Blog
The good version of this day gets planned backwards. A friend is in for one day and you are the host. Most guides to things to do in Ann Arbor on a weekend hand you forty options and leave you sorting it out on a sidewalk at 2pm. This is one sequence instead. Where to […]
Week six is when the dining hall stops working. Nothing dramatic happens. You just look at the tray one Tuesday and decide you would rather walk eight minutes and pay for something. This is a list for that Tuesday. Not the dinner your parents buy on their way out of town, and not the place […]
You took the job at Michigan. The offer letter was the easy part. Now you are choosing a neighborhood from four hundred miles away, with a partner who also needs a life here and a kid who needs a park. Almost everything written about moving to Ann Arbor is written for nineteen-year-olds with a dorm […]
Your first week here is logistics, not restaurants. Classes start Monday 31 August, move-in is the week before, and if you are new to Ann Arbor the student guide you actually need is the boring one. Where do I print. Where do I buy rice at nine at night. What is a BBB and how […]
The last dinner before they drive home matters most. University of Michigan early move-in runs Saturday 22 through Tuesday 25 August 2026, and every one of those days ends the same way. Boxes are up, the bed is made badly, and somebody says “so where should we eat?” while nobody wants to be the one […]
The boxes are up three flights and nobody has eaten. The mini fridge is still in its carton, the mattress pad is in the trunk under a laundry hamper, and it is the middle of a hot Saturday afternoon in a town you do not know yet. This is the part of Ann Arbor move-in […]
Ann Arbor takes its burgers personally. This is a town that has argued about griddle char and patty size since before most of its brewpubs existed, and the debate is still live. The best burgers in Ann Arbor split across a few camps – the old-school tavern patty, the brewpub burger built to soak up […]
Ann Arbor has a deep Indian bench. Credit a big University of Michigan population that has kept demand high for decades, and a set of kitchens that split cleanly between two camps – fast, cheap South Indian dosa counters and sit-down North Indian rooms with a real bar. You can eat a two-dollar-cheaper-than-downtown thali at […]
Depot Town is the historic couple of blocks where East Cross Street meets North River Street in Ypsilanti, a short drive east of Ann Arbor. Brick storefronts, the old railroad depot the neighborhood is named for, and a run of good coffee, better beer, and some of the most-loved restaurants in Washtenaw County, all packed […]
