Zingerman's. Just Plain Fantastic.

If you’re read my blog for long you probably know I’m a food nut.  (My pal Jason would say I’m a coffee snob, but he’s missing my history of having drunk BAD coffee for years.  But I digress.)

Zingerman’s is a simply amazing place to get great foodstuffs from.  They’re expensive, but it’s worth it for occasional splurges on special occasions.  We’ve mail ordered from Zingerman’s several times over the years, but haven’t ever been to their deli in Ann Arbor before — we’ve always been far away from there.

Until this last weekend when I spoke at the Day of .NET in Ann Arbor.  What a great opportunity to hit the store!

It’s simply an amazing place: a tiny deli on a corner in Ann Arbor with a separate coffee/chocolate shop next door.  You walk in and are immediately bowled over by the wonderful aromas of cheeses, salumi, bread, and good food.  Even better, you get to sample just about anything.  We even got lucky enough to sample four different traditionale balsamicos, the real stuff.  The nice clerk even gave us a drop of the 100 year old stuff.  Yes, this 100 year old stuff.   Zingerman’s tuna is incredible if you’re looking for something amazing to top a simple salad or add to a bowl of piping hot spaghetti and oil. 

We also spent 15 minutes at the cheese counter gabbing with the really nice folks there and sampling a few things we don’t have access to here in Dayton.  We picked up a passle of neat stuff to bring home with us, perfect for a nice little treat after the kids finally get off to bed.

If you’re at all a foodie, then you ought to take a look at Zingerman’s.  It’s painful in the wallet, but oh-so-wonderful for an occasional treat.

(Plus the folks there are just plain cool.)

PS: Zingerman’s coffee shop next door has great espresso, almost as good as mine at home here.  It’s that coffee snob thing, you know… :)