One of the best things about Ann Arbor is the way it smells. The highly intense competition between downtown’s restaurants means that you can sometimes smell the competing cuisines as you walk down the sidewalk—a choose your own adventure of cuisines from all over the world. That cosmopolitan culinary spirit perhaps comes out best during the Taste of Ann Arbor, which took place this year on the last day of May.
“This is about what I was expecting,” David Rose, an Ann Arbor resident who went for the first time, said. He had been to the larger Taste of Chicago before too and said “I was expecting a few more booths participating, but by large I’m happy.” He was holding a chicken tiki masala from Shalimar’s while speaking with us and said it “was from a place I’ve never tried before … I would certainly come back in the future.”
Thousands of people flooded the temporarily pedestrianized some of Main Street from the courthouse to William Street. They included at least 100 people who had just finished participating in the Dexter to Ann Arbor marathon that had finished just a block or two north of the festival. The participating restaurants were Vinology, Grizzly Peak, The Graduate, Mindo Chocolate Makers, Aventura, Slow’s BBQ, The Blue Nile, Hao Chi, Ashley’s, the Washteanw Dairy, Triumveriate Catering, Pretzel Bell, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Cups ‘n’ Chai, Shalimar, Ritespice Kitchen, the Jolly Pumpkin and Bori, Conor O’Niell’s, The Chop House, Moka & Co., The Real Seafood Company, Chop Detroit, and Palio.
“I am using it as an opportunity to try places I haven’t yet. I normally don’t go to restaurants, so it was a good opportunity for me to try different things,” attendee Georgia Oakwood told Current. “I think the vibes are really great. There’s a mix of families, and its just upbeat.”…