Harry Potter is undoubtfully a marker of our generation and what it means to have grown up in the ‘90s and 2000s. We’re not the “Baby Boomers,” we’re the “Harry Potter Generation;” and, hey, I’m okay with that. Few other books or series have been the complete phenomenon that is Harry Potter, spurring books, movies, and a theme park — not to mention Robert Pattinson’s career (well, I mean, nothing’s perfect). Rowling’s work has created a magical world that people can take refuge in, allowing readers to lose themselves in the corridors of Hogwarts and helping millions find a love for reading. I’m proud to say that I’m a member of the Harry Potter Generation and that these books were there as I was growing up — I bet the Boomers are feeling a little jealous right now, don’t you?

I still remember reading The Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time in elementary school. I was amazed by the world that seemed so real. But what really got my attention was the food. After wishing more than anything that I could fly or have a wand, it was the Hogwarts’ feasts that I most wanted in my life. Rows of seemingly endless dishes and desserts was (and still is) a dream of mine. I could just imagine myself being at the holiday meals — pretty much a Thanksgiving dinner on steroids. So needless to say, I deemed it necessary to recreate a little bit of this magic by making what I consider to be the quintessential Harry Potter recipe: treacle tart.

While I didn’t officially know what was in treacle tart until last night, I always considered it synonymous with the books. So fun fact for all of you who don’t what’s in it: it’s actually a tart filled with a “golden syrup,” a molasses-like liquid and breadcrumbs, which gives it a chewy texture similar to pecan pie. Who would’ve guessed? Not me; I honestly thought it was chocolate. Nonetheless, I decided to make this traditional English dessert to celebrate the final movies in the Harry Potter series, hoping I can steal a little bit of the House Elves magic.

Ingredients:

Tart Crust
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
2 large egg yolks
½ heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1 cup light molasses
2 ¼ cups fresh breadcrumbs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 egg

1. To begin, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Break the 2 sticks of butter into chunks and scatter over the mixture, combining until none of the white powder is visible.

2. Now, beat the two egg yolks with the cream and vanilla extract. Add this to the flour-butter combination, mixing until the dough forms a cohesive ball — if it’s too dry, add a tablespoon of cream. Take the dough, divide it into two equal portions, and form them into disks. Wrap these in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 3 days.

3. While the dough is finishing its chill, start on the filling. In a pot, warm in the molasses until it starts to get runny. Now, combine the heated syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, and lemon juice, mixing well.

4. Preheat your oven to 400F and take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Flour your counter (or table) well and roll out one of your disks into an 11-inch circle. Now, fold into quarters, brushing off excess flour, and unfold it in a 9-inch tart pan. Carefully, press the dough into all the crevices of the fluted sides. To finish, trim the excess dough so that it’s even with the rim of the pan.

5. Roll out your second disk until it’s roughly 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into strips to eventually top the tart.

6. Pour the filling into the dough-lined tart pan, smoothing out the top with a spoon or spatula. To create a lattice top, lay half of your dough strips in one direction and the other half perpendicularly. Trim the overhang. Brush the top with a beaten egg to ensure a golden and delicious crust.

7. Finally, bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 375F and bake another 25 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the filling starts to puff up in the center.

8. Enjoy! I suggest serving with vanilla ice cream and freshly whipped cream.

The tart was delicious and definitely very Harry Potter-y. So, what I suggest is that everyone takes a break from homework and studying, put on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (a random, yet perfect choice), make this dessert, and transport yourself to a magical world.

Note: The recipe was taken from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.

If your fall Saturday mornings are anything like mine, they start with an 8 AM “alarm” of blaring speakers playing the Michigan fight song and a voice from down the hall failing to attempt mimicking a sports announcer, “it’s gaaaaame day”.  I pull my pillow over my head to drown out the noise.  Unfortunately, that move is extremely unpractical since the noise doesn’t go away and it’s never been easy to fall back asleep while suffocating yourself. So, I crawl out of bed and open my door to see multiple roommates have already showered and began blow-drying their hair. I’m behind.  Luckily, the night before I’ve picked out all of my blue and maize apparel and gear to blend in with the masses of crazed students. Once I’m fully dressed, the excitement takes over.  All I want to do is teleport to the pregame location and get the tailgating started. But wait, a day full of walking, talking, watching, standing, and possibly some other fun activities doesn’t allow much time for a meal.  Although I’m in a rush to tailgate, I’ve made the mistake of skipping breakfast before. Not today. Last night, I prepared some grab and go mini quiches that just require a short ‘nuke. The protein from the turkey sausage and egg and the carbohydrates from the phyllo dough coat my stomach to ensure that I remember the entire football game, and better yet- make it there.  Your friends will be impressed with the presentation and the taste when you hand them one of these muffin-sized breakfast treats.  Only you’ll know, you secretly only had extras because there are six cups in the muffin tin and you didn’t want an uneven bake.   Next, I pour my coffee drink into my M Go Blue mug to sip on during the morning. The caffeine gives me the jolt of energy to start conversations with the hundreds of friends, fanatics, family, and randoms I’m about to run into. The hidden “spike” of the coffee gives me an excuse to discriminate those doomed visitors boasting unfamiliar colors.  Now, here are the recipes to create the perfect football Saturday, balancing yum and fun. Go Blue!

Mini-Quiches

What you’ll need:
  -Giant muffin tin (=6 muffins), greased
  -9 eggs, whisked (can substitute equivalence of egg beaters)
  -1/4 cup milk
  -6 precooked turkey sausage links, chopped
  -6 asparagus stalks, diced
  -1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  -1 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese (can substitute whatever cheese you have on hand)
  -6 phyllo dough sheets
  -Salt, pepper, and vegetable oil to taste

How to prepare:
Fold one sheet of phyllo dough in half to create a double layer.  Line each muffin tin with one folded sheet and push slightly into bottom. Cut off excess phyllo dough on ends.  Sauté asparagus and red bell pepper over medium-high heat on stove with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt, and pepper.  Spread vegetables evenly into each phyllo covered muffin cup. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and milk and pour evenly into muffin cups. Next, top with chopped turkey sausage and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until egg is cooked thoroughly. Enjoy now or place covered quiches into refrigerator and warm for 30 seconds in the microwave in the morning.

Spiked Coffee (Must be 21 to drink)
 Individual serving size

-1 cup brewed black coffee
-1 shot Bailey’s
-1 shot vanilla vodka

Mix all ingredients together in a coffee mug. Stir gently and heat in microwave if needed.

Returning back to school one common question that we all get is, how was your summer?  The best part of mine by far was traveling to Indonesia for a month with GIEU, an international travel program offered by U of M.  I made 15 best friends, experienced two breathtaking islands, and took in one of the most harmonious and beautiful cultures I have ever witnessed.  One part of Indonesian culture that was hard for me to adjust to was the food.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been a picky eater, but after finding out that I developed gluten, lactose, and fructose intolerance last year my diet has become super limited.  With many things either fried or covered in soy sauce I had a bit of a challenge finding things on the menu, especially since it was all in Indonesian!  My fallback option was always seafood, which quickly became one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  The seafood in Indonesia is some of the freshest, biggest, and most delicious that I have ever tasted.  With king prawn, otherwise known as large shrimp, that came still whole and skewered on a plate, my taste buds were in heaven!  Another dish that always caught my eye was seafood soup.  Unlike most soups in the U.S., seafood soup in Indonesia was chock full of almost every type of seafood one could imagine, such as shrimp, crab, lobster, squid, scallops, etc.  Overall my trip had many highlights that topped any meal imaginable, but the seafood in South East Asia was one awesome aspect of my travels to a new and foreign land.

Award winning actress, country music star, and rapper, Gwyenth Paltrow is now trying her hand at a new trade: cooking. Over the summer the star that we know and love from blockbusters like Iron Man and Shakespeare in Love released her first ever cookbook, My Father’s Daughter, in honor of her departed father. Inspired by Bruce Paltrow’s love of food, along with the healthy/organic/unprocessed foods movement sweeping the nation, GP offers a collection of recipes meant to promote celebration and “togetherness.” After a section explaining how to use the book followed by GP’s guide to adequately stocking one’s pantry—don’t worry, suggestions for affordable substitutions are provided alongside the crazy ingredient list—the recipes are organized into eight sections: soups, salads, burgers and sandwiches, pastas, main courses, side dishes, breakfast, and desserts. Though some critics complain that, like her blog “goop,” GP’s cookbook is a little too preachy—presuming to tell us regular folks what we should be eating, without having the credentials to back up those claims—GP did have professional help from chef Julia Turshen. Other critics such as David Liebowitz and Kate Gerlach praise GP for her simple and tasty recipes, claiming that My Father’s Daughter would make a useful addition to anyone’s pantry. And with a foreword by Mario Batali professing Paltrow’s “passion for the delicious” it’s hard not to at least give My Father’s Daughter a chance. I’m happy to add her yummy Kale Chips, homemade Veggie Burgers, Lalo’s Famous Cookies, and Chicken Milanese to my recipe box.

“For me, it began as a love story,” translates Mbala, our professor on our GIEU (Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates) trip to Gabon.  Madame Rachiwa, an elderly Gabonese woman who is roughly 70, sat perched on a tree stub.  She held a large stalk of sugar cane in one hand as her other rested on a table of freshly harvested cacao and hand-processed coco as she began telling us her story.

Cacao, a native fruit to Gabon, is abundant within the country.  It is an oval-like yellow fruit that brings pleasure to millions worldwide in the form of chocolate.  I had never tried the actual fruit myself before visiting her plantation, and to my surprise it was remarkably refreshing and strikingly similar to mangosteen, a tropical fruit primarily found in Asia.  The flesh of the fruit is white and hangs tightly around an oval pit, where each piece is small and the cluster of pieces together is what makes up the fruit as a whole.  The fruit is broken apart into the individual pieces and left out to dry so only the pits remain.  From there, the pits are ground up and transformed into coco powder.  Once the pits are ground into this powder, a variety of different processes can be employed to make items such as chocolate bars, hot coco powder, coco butter, and more.  It is just the fruit that is needed first, then everything else, well, that comes later.

Madame Rachiwa grew up in a house stocked full of European imported chocolate.  She sat there smiling as she began explaining how she used to have such a sweet tooth she would often opt to spend her only money on chocolate instead of on staple foods, I mean, how many of us wouldn’t?  But the irony, she explained, was that as she ran around her garden with a chocolate bar in one hand, she and her siblings would throw the cacao fruits in her yard at one another not knowing that the sweets she ate so voraciously actually came from the fruits growing in her backyard. Eventually her parents explained to her that the two were one in the same, and that’s when she had her “ah-hah” moment.  Essentially, it was the moment that came to influence her whole future.

Madame Rachiwa has two plantations outside the town of Lambarene.  Our group went to visit her first business venture: a cacao plantation where she also grows star fruit, papaya, cassava, and pineapple.  The property is small in comparison to any industrialized farm; however, she is trying to process her own chocolate for distribution on site.  There are approximately five sheds used for drying the fruits, while the remainder of the process occurs in her kitchen.  The lack of financial support, employees, and machinery is stopping her from turning her plantation into a full-fledged business.  So what exactly is missing here? Well, this is why it is a bittersweet love story – the Gabonese government does not invest in local agriculture. 

Madame Rachiwa is not the only local trying to increase the scale of her work.  In fact, she is among many who work and strive to produce local agriculture for the Gabonese people.  However many farmers have already invested everything they have to make the business into what it is today and are now at a standstill because they can’t expand their farms enough to increase distribution and turn a profit.  The lack of government investment in local agriculture negatively affects the people in two ways – everything is imported and therefore far more expensive then it needs to be, and two, local farmers are losing money by simply trying to keep their farms afloat.  In a country where the climate permits everything to grow, these people have everything to gain if someone just gave them a helping hand.

As I sat there listening to her story and drinking the hot chocolate that was made fresh from her cacao, I realized that what she wanted most was simply to get her story out there.  So, for all and any of you interested in helping Madame Rachiwa spread her story or in directly contacting her with any ideas, I encourage you to take the initiative and spread the word.

As we move from summer into tailgate season it’s the perfect time to switch up some favorite backyard BBQ dishes to new and refreshing tailgating snacks.  One favorite of mine is the classic bowl of chips and salsa.  Chips and salsa are always a huge hit with everybody, and is especially exciting for me to see on the grazing table since I have to eat gluten free.  Also some major pluses to this easy appetizer (just 6 steps!) is that it can be thrown together at the last minute and is super cheap, making it affordable on any college budget.  Here’s an amazing salsa recipe that I had the other day at a BBQ and would be perfect before any Michigan victory!

Ingredients:
1 can white corn
1 can black beans
1 red onion
1 avocado
1 jar salsa
1 container of limejuice
Handful of cilantro

Steps:
1)     Chop cilantro (add amount to taste)
2)     Chop red onion into fine pieces 
3)     Slice avocado into fine pieces
4)     Rinse black beans in separate bowl
5)     In large bowl combine all ingredients and mix
6)     Enjoy!

What’s that?  Your parents are coming into town?  They want to take you out for a “nice” meal?  They want to celebrate “that” special occasion?  You get to pick the place?!  Any place at all?!  
Well, with great pleasure, I am proud to say that I was in this grand predicament over the weekend to celebrate my birthday.  I am honored that I had the privilege to dine in the fine establishments of The Chophouse and the Gandy Dancer all in one weekend.  Newsflash: These are some fine establishments.  And my experiences at them were overall satisfactory and an experience of grandeur that are perfect to celebrate that special day or occasion, especially if your parents are paying or if you are trying to impress a special someone.  Let’s begin the journey on Friday…

On Friday night, my friend’s cousin and uncle were visiting to prospectively look our great school, the University of Michigan.  I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to join my friend and his relatives for a meal at, that’s right, The Chophouse.  Upon entering, I instantly knew this would be dining experience that would not be forgotten.  The service was exceptional, almost to the point of being too exceptional.  But, my friend, his cousin and I made sure to reap the benefits of such prompt and sophisticated service.  The place every plate at the same exact time like a synchronized swim team that has practiced each movement to split second precision, they roll up your napkin as soon as it makes contact with the table, they escort you to the restroom, place the menus directly into your hands, and wipe the sweat from your brow (well, I’m sure they would…).  

The Chophouse’s menu was explained to complete precision that ensured all items were cooked to the proper liking of each individual dinner guest.  I decided to order the New York Strip Steak and ask for it medium rare as I would normally order a steak at a restaurant.  I have some experience ordering steak and places understand what medium rare means to a customer.  But, our waitress wanted to ensure the most exquisitely prepared steak that I had ever dined on in my young life.  She went on for about a minute trying to grasp what I meant by “medium rare”.  She asked about how I wanted the color to be around the bone, by the skin, in the center, the outer steak color, the char mark colors, the char mark pattern, the personality of my steak, and the name of it (ok, so the last few are stretching it, but you catch my drift).  The Chophouse wants each customer to truly savor and enjoy every moment of his or her dining experience and if that means detail to the point of confusion, so be it.  My steak was delicious.  It was cooked to perfection, juicy, moist, the perfect color, and the perfect personality.  I also split a very good salad with a wedge of romaine lettuce lightly warmed with bacon pieces, Gorgonzola cheese, and a light oil dressing that was absolutely splendid.  As for sides with the steaks, the classic sides of garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach was as good as any other restaurant.  But, the service combined with the perfectly cooked steak made for a really memorable experience.   

The weekend of fine dining did not end that Friday night.  On Sunday night, my parents treated me to a meal at the Gandy Dancer.  The atmosphere of the Gandy Dancer definitely is designed to impress with the beautiful architecture of the old train station morphed into a fancy dining establishment.  The menu consists of mainly seafood due to the Muer Restaurant Group that owns the establishment having a focus on fresh seafood items.  Originally hailing from Boston, my taste buds water for the taste of succulent seafood.  I am a very particular seafood eater (basically, it has to really, really good to impress me), and the Gandy Dancer did this for me overall.  We started the meal with escargot in a garlic and sun-dried tomato oil sauce served with a light puff pastry as well as mussels in a white wine sauce.  The escargot was delicious if you are into that snail stuff.  It could have used a little more garlic for my liking, but overall a good dish and based on the observation that every table ordered escargot as an appetizer, I most certainly recommend it.  The mussels were good for Michigan standards, but the white wine sauce could have used a slightly stronger kicker for those who do not truly enjoy mussels straight up (I personally love mussels and found the dish to be very well prepared).  Next, I ordered a bowl of New England Clam Chowdah (yes, Chowdah), my hometown favorite and nearly impossibly to impress with unless I see the clams pulled out of the ocean.  Yet, the Gandy Dancer pulled it off.  The chowder was rich, hearty, and the clams were well-sized with a strong flavor.  It is one of the better Clam Chowders I have had outside of the New England area.  And all of that was before my main course!  For my entrée, I ordered the Jumbo Sea Scallops with wild mushrooms, asparagus, and a puff pastry in a bacon cream sauce.  Despite having to send the dish back because it was only lukewarm, the dish was excellent.  Once it was prepared to my liking (maybe they should take lessons from the Chophouse’s staff), this was a delicious dish.  The scallops were large and rich and the accent of the wild mushroom combined with an extremely rich made it a heavy meal to eat, but one that I would highly recommend.  Just make sure to ask for it piping hot.  I also tried the lobster bisque (super rich, but a good flavor) and the cedar planked salmon, which was good for a salmon dish (I just refuse to order such a generic fish at restaurants).  Unfortunately, I was too stuffed to venture into the dessert department, but I regret not trying the cinnamon roll bread pudding.  All in all, the Gandy Dancer was another good fine dining experience that serves above average seafood for the Michigan area and I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a fancy place for your parents to take you to.  

After a weekend of fine dining, I absolutely think that every person should experience The Chophouse at least one time.  The Gandy Dancer was good, but not spectacular.  Yet, still a place to go to for a special occasion for a nice experience.  So whether it be your parents taking you out to dinner, or a place that you want to take that special someone, I highly recommend The Chophouse (if you want to dish out top dollar) and the Gandy Dancer (for a nice atmosphere, and pretty good seafood).  

An order of fried pickle chips; a four-meat combination platter with baby back ribs, Carolina pulled pork, smoked beef brisket, and smoked St. Louis style ribs with grits and bourbon black beans; a full order of pulled pork smoked macaroni and cheese; a chocolate chip cookie ice cream bar, and a fried doughnut bread pudding. Could you eat all that in one sitting?  

As Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother would say, “Challenge Accepted!”  Those were the words coming from my mouth when I went to the Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery on East Washington Street.  Originally, I was planning on eating a burger and maybe some fries, but I couldn’t pass up the competition proposed by my two friends.  Even our waitress was astonished at the massive amounts of succulent meats, sides, and barbequed delights that were brought out to the table (yes, she needed multiple serving trays).  When we asked how much the tray of food weighed, she estimated over fifteen pounds of food in just our entrées! 

Being the big eater that I am, and displaying my competitive instincts, the Man vs. Food challenge was on.  Right off the bat, I thought I could do it, but after a short period of time, the wrath of the meat kicked in via the meat sweats.  While I did not eat the entire mountain of food myself, I did finish my combination platter, half of the macaroni and cheese, and a majority of the desserts (especially the bread pudding).  About thirty minutes later and fighting the meat sweats, I could lean back in my bar stool against the wall with my plate cleared, unlatch my belt, and rest triumphantly, but nauseously-full.  Then, it was time for dessert.  The bread pudding was calling my name.  Despite my stuffed stomach, I succumbed to the sweetness of the doughnut bread pudding and ate the entire dessert.  Since my friend could not finish the cookie-ice cream, I felt obligated to finish that, too.  The painful walk home from the Blue Tractor with about six extra pounds of weight in my body felt like an eternity, but I miraculously made it to my couch to bask in glory and fullness for the night.      

While living in Germany this summer, I was neighbors with a girl named Solenia from Bologna, Italy.  And as I have a slight obsession with Italians, Italian food, and basically anything that comes out of Italy, I always hounded her for recipes.  She made a lot of great dishes, but the best—by far—was her bruschetta.  Thankfully, she gave me her recipe!  I’ve converted it out of the metric system (I don’t think anyone wants to try to measure out tomatoes in grams), and attached the recipe at the end of the article.  

Before Christmas break, a few friends and I decided to try our hands at re-making the bruschetta.  Since Solenia’s recipe was for feeding a big group (it called for sixteen Roma tomatoes), we cut it in half and used eight.  We diced the tomatoes, and combined them with the basil, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and mozzarella.  We chopped the garlic separately and kept it to the side. 
A lot of bruschetta recipes call for putting the bread and tomato mix in the oven once you’ve put the mozzarella on top, which is the way I’d always made bruschetta.  But when I first tried Solenia’s bruschetta and asked her if she ever melted the mozzarella, she looked genuinely confused.  She said that in Bologna they never melted the cheese, or warmed up the bread with the tomatoes…eh, I guess it must be an American thing.   So, we left the oven off.
The last two steps were to slice the bread and add the garlic.  Solenia’s bruschetta tactics were to keep the bread in a loaf as long as she could, and then slice it right before serving to keep it fresh.

And then, finally, we put it all together.   We put the tomato mix in a bowl and sprinkled the garlic on top. In Italy, bruschetta isn’t served with the tomatoes already on the bread.  Instead, it’s served with the sliced bread and a bowl of the tomato mix.    It turned out great, and I’d definitely recommend it.  The dish gave us a yummy taste of Italy during Michigan’s snowy winter.  Buon Appetito!  

Solenia’s Bruschetta Recipe: (for big groups!)

--16 Roma tomatoes, chopped
--3 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar
--5 or 6 cloves of garlic, minced (or more if you’re a big garlic fan!)
--about ½ teaspoon of salt
-- a little over ½ cup of olive oil
--1/2 cup of basil, fresh
--about 4 cups of mozzarella, cut into thin slices
--two (or three) fresh baguettes
--fresh pepper (optional)

1. Combine the tomatoes, salt, olive oil, vinegar, basil and mozzarella in a bowl.  Stir until mixed, and then set aside.  
   
2. Slice the baguette…as near to serving-time as possible!
   
3. Sprinkle the garlic on top of the tomato mixture, and spoon the mixture onto the baguette slices.
   
4. Finally, grind some fresh pepper on top.  Enjoy!

The subtle buzzing of the name “Frita Batidos” has floated around in the Ann Arbor ethos for months now. 

But, you may ask, what is a frita? And, for that matter, what’s a batido? 

Well, I went to Frita Batidos to find the answers to those questions.

What is a frita?
A frita is a spicy chorizo burger with shoestring fries on brioche (a soft egg bun). They have a beef, turkey, fish, and vegetarian black bean version as well. Each comes with a fancy mayonnaise (sweet chili, lemon-scented, and chipotle, respectively), and there are extras like coleslaw or a fried egg. 

To my dismay, I went to Frita Batidos on a Saturday at 12:30 p.m., and was only able to order off of the breakfast menu. The choices quickly placated me, and I ordered a Cuban omelet. Like the most stylish cafeteria you’ve ever seen, a rectangular metal dish with a large leaf held the omelet, black beans, and a chunky, fresh salsa. It was stuffed with picadillo, a ground beef mixture with plenty of cheese and a sweet flavor, which a passing waitress explained was from marmalade. I could not have been happier. 

What is a batido?
A batido is a very thick milk shake made with fresh fruit and sweetened milk. I ordered the sour orange flavor, in honor of my study abroad experience in the Yucatan, where they were ubiquitous ingredients in the home remedies I studied. 

I could not believe the sweet and sour flavor! It was pretty gritty, though, which was probably from the sugar. The whole meal was excessively rich. I have learned not to order a batido and a dish while thinking I can get away with eating both. Even two hours after I had left, I was still trying to drink it. “Milk shake” definitely does not do the batido justice. 

What’s up with these tables?
I particularly enjoyed the informality and unusual tables. The long picnic benches or bar seating created a community experience unlike that around most American restaurant tables. Talking to your neighbors, sharing water with them, and asking them to pass down napkins or sauces was the opposite of a place in which you are not really supposed to hear the table next to you. The beautiful white coloring and carefully chosen details were charming. I can’t wait to go back!

Who created this amazing experience? 
Eve Aronoff, the owner of eve, the recently closed Ann Arbor restaurant, is behind Frita Batidos. She brings the same concern she had at Eve for quality ingredients, using specially roasted coffees and local meats. We even caught a glimpse of her quickly returning to the kitchen! 

Aronoff doesn’t have that “Cuban” ring to it… 
According to the philosophy posted on the wall, she is not. But her grandmother lived in Miami, and, “The Cuban and more broadly Latino cultures became a major influence in [her] style of cooking.”  I took my first trip to Miami over this winter break with my family, and I was reminded of that area in the south of Florida immediately after walking in. There were Latino influences (such as hammocks of limes hanging by the tables), but also a sense of overall cosmopolitanism very reminiscent of that culturally diverse area. This is southern Michigan, and the mere existence of the originality, great ingredients, and delicious dishes at Frita Batidos made it Cuban enough for me.