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Café Zola
One of WineWomenOnline’s favorite Cafés in Ann Arbor is Café Zola located at 122 West Washington Street between Main and Ashley in a very quaint area of the town. The Café first opened in 1996. Its name is derived from the famous French writer, Emile Zola who was an influential French novelist.
The Café has a European and charming appeal offering great cappuccino’s and breakfasts, lunches and sumptuous dinners. Most days and evenings you will find Hediye Batu, one of two owners, busily assisting staff and greeting customers with her warmth and charm that adds to the ambiance of Café Zola. Hediye's partner, Alan Zakalik, provides his touch to the wine list and also assists behind the scenes.
WineWomenOnline recently enjoyed a fabulous and light meal of small plates at Café Zola. Our wine selection for the meal was a Spanish Grenache, 2004 Razon, a red wine, and at $37.00 a bottle it fit the bill. Razon is made from an 80+ year-old vine Grenache grown just outside the Rioja region of Northern Spain in the valley of the Ebro River. The wine was an excellent choice for our meal, very food-friendly and ready to go. It was not over-powering having a nice balance of blackberry and a somewhat floral essence coupled with a savory spice finish.
Our meal began with a wonderful sampling of olives, bread, and butter. We chose the 'Bruschetta Zola' as our first course which consisted of 3 large slices of grilled rustic Italian bread drizzled with olive oil and topped with Durham's Tracklements smoked salmon & horseradish cream. This was a meal in and of itself, and if you have never enjoyed Durham's Tracklements smoked salmon, you need to indulge yourself at www.tracklements.com. The next course was a Stilton Salad with Michigan dried tart cherries, Applewood smoked bacon crisps and Long Clawson Dairy Stilton cheese with fresh Stilton dressing on the side. And finally a plate of the Blue Crab Cakes with smoky Aioli and citrus chutney. These three small plates were enough to satisfy although the dinners look pretty amazing too. What meal would not be complete without dessert? We finished with an Italian Almond Cream Torte – total indulgence…
Café Zola has a delicious and interesting cuisine while offering a unique and changing wine list that should not be discounted and definitely needs to be checked out when you are in the mood for something new and interesting. Many of the wines are affordable and offer a welcome relief to the more popular, known wines that you will see in many restaurants. Go to www.cafezola.com for more information.
© 2007 WineWomenOnline
Created: 8/9/2007 Edited: 12/30/2007