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