Northside Grill

1015 Broadway St., Ann Arbor, MI - (734) 995-0965

Overview Reviews(1) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on May 7, 2009 3:44 PM

At first glance, outside and in, the Northside Grill looks like a common cafe: bare tables, green-upholstered booths, knotty pine walls, a waitress patrolling the dining room with three different pots of coffee in her two hands (regular, decaf, flavored). But at first bite, it is extraordinary. Even before the food arrives, you'll notice that it is a diner with a difference. At 7:30am, the radio is tuned to NPR's "Morning Edition"; when you order coffee and choose French roast, the waitress says, "Good! It's fair trade organic." You begin to realize that the Elvis iconography on the walls has a certain twist of cultural irony.

There can be no question about an elevated consciousness at work in the kitchen when you ease a fork down into a stack of apple-oat bran pancakes. The cakes really have a tweedy oatmeal texture and they are studded with large chunks of apple that deliver a fruity tang and cinnamon vibe. At my waitress's recommendation, I paid $1.45 extra for real maple syrup, which crowned the short stack beautifully.

Pancakes were the order of the day, so on the side I got a single potato pancake. What a beauty! Crisp and crunchy on the outside but creamy within, and sparkling with herbs and spices, the cake came topped with slivers of grilled red onion and ramekins of sour cream and apple sauce.

Next visit must-eat: a breakfast skillet built upon hash brown potatoes.

Overall Rating

Apple Oat Bran Pancake (Short Stack)

Potato Pancake (single)

Hobo Skillet

Red Eye

8 out of 10 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes