If Wilma’s Ann Arbor were a
person, she’d be a trendy, crunchy
redhead who owns cats and
succulents and has a spice garden
in her backyard. She’d be the type
of woman who could look cute
matching
completely
different
patterns, casually pull off clogs
and she’d always use reusable
grocery bags at the farmer’s
market. She’d be the girl at hot
yoga who isn’t trying to show off
but is just naturally incredibly
flexible and somehow looks good
after sweating for an hour-long
class. She’d play the guitar and
enjoy hiking, make her own oat
milk and have her own book
club. She’d also be an Instagram
influencer from L.A.
Wilma’s
(formerly
known
as Fred’s) has been a staple in
the
Ann
Arbor
community
since it first opened its doors
on
South
University
Avenue
three years ago. The trendy,
health-foodie cafe and coffee bar
“Fred’s” moved to its spot on E.
Washington Street and grew into
its quirky name with a similarly
idiosyncratic personality. After
facing licensing issues with the
name, the original Fred’s had to
rebrand and create a new title for
the well-known restaurant. Being
such a pertinent part of student
life at the University of Michigan,
owners Fred Lelcaj and Nathan
D’Andrea left the choice in the
hands of the customers, running
a name-change campaign for
several months in which they
received thousands of ideas.
“The goal,” D’Andrea said in an
interview with The Daily, “was for
our customers to give us a name
that makes the feel at home —
there’s a certain feeling people get
when they come in here and we
wanted the name to reflect those
sentiments.”
When selecting the perfect
name for their spot, they knew
they wanted to go with a female
name and something that had the
same personal feel that Fred’s did.
They assume that multiple people
suggested Wilma’s because of the
Flintstones reference — Wilma
being Fred Flintstone’s wife —
but the team behind Wilma’s
selected the name because they
associated it with a homey and
happy feel. They felt as though the
name “Wilma” felt like an older
generational name and liked the
way the ‘w’ looked in cursive on
their fresh new logo as well.
“Wilma’s reminds a lot of us of
a mother or grandmother’s name,”
D’Andrea said. “And a lot of
people associated Fred’s, and now
Wilma’s, with a feeling of home.”
Something about the interior
of the restaurant really brings
on that comfortable, cozy feel
whenever you walk into the door
for brunch, lunch, dinner or a
smoothie. The white-tiled floors
are complemented by bright,
natural light spilling in from the
floor-to-ceiling
windows,
and
lush, green, overgrown plants
adorn all of the empty spaces. A
bohemian style hanging swing,
comfortable low couches and a
simple earth tone rug decorate the
living-room-esque seating area
before the counter. The intention
here is to fill some of the empty
space in the restaurant with
purposeful furniture, instead of
misusing or not using the space at
all. The living room area is often
utilized as a study spot, a reading
nook or a solo dining area when
someone stops in for a lunch break
or a latte. To the left of the counter,
the main seating section is mostly
white and simple, complemented
by simple, green toned accessories
and of course, on the tables, the
beautifully crafted açai bowls and
heavily topped avocado toasts.
The interior of Wilma’s really
fits her unique personality, the
culinary experience and overall
chic ambiance. The idea for Ann
Arbor’s premiere health food
oasis was born out of a vision to
bring a clean, creative culinary
experience to Ann Arbor — one
that mimics health food trends
on the East and West Coasts that
we as diners don’t often have the
privilege of encountering in the
Midwest.
“You know food trends sort
of start in Australia, and then
they go to California, and then
they skip over the entire country
and go to the East Coast,” said
D’Andrea when asked about the
original intention and idea behind
Wilma’s. “We wanted to create
an East Coast-West Coast vibe,
serving everything from light
snacks to meals. We wanted to
stay ahead of the trends so that we
can be the start of the trends for
other places here in Ann Arbor.
Being a city that has a surplus of
folks from other coastal cities, the
idea works really well.”
In terms of foodie trends,
from açaí bowls to avocado toast
to poke to turmeric to stuffed
avocados to blue majik lattes,
Wilma’s did it before anywhere
else in Ann Arbor, and, because
they go the extra mile to ensure
everything is authentic, delicious
and beautiful, they do it better.
The menu has not changed much
with the rebranding and the same
clean, unique and healthy dishes
are still available, from snacks
and small plates to full meals.
The top seller, no surprise, is the
avocado toast, which is made on
a thick slice of fresh Zingerman’s
bread and topped with perfectly
symmetrical slices of avocado,
bright pink pickled onion and a
dusting of chili flakes. A welcome
addition is a perfectly cooked
egg, and the runny, bright yellow
yolk pools into the soft bread and
makes the most mouthwatering
dish. Coming in as the second-
best seller is the acai bowl, which
is topped with thinly sliced red
apple, coconut flakes, crunchy
pumpkin seeds, to-die-for gluten
free granola and a lacy drizzle of
honey. Other best sellers include
the salmon bowl, which is paired
with a unique starchy cauliflower
fried rice, avocado and kimchi and
the tuna poke, which is served
with a sweet mango salad and
toasted sesame. This wide array
of favorites by customers is a
testament to the fact that Wilma’s
takes on a diverse variety of flavors,
cultures and trends in their menu
and manages to succeed with all
of them. Sometimes a major risk
is not honing in on one particular
cuisine and attempting to be
masters at too many flavors — but
the restaurant manages to take on
this risk, and succeeds effortlessly.
“With the food, what we care
the most about is putting thought
into it and creating each menu item
thoroughly. Anything here can be
made gluten free and or vegan,”
D’Andrea said when asked about
how they create the menu. When
asked about his favorite dishes
he remarked, “I can’t really pick
a favorite. Every time someone
asks me what the best thing on the
menu is, I tell them they should
try something they haven’t before,
or try something new. I firmly
believe that everything we make
here is that good.”
In addition to the full menu
donned with smoothies, toasts
and salads, Wilma’s also has a
rotating selection of homemade
gluten free and vegan pastries
on display, including thick and
creamy chocolate cupcakes, crispy
yet soft ginger molasses cookies
and colorful funfetti cupcakes. If
you’re looking for both a healthy
and
simple
option
that
has
something that everyone in your
party will like, you can’t go wrong
with Wilma’s. When I was there,
I had the “nice cream,” a healthy
take on ice cream made with
banana, avocado, vegan protein
and cold brew topped with a layer
of creamy almond butter, crunchy
clusters of spiced granola, banana
and hemp hearts. I couldn’t pass
up the gluten free avocado toast
with a fried egg as well, which was
the perfect balanced breakfast
choice. To wash it all down, I
opted for an almond milk matcha
latte, which I had unsweetened;
however, it still had a perfectly
subtle sweet taste.
“We like to explore and take
risks, find out what the benefits
are of certain health foods, and
not pigeonhole ourselves to being
one cuisine or one “thing.” We
want to be able to push ourselves
to discover new things everyday.
People are heading toward being
more health conscious — for the
mind, body and soul,” D’Andrea
said
when
asked
about
the
wonderfully diverse and unique
menu.
At Wilma’s much of the choices
on the menu remind me of
restaurants from where I grew up,
about 1,000 miles away from here
on the East Coast where many
people are hooked on health-
foodie trends and Instagrammable
dining experiences. There aren’t
many spots in town where I can
feel like I’m in any of the cafes of
my hometown, or having brunch
with my family on a Saturday
afternoon, but Wilma’s really
replicates a strong feeling of the
East Coast, of home, that I’ve yet
to find elsewhere.
“For
the
out-of-state
kids
from the West and East Coasts,
we are sort of like a home away
from home,” D’Andrea said when
asked about the demographic
of customers. The majority of
their customers comes from the
undergraduate community, and
the owners have worked hard to
foster a semblance of home for
students who come to the Midwest
for college from some place far
away. “It’s like a different state in
here, and we often have students
telling us how much they feel
that Wilma’s personality reminds
them of their homes in California,
New York, New Jersey.”
In narrowing their identity
a bit with the rebranding, the
team behind Wilma’s wanted to
make the entire restaurant have a
throughline in its vibe, as opposed
to having contrasting feelings
in the different corners of the
restaurant. They made the fix by
decluttering some of their spaces,
making sure all of the surfaces are
clean and match the simplicity of
the food and moving the plants
higher up instead of at eye level. In
matching their interior with the
food they made sure the look of the
place followed a similar trendy,
boho feeling and everything else
fell in line with the same theme.
The dress code for employees,
music choices, cutlery, cushions
and decorations all fall into the
same trend-setter, coastal, simple
motif. The restaurant is a full
package in terms of the dining
experience, and the commitment
to all the details contributes to its
allure.
The restaurant is well-known
for its Instagrammable qualities:
The ways in which everything
from the intimate interior to
the picture perfect dishes are
incredibly photogenic.
“We’re always looking for
ways to include opportunities for
people to want the world to know
they were here. We’re putting
a trendy mirror about halfway
through the line so when people
are waiting on a long line with
friends, they can snap a selfie.
But the Instagrammable aspect
is just one piece of the puzzle, it’s
about so much more,” D’Andrea
said
when
asked
about
the
social media behind Wilma’s (@
wilmasannarbor).
The team at Wilma’s values
human interactions, even if it’s
just in the simple exchange of a
few dollars for a cup of tea to go.
They focus on the touch points
and small details, which starts
with making the customers feel
welcome for however short or
long their visit to the quaint, green
oasis is. Because there are more
restaurants per capita in Ann
Arbor than in New York City, the
competition is steep, and going
the extra mile goes a long way in
curating a popular spot in a city
so crowded with restaurants.
Thinking of unique ideas, working
hard to stay on top of trends, taking
risks and providing a familiar feel
are all important pieces to Wilma’s
puzzle. These are the things
that attract students, Ann Arbor
residents and businessmen and
women to Wilma’s for a beetroot
and quinoa burger — choices both
loaded with nutrients and tasty.
“Healthy is what people want
these days. The trend of health
food is taking off all over and we
want to set the precedent for what
that looks like in Ann Arbor while
also providing an individual,
extraordinary
experience
that
evokes feelings of home for the
customer,”
D’Andrea
said
in
regards to the restaurant officially
rebranding as Wilma’s.
Goodbye Fred’s, it’s time
to welcome Wilma’s
DAILY FOOD COLUMN
ELI RALLO
Daily Food Columnist
“A Dog’s Way
Home”
Sony Pictures
Releasing
Ann Arbor 20+
IMAX, Goodrich
Quality 16
“A Dog’s Way Home” plays less
like a movie than it does a series of
stitched together YouTube videos,
as if an aspiring editor with a lot
of time on their hands took to the
internet, cut together the most
endearing stock footage of dogs
they could find, and somehow
convinced Bryce Dallas Howard
(“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”)
to do a voiceover. In that light, it
sounds almost pleasant, right? The
problem,
of
course, is that
“A Dog’s Way
Home”
isn’t
a
YouTube
video.
It’s
a
movie,
which comes
with
certain
expectations.
Frankly,
man’s
best
friend
deserves
better
than
a
YouTube
video
with
high
production
values.
The quasi-
spinoff
of
2017’s
“A
Dog’s Purpose” – the two films are
both based on novels by W. Bruce
Cameron, and “A Dog’s Way Home”
certainly didn’t take any measures
to distance itself from the earlier
movie despite having no connection
to it – “A Dog’s Way Home” follows
a pit bull mix named
Bella who finds herself
separated
from
her
owner and sets off
on a 400-mile trek to
reunite with him. On
her journey, she runs
across
all
manner
of
CGI
creatures,
including
a
cougar
kitten
that
she
raises as
her own and a pack
of wolves that are
eventually dispatched
in a fight scene that,
strangely
enough,
recalls
“Kingsman:
The Golden Circle”
with its impenetrable
zooms and pans.
In
the
best
moments of the movie,
“A Dog’s Way Home”
deals
with
Bella
acting as a therapy
animal in a way that
could have made for
an entertaining short
film. Based on how
often that motif recurs,
it’s likely supposed to
form some sort of backbone for the
movie, but neither Bella nor the
humans she interacts with and helps
are developed enough for any of it
to make sense and say something
beyond,
“Dogs
are
awesome.”
I know dogs are awesome. You
know dogs are
awesome.
We
don’t
need
a
102-minute movie
to tell us so.
Much
more
memorable,
unfortunately, are
where “A Dog’s
Way
Home”
descends
into
wanton
misery.
In what may end
up the most nihilistic scene of any
movie this year, Bella finds herself
chained to the corpse of a PTSD-
stricken homeless veteran for days
with a river mere inches out of
reach, a vision of Hell so appallingly
dark that even Dante may have
passed on it in favor of something
a little more lighthearted. I’m all
for movies speaking to kids on
their level and not condescending
to them, but there’s a difference
between
treating
your
young
audience with a modicum of respect
and beating them over the head with
hopelessness and despondency in a
movie about a talking dog.
More entertaining still were the
reactions of the people around me.
The young boy in front of me grew
so bored that, as the interminable
second act wore on, he got up and
started introducing
himself to other
people
in
the
theater. His name
was Murphy, and
he
showed
me
his new light-up
sneakers.
They
were
very
cool.
The
woman
I
shared an armrest
with, on the other
hand, seemed to be
having a religious
experience,
complete
with
convulsions
and speaking in
tongues
at
the
screen as if the
characters
could
actually hear her.
Together,
Murphy and this
woman
had
all
the personality “A
Dog’s Way Home”
was lacking. It’s not
terrible – though
Howard’s
stilted
voice
over
does
nothing to help –
it’s just the most
generic
possible
dog movie. Instead
of making your way
to the theater and
dropping
dollars
on this, might I
recommend
last
year’s
beautiful
prehistoric
“boy
and his dog” story,
“Alpha”
instead?
Or
how
about
ABC’s short-lived
but
excellent
talking dog series,
“Downward Dog”?
Or hell, how about
staying home and
watching cute or
inspiring videos of
dogs on YouTube.
You’ll certainly get
nothing more out
of “A Dog’s Way
Home.”
‘A Dog’s Way Home’ does
little for all canine kind
JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer
SONY PICTURES RELEASING
FILM REVIEW
It’s not terrible –
though Howard’s
stilted voice over
does nothing to
help – it’s just
the most generic
possible dog
movie.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
By Gary Larson
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/15/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/15/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2019
ACROSS
1 Half-__: coffee
with a little less
kick
4 Chocolate-
making bean
9 Polynesian
people
14 Darth, as a youth
15 Suspect’s
excuse
16 Muslim religion
17 Single-digit
temps, for most
19 Exams for
would-be attys.
20 Try to whack
21 Jazz great Blake
23 Cabinet dept.
concerned with
nukes
24 1984 Prince hit
29 Picket line
participant
31 Fierce public
protest
32 Jot down
35 Napkin’s place
36 Body of water
between
Connecticut and
southeastern
New York
42 Skater Midori
43 Muscle injury
44 Small river
48 Tribulations
52 At close range
55 Bushels
56 Ponzi scheme,
e.g.
57 Ann __, Michigan
58 California/Nevada
resort lake
61 Grandmaster’s
last word ... and
what the last
word in 17-,
24-, 36- and
52-Across can be
64 Milky gemstones
65 Breed that’s
Welsh for “dwarf
dog”
66 Fresh
67 George of
“Cheers”
68 Trap during a
winter storm, say
69 Dozens of mos.
DOWN
1 Secret supplies
2 Bless using oil
3 Color-altering
camera lens
accessory
4 Actors in a show
5 European
mountain
6 Paris corp.
7 More adept
8 Prepare to shine
in a bodybuilding
contest?
9 Cultural setting
10 State with
conviction
11 Suffix with pay
12 Templeton in
“Charlotte’s
Web,” e.g.
13 Cyberchats,
briefly
18 Adventurous
22 Rain-__ bubble
gum
24 Animals at
home
25 Eurasian border
mountains
26 Rights advocacy
org.
27 “Reading Lolita in
Tehran” setting
28 Big Apple law gp.
30 Japanese carp
33 Skin pic
34 Noted 2001
bankruptcy
36 Talk like Daffy
37 Director
Preminger
38 More formal “Me
neither!”
39 Lacking light
40 Bully in the “Toy
Story” films
41 Like challenging
push-ups
45 Surround
46 Taking a break
47 Management
deg.
49 Capital on the
Hudson
50 Thief during a riot
51 Scatters, as
seeds
53 Soap star Susan
54 For a specific
purpose, as a
committee
57 Comparable (to)
58 Aid for a disabled
auto
59 Big lug
60 Solo of “Star
Wars”
62 Before, in verse
63 Cinematic FX
6 — Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com