January 2018

While working in Ann Arbor Michigan this past January, my customer recommended several times that my co-workers and I head to downtown Ann Arbor to try a local favorite Italian restaurant, and so of course we went, gotta eat right? 🙂

After driving downtown and parking in a local garage, we found the walk (only a few blocks) from the garage to the restaurant to be extremely cold. In fact it’s the coldest weather I’ve ever felt! We almost gave up on finding the restaurant because we were literally freezing and we were about to just jump into the nearest restaurant we came to next so we could warm up – when suddenly we were in front of the restaurant we had been looking for.

How do people live in the freezing cold winters in the north? Damn that weather is harsh! I supposed it’s just like dealing with the heat and humidity in the south, cold temps in the north become the norm after living there a while.

Once inside the restaurant we found ourselves transported to another world, where it’s warm and nice with food and wine flowing at the tables.  We instantly liked what we saw.

Gratzi is located in a building that was formerly the Orpheum Theater and the dramatic history is preserved in the décor and ambiance. This restored historic theater in downtown Ann Arbor Michigan, serves very good upscale authentic Urban Italian cuisine. All of us enjoyed everything we ordered for dinner that night.

The decor is indeed interesting, the ceiling boasts a Renaissance style mural and from the former theater there is balcony seating located above the dining room. This is truly a one of a kind very unique place.

To start dinner, we had the charcuterie plate, tasting the following meats and cheeses.
Meats: Prosciutto Di Parma D.O.P aged 16 months (my favorite!), Coppa, Speck Alto Adige PGI (prosciutto), Salumi del Giorno, and Soppressata.
Cheeses: BellaVitano Espresso, Pecorino Toscano D.O.P aged 4 months, Formaggi del Giorno, Fontina Val D’Aosta D.O.P aged 60 days.

This was very delicious, I could eat these imported Italian meats and cheeses everyday!

For dinner I ordered the grilled filet mignon, which consisted of Portobello mushroom, tomato, goat cheese, fingerling potatoes, roasted shallots, broccolini, asparagus, crispy fried leeks, and a tasty demi-glace.

Everything was cooked perfectly. Personally an’t stand overcooked steak or asparagus which happens all to often but the chef here cooked it all perfectly.

Being the sweets fan that I am, I had to try out their desserts and ordered a deconstructed cannoli.  It looked a bit weird but it tasted great and paired very well with a Taylor Fladgate tawny port wine.  I love love love a good port wine!

All in all it was a great dinner out after work on this day. Gratzi has a very nice ambiance with good service and great food.

Highly recommend you dine at Gratzi if you find yourself in Ann Arbor.

Gratzi Italian restaurant is located in downtown Ann Arbor Michigan
326 S. Main St.
Ann Arbor MI 48104
http://gratzirestaurant.com/