$100/dinner + t-shirt
$150/dinner & t-shirt + 6pm reception with Ann Arbor Schools Superintendent Todd Roberts

James Beard-nominated Chef Alex Young began Cornman Farms five years ago as a verdant garden of heirloom tomatoes. This year, he’s cultivated crops to yield a cornucopia of heirloom tomatoes, pota­toes, beans, greens and herbs. Cornman Farms is unlike any around because it fo­cuses on heirloom varieties of produce in­cluding growing all strains of Brandywine tomato and beans whose seeds possess a rich, if little known, history.
The Heirloom Harvest Dinner features fall crops gathered from Zingerman’s Cornman Farms, including squash, beets, heirloom housemade sauerkraut and handmade sausage.
Proceeds from the dinner benefit the Ann Arbor Schools Educational Foundation, which provides funds to the Ann Arbor Public Schools with the mission to enrich public education.

$126/person

A Benefit for Food Gatherer’s
Food Gatherer’s is a local, independent non-profit organization, founded by Zingerman’s, whose mission is to fight hunger in Washtenaw County. The fourth annual Vampire’s Ball is a collaboration between Zingerman’s Roadhouse and bestselling author Elizabeth Kostova, who is passionate about giving back to her community.

Elizabeth Kostova will hold an advance reading of her forthcoming novel, The Swan Thieves, to be released in early 2010. Her novel is the story of an art-loving psychiatrist whose journey to discover the past tragedy which informs the life of his patient, renowned painter, Robert Olivier, takes him on a historical adventure through time from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries and across two continents.
James Beard-nominated Chef Alex Young will craft a menu based around the geographical locations of the book and drawing on the book’s theme.

If we reach our goal of selling 80 seats to the dinner, we’ll have raised over $7000 for Food Gatherer’s, which is wonderful at a time when the demand on food banks is increasing. With the funds we’ll raise, we’ll provide over 18,000 meals for the hungry.

Give us a call for reservations at 734.663.3663 or use our online reservation form.

The Menu:

Appetizer

Steak Tartare with Quail Egg

Soup

Normandian Bouillabaisse

Salad

Loire Valley Grape Salad

First Course

Dover Sole Meuniere

Entree

Roast Leg of Lamb

Dessert

Rum Babas with Melomelo

Weekly live music concerts by local musicians serenade diners outdoors in our patio seating space. Reservations are encouraged because the event is popular!  This weeks band is  Lady Sunshine & the X Band.

$45/dinner
Special Dinner #80
We’ll explore the history and culinary traditions of the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians, known as the Three Fires Confederacy, or Anishinaabe peoples in the Great Lakes Region and learn how those traditions live among the people today. With a menu that highlights the history and foodways of the Great Lakes during the early years of the republic (when the entire region was known as the Michigan Territory) and a talk by our special guests, UM Professors Margaret Noori, Michael Witgen, Howard Kimewon and Phil Deloria, this evening promises to be a lively and full-flavored encounter with the living history of Michigan’s earliest inhabitants

The Menu:

Appetizers

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Fried Corn Hominy

Bread

Traditional Fry Breads

Soup

Rabbit Succotash with Puffed Wild Rice

Entrees

Roasted Duck
Corn Flour Batter Fried Walleye

Sides

Wild Rice Stuffed Pumpkin

Dessert

Maple Sugar Candy
Dried Berries