Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you all are enjoying a lovely day full of good peeps and good food. I'm taking a quick breather before hitting the kitchen -- almost turkey time!
For a pre-Thanksgiving dinner, Brad and I decided to check out the new Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery (next door to Cafe Habana [their downstairs bars actually connect] and owned by the same business group). We didn't really have any expectations, but immediately upon walking in we were impressed. It doesn't feel like Ann Arbor inside, but I don't really know how to explain that. It's dark, woody, rustic, but not WT. There was a 30-minute wait, so we headed to the bar, which is where we normally prefer to eat at bar-type restaurants. Brad was immediately impressed by the ice bar alongside the bar and the home-brewed beers (there is one called bearded pig!), and I was taken with the yummy cocktail list (I decided on the southern peach, with vodka and peachtree). We got our menus and were in love -- basket of fried goodness (okra poppers, fried green tomatoes, and cornmeal-fried pickles [ew] with buttermilk-lime dip); warm potato chip basket with tractor seasoning and blue cheese fondue for dipping; black-eyed pea and arugula salad; crunch burger topped with warm potato chips and melted American cheese; beer can chicken with free-range chicken slow-cooked on a can of beer and served with buttermilk mashers, pan gravy, and fresh vegetable; three different kinds of mac and cheese; creamed wild mushrooms on cornmeal waffles with braised greens; ribs; steaks; salmon; catfish... So many things to try! I decided on the catfish po'boy and Brad the ribs. At this point, we were nervous because if the food wasn't good we were going to be so disappointed.
Guess what? We weren't. Brad liked his ribs and the taste I snagged of the buttermilk mashed potatoes was super tasty. My catfish po'boy was perfect -- light, not overly breaded, with a pepper and tomato salsa on it with a hint of lime. They also let me get cheddar grits instead of fries. We were in heaven. And full. But of course decided to try out a piece of the deep dish pecan pie. Yum yum. It is official. We have a new favorite place! haha!
2 comments:
Sounds delish. Put it on our list of places to visit next time I'm in AA. And, I didn't make it to Treasure Mart last time and I'd like to.
I went there about a month ago for a drink. I wasn't terribly impressed with the beer (I thought it was flat) or the atmosphere (packed with college kids, and there was no place to sit). But we also went right after it opened, so it could have been an off night.
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