Zingerman’s Roadhouse will be closed Thanksgiving Day, November 27.

We will re-open again at 11am on November 28 to satisfy any cravings which may arise during the “Black Friday” shopping madness.  If you need your caffeine fix earlier than that, please drive through the Roadshow after 6am.  They’ll serve up lattes and bagels with a smile!

There are a few things we can count on in life. One of them is our time. This season is naturally a point in our year when we focus on what’s important to us; our families and friends. That focus is especially important as we watch the chaos and calamity on our through our tv’s, radios and newspapers.

With all this in mind, the Roadhouse has prepared a holiday meal, just for those of us who have limited time, and want to spend it where it counts. Chef Julio has selected free-range turkeys and will cook them three ways. All-American accompaniments are perfect pairs to any holiday turkey. These are favorites of our customers and our staff, which prominently feature Cornman Farms produce, grown by Chef Alex Young at his farm in Dexter. Of course, Zingerman’s Bakehouse pies and breads will also be offered.

Check out the menu! Call us for orders by Monday, November 24 and we’ll cook so you don’t have to!

Zingerman’s Roadhouse will be closed on Election Day, November 4, 2008.  As a “thank you” to our staff for all of their dedication and commitment over the past 5 years of operation, we are taking this opportunity to show our gratitude to them.

The Roadhouse will open again for regular business at 11am on Wednesday, November 5.  The Roadshow staff will be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am to serve our drive-up guests espressos, lattes and breakfast bagels.

Thank you for your understanding!

The bounty of the garden has been taken from the ground and put onto plates. A whole lot of plates. Our third annual harvest dinner was served up last Tuesday to 120 hungry guests at the Roadhouse. Tomatoes had the largest presence, but our heirloom peppers and potatoes represented themselves pretty well. We oven roasted San Marzano romas at a low temperature for a long time to make the perfect sweet and colorful roasted tomato, and made it even better by stuffing it with blackfin tuna from Tobago. We hollowed out squash and made room for house made lamb sausage, and sliced cucumbers thin for a creamy fresh salad. We actually took three different types of our potatoes (german butter balls, kennebecs, and pontiac reds) and hand cut them for french fries. We then challenged our guests to decide which one was the favorite, and that one will be grown in massive quantities for the restaurant next year. We also steamed the taters for an amazing potato salad… The pepper were all over in different dishes, but I was most excited by the heirloom pimento cheese. Pimento cheese is a southern specialty already on our menu (cheddar, mayo, roasted red peppers, cayenne), but we took it a step further by making it with our hot hungarian wax peppers, red and yellow hinkelhotz, and an appropriately named amish cheese pepper. The flavors blew me away! The heat was definitely at the front, but continued to linger on the tongue. We did not even need to use cayenne to add spice! At the end of the huge buffet was our raw bar of heirloom tomatoes (and me). We had ten different varieties that I sliced to order so that you could sample varietals side by side to compare flavor profiles. We also had house made fresh mozzarella, basil from the garden, a vast selection of American olive oils, and plenty of Portugese sea salad to make fantastic caprese salads, just the way you like them. There were, of course, much more- a gigantic sundae bar, peach cobbler, blueberry grunt, bean salads, sweet carrots…… I will post the menu as incentive to make your reservation now for next year!!

Imagine the scene: It is early in the morning… Mark is basking in the lowlight (and temperature) of the time prior to the heat. Chef Alex Young strolls to the backyard (our massive garden) and sips a steaming cup of coffee. He tells Mark that he had a dream (I see a patten here..) that he had potatoes ready under ground. Mark, not ready to contemplate potatoes in his harvest list, hesitates. However, and this only further proves that my boss is far too prophetic, hesitation may set itself aside. We have potatoes, and we have a one Chef Alex’s sixth sense to thank for that. Kennebecks and Pontiacs. Ready to serve. Come and get ‘um.