Where is the Glass House Cafe?
Glass House Cafe offers stunning panoramic campus views from the Plaza Level (3^rd Floor) of Palmer Commons at the University of Michigan. The Physical address is 100 Washtenaw Avenue, and ample parking is available in the structure on Palmer Drive. Our company also owns and operates Evans Street Station, located in Tecumseh, MI. The two companies have somewhat of a symbiotic relationship regarding servicing events.

What makes it unique?
Glass House Cafe is a socially conscious, casual urban cafe and catering house on the University of Michigan Campus. We are one of just a few independent foodservice providers on campus. In addition to our high standards for food and service, we also follow an environmental philosophy we have instilled at Glass House. Our company utilizes eco-friendly products in service, diligently works to reduce and reuse, strictly recycles, and even composts food waste.

What type of events would you recommend for the space?
Glass House Cafe at Palmer Commons: Engagement Parties, Showers, Rehearsal Dinners, and Weddings for up to 75 guests seated/standing receptions for 100. For larger events, the 4^th floor of Palmer Commons offers more space in the Atrium and Great Lakes Room, accommodating 225 for a seated event or a strolling reception for 350.
Evans Street Station/Offsite Catering: Engagement Parties, Showers, Rehearsal Dinners, and Weddings for up to 150+. Offsite catering for events of all sizes.

How does the chef decide where to purchase food from?
Local is priority. Our kitchens utilize ingredients from local farms and producers at every opportunity. Some of the local purveyors we source from include Four Corners Creamery, Goetz Greenhouse, Kapnick Orchards, Prochaska Farms, Pawson’s Farm, Knight’s Market, Back 40 Farm, BGreen, Barry’s Bagels, Calder Dairy, Karen’s Place, Eden Foods, Groeb Farms, Eat Local, Eat Fresh!, Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co., TeaHaus, and more!

Do I have to choose from a select menu?
We offer plenty of ideas throughout our catering menus, and also frequently design custom menus for events. Our mission is to make sure your day is everything that celebrates you. Therefore, we encourage incorporating your favorite foods and beverages into the menu and festivities. The sky is the limit!

What choices do I have for providing alcohol to guests?
Evans Street Station holds a liquor license that allows us to offer a full service bar at the restaurant in Tecumseh, or to sell wine and beer at retail for offsite catered events. You are also welcome to provide your own alcohol at offsite events. Our staff is fully trained and certified in alcohol service.
For events at Glass House Cafe/Palmer Commons, offering alcoholic beverage service at events is limited to those scheduled by:

• A University department or entity affiliated with the University to carry out the University’s objectives
• A current or retired University employee or their immediate family member
• A University student or alumnus
• An educational, alumni, cultural or public service organization or group with which the University has an affiliation

If the host of the event does not meet this criteria, a special event license can be applied for from the state of Michigan.

What would you say is an average price per person for lunch? $10-15
Dinner? $25-40, depending on menu selections.

What is your role in the planning process?
I am at your service throughout the planning and execution of your event. I oversee a dedicated team of professionals who are committed to providing the utmost in food and hospitality. We will help you design a menu that meets the unique needs of your group while staying within your budget. Just share with us the event you’re dreaming of and leave the work to us! We take pride in our ability to provide flexible catering for every style. Count on us to handle the details that create the affair you’ve envisioned!

Can I have my ceremony on site or nearby? Absolutely!

What is one thing that people would be surprised to know about this venue?
We opened Glass House Cafe in 2008, and we are one of the only independently operated dining options on the UM campus. Our place is really breaking the mold for food offerings found on a college campus, especially with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients and scratch cooking.

Last night was the last night my mom was in town from California, and we celebrated with a meal out at Logan – a local Ann Arbor restaurant. Of course, whenever I visit new restaurants, I also scope the location out for its potential to host a shower, brunch, rehearsal dinner, and/or wedding!

Logan is a small restaurant on Liberty Street, just off of Main Street in the downtown area of Ann Arbor. It has an inviting exterior – yellow with lots of lighting – and it keeps your interest once you enter the doors with it’s bright orange walls and abstract artwork. Most rehearsal dinners would be able to fit in the space, and a smaller wedding would work as well with some adjustment of tables to make room for dancing!

Our waiter, Larry, was incredibly attentive and helpful, offering his opinions (I need that when I dine out!) when asked and sending the wine specialist over to our table later on during the meal to discuss their 5-course wine dinners that sound absolutely heavenly!

The best part of the evening was the food, which was outstanding. The flavors were intense, portion sizes were perfect (European style – not a “stuff your face” venue!), and the presentation was spectacular. I would absolutely love to plan a small event here – I am sure the staff would be amazing to work with and I know the guests would leave 100% satisfied!

Wendy Martin, a wonderful Dexter-based photographer, recently turned me on to a new farm wedding venue in Ann Arbor. I cannot disclose the address, as it is a private residence and all the details have not been worked out yet, but it is going to be up and running for weddings soon and it’s going to be fabulous! The first wedding on site was the daughter of the family who owns the property, which inspired the idea of turning it into a wedding venue for others to enjoy as well!

One of the perks at this gorgeous site is that couples will have a myriad of choices in terms of how they want to structure the setup. There is a quiet sanctuary-type space available for ceremonies, as pictured above (guests were looking out at a pond). There is a spot overlooking the landscape available, and there are several other spaces that might inspire a ceremony! There are spots for tents to go up, a barn to house tables, dancing or both, and several areas for a caterer of your choice to prep the food!

The space can hold up to 250 guests (and parking for everyone!) for a ceremony and reception. This makes it a great alternative for those who love Cobblestone Farm but want something bigger! There will also be an opportunity to rent out the main home for guests or family to stay, making it a weekend-long event and a very relaxing experience for those closest to you! I am excited to do weddings here in the future, I think it will be a beautiful site!

Saturday, I had the privilege of accompanying two couples to their tastings at the Gandy Dancer – since I have two back-to-back June weekends at the restaurant! I thought it would be fitting to post a little about the site since I spent so much time tasting their amazing food! Also, the photos used for this post were taken from the blog of the wonderful Marcin Harla!

They do offer packages for the “standard” couple, however, they love to do things custom to your desires! The first tasting included 3 varieties of vegetarian meal choices -vegetable curry with jasmine rice, stuffed red pepper with ratatouille, and vegetarian lasagne with wonderful fresh grilled veggies. The curry was everyone’s favorite!

The second tasting included Asian-inspired dishes to reflect the bride’s heritage; ginger encrusted salmon with jasmine rice and veggies, teryaki glazed steak with wasabi mashed potatoes and veggies, and a chicken dish will be served. Appetizers will be tray-passed, and so will the cupcakes and mini desserts!

With a Dexter mailing address, I am always looking for places close to home that would make fascinating wedding locations. Wendy Martin turned me on to Gordon Hall in Dexter the other day, and now I am dying to do a wedding there!

Tents are added to the historic venue, which is used as a backdrop for a gorgeous wedding celebration. Getting ready inside makes for some phenomenal photos, and you can watch as everything is set up below!

I love jars, candles and floral hanging from trees – it just looks so beautiful!

Evans Street Station offers reasons aplenty to gas up the car and head west… It’s the kind of place dining enthusiasts love to find: a little gem in an unlikely location, an independent David in a world of franchised Goliaths and, most of all, a restaurant where the focus is firmly set on honest, great-tasting food. - Sylvia Rector, The Detroit Free Press

Saturday night, my husband and I headed into the country to visit Evans Street Station in Tecumseh. We were told that Chef Alan was preparing a tasting menu for us, which neither of us had experienced before – and it was a treat! My favorite dish of the evening was the bronzed gnocchi, followed closely by the amazing tenderloin with a cabernet reduction sauce… Each dish was paired with a glass of wine (we started with champaigne, moved into white and then red, ending with a fantastic dessert wine that had been aged in cognac barrels). It was so much fun – I felt like a judge on Top Chef!

The restaurant can host private parties up to 50 in a smaller room, or for larger groups the entire restaurant can be utilized. They also offer outside catering, as well as a sister restaurant in Ann Arbor – The Glass House Cafe. Even if you just go to Evans Street for a night out – I strongly recommend that you do make the trip, it is wonderful!

 

This is a picture of Oheka Castle, located on Long Island in Huntington, NY. I have always loved castles, and the idea of a castle wedding is just breathtaking to me! Now, there are places in Michigan where you can have a castle wedding, but how much fun would it be to ship 60 of your closest family and friends to Long Island for a weekend wedding celebration?

Featured on the Grace Ormonde Platinum List, it does come with premium pricing (of course) but what a weekend you would have! Should you want to invite more than those staying at the castle with you, the Terrace room can seat 400 for dinner – and I will gladly help your guests find outside accommodations!

If you need a way to relax the morning of the wedding, just take a dip in the gorgeous private pool! You can light the bottom with your monogram for anyone who wants to leave the party for some quiet time to enjoy, or incorporate it into a water polo match between your family and his!

Celebrate the next morning with a private breakfast for two, overlooking the amazing grounds. Golf and tennis are also available to those who still have energy left after a night of dining and dancing!

The way our economy is going, a lot of people are cutting back to be safe. Instead of huge ballroom weddings, magazines are full of backyard fetes, barnyard celebrations, and intimate gatherings of close family and friends. In Ann Arbor, Cobblestone Farm is a wonderful place to pull off a wedding on any budget – renting out for slightly over $1000 on a Saturday!

Cobblestone Farm allows you to bring in any licensed caterer for your event, which means you can do a wide range of food from a Famous Dave’s barbecue to a Big Rock Chop House dining experience and anything in between. Alcohol can be brought in as well, as long as it’s beer and wine only. Hiring a bartender from Mr. Bartender for the evening is a lot less costly that footing a hotel’s consumption-based bill! A commonly used Ann Arbor based alcohol supplier is A&L Winecastle – they can also help you determine how much you will need!

Ceremonies can also take place on the grounds outside the barn, with the upstairs portion of the barn used as a backup (and yes, I have set up 150 chairs there “just in case”!). This is a great way to bring in traditions from multi-faith couples, to have a friend perform the ceremony, or to just experience that outdoor wedding you always dreamed of! Of course, there are a lot of issues with a venue like Cobblestone Farm – which is why hiring at least a day-of coordinator is always a good idea!

The University of Michigan Museum of Modern Art (UMMA) will re-open its doors on March 28th of this year. This is great news for couples who are looking for a unique space or love the idea of getting married in an art gallery! Most of the spaces on Michigan’s campus cannot hold the average wedding reception – capping  events at 50-80 people. The new UMMA will be more than large enough to do so!

Taken from the UMMA website: “Highlights of the project include vastly increased galleries for collections and special exhibitions; open-storage galleries and study rooms that foster close looking; state-of-the-art conservation and art storage facilities; expanded public programming, including performing arts, spoken word, film, and art making; a 225-seat auditorium; classrooms and event spaces to serve multiple audiences; a curatorial research center; a cafe; and an expanded museum store.”

The details of upcoming UMMA weddings have not yet been released, however, I would love to help you put together one of the first!