Hello from a very busy holiday season!

We hope that your holiday season is going more restful than ours. . . but we can't complain given the Michigan economy these past few years! All business is good business and we are so very grateful that the past few months have been chock full of our lovely dine-in customers, countless catering orders, special events, and fun press.

On that note, we had recently hosted a press tour sponsored by the Ann Arbor Covention and Vistors' Bureau. One of our guests, Robin Tierney, wrote a great article on local food in the Urban Times. The article can be found here, perhaps you will recognize the picture of the Turkish coffee at the begining?

Thanks again to the Visitors' Bureau and Robin for a great article, and thanks to all of you for making it so special and rewarding to go into work every day.

Much more to come from us later, hopeing you are all enjoying the season!





Ayse and the team at Ayse's Cafe

Us. . . (or the the who, what, where and when of Ayse's)

Every good business has a story and we like to think that ours is particularly interesting. At least it is for us and perhaps to our customers as well.

So here is Part 1 of who knows how many, as interest and time dictate:

Let's start with the "official" bios, and get into the behind-the-scenes later. . .

From our yelp page:


"We are proud to be offering the Ann Arbor community some of Turkey's finest meals for over 18 years. Our menu is seasonal and locally sourced, with an emphasis on healthy comfort cooking with upscale twists.

We are pleased to be able to offer you beers, wines, and raki (a traditional anise-based spirit) from Turkey in addition to our selected drinks menu.

We also have a significant selection of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options for our diners and are happy to work with you to accommodate your dietary needs.

And we are pleased to announce that as of Spring 2011, we have begun offering wedding services.

History

At the suggestion of friends and family, who were always impressed by her dinner parties, Ayse Uras begun a small catering business in the late 1980s. As orders and clientele grew, so too did requests for opening up Ann Arbor's first Turkish restaurant. In 1993 Ayse's Cafe opened in the Courtyard Shops on Plymouth Road and has been in business ever since.
With glowing reviews in the Ann Arbor News, Current, Ann Arbor Observer, Detroit Free Press and more, business has grown steadily and the cafe expanded to the space next door to double capacity and acquired a liquor license to be able to serve beer, wine and Turkish spirits."

And from our own website:


"Ayse’s Café has been serving the Ann Arbor community for over 20 years.

Ayşe (pronounced “Eye-shah”) started a catering business in 1986 and Ayse’s Courtyard Café opened in October 1993. The restaurant underwent an expansion in 2004, adding on the adjoining unit and doubling dining capacity. The food served has remained traditional Turkish home cooking. Our emphasis is on fresh, seasonal cooking and we try to use locally produced, organic ingredients as much as possible; our menu revolves daily to reflect this and the rich diversity of Turkish cuisine. We have numerous vegetarian options and can provide gluten free and vegan options as requested.

We are thankful for the business of our many regular customers who we have come to consider part of our family and always look forward to welcoming new ones."

And here are some of the reviews from our first year:

Ann Arbor Observer, 1993

Ann Arbor News 1993

Detroit Free Press 1994

We have been re-reviewed in all local publications and are proud to say that our reviews have remained consistently high.

So a little start for this rainy Saturday morning with more to come later!

As always,

The Ayse's Cafe Team

A Day in the Life. . .

It is always hard to predict what a 'typical' day at the cafe will look like. Part of the joy in being in this line of work is the constant unexpected treats as well our fantastic regular customers. More on them will come later (Coke Guy and his Doppelganger, you have been warned!) but today was like any other day in that it was wonderful and different and busy and fun.

We had quite a few of our lovely regulars (Alice, Coke Guy and his lovely wife, Office Guys, Stacey) as well as our lovely friends Yen and Nick from Chin-Azzaro and a wonderfully engaging group of food and travel writers on a trip sponsored by the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. There is little we enjoy more than talking about food (and wine) and our visitors were well informed, inquisitive and charming.

A few pictures of the day to give you a feel for our atypical 'typical' day:

The cooking starts early. . .

But we always try to keep jazz hands alive in the kitchen

Lentil soup, mmmmm, lentil soup. . . (sadly recipe being very top secret)

Sauteed sweet baby peppers

Tomato-Swiss Chard Soup
Stuffed yellow pepper dolma with lamb

Baked pears with cloves and Turkish Tea

Come visit us soon!

Holiday Party!

As you all know, we have monthly parties which feature a special prix fixe menu and entertainment. In the past we have had ballroom dance performances (amazing what you can do with a small space and in one!), belly dancing, opera recitals, and musical theatre recitals, usually featuring one of our incredibly talented employees.

Our next party is our annual holiday party which will feature a fantastic seasonal menu and singing by a very talented student at the University of Michigan's renowned musical theatre program

This party tends to book out very quickly so reserve early!

Happy Holidays,

Ayse and the Team at Ayse's Cafe

Hello and Welcome!

After many requests, we have decided to finally launch our blog to share with you, dear customers, some of our favorite memories from serving Ann Arbor for over 18 years!

It has been a delight to have all of you come to the cafe, some of you since we first opened. While the restaurant business is hard (local legend has it that the majority of newly opened restaurants close within the first year) your patronage has made our business thrive, your kindness and friendship a pleasure to go to work every day.

So as this blog is a work in progress, we'll start by saying hello and that we are looking forward to seeing how this blog evolves.

Come visit us soon and in the meantime, wishing you all the best for the holiday season,

Ayse and the team at Ayse's Cafe