Reason I ♥ A2 # 37: San Street Pop Up

It's no secret that I love living in Ann Arbor so I thought that I would start sharing some of the things that make it such a special place for me.

One of the things that make Ann Arbor so great for me is the food. This past summer a food cart courtyard, Mark's Carts, opened up just around the block from my house and I was in heaven. This being Michigan, the food carts are closed for the winter for obvious reasons.

One of the food carts that I love, San Street, (amazing pork buns!) has periodically been doing a pop up restaurant at Zingerman's Events on Fourth and last night was my first chance to go. The pop up typically runs from 5 until 9:30 pm but we had heard they usually run out of food early so Frank and I headed over at 6:30.

I love the Zingerman's Events on Fourth space. It is really charming and intimate with lovely exposed brick and used to house Eve which was one of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurants prior to its closing. Run by Eve Arnoff (who was on Top Chef Season 6) the menu was full of amazing dishes including my favorite, curried mussels. As a random aside one time when I was having dinner there with my friends, Erin and Andy, I saw Emilio Estevez. Actually, I only kind of recognized him.

Me: That guy that just walked in with all those people looks like Emilio Estevez
Erin (turning to look): That is because it is Emilio Estevez
Me: Oh

Yeah, I am a dork. Anyway, enough with my side tangent. The pop up had a cool set up with the bar and serving staff being provided by Zingerman's and San Street providing the food. Everything looked great on the simple menu but Frank and I decided to each get a bowl of the pho bo and an order of chicken buns. The chicken buns were fabulous and definitely gave the San Street pork buns a run for their money. The soy garlic marinade was awesome and I loved that they were a little spicy. The pho was fabulous as well. The bowl was packed with noodles that were perfectly cooked and the broth was very flavorful. 

After eating Frank and I were tempted by the almond cookies on the menu, but decided to walk over to Zingerman's Next Door for some gelato. They make wonderful gelato locally at their creamery and the flavors change seasonally. February is chocolate gelato month at Zingerman's and we were not disappointed by the chocolate options. Frank immediately chose the turtle while I tried tastes of the chocolate basalmic strawberry and cherry chocolate chip before settling on rocky ride (dark chocolate with peanuts and marshmallows). It was a sweet way to end a nice night out.