ypsi~dixit

You do have to wonder why Mongolian BBQ's is, frankly, taking such a chance in an area with little foot traffic and a poor track record. Don't get me wrong. Best of luck to them. But--it's a big risk if you ask me.

I believe it's *a* mongolian-style BBQ, not *the* Mongolian BBQ chain which first appeared locally on Main St. in Ann Arbor several years ago.

How Mongolian are these BBQs, anyways? I mean, come on. The indigenous people are horsemen, right? Who's gonna tote around a giant round grill thing on horseback? Nobody, that's who. I wouldn't, anyways, and my horse would probably laugh at the very idea.

I suspect it's just a made-up bit of exotica to add mystique to what's nothing more than a sort of pig's trough for people who love all-you-can-eat and don't mind all of their ingredients being indiscriminately charred into one big mess.

Anyways, a real Mongolian joint would have kumiss, fermented mare's milk.

Am I right?

Of course I am.

Feh. Poseurs.

Boy, I'm testy today. Well, there's just too much nonsense in the world. Gets on my nerves at times.

(retreats to yurt to brood)

Watching the progress at the new "Mongolian style BBQ" is like watching a garden grow, only much much slower. I hope it makes it for the amount of time they're spending on it. And... I have a hunch that it will.

Additionally, if any influential eyes are reading (hint hint), I'm sure there is a niche they could fill for the post 2am crowd.

(peeks out of yurt)

I'll go if there's kumiss.

Not before.

(retreats back into yurt)

Hear, hear. No restaurant in Michigan should be allowed to serve anything other than the traditional midwestern hot dish (which I'm told is what Midwesterners eat, even though I'm at a loss as to what "hot dish" is). Any attempt to serve anything else is dispicable, phony, fakery. Maybe we can allow an exception for people who were raised and learned to cook somewhere outside of Michigan, but they can only be allowed to cook in the particular style of the location in which they grew up - "Tex-Mex", "California Roll sushi", and other combinations of local style are to be strictly avoided.

Who knows what could happen if we allow people to cook up any old thing they want to?! Somebody's tastes might be broadened unexpectedly! The horror!

(above was sarcasm, for unfamiliar readers. I think this will be good for Michigan Ave.

p.s. I wish I had a yurt to brood in. Maybe I'll build one in the backyard.)

I like hotdish--the tuna-cheese kind, and the slimier the better.

Look. Nobody's tastes are broadened by hoggin' into a blackened pile of hopelessly mixed-up ingredients cooked to approximate doneness. Bleah.

Where's my kumiss? Now, that would be horizon-broadening. Kumiss, please.

Ain't settin' a foot in the place till I know I can get my kumiss there.

(peeks out of yurt)

Little bit of yurt envy, there, Murph?

(retreats into elaborately decorated, fancy-style yurt, locks door)

Burkholder said a number of factors led him to close up shop. First, he said, there was a lack of customers from the street. Second, he said, the large number of empty stores that surrounded him detracted potential customers.

"The number of empty store fronts... I felt like the only one on my end of the block," Burkholder said. "I had people [from the college of business] who would not walk passed Puffer Reds because there was nothing down there."

No need to worry. As soon as Water Street is completed there will be many, many retail shops, full of customers willing to spend their disposable income they make at their high-paying jobs that are plentiful in our area. Then everyone will live happily ever after.

I hear you with the BBQ. But woohoo for the glass windows they just installed. Maybe someday the building will be finished.

As someone that is in downtown Ypsilanti most every day, I can definitely say that it is quiet. Where are all of the people? Perhaps searching for kumiss? Perhaps hanging out at the Corner Brewery or Depot Town? I'd really like to see some foot traffic downtown, but what draws people there during the day? Abandoned buildings definitely don't make the most positive statement.

In happier news, the Ann Arbor Business Review also wrote an article about a new brew pub/restaurant coming to Michigan Ave. Apparently, Ypsi is becoming quite the beer town.

(cracks open yurt door)

It COULD be the kumiss town. A destination city. But no.

(locks yurt door again, pulls down blinds)

(opens yurt window)

Y., who's of the opinion that most of the stress of modern life ultimately comes from a lack of feeling a sense of belonging to a certain place, is all for regional cooking. Y., gourmet or no (no), nevertheless cooks hotdish, the food of my homeland, with gusto.

Recipe for tater tot hotdish here.

(closes yurt window)

my favorite: tuna hotdish. Yummy yum yum!

I'm trying to get a Water Street retail spot lined up early before they are all taken. I think I'll sell Ypsi Wild Grape wine and have fresh Huron Carp sushi.

Anonymous: Don't forget wildcrafting. Lamb's quarters are growin' in the back of my truck right now. Free for the takin'. You can also make soup out of nettles (the prickers go away when you cook it, theoretically.)

Relish the Ypsi terroir!

No surprise that eKlectic never made a profit. I agree with Peters - the problem is not with the city but instead with small businesses that probably would have failed no matter where they were. Bombadil's, Puffer Red's, Bicycles in Town, etc are all examples of how to do it right.

Mmmm, I love hotdish. I have a Mennonite cookbook which has a lot of hotdish recipes and we have started the tradition of making "Monday Night Mennonite Hotdish." I also have a hotdish cookbook from Minnesota. Too bad there aren't many restaurants around that do good hotdish! Anyway, back to Mongolian Barbeque, which I personally don't like (I can make bad Chinese food at home, I don't need to go out to do it), but the BDs in Ann Arbor actually does have a Mongolian connection. As a matter of fact, BD started a BDs Mongolian Barbeque in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and the profits go to support the "Mongolian Youth Development Foundation." Really.

Juliew: you are brilliant.

A hotdish restaurant!

That would totally succeed in Ypsilanti. I would go there. The ingredients are already cheap--at a restaurant, you could buy in bulk (truck full of egg noodles) and could make the food for next to nothing.

Hotdish is the homiest, most comforting food there is. People would flock to "The Hotdish Spot" restaurant.

"See ya at the Hotdish!"

I'm serious about this. They laughed at Nikola Tesla, too.

This restaurant would totally succeed. Make ten different hotdishes and offer only that. Cheap and hotdish appeals to all, young and old.

1. tuna hotdish
2. tater tot hotdish
3. bean hotdish
4. sardine hotdish (one for the B-man)
5. Tex-Mex hotdish (oxymoronic?)
6. 14-cheese hotdish
7. mock turtle hotdish
8. dessert hotdish
9. garlic lover's hotdish
10. li'l bit of everything hotdish

Juliew: that is very cool about BD's work in Mongolia.

Can it be I spewed out an ignorant, ill-researched opinion without considering the whole picture?

(ponders this unlikely possibility)

Nah.

That story was sad in so many ways, but one of the biggest is the misinformation. This kid doesn't have all the facts, although it looks like he tried. Bombadill's is on Michigan Ave. and is not the place on Washington Street where the Friday night music is held. I stopped going into Eklectic because Dale's attitude was unwelcoming and I've heard others say the same. No mention is made of Henrietta Fahrenheit, which was almost TOO successful and moved to Ann Arbor, etc. etc.

And, um, Laura, your yurt has a door and a window? And a lock? And you're worried about authenticity?

Kate, yurts have doors and windows: regardez, mademoiselle.

more yurt doors and windows--note how cozy it looks in the snow!

(examines fingernails nonchalantly)

(whispers:)
guess I've established my yurt cred, then.

(flees into yurt, locks door)

I dont really like the Mongolian BBQ in Ann Arbor so I find myself somewhat indifferent to this news except that I hope it is successful because I like to see vibrant business downtown.

yurts are really cool though. When I was in Hawaii I saw a lot for sale for around $20k and it occurred to me that I could buy the lot and buy a yurt and build an outhouse and then live pretty cheaply in paradise. :) Pacific Yurts seems to have some nice ones for under $10k

Hotdish is just a Minnesota name for casserole. Although I retain my midwestern fondness for casseroles, even those made with cream of mushroom soup, fifteen years in Ann Arbor did broaden my food interests. Not as far as kumiss, which I thought was fermented mare's milk?

But really, you've given me the worst craving for hot, greasy tater tots. Perhaps I can pick up some "ambrosia salad" (aka fluff) at when I'm getting my tater tots to give us a balanced trash food dinner.

Busch's, I meant to write. I was distracted by visions of tonight's dinner.

Lynne: that is a great yurt link, thank you. They are surprisingly affordable!

I was distracted by visions of tonight's dinner.

I can see that vision, like a shimmering aurora. Hot, greasy tater tots and the cooling sweetness of fluff. Mmm.