“Empowered: Women Shaping the Future” at the State Theater on Monday, March 13

Thomas Sankara once said, “There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence.” With Sankara’s words in mind, I’m reminded that one of the little-discussed but wonderful realities of the ZCoB is that over half of the members of our Partners Group—the 22-person group which governs the ZCoB together—are women. Far from being held in silence, they are, in the best possible way, actively, caringly, and creatively engaged in the effective running of our organization. In the context of history, I’m reminded that back when May Sarton was born in 1912, women were not able to vote.

This great new release by filmmaker Christina Rose flips that century-old script by honoring the work of women leaders in non-traditional roles. Entitled “Empowered: Women Shaping the Future,” the film is being shown as part of this year’s Jelly Bean Jump Up, which raises funds for SafeHouse Center! If you don’t know SafeHouse, it provides shelter for victims of domestic abuse, offering some sense of safety and connection for people, most of whom have found themselves feeling very much alone in the world. Michael Rose, the executive producer of “Empowered” and Christina’s partner in MirrorWater, writes,

One fateful February, when my cousin, Marie, came to town to visit and reconnect after almost 10 years, the vision and idea for “Empowered” was born. Certainly, the important and much-needed impact of the Me Too movement had an effect, as it was in full force during that time frame. More so, this meeting took place as I learned more than I thought I knew about the fishing industry and this magical place called Alaska. My much younger cousin and her passion for her work, the beautiful land of Alaska, these mysterious fish called salmon, and their unbelievable lifelong adventure intrigued me. The fact that Marie stepped into a career field that is predominantly a male-dominated profession is impressive.

The fact that women are still not embraced in all career fields, still make much less financially than their male counterparts, and have so much more to prove, was astounding to us. These insights alone inspired us to share their stories: stories of women who see no great merit or heroism behind their work. For them, this is just another day on the job. But for us, it is so much more. It’s a true passion to show the world that women can do it all!

Marie Rose, who will be flying in from Alaska, a place she says “​​triggers a sense of aloneness. It kind of forces you to find joy in solitude. The quietness and lack of distractions really force one to look inward and learn to be comfortable in your own company. Marie, who will be sharing thoughts at both the Ann Arbor debut of the film and the salmon-centric fundraising dinner at the Roadhouse the following evening, says:

This is an incredibly impactful series highlighting women around the world in leadership positions in underrepresented industries. “Finding Home” shares the story of me moving from Michigan to Alaska and co-founding Shoreline Wild Salmon, all while healing from my own personal experiences with domestic violence. While I never imagined sharing these personal details of my life publicly, I’m grateful for the opportunity to help foster conversations regarding intimate partner violence, and its impact on individuals and communities, and to assist in fundraising efforts for vital resources like the SafeHouse Center in Ann Arbor. Thank you to Zingerman’s for bringing this film to Ann Arbor, and for supporting and highlighting female entrepreneurs like myself. 

Please help us spread the word! Book a seat and support SafeHouse Center. As Christina Rose says, you will be entertained, educated, and enlightened. Because it’s a fundraiser, you will assist those in need and enrich the quality of life in our community. I hope to see you there.

Book your seats soon! See a great film, spread the word about the wonderful work that the women of the world are doing, and raise money to help support victims of domestic abuse in our community!

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Great Zingerman’s gift for a T-shirt lover you love!

Given that he was born and raised in Japan and I grew up in the American Midwest, author Haruki Murakami and I seem to have a surprising number of things in common. As I wrote about last summer, we each run every day, write a lot, and got our career starts in food service. We both, I’ve learned from reading, also have prodigious piles of books and music. The thing I didn’t know until Tammie told me last year is that he and I both have a LOT of T-shirts. Murakami, much to my happy surprise, even did a book about his—Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love. He writes that:

T-shirts are one of those objects that just naturally pile up. They’re cheap, so whenever an interesting one catches my eye, I invariably buy it—plus people give me various novelty T-shirts from around the world. Which is how, before I even realized it, the number of T-shirts in my life has skyrocketed, to the point where there is no room in my drawers for them anymore. 

It sounded so familiar that I laughed out loud when I read it. Maybe you can relate. If you, like me and Haruki Murakami, have a hard time turning down a great T-shirt that you know you don’t exactly need but really like—or if you know someone like me or Murakami who has a hard time resisting a good T-shirt—we now have a great way for you to have at it.

This new option came online thanks to the creative thinking of the folks at Underground Printing here in Ann Arbor. Rishi Narayan, the co-founder, has been a big Zingerman’s fan for years and we’re very appreciative of Rishi’s work as well. As you’ll see in this piece, we have a great many shared values. I smile too when I think about Underground Printing because they originally opened up at 1114 S. University in Ann Arbor, the same building in which, back in 191l two young anarchists, Abraham Seltzer and Eugene Chatterton, ran a restaurant for a year called “Seltzer and Chatterton.” Underground moved across the street a few years ago when the building was going to be replaced by a high rise, but the positive anarchist spirit still resides in their organizational culture.

Last year Rishi and crew came up with this creative new program: We put the T-shirts on these sites. You order. They print what you want and ship it straight to you!

There are two Zingerman’s T-shirt stores up right now, and maybe more on the way. On the Deli site, there’s the long-popular Zingerman’s Deli Rainbow Unicorn shirt, illustrated by Ian Nagy. And I’ve always loved the one from Next Door with a lovely visual listing of coffee drinks across the front, illustrated by a former Deli staffer named Kayo. Just this week, we added a special new hoodie, also beautifully done by Ian, that’s dedicated to my late, deeply appreciated, and much-missed friend Daphne Zepos. You can read about Daphne’s far too early passing in the Epilogue of Part 3. Part of her legacy is the Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment—it was created out of a vision she dictated when she was in her final days. $10 from each shirt goes to the fund.

The Roadhouse T-Shirt shop has the new and beautiful “Blacks in Culinary” T-shirt that I and others have been wearing of late. It’s taken from a section of Patrick-Earl Barnes’ amazing art piece of the same name that’s hanging on the north wall of the Roadhouse’s “Fireplace Room.” We donate $10 from the sale of each shirt to the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County! You’ll also see the great Roadhouse “cartoon” shirts—the Biscuits, the Nashville Hot Chicken, and the New Mexico Green Chiles. Additionally, you’ll find, for the first time, a new, black and blue version of the Belief Cycle T-shirt some of you have seen me wearing. The original was created by Underground as an appreciation for me after I spoke to their leadership team about beliefs a few years ago! Many folks have asked to buy a shirt with the Belief Cycle, and now you can!

If you’re looking for a different gift, or you just, like me and Haruki Murakami, have a hard time passing up a good T-shirt, check out these two sites and order up soon! Maybe, now that I think about it, I’ll order some to send to Mr. Murakami in appreciation of his wonderful work!

Shop Deli T-shirts

Shop Roadhouse T-shirts

P.S. Here’s a podcast I did with Rishi! For historical context, it was recorded in January 2020, and released two weeks after the start of the pandemic!

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Lisa started at Zingerman’s Roadhouse in 2004 as a server, worked her way up to Restaurant Manager in 2013, and now, as of August 18th, is Managing Partner! She has a passion for providing excellent service (she’s played an integral role in creating the service culture of the Roadhouse) and a focus on helping the managers and staff be the best they can be every day. Lisa answered a few questions to help us all get to know her a little better:

What recent work are you most proud of at the Roadhouse?

It might sound cliché, and I’m certainly not the only one to feel this way, but the pandemic was the most challenging thing I’ve ever dealt with. We had so many ups and downs: having to furlough 80% of our staff, shifting to pick-up only and completely revamping our to-go food area, manipulating our floor plans, and then building back up our capacity and staffing. I worked side-by-side with our crew to help strategize, implement, and train staff on all of our changes. While it was extremely challenging at times, I enjoyed training and supporting our staff to help them provide top-notch service to each other and our guests. I’m proud that we made it through and are in a good place—and I’m hoping to help get us to an even better place!

What does good service mean to you?

Getting it right the first time, with any aspect of service. Consistency is one of the hardest things to achieve and I have spent much of my professional career teaching and training others on how to provide an accurate, friendly, and memorable experience every time someone steps foot inside the Roadhouse.

Why did you want to become a partner in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB)?

I have had an interest in becoming a partner for the last 6 or 7 years after gaining experience as a manager; I wanted to move toward ownership and financial investment in the restaurant and the ZCoB. I love what I am afforded to do every day in the ZCoB. I’m grateful to work in an organization that values people and that strives to help improve staff not just while at work, but in their daily lives (outside of work) as well. 

What’s been impactful about the Path to Partnership process?

Being reminded that even though you are leading your own business, you are also a representative of the entire organization. As a partner, I’m not just advocating for myself and the Roadhouse—all of the different ZCoB businesses are working together as a whole.

What is your first order of business as Roadhouse managing partner?

Continue what I’m doing right now and work on getting us fully staffed. The hospitality industry is known for having high turnover. Luckily, we have lower than most, but staffing is still a definite challenge right now.

What are you most passionate about in the Roadhouse’s Vision?

All of it, honestly. I am excited to carry all of our successes into the future. As well as to pick up meaningful improvements along the way. I’m honored to be able to lead in all different areas to get us to greatness. I am excited to do this with our team and make sure we continue to treat our employees well. I’m excited to make and keep the Roadhouse a great place to dine and work while achieving financial viability and beyond for many years to come. I am dedicated and passionate about getting us there.

Tell us about the No Drama or Calm is Contagious work at the Roadhouse.

The Calm is Contagious work at the Roadhouse started several years ago as somewhat of a joke. Restaurants can sometimes get a bad rap for being dramatic environments, so Ari asked if we should write a Bottom Line Change (BLC) on reducing drama in the restaurant. I laughed it off, not realizing that it would be an integral part of Roadhouse culture years later. 

Ari wrote that BLC and we incorporated the concepts into our Welcome to the Roadhouse class. We include things we ask staff to do (and not to do). We also offer tools and resources for things like managing energy and staying grounded, all to help manage stress and conflict inside the restaurant. My experience with teaching the No Drama work and holding staff accountable is an important part of what makes our culture alluring, fun, and successful. I’m happy to teach it to any ZCoB business!

What are your current favorite items on the menu?

So many! Huevos Rancheros, the new Rice Bowl is phenomenal, the scallops, Smothered Grits, all of the heirloom tomato specials, and the shrimp we get from North Carolina are out of this world, so I add shrimp to a lot of things. I also tend to make a lot of stuff on the fly in the Roadshow!

What’s one of your favorite Roadhouse memories?

One of my favorite memories at the Roadhouse was moving from being a server to a front-of-house assistant manager. This was such a defining moment for me in gaining confidence and starting my leadership role at the Roadhouse.

Fun Facts

• Total Townie: I have lived in Ann Arbor all of my life and don’t plan on leaving! I love living in a diverse and educated town with so much to offer. I love having so many cuisines and tasty food options at my fingertips. 
• Outdoor Lover: I love all that the many city and local parks have to offer being a runner and one who loves the outdoors!
• Former Vegetarian: I was actually a vegetarian when I started serving at the Roadhouse! That didn’t last long though, I felt really good about our sourcing. We work with smaller farms that utilize responsible and sustainable practices—and started eating meat again.

Join us for Blue, Brews & BBQ. Grab a seat right here!

If you’re looking for a good cause, a good meal, some good music, a bunch of great people, and taste of Ann Arbor history, book yourself (and someone you love) a seat at this dinner next Tuesday evening, August 7. We’ve got a great spread of Texas-themed barbecue and a couple of special guests: blues musician Blair Miller and our friend and farmer Melvin Parson of We the People Growers Association. For me, this meal is history come alive—local, national, musical, personal. It’s about remembering and reviving, connecting and caring, listening and learning. I can’t wait!

In the summer of 1902, Son House was born, about 800 miles to the south, in a small hamlet just outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi. He went on to become one of the great blues musicians of all time. In 1969, a handful of people in Ann Arbor took the initiative to start the very first festival to celebrate the music that Son House and so many others sang so passionately. The Ann Arbor Blues Festival was North America’s first ever electric blues fest! It happened a few weeks before Woodstock, took a break and then ran ’til 2006 before running out of steam. Son House was in the original lineup. Twenty thousand people went to the Fuller Flatlands near Huron High School over the few days of the festival to hear some amazing music from the top blues players—acoustic and electric—in the country. James Partridge, the executive producer of the current festival, says, “The original Ann Arbor Blues Festival was a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the blues. Not only did the best delta bluesmen perform—Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sleepy John Estes—but the greatest electric artists of all time assembled in one place, BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf.  It was Coachella before there was Coachella.”

On August 7, at the Roadhouse, all of these amazing things come together with a fundraising dinner to help with the revival of the Blues Fest—this year is the 49th anniversary of its founding. The meal is a delicious dose of Texas BBQ to go with your blues. Texas “caviar” and collard greens, Tellicherry Texas brisket (smoked 18 hours over oak), East Texas hot links, smoked beef ribs, burnt ends and beans, and banana pudding for dessert! Each course is getting paired up with a beer from one of the Roadhouse’s favorite breweries—Wolverine State Brewing Co. Blair Miller will bless us with his blues playing at various points throughout the meal—an enticing “taste” of bigger things to come at the Blues Fest, which is coming up on August 17 and 18. The Blues Fest crew have put together a terrific musical line up!

The event is also special thanks to our guest Melvin Parson. A few years ago, Melvin started an amazing project called We the People Growers Association to craft an urban, world-class farm in Ypsilanti. The meal will feature produce from his farming work, in particular, some super delicious collards. Back when Son House started playing the blues, about half of the country’s African American population lived on farms. Today it’s like two percent. At the time, one in seven or so farmers were black. Today it’s one in about 70. So much of the original blues work came from working in the fields. Bringing the blues together with Melvin’s work to revive healthy local agriculture in the black community is a beautiful thing. Read Pete Daniel’s Dispossession for more on African American farming history.

Oh yeah, one more blues reference. Three months after the Blues Fest in 1969, in the first week of November that fall, Jim Morrison and the Doors recorded “Roadhouse Blues.” I grew up listening to it. The opening lines lead well into this marvelous meal:

Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel
Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel
Yeah, we’re going to the Roadhouse
We are going to have a real
Good time

PS: The best book on the Blues Fest is Blues in Black and White, which features photos from Stanley Livingston and prose by Michael Erlewine. Jim O’Neal, co-founder of Living Blues magazine, wrote about it: “If Woodstock was one of the ‘Fifty Moments That Changed Rock ‘n’ Roll History’, as honored in Rolling Stone magazine, then the Ann Arbor Blues Festival was the coronation for the blues roots that sired rock to begin with…finally, we have this amazing book of Stanley Livingston’s priceless images, along with Michael Erlewine’s detailed chronology.”

Ronni Lundy probably knows more about the foodways and folkways of Appalachia than anyone else in America. I’ve been hoping to get her to town now for years! Her kindness, care and insider understanding of an oft-misunderstood part of American culture are something special. If you like food and learning, you will not want miss her visit to Zingerman’s Roadhouse next month.

The Irish poet, John O’Donohue says, “Many of us have made our world so familiar that we do not see it anymore.” His wise words, I think, apply to many of us on many fronts, and I would say, still holds true for many who live outside of Appalachia. While we’ve all heard the name, most Americans know little or nothing about the area. We hear the names of the states (Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina), but unless we come from there or have spent significant time studying their history and culture, we have minimal understanding of this fascinating section of the country.  Stereotypes get us stuck.

In an era where curiosity and care for people different than ourselves often seems sorely lacking, taking the time to get to know someone—or in this case, someplace—is a gift we can give ourselves, and those who we are getting to know. Ronni Lundy knows the Appalachian region at a depth of spiritual understanding that I only hope one day I will be able to replicate, really, for anything.

“While I didn’t grow up in them,” she writes in her James Beard-award winning new book, Victuals, “I grew up of the mountains, and all my life I have held these connections that are a beautiful and remarkable gift.”

On the evening of May 15, we are fortunate to have Ronni coming to share stories of her 70 years of living both in and of the mountains.  This is our chance to hear stories from the heart, of the heart, and to move past  preconceived notions to see—and taste—the beauty, wisdom and wonderful work of the foodways and culture that make the Southern Appalachian region so special.

As she writes in her amazing book, Victuals, “[L]ooking through the lens of real Southern mountain food—the methods of its growing, processing and eating—we began to see a vivid picture of a region and its people that had little in common with their most prevalent and demeaning stereotypes.”

If you don’t want to just take my word for the amazing quality of her work, know that Ronni’s earlier book, Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes and Honest Fried Chicken was recognized by Gourmet magazine as one of six essential books on Southern cooking. In 2017, Lundy received a James Beard Award for Victuals.  In 2009, she received the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award.  She is truly a living treasure and someone we’re very fortunate to have.

If you want another testament to the excellence of Ronni’s writing and scholarship, the marvelous musician Emmylou Harris said, that, “Victuals is so much more than just another cookbook. It’s a marvelous travelogue and history of an under-appreciated and often misrepresented part of America, it’s people and culture, written lovingly by my friend, Ronni Lundy. Still, as I finished the last pages, with their stunning illustrations, I couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen and try my hand at the delicious recipes she has gathered for all of us who just plain love good food.”

Ronni’s dinner at the Roadhouse, are meant to do the same.  You or I could make the trip for ourselves and traverse those same 4000 miles, but in the meantime, please don’t miss out. I’m confident, both culinary and culturally memorable. I will be there. I hope you will too.

Exploring Appalachian Cooking with Ronni Lundy takes place May 15, 2018 at 7pm. See the full menu and reserve a seat on Zingerman’s Roadhouse’s website

John Lennon once said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” I love the creative reality that emerges when two parts of our organization come together to make something magical happen. Like this—a special, never-happened-before event at the Roadhouse that will feature the amazing Ji Hye Kim, the managing partner and head chef at Miss Kim. While Ji Hye and her crew have built themselves an increasingly loyal (and vocally so—almost every day now someone stops me to say how much they love it) clientele for all the intricate and excellent flavors of traditional Korean food (some of it from centuries-old recipes), this special dinner will honor the food of the Korean-American community—a coming together of two rich culinary cultures to create a very memorable meal.

While it happened seemingly by accident that this dinner was the 222^nd one we’ve scheduled at the Roadhouse, the number itself is significant. In a Tarot deck, 222 is an “angel number,” which, for those in the numerological know, “resonates with ancient wisdom, vision, idealism, and transformation.” It represents creation, the beginning of new things, of something special happening. 222, it turns out, is timely: it’s spring, a new season. It’s also the beginning of Miss Kim’s ascendance to the reputation that syncs up with the quality of food the restaurant is already providing. Stephen Satterfield, the nationally-recognized writer and founder of the incredible, New York Times-recognized Whetstone magazine (available for sale at the Roadhouse) says, “to dine at Miss Kim is to taste [Ji Hye’s] taste memory, her learned and earnest love of recrafting the food from which she is constituted, adapted for the place in which she stands.” Ji Hye’s food, he goes on to say, is “hyper-local, very seasonal, and as much an approach to life as it is a bowl of food.” This dinner will also be a celebration of all the cool new stuff that’s happening at the Roadhouse.

While she might have learned how to cook from her mom, Ji Hye learned how to cook “restaurant food” at the Roadhouse—this dinner is a chance for her to pay homage to her two culinary homes—Korea and the Roadhouse. The menu will feature dishes like LA galbi (marinated, BBQ-short ribs developed by Korean immigrants who settled in Los Angeles), a very special version of bibimbob that will feature Roadhouse pulled pork, mini burgers with quail eggs and napa kimchi, fries with tteokbokki and cheese curds, a special Roadhouse-inspired kimchi, a silken tofu stew, matcha chiffon cake from the Bakehouse, and more.

See the full menu for the dinner here.

Here’s a little snippet of the history of Korean immigration into the U.S. to give you some context for the dinner:

Ahn Chang Ho and Lee Hye-ryeon were the first Korean couple to immigrate to America—they came to the west coast in 1902—the same year in which the Deli’s historic building was built. Ahn Chang Ho, known also as Dosan, went on to become a significant social activist. Committed to bringing kindness and care into the immigrant community, he founded the Chinmokhoe Friendship Society in 1903, the first Korean organization in the continental United States. “To pick even one orange with sincerity in an American orchard will make a contribution to our country,” he declared. Later, he campaigned hard for Korean independence. Arrested by Japanese authorities, he was asked if he would cease his struggle. His response: “No, I cannot. When I eat, I eat for Korean independence. When I sleep, I sleep for Korean independence. This will not change as long as I live. As all the Korean people want their independence, Korean independence will become reality; as world opinion favors Korean independence, it will become reality; and as Heaven orders Korean independence, Korea will surely become independent.”

Join us for this special Korean-American meal!

Tuesday, April 10 at the Roadhouse 7:00 pm $75.00. Seats are limited! Check out the full menu here.