When Dad Comes to Town...

Dad came to visit this weekend and that meant one thing: it was time to eat well. As avid foodies, we decided to turn our trip for lunch into three-hour food adventure in Kerrytown.

First stop: Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market. I’ve been dying to go for months and finally got the chance to check it out. The selection of fresh fruits and vegetables was sparse, which didn’t surprise me because of the weather. However, the market did have a variety of fresh breads, fish, meats and yogurts to choose from. We headed to the fresh breads stand, where we were greeted by a variety of ryes, sourdoughs and pretzel rolls. Each of the breads was freshly baked in a nearby bakery and after contemplating over which looked best, we settled on an iron-skillet baked rye and a pretzel roll. The owner of the stand directed us to a nearby fish shop, where we were told to pick up some smoked fish to pair with the rye.

Second Stop: Tracklements Smokery. The store was lined with whitefish and smoked salmon, any smoked fish you could imagine, Tracklements had it. I grew up around Jews who used any excuse to eat bagels and lox,I had never personally tried lox until I tried Tracklements’. It’s a bit of a hike from campus, but these lox are worth it. Save up, at $10 for ¼ pound,it’s a bit pricey, but I promise you’ll savor every bite.

Third and final stop: Zingerman’s Deli. As if we hadn’t sampled enough already, we decided to wait out the 30-minute line in the cold, knowing the end result would make it worthwhile. Thirty minutes truly doesn’t feel that long when you are constantly being fed samples of homemade graham crackers, house cheddarcheese and curried turkey salad. When it was time to finally make our decision onwhat we wanted to order, we were overwhelmed by theenormous variety of options. Dad settled on “Who’s Greenberg Anyway?”, asandwich stuffed with Zingerman's corned beef, chopped liver, leaf lettuce, Zingerman's own Russian dressing and hand-slice Jewish rye bread from their bakery. I selected “J.V.W.’s Detroit St. BBQ”, consisting of Zingerman's BBQ Amish chicken, Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon and coleslaw on grilled sourdough bread. We shared a cup of homemade split pea soup on the side. When the food arrived we were convinced there was no way we’d be able to finish it all,especially after all that we had sampled earlier. But not to worry, despite our fears, we braved the huge portions and finished each sandwich, pickle and drop of soup to the last bite.