Evening restaurants offer wide variety for hungry student body

By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Staff Reporter

Picture it: It's the middle of October, every University professor has scheduled midterms for the same two days and it's Parents Weekend.

As students try to juggle studying with quality visiting time with their families, one thought is the most prevalent: free food.

But where is the best place to scam a free meal? Well, for just such occasions, here's a little guide to some of the restaurants in Ann Arbor.

BD's Mongolian Barbecue: This all-you-can-eat feast, coupled with its unique serving style, makes Mongolian one of the most enjoyable restaurants in Ann Arbor. A buffet-style bar loaded with raw meat and toppings awaits the patrons. Diners fill up bowls with a choice of beef, lamb, pork, poultry, tofu or seafood, load on top fresh vegetables, oils, spices and seasonings. Then they bring their creation to the grill where it is cooked with long wooden sticks and given back to the diner to eat along with a tortilla and rice. While Mongolian is a little pricey - figure about $15 per person for dinner, a drink and tip - it is an all-you-can-eat restaurant and if patrons can eat at least three bowls, they're getting their money's worth. Located in the heart of downtown at the corner of Main Street and Washington Street, Mongolian doesn't take reservations, so arrive early and anticipate a wait.

STEVE GERTZ/Daily Palio is just one of many Italian restaurants available to the Ann Arbor diner. Located at the corner of Main Street and William across from Gratzi, Palio offers an extensive menu with outdoor seating available during the summer months. Inside the restaurant, the decor is true to its Italian roots as the feel of an Italian household dominates the decor.

Mountain Jack's: This is a typical steak house. It offers a wide variety of steaks, from sirloins to filet mignons, cooked to order. Although it offers nothing unique or different from the average steak house, the food is delicious. Located on the outskirts of town on Maple Road, any meat-lover would love Mountain Jack. Besides meat, the menu offers a full complement of chicken and seafood, but if you are a vegetarian, this isn't for you - there are no veggie meals on the menu.

West End Grill: This small restaurant, right downtown on Liberty Street, is one of Ann Arbor's hidden treasures. Although extremely expensive - an appetizer and an entree will cost about $30 - the West End Grill offers some of the best food in Ann Arbor. The atmosphere is ideal for a date - soft lighting, candles at the table. Offering what they term a "New American Cuisine" - mostly steak and seafood, but featuring sauces with an asian influence -the West End Grill offers a very short menu. Entrees range from asian salmon to chillian sea bass to steak stuffed with lobster and langastinos, all are excellent and interestingly prepared. But be careful, the West End Grill is only open for dinner and is closed Sunday and Monday.

Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger: Although not really a restaurant, no review on food in Ann Arbor would be complete without mentioning Blimpy's. Offering the greasiest and greatest burgers in Ann Arbor, this hamburger stand has a unique method of preparing its burger. Rather than making one large patty, Blimpy's makes several patties per burger.

When ordering, customers specify how many patties, beginning with double up to the quint burger. Crazy Jim's slogan is "Cheaper than food," and it is pretty cheap - five bucks will buy a triple burger, fries and a drink. But be careful - patrons have said that while eating, it is possible to feel your arteries tightening, and unofficial studies suggest that going more than once a month just could be detrimental to good health.

Cottage Inn: Although Cottage Inn is a pizza restaurant, it is anything but run-of-the-mill. Although you can get 'normal' pizza, their brick-oven specialty pizzas, such as barbecue chicken pizza, are what they are known for. In addition to pizza, Cottage Inn has a relatively complete Italian menu including assorted pastas and lasagna. Be sure to make a reservation, though, because without one, the wait can be as long as an hour.

Gandy Dancer: This upscale restaurant - built inside of the old train station on Depot Street - is ideal for special occasions such as a post-graduation family dinner. The Gandy Dancer is known for its Sunday brunch, which has everything from Belgian waffles to shrimp. The dinner menu isn't too shabby, either, featuring a typical menu, with a solid selection of chicken, fish and meat.

Red Hawk Grill: The best thing about this restaurant is its location - situated right at the corner of State Street and North University. Red Hawk is in walking distance from anywhere on campus and a great place to meet people for lunch. Their menu consists primarily of sandwiches and burgers.

Grizzly Peak: Besides being an excellent restaurant, Grizzly Peak, located downtown on Washington Street, has the added bonus of brewing its own beer on site. The menu is very diverse - you can get anything from a chicken sandwich to a great hamburger with a side of their unique cole slaw, made with green onion, red and yellow peppers, cabbage and carrots and their honey-jalapeno vinaigrette.

The atmosphere at Grizzly Peak is good for a date - not quite upscale but fancier than the most of the restaurants in Ann Arbor.

09-08-98