"michigan" news and stories

Gastronomically speaking, Ann Arbor, Mich. isn't your typical college town. The home of the maize and blue plays host to a surprisingly vibrant culinary counterculture; sure, there are the requisite pizza parlors and all-night diners, but there's also a bustling farmers' market, an uber-successful food coop, and a myriad of top-shelf, culture-crossing restaurants offering everything from bibimbop to a chipati. However, the unrivaled valedictorian of the wolverine food scene for nearly 30 years has been Zingerman's. A virtual empire with nine businesses -- including a creamery, a bakehouse, and a candy factory -- under its umbrella, Zingerman's is an Ann Arbor institution, right up there with the marching band and hating Ohio State.

We caught up with Assistant Retail Manager Vanessa Sly, a veteran of the dry goods department, and got the lowdown on a day in the trenches at Zingerman's.

More from Vanessa Sly of Zingerman's, after the jump.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

If your definition of summertime doesn't include barbecue, beer and baseball it's time make some serious corrections to your agenda -- like, with a bright red pen.

In Detroit, those properly schooled in brews amble on over to Slows Bar BQ a joint that caters to fans of all three types of fanatic. Just a mile or so down the road from Comerica Park and in the shadow of the old Tiger Stadium, Slows is a popular pre- and post-game stop for Tigers fans. Manager Terry Perrone notes that its primary appeal is the food: "We're a barbecue restaurant first and foremost." Terry isn't stopping suds snobs with a nose for microbrews from slipping through the door, too, though.

With renowned Michigan names like Bell's, Founders and New Holland, Slows has no shortage of local breweries to draw from and stocks as many as possible: of 20 taps Perrone says they try to keep "no less than 14 from Michigan or the region." Some, such as Great Lakes Grass Roots Ale and Dragonmead Corktown Red, aren't readily available anywhere else. So though Slows puts eats first, Peronne admits, "We see more and more [beer lovers] as the notoriety gets out that we are a great destination to find these local beers."

Check out yesterday's complete draft list after the jump. (Got a fave on the list? Let us know what we should be sipping this summer).

While Oregon ponders a major increase in their beer excise tax, the state of Michigan has come up with a somewhat opposite plan to help their economy.

According to the Associated Press, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority has approved "a nearly $723,00 tax credit over seven years" for the Michigan Brewing Company to help with production of a proposed "Kid Rock beer." What exactly is a Kid Rock beer? A beer branded with Kid Rock's name, attitude and stamp of approval, of course.

The company behind the Kid Rock plan, Drinks Americas, claims that "Kid Rock is a reflection of great American rock and roll music and the American spirit, and we think we can create a beer in that same image." And with Kid Rock being a Michigan native, working with a local craft brewery seems like a positive PR move. So maybe this can work, though no other successful celebrity-branded beers come to mind. (There's probably some example out there... Was Samuel Adams a "celebrity"?)

However, Drinks Americas aren't the ones who'll be questioned: They're just doing what they do. (These are the same guys behind Trump Vodka and Newman's Own Sparkling Juices.) The real question: Do we really need to provide tax relief to make Kid Rock-branded beers in these troubled economic times? Actually, I have no idea: I'm not an economist. And thank god, because -- wow -- too much to wrap my head around this year. I'm grabbing a beer. Preferably one approved by my favorite rap-rock crossover artist...

[via mlive.com and mlive.com]

Source

Ladies and gentlemen, shut down the Michigan borders. A 450 pound pumpkin has gone missing.

Bill Teer of Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, spent five months growing a great pumpkin of Charlie Brown proportions. It was stolen from his yard during the night last Thursday, as his wife discovered when she left for work at 5:30am. He's offering a $200 reward and hopes someone will find it.

"You can't miss the thing," says Teer. No joke!

We're still waiting for a series of ransom notes with a couple of seeds enclosed in each letter. Truly, we wish Mr. and Mrs. Teer luck and hope it's just someone playing a practical joke. Perhaps a giant jack-o-lantern will appear on their doorstep on Halloween!

Source

With so many food recalls recently, wouldn't it be nice to have that information sent to you rather than just happening across it?

If you're a reader of food blogs, you probably don't have to look too hard for information on the latest out break of food borne illness. The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) has got something better for you. You can sign up to receive email alerts for any new Class I food recall, which is one where food has been determined to be the cause of human illness and is therefore unfit for consumption. According to MDA, there was a 56% rise in Class I recalls from 2006 to 2007 that affected Michigan consumers.

You can sign up for the email alerts here. I'm pretty sure the alerts will be geared toward Michigan's citizens, but there doesn't seem to be any restrictions on the sign-up page. Something like this could definitely be worth it. Do you think this should be offered nationally?