Our 2017 Deli menu is hot off the presses, and we wanted you to be the first to know! We update it every year to introduce new items, edit some existing items and, sometimes, say goodbye to items. Plus, we just like to freshen the look up to reflect what our artists are inspired by in the moment.

Here are 7 awesome things to look for on the new menu:

1. A great new look
The new look is the work of Deli retail staff member and artist Victoria Samra and our lead graphic designer Maddie Zavala. A denim jacket with patches featuring iconic Deli imagery appears on the cover, and much to the enjoyment of Deli Managing Partner Rodger Bowser, the Deli’s black and white tiles are weaved throughout the design.

Victoria says she was inspired by a “1980s Punk Rock and biker” aesthetic. “Patches and pins have become a fun way to express your identity and achievements. So I guess I was trying to translate the feeling of belonging and being ‘alt,’” explains Victoria.

Maddie was inspired by Victoria’s work in more ways that one. “I am in love with Victoria Samra’s brain. She comes up with the most rad and bizarre concepts and tucks them into her presentations as ‘wildcards,’” says Maddie. “The denim jacket and patches direction we went with for the menu also happens to be one of her wildcards. The artwork lent itself perfectly to patches, buttons, and other design elements that tied the whole piece together beautifully. Working on this menu actually inspired me to go out and buy a denim jacket with food pins and patches!”

2. A delicious new sandwich
Our June Sandwich of the Month, Hangry Henry’s Fish and Chips, was a hit, and now it’s part of the permanent menu! For Rodger, all the sandwich stars aligned for the new creation. He’d been wanting a sandwich that included three things—Zingerman’s potato chips, our fantastic tuna salad (featuring pole and line caught American tuna. It’s really the best!), and Zingerman’s Bakehouse True North bread—and was a little shocked at how great it all worked out! Added bonus: it includes our house-made ranch dressing and Cabot cheddar cheese while the chips featured are our smokey barbecue flavor. It’s destined to satisfy even the hangriest among us.

3. More True North bread
If you ask Rodger about True North bread, be prepared to hear him gush! He thinks it’s absolutely the best new bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse. Being such a big fan, he’s been looking for more ways to include it on the Deli menu, so he made a pretty big change, switching from whole wheat to this naturally leavened bread made from hard red spring wheat from Grand Traverse Culinary Flours in Traverse City.

You’ll find True North on these sandwiches:

#5 Rodger’s Big Picnic
#94 Amazing Grace’s Family Shroom
#61 T.L.B.B.L.T
#207 Hangry Henry’s Fish and Chips

He knows this is a big change, and change is hard! But we think that even the most dedicated devotees to cult-hit sandwiches like Rodger’s Big Picnic (there’s a lot of you out there), will agree that this particular change is good.

4. Gluten-free bread
We heard your pleas, and we’re making dreams come true: you can now switch out the bread on any sandwich to gluten-free. This new option comes by popular demand (you’ve asked in person, you’ve asked on Facebook and Twitter), and we’re happy to offer this to our guests! The Bakehouse started making this tasty bread made without wheat flour this year. It’s crafted with a special flour blend of potato, rice, sorghum, tapioca and buckwheat, and it also has eggs, honey and olive oil. You can also order loaves of it from Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

5. Cheese and charcuterie
Did you know we offer cheese and charcuterie boards? We do! But, we admit, it’s been a
a bit of a secret—until now. You’ll find these world-class plates on our menu (in the
Platters and Salads section, page 8), which include a changing selection of meat
and cheese hand-picked by the our mongers (you know, those nice people behind the deli counter who are always tempting you with samples), plus delicious extras, like bagel chips, pickled vegetables, mustard, and bread. It’s great for sharing with the whole table, and if you like what you taste, you can get 10% off any of the selections to take home!

6. Did someone say fried chicken?
We did! Our salads are made even better with additions like grilled chicken and smoked turkey as well as chicken, tuna, and curried turkey salad. For the new menu, we’ve upped the protein ante with a tasty fried chicken thigh. About half of our menu developments come about organically in the kitchen, driven by our staff’s eating habits. We’ve been special ordering fried chicken on our own salads for a while, so we figured guests would probably love the option, too. Let us know what you think!

7. Es Alpukat
Say what? Es Alpukat is a smooth, creamy, slightly sweet smoothie from Indonesia, and it’s available at the Next Door. It’s made with avocado, Deli cold brewed coffee, and sweet honey. We blend it with ice, so it’s very refreshing! It’s been a cult favorite at Zingerman’s Coffee Company on the South Side for a few years, so we thought we’d offer it on this side of town, too!

Now that you’ve read about the new menu, come by and take a look—and give the new items a try! Our new menu is also online, and we offer delivery and curbside pickup. Call us to place your order: 734-663-3354.

When we launched our Zingerman’s Potato Chips back in February, we were pretty excited about our three varieties: Tellicherry Pepper, Grey Sea Salt, and Detroit Street Barbecue. However, it didn’t take long for us to begin fantasizing about more new and exciting flavor possibilities. In fact, Deli Managing Partner Rodger Bowser had his eye on one particular flavor even before the first bags hit the shelves—and now he’s made the snacky dream a reality with Zingerman’s Potato Chip Special Edition Spanish Paprika.

“We were mixing bowls of spices up with chips hot out of the fryer, and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s try that paprika one’,” he says. “It was an eye-opener. I mean, it was definitely a showstopper, so I couldn’t wait to do this one.”

Rodger thinks paprika is an unsung hero of the spice world, but this chip just might be the perfect way to introduce people to how fantastic it really is. He says the flavor is a bit reminiscent of paella, minus the saffron—slightly smokey and just a teeny bit spicy. Currently, they’re only available at the Deli while supplies last.

Rodger says this is just the first of Special Edition chips, and we can expect more in the future. He has lots of ideas he’d like to try. “This is our opportunity to play around with flavors,” says Rodger. “Hopefully they will introduce people to some they’ve never tried before.”

Get Zingerman’s Potato Chip Special Edition Spanish Paprika at the Deli while supplies last. They’re a one-off, so once they’re gone, they’re really gone! Don’t miss ’em.

At last, we have our own chips! What took us so long? Quite honestly, we don’t know, but, we think the chips we’re now making—with the help of two great companies—were worth the wait.

The project first began last year, almost by accident. The holiday months are traditionally the time when Co-Managing Partner and Deli Chef Rodger Bowser retreats to the kitchen. “It’s kind of nice,” he explains. “There are fewer meetings—and just less stuff to do—and October through December is my favorite time of year to cook because fall foods are the best.” It was during one of those sessions that he got the idea to make small batches of chips as a weekend special. He figured it’d be a good way to sample the Épices de Cru spices that the Deli sells.

“We’ve been working with Épices de Cru for a long time. They’re very exciting, and their spices are exciting,” says Rodger. Not too surprisingly, the spices from the Montreal-based company, which sources their world-class products from all over the globe, tasted great on the freshly made chips. That got him thinking about making them a regular menu item, but the time and process required to make chips in-house on a daily basis didn’t seem feasible.

“I thought, ‘I don’t want to fry chips. There’s got to be someone who’s way better at this than me that I could get the spices to,” he says. Suddenly, he realized what the Deli shelves were missing: Zingerman’s brand potato chips! It was what he calls “an ah-ha moment.”

The first thing he did was cold call Great Lakes Potato Chip Company, a family-owned business from Traverse City, Michigan, that he was eager to work with. They were very receptive. “The owner, Chris Girrbach, said, ‘This is a no brainer. We’re kind of wondering why you didn’t call earlier.’ The conversation was a slam dunk,” says Rodger, who loves what Great Lakes Potato Chip Company is doing and that they’re using Michigan potatoes. “They’re making a great skin-on potato chip. The flavor’s great, the crunch is nice.”

When he mentioned the idea to Ari and fellow Managing Partners in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, his enthusiasm was matched. “We were off and running. Now I had to figure out how to get the product to market,” he says, laughing.

He began testing different flavors with Great Lakes, sending them the Épices de Cru spices, which he felt were an absolute must for the chips he wanted to produce. They experimented with 20 different varieties over a few months and settled on three crowd-pleasers to start production: French Grey Sea Salt, Barbecue, and Tellicherry Black Pepper. They discovered some unexpected flavors that worked well, too, and Rodger is planning a few special edition runs that could include Trinidad curry, Spanish paprika (he’s the most excited about this one) and maybe even a chip that tastes like Zingerman’s famous pickles.

After some serious number crunching, countless spreadsheets, and finding a great distributor (Cherry Capital Foods, another company that Rodger admires, got the gig), the next step was creating the great packaging that Zingerman’s is known for to pull the project together. Staff illustrator Ryan Stiner created a fun depiction of the Deli for the new bags. “I was really excited to get to work on this project – potato chips are one of my favorite foods! I knew I wanted to create something iconic – so that whenever and wherever you saw these bags you’d know where they came from and the quality they stood for. I quickly realized that the deli building looks pretty similar to a bag of chips and the design just kind of came together from there.”

Rodger says Zingerman’s Potato Chips are a true collaboration of excellence. “It’s a trifecta: Zingerman’s recipes, Great Lakes Potato Chip Company, and Epices de Cru spices. Three is the magic number.”

Zingerman’s Chips are available at the Deli, Bakehouse, and Roadhouse. Also, you can get them in your Zingerman’s Catering Bag Lunches.