The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, October 2, 2018 — 5

Seated in an upholstered 
booth 
surrounded 
by 
a 
sparkling jewel toned interior 
and lit with a warm, bright 
glow, Sava’s Ann Arbor has 
everything a millennial foodie 
needs for the perfect Instagram 
picture — the trendy, boho 
ambiance pairs perfectly with 
their token Sweety Fries, of 
course.
When Sava’s first opened 
its doors to the Ann Arbor 
community, 
they 
weren’t 
located 
in 
the 
large, 
aesthetically designed sweet 
spot on State Street, where they 
are now. They were actually 
right across the street in a 
modest 23 seat café which they 
were pushed out of due to the 
opening of State Street CVS. 
Since its humble beginnings, 
Sava Farah (restaurant owner) 
has 
transformed 
Sava’s 
into one of Ann Arbor’s hot 
spots — taking that small, 
quaint café and creating a 
full service, 300 seat dining 
experience. Sava’s has gone on 
to become, indisputably, one 
of Ann Arbor’s most popular 
restaurants.
The restaurant now serves 
over 800 guests on any given 
Sunday for brunch, says general 
manager Melanie Brown, who 
has been a part of the Sava’s 
family for seven years. Brown 
is part of the reason the place 
seems to have so much heart — 
her commitment to being set 
up for success every day is both 
admirable and inspiring.
“I come in and open Sava’s 
and my main motive is that 
we are set up for success. 
Everything from the music, to 
the lights, to the atmosphere. 
I just want to make sure all 
of the guests have the best 
experience possible,” she said, 
when asked about her typical 
day. It seems that hospitality is 
at the core of so much of Sava’s 
culture, which is what sets the 
standard of such a tremendous 
experience every time you 
walk through the front doors.
My experiences in Sava’s 
over the past two and a half 
years have been nothing short 
of 
exceptional. 
Everything 
from its diverse menu options 
to trendy atmosphere has made 
my wide array of brunch dates, 
birthday 
celebrations 
and 
meals with visitors from out 
of town special and delicious. 
I am a firm believer that you 
can’t find better sweet potato 
fries anywhere you look in Ann 
Arbor, which is a testament 
to the “Sweety” sauce I’m 
not ashamed to admit that I’d 
willingly drink.
Ann Arbor has a diverse and 
intriguing 
restaurant 
scene 
— with over 300 restaurants 
dotting its streets and filling 
the hearts and stomachs of 
University students, professors, 
tourists and townspeople alike. 
But something about Sava’s 
puts it above the rest — it is 
always packed with customers, 
whether it’s a Sunday morning, 
a Friday night or a Wednesday 
afternoon at 2:00 p.m. I was 
curious about just what makes 
Sava’s so irresistible.

“I think the location really 
helps, but the diverse menu 
options really makes Sava’s 
appealing to all walks of life. 
Sava’s has everything,” Brown 
answered, 
before 
Adrienne 
Brady, marketing and media 
coordinator chimed in: “And 
our Insta game, of course. We 
really know our audience.” 
I couldn’t think of a better 
person than Brady to be in 
charge of coordinating the 
social media and marketing 
for all of the SavCo Hospitality 

locations, including Sava’s and 
Aventura. She is bright and 
bubbly, astute and curious.
Sava’s is a known hot spot 
for 
all 
occasions 
— 
from 
casual lunches with friends, 
to important dinners, to the 
idiosyncratic Sunday brunch 
buffet, they never seem to miss 
a beat.
“We started the Sunday 
brunch 
buffet 
because 
on 
Sunday we’re so busy that 
the kitchen couldn’t keep up. 
The chefs create a variety of 
amazing options every week, 
and the brunch has become 
so popular it’s more busy 
than Sunday nights,” Brown 
said when asked about the 
brunch 
phenomenon 
that 
Sava’s masters so well. I would 
venture to say that if I only ate 
the chicken sausage for the 
rest of my life, I’d be more than 
happy.
“Our 
audience 
is 
the 
students, 
and 
we 
market 
to them,” Brady added to 
emphasize 
the 
University 
brunch habit that Sava’s helps 
people to indulge in.
Whenever I go to Sava’s, I 

have my favorite dishes on the 
menu that I can’t resist. It’s 
really something special and 
alluring that the menu is able 
to tackle so many options, so 
much so that it is impossible to 
dislike Sava’s. I usually opt for 
the Hippie Bowl — a delicious 
variety of fresh vegetables 
and grilled tempeh tossed in a 
tangy lemon-tahini dressing. 
The 
Mediterranean 
salmon 
bowl is also one of my go-tos 
— the mushroom medley and 
roasted pearl onions it is served 
with are to die for.
I was curious about finding 
out which of their iconic menu 
items sell best, considering the 
restaurant is a revolving door 
of hungry students all day long.
“The mac and cheese and the 
greek salad are without a doubt 
our best sellers,” Brown said 
without missing a beat. The 
mac and cheese is one of Sava’s 
most recognizable dishes, with 
students coming back time and 
time again for the beloved bowl 
of cheesy goodness.
“In terms of breakfast, I 
think the avocado toast and 
kale breakfast bowl are the 
best 
menu 
items,” 
Brady 
finished. 
Lucky 
for 
Brady, 
her job is based out of the 
downtown SavCo offices, so 
she’s away from the heat of the 
busy kitchen, yet still has the 
privilege of coming into the 
restaurants to photograph and 
taste the memorable dishes. 
This is a job I know many 
University students would die 
to have, as so many of us would 
select Sava’s as our favorite 
option for a meal out in Ann 
Arbor.
Sava’s is one of the beating 
hearts 
of 
this 
community 
— with its reservation list 
filling up weeks before major 
weekends in town and the 
students’ 
consistent 
loyalty 
to its delicious food and one 
of a kind dining experience. 
When asked what it is like 
to be a part of such a large 
college 
community, 
Brown 
had so much to say about her 
experience working at Sava’s 
in Ann Arbor the past seven 
years.
“(The 
University) 
keeps 
us alive. The hospital, the 
students, the professors, the 
employees, the tourism — we 
have new guests from around 
the world all the time but we 
also have our devoted regulars. 
I get the opportunity to meet 
so many interesting people 
from so many walks of life 
every single day.”
Brown is passionate and 
enthusiastic about continuing 
to make Sava’s as remarkable 
as it can be, and it’s clear just 
from speaking with her that 
she’s successful in her mission. 
The restaurant business is no 
easy corner of the world to live 
in — with its erratic hours and 
constant challenges to tackle 
— but it is one that both Brown 
and Brady are ecstatic to be a 
part of.
“I mean it’s never boring 
in this business. It’s so fast 
paced and exciting. I love just 
meeting all of the different 
unique 
people 
involved 
in 
this process. It’s just simply 
addicting,” Brady said of her 
experience with her first year 

Inside Ann Arbor’s most
happening spot, Sava’s

FOOD COLUMN

ELI RALLO
Daily Food Columnist

ALEC COHEN / DAILY 

A lot of great media begins 
with an airplane. There is 
the touching movie “We Are 
Marshall,” which details the 
rebuilding 
of 
the 
football 
program 
and 
morale 
at 
Marshall University following 
a plane crash that took the 

lives of 75 members of the 
football team. On TV, there is 
“Lost,” one of the most iconic 
and well-known shows of all 
time, due to both its consuming 
storyline and one of the most 
infamously confusing finales 
of all time. There is a lot 
that a show or movie can do 
with an airplane. It can tell 
a harrowing tale of human 
fear or a heartwarming story 
of community. It can paint a 
tear-jerking picture of reunion 
or show an unlikely character 
overcoming all odds. Yes, there 
are endless possibilities when 
it comes to basing a show off 

an airplane. “Manifest” takes 
advantage of none of them.
Following 
precedent, 
“Manifest” 
could’ve 
been 
a show about how people 
adjust after an unexpected, 
strange 
occurrence, 
but 
instead it takes a different 
route: superpowers. The main 
narrator, 
Michaela 
Stone 
(Melissa Roxburgh, “Valor”), 
is the first to experience a 
newfound telepathy as she is 
riding the bus. Her own voice 
speaks to her, repeating “slow 
down, slow down.” Michaela 
relays this message to the bus 
driver, which prompts him to 
slow down and avoid hitting 
a young boy chasing a ball 
into the street. Her brother 
Ben (Josh Dallas, “Once Upon 
a Time”) also hears his own 
voice, and it is revealed at the 
end of the episode that the 
Stone siblings are not the only 
ones. The episode ends with 
every person from the flight 
getting a pain in their head, 
drawing them to the tarmac 
the flight is docked at. As they 
all gather there, watching 
the plane that changed their 
lives, the plane blows itself up, 
emphasizing the supernatural 
direction “Manifest” plans to 
take.
On its surface, “Manifest” is 
an intriguing show. Flight 828 
took off from Jamaica in Apr. 
of 2013. After a spout of rough 
turbulence, the plane safely 
landed in New York — on Nov. 

4, 2018. None of the passengers 
were injured, and not a single 
one aged a day. Even with the 
slightly ridiculous time warp 
plot, “Manifest” still sets up 
enough emotional situations 
for its characters to redeem 
itself. Upon landing, the Stone 
siblings find that in their 
time missing, their mother 
has died, Cal’s twin sister is 
five years older than him and 
Michaela’s former fiance is 
married to another woman. 
Yet everything significant that 
happens in the first episode 
ends before it even begins, 
leaving very little room for the 
show to develop.
It’s a disorganized story, 
one that is vaguely interesting 
to watch but exhausting to 
follow. “Manifest” is the type 
of show you may only watch 
if you were staying home sick 
from school, or that your mom 
would DVR to watch later 
another day with a tall glass of 
wine. It uses shock factor to set 
up a story that could have been 
caused by literally anything 
else, sucking the story dry 
of uniqueness or enjoyment. 
A plane crash is a popular 
trope used among all forms 
of media, but the stunt can be 
overlooked if it is used in a way 
that creates an iconic piece of 
art. “Manifest” fails to do this, 
and thus becomes yet another 
tacky attempt at exploiting an 
overused gimmick, with no 
depth behind it to justify that. 

‘Manifest’ is not destiny

“Manifest”

Series Premiere

NBC

Mondays at 10 p.m.

SAMANTHA DELLLA FERA
Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW

Ann Arbor 

has a diverse 

and intriguing 

restaurant scene 

— with over 

300 restaurants 

dotting its 

streets and 

filling the hearts 

and stomachs 

of University 

students, 

professors, 

tourists and 

townspeople alike. 

But something 

about Sava’s puts 

it above the rest

ALEC COHEN / DAILY

in the restaurant business. 
She also mentioned that she 
knows she’ll be here for a while 
— the business has such an 
intoxicating and high energy, 
and this fits her personality so 
well.
“I love to make people’s 
days and connect with anyone. 
It is the best way to foster 
human interaction and meet 
people,” Brown said of her 
experience with the business. 
She circumvented challenges 
and confusing situations with 
ease even during our brief 
conversation — her go-getter 
attitude and organized form 
of leadership is the backbone 
of the whole place. It is known 
that the restaurant business is 
different and new everyday — 
fighting new fires that arise 
each day is one of the main 
jobs of a general manager, and 
she is perfectly suited for such 
a job.
When asked what’s next 

for Sava’s and SavCo at large, 
the ladies shared with me 
the inside scoop about the 
new SavCo restaurant — the 
DixBoro 
house, 
opening 
this spring. Even with new 
restaurants 
opening, 
and 
others thriving just down the 
road, Sava’s is continuing to up 
the ante.
“We’re tailoring what we 
do to the needs and wants of 
the community constantly,” 
Brady remarked, and I found 
this 
the 
perfect 
time 
to 
attempt to convince them to 
put the gluten free pancakes, 
porridge bowl and chicken 
sausage back on their fall 
brunch menu. They took the 
suggestions 
very 
seriously, 
noting that they always take 
the students’ advice and ideas 
into consideration.
“We’re always aesthetically 
improving, we have a new 
fall menu and drink menu 
coming and we’re constantly 

diversifying the menu and 
what we do here,” Brown said.
I left Sava’s with an intense 
craving for Sweety Fries, as 
one does, and not without 
inquiring 
about 
reservation 
openings for parents weekend, 
which is over a month away. 
They are already fully booked, 
which is unsurprising and 
makes me wish one place 
could seat more than 300 
people. With their current 
success, they would certainly 
thrive with an even bigger 
location, if at all possible. My 
biggest take away from my 
experience 
speaking 
with 
Brown and Brady, was their 
amiable nature and positive 
energy. They confirmed for me 
that what Sava’s does for our 
community is important and 
lasting, and left me hoping that 
I will be able to return for my 
favorite chicken sausage and 
banana topped porridge bowl 
sometime this fall.

NBC

