Sometimes, when we step
away from our conventional
wisdoms
about
the
way
something must work, we are
able to realize true beauty lies
not in the intricate but the
familiar. Start by going back to
your roots and exploring the
implausible ways the simple
can be rendered magnificent.
At Spencer, the small but fierce
32-seat
restaurant
on
Ann
Arbor’s East Liberty Street,
the philosophy is a unique
one, and one that we typically
don’t see at restaurants in
Michigan, or anywhere at all.
The restaurant, or “passion
project,” as co-owner Abby
Olitzky calls it, is the love child
of San Francisco-born pastry
chef Olitzky and Ann Arbor
native
cheesemonger
Steve
Hall. The two met in California
at the cheese and wine shop at
which Hall was working when
Olitzky happened to stop by to
purchase cheese one day. After
a few months, they decided to
move to Michigan to open a
restaurant. Upon returning to
Hall’s Burns Park roots, Olitzky
fell in love with Ann Arbor and
they began searching for a
location which is now the chic,
cozy spot Spencer calls home.
Olitzky is the main chef at
Spencer, and Hall handles the
wine and most of the front of
house business. The two work
together to make an endearing,
charming
and
dedicated
partnership. The two cooperate
along with other sous-chefs to
craft the restaurant’s unique
menu items. The diverse and
interesting menu is only one
facet
of
Spencer’s
quirky,
daring personality. On any
given day, the menu can change
based on what is in season, or
simply what Olitzky feels the
Ann Arbor community should
taste that day.
“The
menu
is
always
changing, because I get bored
sometimes. I want to come
into work and keep things
interesting and play around
with
all
of
the
potential
flavors,” Olitzky said in an
interview with The Michigan
Daily about the unorthodox
conditional characteristic of
the menu, always ready to
change as seasonal ingredients
or Olitzky’s creative urges
do. Currently, the menu is
dotted with brussels sprouts
accompanied
by
grapefruit,
chili
peanut
and
burrata,
which to my dismay Olitzky
advised me is being ushered off
the menu in the next few days
because brussels sprouts are
heading out of season.
“Our style is what I like to
call California Cuisine, sort of
a European cooking style with
local ingredients. It’s all about
the local ingredients, though;
we try to make them shine
through and fuss as little as
possible,” Olitzky said.
Locally
sourced
food
means a lot to the team at
Spencer. Olitzky buys all the
ingredients at the Ann Arbor
Farmers Market and from a
few other farmers working
on
biodynamic
or
organic
growing practices with whom
she’s
forged
relationships.
Certain
idiosyncrasies,
like
going the extra mile to find the
freshest ingredients and using
creative collaboration to put
a remarkable twist on simple
dishes is what makes Spencer
so solitary in its glory.
“When I talk to the farmers
about what vegetables we’re
getting, I always try to search
for ingredients we can treat as
whole or as individual. I don’t
want to mash up vegetables
or take them far away from
how I receive them. I want
to showcase an ingredient
as whole. The biggest part of
cooking to me is that you have
to have a voice that’s yours
and only yours,” Olitzky said
about her own culinary voice,
one that feels authentic and
focused on the ingredients
and the way they can bring
out the best in one another.
Through her education and
experiences
cooking,
she’s
seen many different kitchens
and had the ability to work in
many different environments,
all of which inform the way she
cooks now — straight from the
heart and with the beauty of
the ingredient in mind.
Everything about Spencer
is real and genuine, from the
folks behind the magic, to
the interior design. Daylight
spills through the large glass
windows at the front, warming
the communal wooden tables
and filling the place with a
sunny serenity. The interior is
decorated with fresh flowers
and overgrown green plants,
oil paintings and a cool brick
wall, all fitting perfectly with
the black and white tiled
floors to create a homey yet
simple vibe. The authenticity
of Spencer’s personality comes
from Olitzky, who is a firm
believer in being true to herself
when she cooks.
“We don’t change who we
are when we cook, ever. Out
best food comes out here when
I’m the most authentic to who
I am,” Olitzky said. She started
out at New York University
taking different classes on
ingredients and food, and from
there went on to the Institute
of
Culinary
Education
to
hone her craft in cooking. She
decided to head back home
to San Francisco to pursue
a career in cooking before
meeting Hall and moving to
Ann Arbor. Now, she can be
found in the kitchen at Spencer
six nights a week, though she’s
been trying to take an extra day
off, trusting her predominately
female sous-chefs to cultivate
their own unique culinary
voices while keeping true to
Spencer’s mission and mantra.
“As an individual, I want my
cooking to feel personal and I
want everyone who works in
this kitchen to feel like they
have a personal style as well,”
she said. And personally it does
feel as if all of the menu items at
Spencer seem to tell their own
story, as though they are not
only dishes but entities with
personas and significance. The
team behind Spencer’s creative
mind takes a dish like short rib
and embellishes it with gusto,
adding
a
pancake,
pickled
cauliflower and horseradish.
They
take
pierogies
and
investigate new flavor profiles
by adding arugula, sunflower,
beet mostrada and caraway
crème fraîche. While intricate,
the dishes start with simple
ingredients
that
mingle
together
to
create
flavor
breakthroughs.
“I’m in the kitchen all the
time,” Olitzky said. “I literally
refuse to leave the kitchen.
But that’s just how I like it. It’s
easier for me to have women
in the kitchen because I don’t
communicate
as
forcefully
or directly as other chefs, so
oftentimes women gravitate
toward my style. It’s hard to
find people with the same
ethos about cooking and have
my
same
mentality
about
staying fresh and seasonal and
focusing on the ingredient.”
In the major kitchens of
New York City, men dominate
the creative recipe building
and physical act of cooking,
making
the
restaurant
industry a hard one to break
into as a woman. Being taken
seriously in a major kitchen as
a woman is incredibly difficult
in commercial kitchens, where
the patriarchy reigns. Just this
past week, Dominique Crenn
became the first woman in the
United States to earn three
Michelin stars, a distinguished
honor for chefs. One may
wonder
how
many
other
women also deserve the same
honor but have had a more
difficult time making it in the
business.
“I worked for Dominique
Crenn once,” Olitzky said. “It
was like for a day. I was very
young, and I was like… what is
going on.”
“I’d like to say that it’s
changing — that traditionally
women cook to feed and are
seen
cooking
in
domestic
kitchens
and
that
we’re
changing
that,
but
really
there isn’t much of a change
in the industry,” she admitted,
referencing
the
dichotomy
between male and female chefs
and restaurateurs. But Olitzky
is part of the group looking to
break the curve, commanding
the culinary world fearlessly,
marching to the beat of her
own drum.
Behind
the
counter
is
Olitzky’s
bookshelf
of
cookbooks — she’s constantly
collecting
cookbooks
and
reading different female chefs’
recipe books. The stacks of
books may look like vintage
decor, but really they’re a huge
piece of Olitzky’s identity as a
restauranteur and foodie. As
we chat, her personal recipe
book sits open in front of her — a
Moleskine bursting with notes
and papers, scribbled with
her newest ideas, ingredient
pairings and reminders. She
etches “green things” into the
margins as she remembers
to put in an order for green
veggies and brussels sprouts to
one of the farmers with which
she generally does business.
“I think in my future I
want to write cookbooks,”
Olitzky said. “I love reading
cookbooks and food writing,
and I really want to create one
of my own.” She would follow
her heart and intuition with
the cookbook as well, and I
would hope it would also be
embellished with photographs,
as the food at Spencer is not
only a unique gastronomic
experience, but also incredibly
visually attractive. As seen on
Instagram feeds every day,
the moment that a plate of
warm food is placed in front
of a diner at a restaurant like
Spencer is supplemented by a
flurry of phone screens ready
for a picture-worthy moment.
The food at Spencer is
colorful and jubilant — a
celebration of ingredients and
the simple joys of life.
2B — Thursday, December 6, 2018
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The wondrous culinary delights of Spencer Ann Arbor
B-SIDE LEAD
ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer
“I cook how I want to eat; I
like to make a ton of different
things and share all of it,” she
said. “I don’t really believe in
tapas and small plates. I hate
those words. I cook here how
I cook at home. Many smaller
items, different things and
options.”
Olitzky’s identity in cooking
stemmed from when she was
young and would take trips to
the farmer’s market with her
mother. Olitzky said she never
stopped
cooking,
especially
when she was training and
being educated as a young chef.
She was always in the kitchen,
using her hands.
“Sometimes people ask me
why we’re so successful here,
and I say there’s no secret.
I just don’t care to cater to
anybody. I just cook what I
want to cook.”
When
Olitzky
gets
in
the kitchen at Spencer, she
submerges herself in a world
where she focuses on herself
as the chef, and the ingredients
as her tools. Working from the
inside out, she uses the plate
as a mirror, reflecting her own
identity through the dishes she
curates. Removing the third
party — in this case the patron
— for a moment to focus on her
own culinary style is a risk,
but it is one that works in her
favor. Spencer is packed every
night of the week. The team’s
commitment to its authentic
backbone
is
what
brings
customers back time and time
again.
“I used to come home from
a long work day in the kitchen
and decide to cook myself
dinner instead of just grabbing
something
to-go,”
Olitzky
said. “I would have one day off
in a week, and I’d spend the
entirety of it recipe testing and
cooking.” Olitzky’s dedication
and commitment to the food
she flirts with and Hall’s
passion for wine and customer
service make the most ideal
pairing.
Every Tuesday in December,
the
pair
transform
the
restaurant into a wine store
for the afternoon. The bottles
are organized by region, and
the flexibility of the space
allows
for
creativity.
The
Tuesday Wine Pop-Up Shop
is accompanied by a food
component,
because
wine
should always be embellished
with food. In fact, Olitzky
was
tasked
with
making
homemade latkes for the event
coming up a few hours after
our conversation. The latkes
turned out crispy and beautiful,
as can be seen on Spencer’s
Instagram
promoting
the
wine
event.
This
type
of
event doesn’t just happen in
December; Olitzky and Hall
are always coming up with new
ways to spice things up.
“We have ticketed events,
like wine and food events where
we focus on a specific topic or
region all the time,” Olitzky
said. “We love to transform
our space, do something fun
and keep ourselves on our toes.
We’re here to feed people in
the community and to hope
they latch on and get excited
about the things we are excited
by.”
Intimacy
underlies
everything
Spencer
does,
from customer service, to the
communal tables that invite
people to share a meal with
one another, and the intricate
details in the dishes. There
is never any removal from
the food at Spencer. Each
dish touches the hands of the
talented chefs and is delivered
to the customer, never falling
away from its base of being
an ingredient that was grown
and curated from the earth. At
Spencer, Olitzky and Hall have
created a space for a rare and
intimate relationship between
food and creator, customer
and creator, and customer and
food.
“I like using my hands a lot,
and I’m so obsessed with the
meditative quality of being
mindful while cooking: It is so
focused in thought,” Olitzky
said.
What makes Spencer’s heart
beat is its earnest return to
the
simple
and
traditional
coupled with the charisma and
identity of a young, punchy
go-getter always in the market
to try something new. The
restaurant’s personality did
not manifest itself as such a
dynamic
individual,
rather,
the minds behind its character
are what makes it so special.
Hall and Olitzky are recently
married and navigating the
world of being in a romantic
relationship while also being
business partners.
“I can’t imagine opening
a
restaurant
alone,without
a partner who is personally
involved with me somehow,
even a family member or
something,”
Olitzky
said.
“Steve always has my best
interest at heart. He’s always
thinking about me first. If I
was partners with someone
who wasn’t invested in my best
interest, I’d be worried about
what’s holding them there and
what’s preventing them from
thinking about me as a person
first.”
Hall and Olitzky share the
same
mantras
and
beliefs
about food and the culinary
world, another reason their
partnership seems to work so
pleasantly, and in Spencer’s
favor.
“We don’t really see food
as art,” Olitzky said. “The
importance of food as art is
being inflated and glamorized.
At the end of the day it’s really
a simple thing: It’s just food.
I see food as a practice. As a
belief. As a meditation.”
When
asked
about
the
possibility of opening another
restaurant, Olitzky explained
“There’s no rush for us to go
anywhere
from
here
right
now, there’s no pressure to
have to open someplace new
just because that’s what other
people do. We can keep pushing
ourselves here. We can hone in
and be creative here. We are
not there yet, and that’s OK.”
Spencer is a delight. It is
creative, and it is pushing
boundaries.
It
is
breaking
barriers
and
building
new
walls. It is a shimmering gem in
a world of commercial kitchens
so focused on what’s next.
It is a clear bell in a world of
kitchens forgetting about the
simple, forfeiting the beauty
of the moment for the big
picture. What Olitzky and Hall
have done at Spencer is taken
their hearts, their love for
one another and their love for
the world of food and created
sustenance out of it. Anyone
who
walks
into
Spencer’s
charming front door is in for an
experience where the unique
taking on simple ingredients
all tells a story, and that in and
of itself is the most wonderful
dish a restaurant can serve.
CLAIRE MEINGAST / DAILY
CLAIRE MEINGAST / DAILY
CLAIRE MEINGAST / DAILY
(Spencer) is a
clear bell in a
world of kitchens,
forgetting about
the simple,
forfeiting the
beauty of the
moment for the
big picture.