Zingerman’s is a cottage industry in Ann Arbor, Michigan centered around quality food. It is easily one of my favorite things about my oldest daughter’s college town.
Zingerman’s began as a non-kosher deli in 1992 founded by two men, neither of whom are named Zingerman. The original deli space is a small fraction of what now constitutes the delicatessen. When you enter the building, a counter selling many varieties of delicious bread is on the right, while their display case with an amazing selection of cheeses and meats is on the left. I can honestly say that for the first several trips I made there, I was never able to leave without spending at least $100 on goodies to bring home. The deli offers far more than that, though. Gourmet olive oils, salts, their own blend of pepper, their own roasted coffee… Well, it would be ridiculous to try to name what they carry. You would have to see it to understand it fully.
That would be enough, but being a deli they also sell sandwiches. And what sandwiches! Would you mistake them for a sandwich from a New York deli? No, they are not that overloaded, but they are a meal unto themselves and I have never had one that was not delicious. Oprah Winfrey once described their beef brisket sandwich by saying, “It’s an 11 on a scale of 1-5.”
When I first visited Zingerman’s, they also owned a building alongside the deli which primarily sold coffees and desserts and which also provided seating. In 2011, they were able to get zoning approval to vastly expand the size of their business. There is now ample seating whereas it used to sometimes be crowded.
What really makes Zingerman’s great is the care they take in curating their offerings. The company has grown into a true community of businesses under the Zingerman’s flagship. The delicious bread I mentioned is all made at the Zingerman’s bakery. Most of the desserts they serve are also made in-house. They also have Zingerman’s creamery where they make their own gelato and some cheeses. They roast their own coffees.
For a foodie, it’s paradise.
For Christmas, my daughter and her husband, who met at the University of Michigan, gave me a selection of foods from the deli.
G’s Granola has long been a favorite. When I first started buying it many years ago, it was sold packaged in a Mason jar.
If you look closely at the packaging on the Salt and Pepper Peanuts, you will see they were made by Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory, another of the Zingerman’s businesses. The peanuts are candied and have a bit of bite to them (though not too much) as they are made with Zingerman’s own “5 Star Black Pepper Blend.”
The candy division started a few years ago when the owners started thinking candy bars could be handcrafted instead of mass-produced for a superior product. The first candy bar they introduced was the Zzang! Their own description will say it better than I can. The candy bar-maker “starts with honey nougat made with natural peanut butter. He rolls it up in silky caramel made from organic muscovado brown sugar. Big Virginia peanuts come next, and the whole endeavor is finished off with a dip into a rich bath of 64 percent dark Colombian chocolate.”
The gift was a bag with six smaller versions of their candy bars, so it also includes others like the Ca$hew Cow, What the Fudge?, Raspberry Wowza, and Peanut Butter Crush bars. I will be taking my time to savor those.
My daughter and her family recently moved back to the Midwest after seven years in New York City and are living in a town near Ann Arbor. Of course, I am excited to have her, my son-in-law, grandson, and soon-to-arrive granddaughter within a much easier drive, but I am certainly not upset to have an excuse to be visiting close to Zingerman’s upon occasion!
By the way, they do an enormous mail order business. Even if you don’t think you would ever order anything, their information-packed website is definitely worth the visit for the whimsical artwork alone!
