Member-organized event - 2006 Heartland Gathering

[tino27]

Thanks for the links. I'm in for brunch on Sunday as well, but since I'm not an A2 native, I'll let the locals pick the best spot.

tammylc -- I'll be coming into town post Farmer's Market, pre-wine tasting. Had you decided how you wanted to handle the money situation for those of us not showing up until mid-day Saturday? I'd be happy to send you a check today for my portion if you'd like.

[jmsaul]

So, Sunday brunch-ers - where shall we brunch?  There are many options:

Zingerman's Roadhouse - quite good, but like all things Zing, can be spendy, and we're already doing a couple Zing related things.

Cafe Zola - great, but usually crowded and noisy.

Vinology - haven't been for brunch, but the dinners I've had have been stellar. Downside - they can't serve wine until noon.

Cafe Marie - good, but not especially interesting

Angelo's - an Ann Arbor institution, but usually very busy.  Parking can be a huge challenge (or a long walk).  Not sure if they take reservations, which would at least help us with the first issue.

I'm sure there are other places I'm not thinking of - any locals have a favorite place for brunch?  Anybody have opinions on the ones I'm suggesting?

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I know Angelo's doesn't take reservations. I don't know whether Zola does, but I wouldn't try to take a group of 19 in there without them, so you should check. Cafe Marie is really pretty boring.

[annarborfoodie]

Cafe Zola does take reservations for groups for brunch (at least they did last summer when I hosted an event there). It's a great spot, but it can be very noisy and hard to hear people unless they're sitting right next to you. I would vote for either there, Zing's Roadhouse, or Zing's Deli.

About Farmer's Market parking - there is free parking in the structure at Ann and Ashley during the summer. It's a short walk from there to the market, and very easy to get a spot. You have to take a ticket when you enter the lot, but you don't have to pay when you leave.

[Alex]

It may be well nigh impossible to catch a reservation for all 19 of us to be seated together, so I'd be fine (and I suspect others would, too) with seating at several separate tables. In any event, I'd encourage making the reservation by today, or tomorrow at the latest. My vote is for Roadhouse first, Zola second. If we opt for the Roadhouse, we may want to consider moving brunch to when they open at 10.

[terrarich]

I see that many of you are logged on , but I am not seeing any feeds. I just put the little one down for a nap so I am taking the chance to read the thread. I am looking forward to hearing some news about how things are going.

[tammylc]

Well, I went to the Farmer's Market this morning, and the offerings are looking pretty good. Lots of potatoes, corn, green beans. Tons of squash, in a million different shapes and colors and sizes. Great looking fruit - cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches. Although they keep saying "last week for cherries" so they may not be around by next week. Arugula is in, and kale. Tomatoes are coming in - not seeing the heirloom varieties yet, though. Hopefully by next week, as I think moonsqrl is plotting something for heirloom tomatoes. Big bunches and bags of basil and other herbs. Onions. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff.

Destroit is supposed to be posting a menu for Friday's dinner for us, but I know he's been swamped. Hopefully we'll hear from him soon!

I'm cooking a special meal for my community tomorrow night - we usually post our menus in advance, but for this one I posted it as my "market basket meal" and 40 people were willing to sign up sight unseen. Here's what I'm planning to make:

Vietnamese Grilled Beef and Basil rolls

OR

Grilled haloumi and basil rolls (vegetarian)

Chile-mustard rubbed roast pork loin with sweet and tart cherry sauce

OR

Caprese-stuffed flying saucer squash (vegetarian)

Dilled red potatoes

Red, White, and Blue Salad - mixed greens with roasted beets, blueberries, and goat cheese

Peach cobbler (probably with ice cream)

The butcher gave me a great price on a whole pork loing - $20 for 8.5 lbs. So even though I just made pork for common meal on Thursday I'm going to do it again.

So that's where we're at one week out.

[moosnsqrl]

Dinner sounds so good and I miss that market so much, I wish I were there already!

I am planning something heirloomish and, although it flies in the face of my preferred 100-mile diet, I will be importing tomatoes from MO, to ensure we have enough. I'll augment them with whatever the locals have when we arrive, but am not leaving it to fate - plus I had to promise Osnav some in exchange for my room & board so I don't have to do the entire drive in one day. What an extortionist.

Destroit and/or Tammylc, I was hoping to send the menu and pricing to the people who are hosting me in A2 to see if they might want to join us. Is that still an option or are we tapped-out for space? I haven't been in Bella Ciao in forever and can't really recall if there is a separate private dining area or if we'll essentially be taking over the restaurant. Please advise so I don't offer something I can't deliver. The most it would be is myself + 3 and, again, no idea of their schedules but not wanting to bring it up and then tell them they can't come (since I don't want to sleep on a park bench).

[tammylc]

Destroit and/or Tammylc, I was hoping to send the menu and pricing to the people who are hosting me in A2 to see if they might want to join us.  Is that still an option or are we tapped-out for space?  I haven't been in Bella Ciao in forever and can't really recall if there is a separate private dining area or if we'll essentially be taking over the restaurant.  Please advise so I don't offer something I can't deliver.  The most it would be is myself + 3 and, again, no idea of their schedules but not wanting to bring it up and then tell them they can't come (since I don't want to sleep on a park bench).

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Destroit is supposed to be posting a menu for us, but I know he's been very busy. Here's what I have from the last email exchange we had:

The menu will most likley consist of a caprese- ish amuse, Giant prawn with arugula, Choice of dry-aged beef or vegetarian option. Fish options will be dependent on what I can get that is fresh and available. My fish purveyor has a way just coming up with things out of the blue.

What he and had been talking about was something like 5 courses, for between $40-$50 (not including wine) per person. Bella Ciao has a separate room that we will be using, but I don't know what the capacity is.

Hope that helps until we hear something firm.

Edited July 29, 2006 by tammylc (log)

[tammylc]

BTW - Sunday brunch will be a Zingerman's Roadhouse at 10 am, not 10:30 as previously indicated. I wanted to make sure we'd have time to have brunch and still get to the Coffee Company tour.

[annarborfoodie]

I am in the process of moving to Champaign IL, so I have done the drive from the south side of Chicago to Ann Arbor a few times lately. A word of warning from anyone driving from Chicago - avoid 80 at all costs. You just sit and sit and sit and it is a complete exercise in frustration - even at 10PM. The part that is under construction is from the IN border to the 80/294 intersection.

[NancyH]

Bella Ciao Trattoria  6 pm

Sunday Events

I'll start another post to discuss where we should go for Sunday brunch, so no directions to that yet.  It will be somewhere at 10:30 am.

Tammy - what type of attire is appropriate for Bella Ciao for Friday dinner and for Zingerman's Roadhouse for Sunday brunch?

Thank you!

[tammylc]

Hey everybody! Hard to believe the Heartland Gathering is just two days away!

If you said "maybe" to something when you filled out the RSVP survey, now would be the time to make a decision and fill out the survey again. Or if you're just can't remember what you said the first time, and want to make sure we have all your information. Unfortunately I don't have any more details from Destroit on Friday's dinner, so hopefully the sketchy info I provided above will be enough to help you make a decision. I know he was committed to being flexible in meeting people's dietary needs.

Right now, we have 18 people for the culinary archive, 24 for the dinner, 19 for shopping at Zing, 24 for the Farmer's Market, 34 for the wine tasting, 37 for the dinner, 21 for brunch, and 14 for the coffee tour.

Wondering who's coming?

eGulleteers

tammylc and Eric

daniellewiley

Fat Guy

torakris

Alex

sweintraub and Deborah

NancyH & Bob

aznsailorboi

Shannon_Elise

destroit

LainerX

Ruthie Jewell

VickiA2

ronnie_suburban (and family for Friday dinner)

Calipoutine and guest

Sam Iam and Joyce

annarborfoodie

Palladion

HeatherM

moosnsqrl

jmsaul and kitchen chick

edsel

tino27

Non eGulleteers

I've got 11 assorted neighbors and friends coming for portions of the weekend. A bunch of people from my wine club will be coming just for the wine tasting portion of the event, while others will be around more of the weekend.

Anybody have any questions? I've posted the directions, so you all should know how to get here. The heatwave we've been suffering under is scheduled to break tonight, just in time! I think we're good to go!

Edited August 2, 2006 by tammylc (log)

[CaliPoutine]

Because we have so many people, maybe name tags are in order. I know its lame, but if we put our real name and egullet handle, it might make it easier for recognition purposes.

Just a thought.

[NancyH]

I have trouble remembering my husband's name - I am a BIG fan of name tags!

[sweintraub]

sweintraub and guest

guest is Deborah.

[Sam Iam]

Tammy, are we supposed to be sending you wads of cash yet? Is there anything upthread (without spending today reading the past thread history about the wine tasting??) about what's up with providing the wine?

Sam

[tammylc]

Because we have so many people, maybe name tags are in order.  I know its lame, but if we put our real name and egullet handle, it might make it easier for recognition purposes. 

Just a thought.

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I had also been thinking about name tags, but wasn't sure if people would find them too dorky or something. I'll make some up, and people can wear or not as they are comfortable.

Randi - can you send me your guest's name?

[tammylc]

Tammy, are we supposed to be sending you wads of cash yet? Is there anything upthread (without spending today reading the past thread history about the wine tasting??) about what's up with providing the wine?

Sam

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I'll just be collecting money from people as they arrive. If people can have their $20 or $25 in cash (as appropriate to the events you are signed up for) that would be most helpful. I'll be the one checking people off with a clipboard.

If you are not arriving until after the Farmer's Market on Saturday AND you have access to PayPal, then sending me some money in advance would be great, but I didn't find time to get organized to contact people in advance about it. I think there is only a small number of people who we will not be seeing prior to shopping.

Wine for the wine tasting will be provided by Ric, with the $5 fee for that event going to him to cover expenses.

People are encouraged to bring wine or other beverage contributions for general consumption, although if there's money left after we've done our grocery shopping, we can spend the extra on beverages.

[tammylc]

Bella Ciao Trattoria  6 pm

Sunday Events

I'll start another post to discuss where we should go for Sunday brunch, so no directions to that yet.  It will be somewhere at 10:30 am.

Tammy - what type of attire is appropriate for Bella Ciao for Friday dinner and for Zingerman's Roadhouse for Sunday brunch?

Thank you!

←

There's no restaurant in Ann Arbor that has a dress code. That said, I expect that you'd fit in best with the crowd at Bella Ciao wearing business casual or better. We've gone to Zingerman's Roadhouse in shorts and t-shirt, but you wouldn't be out of place dressed a little more smartly either.

[destroit]

Many have been asking about the menu for friday so here is the nutshell version. Wine will be at each individuals discretion. $40 gets you Caprese salad, with michigan heirlooms, Giant prawns with arugula, And a choice of, stuffed quail, beef tenderloin, Scallop with vanilla turnip, and a fresh catch to be determined, I am still holding out for something special in that department. And finally a good old cannoli might do the trick. I'm sure there may be surprizes along the way, look forward to serving all of you. Dress code is irrelevant as you will have your own room to do as you please.

[torakris]

sweintraub and guest

guest is Deborah.

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Great!

She was a lot of fun at our dinner on Saturday.

[daniellewiley]

We have had a babysitting disaster, so my plans are changed. I can't make any of the Friday events. Is someone willing to take over as lead on the culinary archive trip? This shouldn't involve anything more than letting them know we have arrived.

Also, I will likely have to bring both kids Saturday.

Tammy - is that going to be a disaster??

[tammylc]

We have had a babysitting disaster, so my plans are changed. I can't make any of the Friday events.    Is someone willing to take over as lead on the culinary archive trip? This shouldn't involve anything more than letting them know we have arrived.

Also, I will likely have to bring both kids Saturday.   

Tammy - is that going to be a disaster??

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Oh no! Sorry to hear that.

I can take the lead on the culinary archive trip.

As for bringing the kids Saturday, I'm sure we can make it work. How old are they? I'm hiring one of the neighbor kids to act as mother's helper and play with Liam Saturday afternoon, and am working on lining up a sitter for Saturday night as well. PM me with info about your kids - I think we should be able to coordinate child care.

[tammylc]

I've just made a batch of fleur de sel caramels to share with you all on the weekend, assuming my hubby doesn't eat them all first.

Looking forward to meeting (and re-meeting) all of you. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to take care of all the little administrative details I've been putting off!

[Sam Iam]

Edited August 3, 2006 by Sam Iam (log)