Restaurants: Then & Now

After a very good post suggestion from Shane, I thought that it would be fun to do some quick restaurant reviews - but with a twist! Reminisce about the restaurants I frequented in college, and compare them to what I eat today. Done.

Then: China Gate

China Gate is right in the middle of campus on South University Avenue. It's small, but the speed of service keeps the waiting line short. They have a seemingly great lunch special, but once you add in tax and tip, it's not really the best deal. I've been to China Gate a few times since returning to Ann Arbor, and it's good, but certainly not as great as I once thought.

Now: Kai Garden

Kai Garden is the best Chinese restaurant in the city, and some of the best I've ever had. K-10 and I would venture down to Main Street for meals here as a treat after finishing our exams. When you arrive, you're led to a table in the dining room and green tea is served soon after. Maybe it's a girly thing, but I love their china - it's delicate and beautiful and makes the meal elegant. The food is fabulous and I've never been disappointed in my selection. The entrees are slightly more expensive than most cheap-eats Chinese, but the extra few bucks are more than worth spending for the service, the ambiance, and of course, the food.

Then: Jimmy John's

Jimmy John's franchises are spread all over the Big Ten, and I think that I ate it at least once a week when I was in college. When I worked in the museum gift shop, friends would stop by after lunch to tell me if the bread was good that day - and this was key! If the bread was bad, the sandwich suffered. But it was still better than any other sandwich offering on campus.

Now: Jimmy John's

I can't help it. It's as good as I remember, and after five years away with only two locations in the entire DC metro area, I head there for lunch at least once a week. It's good, fast, and inexpensive. The "bread theory" still rings true, but this is the best bet for weekday lunches in my opinion. I love me the turkey tom.

Then: Panchero's

Panchero's was the best place to go if you wanted a burrito bigger then your head. During my first week of college, I remember ordering that burrito... I also remember feeling like hell for the rest of the day (no, I didn't finish. Do I ever finish my meals?). After a year, new owners took over and it seemed to get worse. I stopped going.

Now: BTB Burrito or Chipotle

BTB (originally "Big Ten Burrito" until the Big Ten had a hissy fit and forced them to change the name) is really good! It's cheaper than Panchero's with more selections. And the kitchen staff doesn't fling derogatory comments in Spanish. Which is nice. The tacos are enormous and a great value, and the guac is fantastic. The space it occupies was a cd/record shop when I was in college, so that was a little weird, but it works.

When I moved to DC, I had never heard of Chipotle. When I was interning at the NMAH, a few of us headed to the location in Rosslyn after work and I was positive that I had found heaven wrapped in a tortilla. Once I returned to Ann Arbor, I spotted a Chipotle on Washtenaw, and about crashed my car into a telephone pole.

Then: McDonald's

During my entire collegiate career, I remember the two times I visited the McDonald's on campus. The first was St. Patrick's Day of my freshman year, when we attempted to get Shamrock shakes after an exam. They were closed because no one had shown up to work that day. It was 4 p.m.

The next and final time was with my friend Casey, from high school. We opened the main door and were met by a very long line. The trash cans were overflowing, there were event flyers strewn across the floor along with dirty napkins that had fallen from a huge paper-wrapped bundle on the counter. There were two people working - one making food and the other at the register. We were there to witness his eventual breakdown, and it was not pretty. Nor were the fist marks he left on the fryer from punching it when it wouldn't. stop. beeping.

Now: Grocery Store

That McDonald's location closed sometime during my sophomore year, I think, and has been replaced by a test prep company or something. As for McDonald's itself, I've been known to stop at other locations for a Coke to settle an upset stomach or aid a migraine (there is nothing like Coke for those maladies, I swear), but I haven't eaten there in years. I shop much more regularly now, and most of my budget goes toward fresh fruit and vegetables. And rotisserie chickens, of course.

Then: BD's Mongolian Barbeque

We thought we were SO AWESOME when we queued up to wait for our food to be fried on the grill. We thought that Mongolian was the best thing since slurpees and we didn't mind paying the steep cost for the novelty of choosing our own ingredients. Of course, this is a brilliant strategy, what with people constantly wishing to make substitutions on even the most basic of meals, so I can see why they're so popular. And why we were so taken by the idea. I don't think that I've been there since 1999. Maybe I should give it another try...

Now: Prickly Pear Southwestern Cafe

It's a different cuisine, yes, but I don't care. I can say, hands down, that this is my favorite restaurant in Ann Arbor. There are many, many others to choose from down on Main Street (anyone else have that Bob Seeger song in their heads now? It was written about Ann Arbor's Main Street. Well, actually 4th avenue, but still - that's only one block east), but Prickly Pear wins for the sheer amazingness of their food. Their waitstaff can be a little bitchy, and the dining room is pretty small, but that is all forgotten after your first bite of the grilled chicken sope and a raspberry margarita. Oh. Is it wrong to crave a margarita at eight in the morning?

Then: Good Time Charley's

I didn't reach the wonderful age of twenty-one until the August before my senior year of college, so the majority of the imbibing I did was at house parties. Charley's had a free dinner and drink promotion on your 21st birthday, so that was my first legal drink. And what a drink - I remember it tasting like a SweetTart. And it was the location of my second legal shot (I had done a shot of vodka at midnight at Ashley's, I do recall). It all went downhill from there. I think I vomited four times that night. Classy!

Senior year found us at Charley's every single Wednesday for margarita night. They were cheap and we were poor, and we didn't know what a good margarita should actually taste like. And the food? Not that memorable.

Now: Conor O'Neill's

Conor's is also located on Main Street, a bit of a walk from campus, and a slightly older crowd. It was a bit daunting to go there as a student, not that we weren't welcomed. I love this place. It reminds me of Fado in DC, sans the weird floor and general Middle Earth feel. It's a pub, it's got good beer and GREAT food. And trivia night.

That's it for now, though I can definitely see doing another installment... I could do one just on pizza, really.