Posted by Melissa Hall, March 21, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
Interested in Southern food but find yourself geographically challenged and living above the Mason Dixon line? Never fear—Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan is here! Zingerman's is devoted to finding (and making) the best foods in the world, and they're kind enough to ship their treasures right to your door. The Roadhouse (one of several jewels in the Zingerman crown, including the Bakehouse, the Creamery, the Delicatessen, and the Coffee Company) specializes in really good American food—their description, not mine! Alex Young, the chef at the Roadhouse, wowed us all last October during the SFA symposium with one of best oyster stews we've ever tasted.
The Roadhouse is hosting a fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Alliance featuring a meal from the Mississippi Delta. We're going to cover a lot of ground for this fundraiser. Marcie Cohen Ferris, special guest and SFA board president, is going to address the southern Jewish experience. She was born and raised in the south, and her two experiences of being both Jewish and southern have shaped her career. She worked with chef Alex to create a menu reflecting Jewish foods from the Mississippi Delta.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 3, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Though I was glad to see the New York Times cover Zingerman's today in its business section, the piece somehow failed to convey the idiosyncratic soulfulness of both the Zingerman's family of businesses and its co-founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinsweig.
That family of businesses includes a world-class deli, the best food mail-order and online catalog I know, a bakery that turns out very good baked goods and bread, a creamery that churns out the best cream cheese I have ever tasted as well as a number of other fine artisanal cheeses, a roadhouse restaurant where they smoke their own meats, and even Zingtrain seminars where they dispense their unique set of business principles.
Having known them for more than ten years now, I can tell you that they are the ultimate enlightened capitalists. They are genuinely interested in saving the world one delicious bite at a time, and I can't think of many other people in the food world who have gone about their business in such unpretentious or un–self-important fashion.
Photograph from carlcollins on Flickr
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 3, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Though I was glad to see the New York Times cover Zingerman's today in its business section, the piece somehow failed to convey the idiosyncratic soulfulness of both the Zingerman's family of businesses and its co-founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinsweig.
That family of businesses includes a world-class deli, the best food mail-order and online catalog I know, a bakery that turns out very good baked goods and bread, a creamery that churns out the best cream cheese I have ever tasted as well as a number of other fine artisanal cheeses, a roadhouse restaurant where they smoke their own meats, and even Zingtrain seminars where they dispense their unique set of business principles.
Having known them for more than ten years now, I can tell you that they are the ultimate enlightened capitalists. They are genuinely interested in saving the world one delicious bite at a time, and I can't think of many other people in the food world who have gone about their business in such unpretentious or un–self-important fashion.
Photograph from carlcollins on Flickr
Posted by Jeff VanDam, December 8, 2006 at 7:04 AM
From left: Fricano's EBA (Everything But Anchovies) pie and a pie from Mr. Scrib's, with the same toppings—sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, and mushrooms.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Yes, the state of Michigan is responsible for producing both Domino’s and Little Caesars pizza. But even though the products of these two chains are readily available all over both the lower and upper peninsulas—indeed, one can purchase a “Pizza! Pizza!” within the sacred grounds of Comerica Park itself, home of the Detroit Tigers—there is evidence that Michiganders can get pizza right, too. Very right.
On the west side of the state, there are two pizzerias that render the notions of “meat lover’s” and “Brooklyn-style” little more than bad memories. One, called Fricano’s, calls itself Michigan’s first pizzeria and is based in Grand Haven, an affluent beach hamlet with trolley tours. The other, Mr. Scrib’s, has its headquarters in Muskegon, another beach town noted more for its paper mill than its pizzaiolos. Both Mr. Scrib’s and Fricano’s produce crusts no thicker than Saltines, covered with a minimum of sauce and a generous scattering of toppings and sharp cheese—plain Margherita pies are not necessarily popular here. At both places, the ordering of a “deluxe,” or, in the case of Fricano’s, an “EBA” (Everything But Anchovies), is essential.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I grabbed a few pies from both Fricano’s and Mr. Scrib’s and brought them home to a panel of taste-testers: my family, and my friend, Scott, all of whom had somehow never tried these pizzas before. I picked up three EBA’s (sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, and mushrooms) from Fricano’s, which makes only 12-inch pies that are cut with scissors, and two larges with the same ingredients from Mr. Scrib’s, which cuts its circular pies in square grids.
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