple supply. 

Walter and Joey both wanted me to mention, on the subject of variety, that the Roadhouse offered a 5 burger sampler plate.

I didn't get the burger sampler, and you don't come here to hear about burger variety.  You come here to hear about burger taste.  The burger was excellent.  It wasn't exactly juicy, just good and moist.  It had the taste of a hamburger done on a charcoal grill in your neighbor's backyard.  It's a taste very reminiscent of summer.

The bun was a different story.  I didn't mind that there was onion, but I did mind the amount; it was too heavily onioned. The bun was also hard for some reason.  I don't think it was stale, it was probably just over-toasted, but that doesn't change the fact that when tried to take a bite, the bun was quite effective in guarding the burger from me.  Maybe the burger appreciated that; I did not.

The burger was also small, especially considering how expensive it was.  It clearly arrived at my table with the assumption that I had partaken in one or more appetizers.  Because the burger was not filling, the fry quality was essential.  Luckily, the fries delivered.  They had a bit of salt, and a lot of potato skin, which was really nice.  Additionally, though the Roadhouse doesn't advertise this, there are free refills on fries, without which I would have ended the night hungry.  The second set of fries were hotter and even tastier.

Will I go back to the Roadhouse?  I not going to say never, but I'm going to stay away if I can.  Zingerman's is incredibly expensive, and for that expense, with that wait, the burger had better be something amazing, not something that isn't even filling.