The Earle Downtown - Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Earle Downtown is a great date spot.  It's in the basement, dimly lit, and if you are on a good night you can hear the tantalizing acoustics of some fine musicians.  Really a great atmosphere for talking, meeting with friends, or having a nice glass of wine at the end of the week.  

The Earle is known for being quite pricey, but having delicious food. So, when one is a teacher and makes no money, what do they do? They get a groupon!  Woot!  So off I went to enjoy the Groupon and some yummy food.  First up, the crab cakes.  The crab cakes were fine, but I'm one of those people that has a peev about consistency.  I don't like crab cakes to be all soft and mushy.  I like to have a break up of that with fresh vegetables and good flavors.  They have the flavor, but it's just one big crab cake.  My favorite crab cakes come from Cafe Zola.  They just do them exactly how I like them and top it off with a smoked paprika aioli.  MMMMmmm!  Two mushroom goat cheese bruschettas were tasted which were fine.  The really excellent dish was the peppercorn steak (
Rolled in coarsely ground black pepper, and served with a brandy sauce, garnished with mushrooms. Served with potatoes).  It just had that je nais se pas... I thought the boneless duck breast was going to be what I dreamed about later, but nope.  It was the steak.  Pretty much every time I go I will dish up the 30 bucks and get the steak.  If you don't like pepper you won't like this steak.  IF you do like pepper and steak this is the obvious choice. You can thank me later.
 
Find yourself a Groupon and head on over!

The Earle's Website