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The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Mag
22B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Magazine - Thursday, April 6, 2000
THE BEST OF UNSUNG ANN ARBOR
IA2 IBest Overall Restaurant
The love never leaves at the magnficent
Every year, by polling legions of
University students, the Best of Ann
Arbor issue determines a comprehen-
sive list of local favorites.
This year, however, by polling one
sarcastic University student, I have
determined a comprehensively differ-
ent list of favorites - let's call it the
Best of Unsung Ann Arbor.
The poll's categories are a bit out of
the norm, but then again, so is the guy
putting it together. Middle-of-the-road
choices like "Best Restaurant" or "Best
Video Store" aren't present in order to
spotlight the local notables that don't
get the same attention as a Cottage Inn
or a Tower Records. The winners are, in
essence, the unsung heroes of the town.
Or, to use a different analogy, they're
like the freakish, three-legged cousin
who gets locked up in the fair city's
attic of anonymity.
So without further ado, I proudly
present the winners of the first (and
possibly last) annual Best of Unsung
Ann Arbor poll.
Best Panhandling Approach:
"Spare some change for food?"
A classic, time-tested line, Ann
Arbor's less fortunate citizens have
chosen to continue using this straight-
forward plea even after the advent of
hipper, trendier lines like "Have time to
give a dime?" and "Can I gits a nickel
fer a salted pickel?"
Best Bathroom Graffiti: Angell
Hall, ground floor.
Thanks to a steady flow (so to speak)
of students of English, Philosophy and
other liberal arts,
the stalls of
Angell Hall's
g r ou nd-l e velI
men's restroom
are adorned with
writings of a
much higher
pedigree than
your average
interstate truck
stop, as evi-
denced by the Chris Kula
fecal satire of
MiIto1n's Unsung
"Paradise ro
Flushed" and the Ann Arbo
age-old question
of "If God is both omnipotent and
omnibenevolent, then why would He
allow such a foul stench?"
Best Side Effect of a Party
Situation: the Overjoyed Recognition.
There's hardly a soul who hasn't
experienced the absolute euphoria of
seeing someone whom they barely
know across the room at a party and, as
a result, shaking hands/hugging said
individual like some kind of long lost
sibling. But once the midnight hour has
passed and you've quickly pounded
down a couple of alcoholic beverages,
chances are you'd probably give the
Devil himself a hearty "Wassup!"
Best Impersonation of Pepperoni
Pizza: Domino's.
Best-kept Campus Secret: The
Musical Bell Tower.
At freshman orientation, every
University student is introduced to
well-known legends like stepping on
the bronze 'M' before the first blue-
book and so on and so on. But what
your tour guide doesn't tell you is that
when there's a bad moon on the rise,
the chimes at Burton Memorial Tower
come alive with late-night renditions of
Bad Company's "Feel Like Making
Love" and the Steve Miller Band's
"Swingtown" (apparently, the bell
tower possesses a porthole to some
kind of psychic trans-dimensional con-
nection with a middle-aged DJ at a
classic rock radio station somewhere in
the Midwest).
Best Parking: What's that? You say
there's parking in this town?
Best Fundraising Campaign:
Angell Hall bake sales.
Based on how many groups peddle
their tasty wares on any given day in
the Fishbowl, I have to assume your
average old-fashioned bake sale far
surpasses alumni donations and federal
grants in terms of money raised for the
University's special interest groups.
Need funding for the new atomic parti-
cle separator on North Campus? Here,
have a bear claw.
Best Diag Event: Anything with a
moonwalk.
I don't care if the event planners are
raising awareness for the most obscure,
directionless band of rebels in Mexico
- if they provide me with the opportu-
nity to get my bouncing schwerve on
Showbiz Pizza-style, I'll sign any peti-
tion they want.
Best End to a Column:
Chris Kula can be reached at
ckula@unmich.edu.
By Darren Ringel
Daily Arts Writer
Ever been at your favorite grocery
store, picked out your favorite
meats, vegetables, spices and sauces
and wished you could cook them
right away with no messy cleanup?
For all of those who said yes, BD's
Mongolian Barbeque is the place for
you. BD's Mongolian Barbeque,
located on the corner of Main St.
and Washington at 200 S. Main St.,
won three major awards in the Best
of Ann Arbor for the year 2000. The
crowded hit list includes best BBQ,
best dinner and best overall restau-
rant.
I moseyed my way over to BD's
Mongolian Barbeque for the first
time ever last weekend to find out
that each of these awards was well
deserved. First of all, the concept is
ingenious. You walk in, sit at your
table, order your drinks and then
head over to a large buffet-style
island in the rear of the restaurant.
On this island is an overwhelming
display of fresh meats, poultry,
seafood, vegetables, oils, sauces and
spices.
The wide array of ingredients is
nearly indescribable - it includes
almost every type of food and sea-
soning imaginable. The next and
most difficult step is choosing the
constituents of your own personal
masterpiece of a meal.
After this painful and treacherous
decision-making process, you bring
your bowl of fresh food to a large
grill where a few loud and obnox-
ious (yet entertaining) chefs await
you. These chefs, who were all in
their early twenties, were definitely
looking to scrounge up a few tips as
they made jokes and sang songs
such as "You've Lost That Loving
Feeling."
I gave my food to one of the
chefs/entertainers and it was stir-
fried and given right back to me
within just a few minutes. My per-
sonal recommendation for those on
dates is to keep your distance from
the grill if you don't want your
clothes to smell like stir-fry. On this
occasion, though, the chefs were so
hilarious that I stuck around and did-
n't even care about the smell on my
clothes. After leaving a dollar in the
tip bowl next to the grill, I headed
back to my table where my drink, a
bowl of rice and warm, tasty tortillas
greeted me.
There are several possible ways of
eating the bowl of meats and vegeta-
bles. These include chowing it down
just as it is in the bowl, pouring the
bowl over a plate of rice or throwing
a portion on top of a tortilla and
rolling it up with some rice. I tried
every way possible, but utilizing the
tortillas was my personal prefer-
ence.
The food was delicious and the
service was even more commend-
able. My waiter, Craig, a Weird Al
look-alike otherwise known as "Hot
Rod," never let our ice touch the bot-
tom of the glass and was always
eager to amuse us with his goofy
demeanor. The manager and head
waitstaff trainer, Angela, also came
by our table to generously make sure
we were being well taken care of,
but she needn't have worried, as we
were.
My one early-evening concern
with the Mongolian, Barbeque ser-
vice was that it would be impossible
to keep the buffet area clean, avoid
overlapping amongst the vegetables
and replenish the food. This turned
out to not be an issue at all as there
was at least one employee of the
1 10-person staff tending to the buf-
fet area at all times.
With the atmosphere and dress
code being so casual and decora-
tions nothing too elaborate, one
would not expect the desserts to be
anything too far above average.
After pondering whether I wanted to
invest my time and money, I decided
to indulge myself in a few desserts
anyway just to get an overall feel for
the quality of the restaurant.
It turned out that my time and
cash could not possibly have been
spent more wisely. The first dessert
that landed in front of me was
Genghis Khan's Chocolate Torture,
surrounded by a circle of dripped
chocolate sauce. The only torturous
thing about it was that it was so
unstoppably good, my friends
grabbed it and ate it all before I had
a chance to stop them.
The second dessert I tried was a
Reese's Peanut Butter Pie. This rich
treat is sealed with a kiss by its sig-
nature graham cracker crust. I have
four words to describe it: Un. Be.
Lieve. Able. The third dessert, my
favorite, was an apple cobbler in a
light caramel sauce topped with
whipped cream. It didn't matter how
full I was, I could have eaten ten of
these.
It turned out I was wrong in my
theory that the quality of dessert is
only as good as the aspirations to
high-toned dining of the restaurant.
Compared with all the delicious
desserts I had eaten at fine restau-
rants around the country, these three
I enjoyed at BD's Mongolian
Barbeque rated right up there with
the best.
The best part about this restaurant
is the virtual impossibility of going
wrong with your food selection. The
customer personally chooses every
ingredient that makes up the meal,
meaning that the only person to
complain to about a bad meal is
yourself-
However, don't feel pressured -
it should be impossible to make an
mixture of ingredients that doesn't
provide personal taste bud satisfac-
tion, given the truly fine quality and
judicious selection of the many
options BD's presents, provided no
outside party is allowed to influence
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MEXICAN
RESTAURANT
Mici7 Daily Readrs
CHILE PEPPER MAGAZINE'S
FIERY FOOD CHALLENGE,
HOT SALSA DIVISION
I
GRUB NOT TO BE SNUBBED
A selection of meals you shouldn't miss on your travels through Ann Arbor's best
Angelo's "Eggs Florentine" - the brink of buck nutty. But then
OK, you've tried eggs Benedict that shining silver tray arrives,
plenty of times, now it's time to and you'd bow down in worship if
think outside the box. No need to you weren't busy inhaling your
say thanks. first two pieces.
Arbor Brewing's chicken salad Seva's spinach enchiladas -
sandwich - Easily the most More savory cheeses than the
inspired revision of a dull-sound- naked eye can count wrapped up
ing meal within walking distance. with the freshest green vegeta-
tion under a transcendental
The Earle's sweetbreads -As cayenne sauce. Staying strong to
long as you don't let the words the finnitch never tasted so sinful.
"cow brains" enter your head, this .
incredible recipe will spin your Zigerman's pastrami -Come
head with culinary awe and your on now, you're not going to claim
intestines with gratitude. ALL those international experts
are wrong? Take a walk on the
Pizza House's Chicago deep- kosher side and pretty soon you'll
dish - Yes, on a busy night the be saving up to take a pound
45-minute wait just might drive to home for the fridge.
It takes a village worth of gutsy chefs to
the selection of anyone's personal
choices.
Another bonus to this restaurant is
the extremely reasonable prices for
the value of the merchandise. For
lunch, it costs $6.95 for one bowl
(which is more than enough food),
$8.95 for a bowl and a salad, and
$9.95 for all you can eat. Dinner
costs $12.95 for-the all-you-can-eat
810 S. State S
FREE D
Thanks F
M r.
Best
by the Michigan "
19911
1 DOZEN WIN'
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32 OZ, SOI
expires 4/30/00
MEXICAN CAFE
333 E. Huron - Ann ArLor
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