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Appleby’s Farmhouse Cheshire and Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon
A beautiful bit of British comfort food
to cook up at home!

A beautiful bit of British comfort food
to cook up at home!

I learned about this wonderful bit of British comfort food from David Lockwood, one-time Deli staff member, now long-time partner at Neal’s Yard Dairy (NYD) in London—through whom we get these wondrous wheels—selected specifically for us. David was so enthused that I couldn’t ignore his advice, and, as usual, he was right on. This combination is terrific!

This simple but delicious dish all begins with the exceptionally excellent Appleby’s Farmhouse Cheshire. The Deli just cut into a particularly tasty new wheel, specially selected for us by David and the NYD crew—which is why it’s been on my mind of late. It’s been nearly three decades now that we’ve been selling the Appleby family’s very fine farmhouse Cheshire cheese at the Deli. I first visited Abbey Farm at Hawkstone—about halfway between Birmingham and Liverpool—where Lucy Appleby was making her now-famous raw milk, traditional Cheshire, sometime in the late ’80s.

Best I can remember, I kind of just showed up at their centuries-old farmhouse. Remember back then there was no email, no cell phones, no websites. Just books, paper maps, and word of mouth! I had read about them in the writings of artisan cheese supporter Major Patrick Rance and was eager to experience the Cheshire in its home. Mrs. Appleby, already in her late ’60s at the time, invited me in to watch the cheesemaking, and then later that day to sit in the kitchen for tea, a bit of talking, and of course, some cheese tasting. The Cheshire she was making—true to what had been crafted in the county for so many centuries—was exceptional. It was then, and remains now, one of a kind, little known or understood outside of a handful of folks in the know.

For context, at the time I knocked on the Appleby’s door, there was almost no British farmhouse cheese available in the U.S. And, in fact, truly traditional cheese was on the verge of going extinct in the U.K. Cheshire had once been the most popular cheese in England—150 years ago there were thousands of makers in the area. Sadly, though, as our friends at Neal’s Yard Dairy share: “By the end of the war, only 44 farmhouse Cheshire cheesemakers remained. In view of such challenging market conditions, the story of the Appleby family is quite remarkable.”

In the context of what I wrote above, it’s clear that the Appleby family have repeatedly chosen hope, countless times, over all the many years they’ve been doing this. I can only imagine how difficult it was to continue to do the hard work to craft a difficult-to-make artisan cheese when literally everyone else was going in the opposite direction—it was nearly impossible to find retailers who would stock it or places and people who were willing to pay much more to get this handcrafted traditional version of one of Britain’s oldest cheeses. Every time I eat a bit I’m deeply grateful that they did.

The quote above from Historian Yuval Noah Harari’s statement, “Choices change history” is just as true in the cheese world as anywhere else. In this case, one person’s decision to choose hope, at a time when the artisan food world was at a historical low point, played an important part in helping the Appleby’s to do what they have done. Major Patrick Rance ran a small cheese shop in Streatley-on-Thames and became a passionate campaigner for the cause of traditional British cheese. Rance’s Great British Cheese Book came out the year we opened, 1982, and it served as a sign of hope for frustrated cheesemakers like the Applebys. Years later, Christine Appleby, Lancy and Lucy’s daughter, declared, “If it hadn’t been for him, we’d have given up years ago. He was the flagship of British cheese.”

Thanks to all of the decisions to opt for hope, we all have the chance to enjoy this tasty treat! To make this little combo, it only takes a couple of minutes. Cook a couple slices of bacon per person—Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon is always awesome. When the bacon is cooked but not crispy, crumble on a bit of the Appleby’s Farmhouse Cheshire. Cover it for a minute or so, until the cheese softens but doesn’t totally melt. Take out with a spatula and eat!

I like to also put it on a toasted Bakehouse brioche roll to make my own version of a British BLT. You can also add a fried egg, and a bit of lettuce, tomato, and mayo! As per what I wrote about extensively in “A Taste of Zingerman’s Food Philosophy,” it’s the coming together of simple, super quality, traditionally made ingredients to make for one impressively tasty treat.

Cheshire cheese, please
Better get some bacon

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Paw paw gelato from the creamery.

America’s secret fruit shows up on the Southside

It was nearly 20 years ago that we started the project to make Paw Paw Gelato at the Creamery. At the time, hardly anyone in Ann Arbor knew this old American fruit. Today, I’m happy to say, paw paws are getting more and more popular! I’ve seen them in half a dozen shops around town. And we now have a good number of fans waiting for our annual autumn release of this super tasty gelato. I’m happy for paw paw’s increasing popularity. It’s the kind of traditional, delicious food with a great story that we love to work with. In the context of what I wrote last week about awe and wonder, the paw paw is pretty much a perfect example of the wealth of wonder-ful foods and drinks we get to work with every day.

Once upon a time, paw paws were very popular and far easier to find around these parts. Native to North America, they have been known historically by a range of wonderful monikers: Prairie Banana, Hoosier Banana, Indiana Banana, Poor Man’s Banana, Quaker Delight, and Hillbilly Mango. Paw paw trees are about 10 to 20 feet in height with long dark green, sort of droopy-eared leaves and the largest edible fruit that grows in North America. They look a bit like a mango, but with pear green-colored flesh. The fruits are ripe when their skin gets a bit darker and the perfume is more pronounced. One reason that paw paws pretty much disappeared is that, like many great heirloom varieties, it’s hard to grow, has a very low yield, and the fruit one does get requires a lot of handwork to process. Thanks to a couple of local farmers and the Creamery crew, the rest of us can just stick our spoon in and enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Even after a decade of doing this special gelato annually, most folks we encounter are still unfamiliar with this fruit. That said, it has slowly but surely built ever more fans! One of them is Roadhouse bartender Cori Scharmin: “It’s so freaking good! It tastes like a tropical fruit but it’s from here in Michigan. A little mango and it’s really banana-y. It’s really good and really different! I love it!” To my taste, the Paw Paw Gelato is slightly citrusy, kind of custardy, a bit like passion fruit and Cherimoya with a little hint of lime, a touch of vanilla, papaya, and ripe pear. Serious Eats said it’s “a riot of mango-banana-citrus that’s incongruous with its temperate, deciduous forest origins.”

You can get the Paw Paw Gelato at the Cream Top Shop (by the Bakehouse on Plaza Drive), the Roadhouse, and the Deli. Better still, ship some gelato to your cousin in California where paw paws will be an unknown culinary delight. Ask for a taste for sure next time you see us! Pairs beautifully with the Gingerbread Coffee Cake as well!

Pick up a paw paw pint
P.S. The city of Paw Paw, Michigan is named for the fruit. It’s also the place where Malinda Russell was living when she authored A Domestic Cook Book back in 1866. It was the first such book published by a Black woman. Russell is featured in Patrick-Earl Barnes’ “Blacks in Culinary” art piece at the Roadhouse and is also featured in the center of the terrific t-shirt we made from Patrick-Earl’s piece—I get many compliments on it every time I wear it! Proceeds from the shirt go to the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County.

 

 Check out all of the Creamery’s gelato flavors

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A beginners guide to Zingerman's Roadshow.

 A Beginner’s Guide 

Have you ever pulled up to Zingerman’s Roadhouse and wondered what the silver tea-pot-looking thing is in the front? That’s Zingerman’s Roadshow! It was established in 2004 as the to-go destination for Zingerman’s Roadhouse. The silver 1952 vintage Spartan trailer attached to the front of the Roadhouse today is a destination for drive-through Zingerman’s fans. Would we be Zingerman’s if we did not serve our guests their latte and croissant in style?  

 The Roadshow has come a long way over the years, and some are new to its charms, so here is a beginner’s guide to Zingerman’s Roadshow. Come along as we walk you through some insider tips, fun facts, and the best ways you can fully take advantage of what Zingerman’s Roadshow has to offer.  
  

Check out the menu online before arriving  

  The first tip of the beginner’s guide to Zingerman’s Roadshow is that we highly recommend looking at the menu before arriving to maximize your experience. The Roadshow, not your typical drive through, with a menu board and loudspeaker, offers the convenience of enjoying high quality artisan food from the comfort of your car and on-the-go.  It would be best to call ahead, pre-order, then pick up your order at the drive through. This will save you time and let you enjoy great food with little to no waiting time upon arrival. 

  No worries though if you are unable to call ahead to place an order. If you want a quick coffee and snack, then ordering right at the window of the Roadshow works great as well! Walk up guests can order from the Roadhouse Express menu. Did you know there are two menus to choose from at the Roadshow? There is the Roadshow and Roadhouse Express menu that can be found in one place. Check out the express menu here. That leads us to our next point, the menu.
 

 Which menu should I order from?  

  The Roadshow menu items are prepared more quickly in the Roadshow itself, and are for our guests who want a quick bite. Guests who are using our drive through may wish to order from the Roadshow menu. The Roadshow also offers the Roadhouse Express menu, which includes items from the main-in-house menu that can be prepared in a shorter amount of time. Food from this menu will be served to you in 30 minutes or less. Guests who order from our walk-up window, who wish to dine in the Roadhouse Park, or who would like to order from the Roadhouse menu but do not want to wait too long may wish to order from the Roadhouse Express menu.

 What to do when you arrive to the Roadshow
 

Now that you know all the amazing and tasty food options available, what do you do when you first arrive at Zingerman’s Roadshow? At the Roadshow, you are guaranteed to receive personalized and friendly service. For your convenience, there is no need to get out of your vehicle. When you arrive at the Roadhouse, just pull around to the Zingerman’s Roadshow. Staff will come out to your window and take your order.  

 You can expect your food to arrive in between five and six minutes when ordering a quick bite. If there is a need for a longer time, guests can pull into designated parking spots and receive their food in 30 minutes or less. Right across the parking lot there is the Roadhouse Park. Even though full service from the Roadhouse is not offered at the Park, it is the perfect way to have an office day to just work and relax in a pleasant atmosphere with delicious food. With the warmer weather, you can order to-go and enjoy your meal outside. After placing your to-go order from the Roadshow walk-up window, our staff will bring your order out to you in the Park when it is ready.

 

Breakfast Options at the Roadshow  

The Roadshow is open at 7am seven days a week. The Roadshow breakfast menu is served from 7am to 11am daily. If you arrive for the Roadshow breakfast, there are plenty of to-go options. Their famous breakfast burrito, the Diez y Uno, is a menu item that you will be sure to love. It is made to order with farm fresh eggs, green chiles, Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, and Ig Vella’s Monterey Jack cheese, all wrapped in a tortilla. Did you know that the Roadshow sells about 1000 burritos per month? It is safe to say, the breakfast burrito is a must-try when you visit the Roadshow for breakfast. Never be afraid to order extra bacon as well! In need of breakfast for your little one? No problem. Your kiddo can dig into the Kid’s Breakfast Burrito, just a smaller version of the Die z y Uno without the chiles. Perfect for those smaller appetites!

Another popular option is the Smoked Salmon Bagel, layered with hand-ladled Zingerman’s Creamery cream cheese, smoked salmon, and your choice of healthy toppings, such as capers, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion. All served on a toasted bagel of your choice.  

If you are in need of a speedy snack to kick start your day, snag some of the Breakfast Noshers, such as toast from the Roadshow. Feast on artisanal bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse baked fresh every morning and toasted to perfection, spread with farm butter or with organic peanut butter. The Roadshow can make toast from any kind of specialty Bakehouse bread available that day, just ask about our offerings!

 The breakfast pastries are sure to not disappoint. Enjoy a large assortment of Zingerman’s Bakehouse pastries made fresh and ready to serve every morning to you with a smile. Find your favorite from our extensive list of Croissants, Cinnamon Rolls, Scones, and more! Fun fact, at 5pm, these delicious pastries are 50% off. Who can say no to that? 

You can also indulge in the hand-made coffee cakes made with love by Zingerman’s Bakehouse. These coffee cakes can be enjoyed by the slice or grab a whole one for the road. Sour Cream, Hot Cocoa, Lemon Poppyseed, and a special seasonal flavor are all options you can choose from.  

The Breakfast Sammie, made with farm-fresh scrambled eggs, Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, and melted Cabot cheddar cheese served on either toast, a brioche bun, or freshly baked butter croissant, is another delicious breakfast option.

It gets even better! Quench your thirst with a wide selection of beverages such as a classic cappuccino or latté, Rhode Island Coffee Milk, or fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemonade. Prefer your coffee drink flavored? We make all our syrups in house! The Roadshow uses espresso and coffee exclusively from Zingerman’s Coffee Company.

Guests can create their own drink as well. All staff have gone through Zingerman’s Coffee Company training, how to pull and serve espresso, and how to taste the coffee and rate it so you can be sure your coffee will taste great!

Lunch and Dinner Options at the Roadshow 

Enjoying all the yummy breakfast options? Let’s dive into the lunch and dinner menu. Served from 11am until close at 9pm, there are lots of delicious options such as the house-made Tuna Melt using line-caught tuna salad, melted with Chalet Swiss cheese, served on toasted Bakehouse sourdough bread. 

Need something hearty but quick? Our Sea Island Sweet Potato Fries, made with sweet potatoes hand-cut and twice cooked served with house-made spicy mayonnaise, is a popular option. Did you know we can make them gluten-free? The Roadhouse Garden Salad, a refreshing healthy option, made with organic mixed greens, topped with cucumbers, carrots, and house-made salt-and-pepper croutons, with your choice of dressing on the side.  

The Roadhouse Macaroni & Cheese is a huge favorite as well, available on the Express Menu. House-made béchamel sauce and lots of Cabot cheddar cheese caramelized with Mancini pasta. You can never go wrong with this cheesy goodness.  

  A BBQ Pork Sandwich, pit-smoked pork dressed with Eastern North Carolina BBQ sauce on a brioche bun with yellow mustard coleslaw, or a Turkey Cucumber Wrap made with Sy Ginsberg’s sliced turkey breast, sliced cucumber, lettuce, and house-made ranch dressing wrapped up in a flour tortilla, are all wonderful options that can be made to order from the drive through window of the Roadshow.  

 Who knew delicious food like a Carolina Gold Rice Bowl, made with Anson Mills’ Carolina Gold rice topped with the Roadhouse pit-smoked pork, tasty Millican Texas pecans, seasonal pickled veggies, fresh avocado slices, and garnished with the famous Roadhouse Red Rage BBQ sauce, can be ordered on-the-go?  

How to stay connected 

Hopefully, this guide to Zingerman’s Roadshow will help you navigate the to-go destination for the Roadhouse. Our rule of thumb, if you want a main meal, dine at the Roadhouse. If you are looking for a quick coffee and snack, then you can order right at the window of the Roadshow. 

Stay up to date with all things Roadhouse and Roadshow by subscribing to the newsletter. See you soon at Zingerman’s Roadshow! 

Follow us on social media, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, @zingermanscommunity.

Sour cream coffee cake gelato from the Creamery. Super-tasty Zingerman’s synergy by the spoonful!

In the interest of organizational health and well-being, I’m almost always thinking of win-win ways to bring together different parts of our diverse organization. I’m not sure who actually first thought of this one, but I love it! What if you take the Bakehouse award-winning, nationally renowned, Sour Cream Coffee Cake (featured on the cover of Zingerman’s Bakehouse!) and then blend it into really great gelato from the Creamery. What a wonderfully tasty way to sweeten up your day!

Thirty-something years ago, I remember we mixed the batter for the very first Zingerman’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake in the tiny prep kitchen in the basement of the Deli. Then, and now, it’s made with lots of butter, sour cream, Indonesian Korintje cinnamon, fresh eggs, toasted walnuts, and really good real vanilla. All these years later, the Bakehouse bakes thousands of them a year and Mail Order ships a literal ton. The Deli, Roadhouse, and Coffee Company sell a fair few, and we wholesale them to dozens of other pastry-loving cafés and retailers.

The coffeecake has long been one of those products that lots of people seem to love. Kids love it, pastry chefs love it. All age groups, religions, races, and political persuasions are apparently agreed on its excellence. Not only that, but it can be eaten happily any time of the day—with a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast, as a snack, for dessert after lunch, or dinner. If you’re looking to bring a gift to someone’s house or ship something from Zingerman’s to someone you love or look up to, the Sour Cream Coffee Cake could well be a wonderful option.

Here, Lexi Stand and the lovely crew at the Creamery have created a super-tasty, cinnamon-scented, coffee cake-laden gelato that you can eat by the spoonful after dinner! Ask for a taste next time you’re in! It’s the perfect way to have your cake, eat it, and your gelato too! Sip a cup of Tree Town Blend and savor a spoonful of this delightful dessert! Or do as Jenny Tubbs of Zingerman’s Press does—pop a scoop of the gelato atop a bowl of artisan oatmeal! It’s shockingly good! The Sour Cream Coffee Cake Gelato is at the Creamery’s Cream Top Shop.

Check out all of the Creamery’s gelato flavors

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Photo of Grace Singleton Headshot

We’re governing with grace… and Grace (Grace Singleton, that is!)

“Is Zingerman’s still run by its founders?” you ask. That’s a great question. We’ll answer with a tale, both old and new (just like our pickles!). What began with the Delicatessen, founded in 1982 by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, now includes 11 food and service businesses, 18 managing partners, 800 employees, and a council of leaders among leaders (hang tight, we’ll explain that in a minute).

An Overview of Zingerman’s Governance

Since 1994, the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB) has been steered by our Partners Group (PG), a group that includes Ari and Paul, the ZCoB’s managing partners (the individual business owner-operators), and staff partners (staff members who own a Community Share; they serve two-year terms). As Ari explains:

It’s where we govern the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses—we use consensus decision-making there to lead the organization. The PG makes decisions on organization-wide issues, like deciding to approve our new 2032 Vision or our new Statement of Beliefs. Or if there was, in a strange sci-fi sort of scenario, just for conversation’s sake, let’s say a global pandemic, the PG is where we would decide how to deal with it.

One important piece that the 2032 Vision outlines is the ZCoB’s evolution of governance:

… we’ve seen a successful transition from Ari and Paul as founders heading the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB) to a mode of governance that will last beyond the tenure of any individual. While long-time ZCoB leaders continue in important roles, a couple of new “generations” of insightful, collaborative folks have stepped forward.

That mode of governance is the Zingerman’s Stewardship Council, a five-member group created in 2020 as part of a succession plan to transition the leadership of the organization from its founders to the other managing partners. To be clear, the Partners Group isn’t going anywhere, rather, as Ari says, “The Stewardship Council is filling the role Paul and I have filled for many years as ‘leaders among leaders.’” He adds:

Our main focus in doing this work with the Stewardship Council is, by far and away, looking at how we can do what we do here at Zingerman’s ever more effectively. We want it to be a way to help lead the ZCoB in becoming an ever-bigger contributor to the community of which we’re a part. We want to support succession and inspire future success. We’re committed to creating a governance model that will help both the organization and everyone in it to thrive for many decades to come.

Photos of the stewardship council members.

The original council members include Amy Emberling, Zingerman’s Bakehouse co-managing partner; Toni Morell, Zingerman’s Mail Order co-managing partner; Tom Root, Zingerman’s Mail Order co-managing partner; Ron Maurer, Zingerman’s Chief Administrative Officer and Zingerman’s Service Network managing partner; and Ari Weinzweig. Council members serve three-year terms, and just like the Partners Group, decisions are made using consensus. In June of 2023, we reached the end of the first set of three-year terms. The Council has been designed so that one of these original managing partners will come off each year—the first was Ron Maurer who has his eye on retirement in 2023 after more than two decades with the organization—and a new one is selected. Ari explains how that happens:

Our agreed-upon process for selecting members is that Paul and I, as co-founding partners, consult with our staff partners (since they’re not eligible to be on the Council) and others whose views we value, to make the decision. After a LOT of conversation, and honoring what we believe is the best decision for the organization, we chose the next member. 

This time, Ari and Paul offered the spot to Grace Singleton, co-managing partner of Zingerman’s Deli since 2004. Grace knew from the beginning that she was destined for a life full of food (and she may or may not have thought the food industry would be glamorous thanks to a New Orleans restaurant where she received special treatment, sitting at the captain’s table and sampling Frangelico (a hazelnut liquor) at the age of 13!).  Grace received her culinary degree at Paul Smith’s College in New York and managed restaurants across Ohio (we don’t hold this against her) and Michigan.

She found her way to Ann Arbor for the role of general manager at the Gandy Dancer and became a fan of Zingerman’s Deli. Eventually, she made the jump, calling it “the very best job in the food industry,” and in 2004, she stepped up from retail manager to co-managing partner. Since then, Grace has overseen the gold level LEED-certified Deli expansion project (2010–2014), the opening of Zingerman’s Greyline event space (2016), the addition of virtual tasting events for fans around the country (2021), and more, all while continuing to lead the day-to-day of Deli catering and retail specialty foods. (Impressive, right?!) Of this new role and her latest opportunity to impact the Zingerman’s organization and the Ann Arbor community, she says:

I’ve been here for more than 20 years and I’m really invested in the transition of our CEO’s roles. Ari in particular set the stage with his dedication to doing business differently and how we govern is an important part of that. I look forward to working toward our future with this committed group.

Want to read more? Ari wrote about Grace’s addition to the Council and the work of the Stewardship Council in Ari’s Top 5, his weekly e-newsletter, saying, “Success leads to succession work which, when done well, helps create more success. It’s a very virtuous and very inspiring cycle to be a part of.”

Fried Chicken Mac & Cheese at the Roadhouse.

A perfect pairing comes together

In Secret #39, in Part 3, Managing Ourselves, I wrote a whole essay about creativity. It was a subject that, oddly, in all our many years in business, I’d given little thought to until, suddenly, during the economic collapse of 2009 and ’10, we started getting a bunch of requests for me to do a keynote talk on the subject. The curious thing is that, in all my years here, I’d never once taught anything about creativity. In truth, I was stumped. I felt like fleeing, but instead, I started studying. My creative inquiry into creativity eventually evolved into the 53-page essay, “Creating Creativity” which was published as Secret #39!

One of my big learnings in my study of the subject was that creativity is mostly about connections. Not necessarily who you know, but about putting things together in ways that they haven’t otherwise been combined. In my love for simple models that help me—and maybe you—get my mind around complex concepts without dishonoring the natural complexity of the world around us, I started to look at three kinds of creativity:

  1. “Creativity Forward” – The easiest example to share might be high-tech innovation. Back in 1982, Open Book Management would have an example as well.
  2. “Creativity Back” – We do a lot of this here in the ZCoB. It would include finding old, unused, or under-used ideas and putting them back to work. The Bakehouse’s fresh milling and the Creamery’s handmade Cream Cheese are two easy examples.
  3. “Creativity Sideways” – Here’s what I wrote about it in the essay:

    [Creativity sideways] generally seems to come in two forms. Often, it’s merely finding something that’s commonplace within its own culture but, when introduced into unfamiliar territory, is transformed into an attention-getting, creative act. … We do a lot of this sideways creative work at Zingerman’s. … The Hungarian foods we’re working on at the Bakehouse would certainly fit.

    The other sort of sideways shift of creativity comes when two already well-accepted ideas or ways of working are put together in a totally new way, resulting in an innovative approach or product. … The classic historical example is of Gutenberg using wine press technology to print books … using Emma Goldman’s ideas to help run a progressive 21st-century business.

It’s this last kind of creativity that I’m thinking about here. The story goes back about 15 years now. In one of those unintended moments of connection, I was standing by the buffet table at ZingTrain after folks had happily consumed a lunch catered by the Roadhouse. I can’t recall which seminar I was teaching that day, but I do remember that down near the far end of the table were two of those big foil pans used to hold hot food. One had held a whole bunch of the Roadhouse’s really well-known Mac & Cheese (made with the marvelous Mancini maccheroni and that Vermont-cheddar-based bechamel sauce). By the time I got there, the pan was pretty much empty—only a few lonely noodles and a little cheese were left around the edges.

The other pan, to its left, had held fried chicken. That was pretty much gone, too. All that was left were a bunch of those itty-bitty little crumbs of crust that fall off when the actual pieces of chicken have been consumed. Looking down at the almost-empty pans, I suddenly had this thought that the two—Mac & Cheese and fried chicken bits—would be a beautiful thing if you put them together. I tried a few bites right then and there by putting together the small bit of each that was left. It was terrific. It went on as a special the next day and we sold 20 orders in two hours. It hasn’t come off the menu since.

If you’ve never had Fried Chicken Mac & Cheese, let’s just say it’s pretty marvelous. Little bits of fried chicken cooked into, and sprinkled on top of, a plate of creamy Roadhouse Mac & Cheese. The pepperiness of the fried chicken bits—we use that wonderful, small-farmTellicherry black pepper we get through Épices de Cru—serves as the counterpoint to the creamy Mac & Cheese.  And it all melds marvelously with the moist bits of fried chicken. (I like the dish for breakfast, topped with an over-easy egg!) Fried Chicken Mac & Cheese may not be as monumental a connection as the printing press, but I have a feeling this one is here to stay!

The Fried Chicken Mac & Cheese was the long-time favorite (always with a side of hot sauce) of Roadhouse server Danny Patterson. Danny moved away at the start of the pandemic and sadly, passed away earlier this year. His loss is felt by many. I’ve chosen to remember him by his big smile, his laughter, and his joy every time a serving of this super tasty dish went out into the dining room!

 Make a reservation at the Roadhouse
P.S. Fried Chicken Mac & Cheese makes a marvelous carryout item too! Call to place an order to-go at 734-663-3663. The Roadhouse also caters this creative combo—email [email protected].

 Want more from Ari?

Sign up for Ari’s Top 5 e-newsletter and look forward to his weekly curated email—a roundup of 5 Zing things Ari is excited about this week—stuff you might not have heard of!