Frugal Floozie Friday - Bona Sera Cafe

There are some bad women cookin' in downtown Ypsilanti [ip-sih-LAN-tee], and they're making some really good food.

Bona Sera Cafe - formerly an underground secret supper club, now an above-ground restaurant - has just opened on Michigan Avenue, and you simply must go visit and find out what all the buzz has been about.

Wonder Woman and Bad Fairy, our mischievous but marvelous chefs and hostesses, offer sophisticated and delicious sandwiches, salads, and desserts for lunch and dinner; each is layered with flavors and textures, all working in perfect harmony. They also serve their very own coffee - Bad Ass Woman Brew - blended just for them by Ann Arbor's own Roos Roast. And much of this menu qualifies for our mandatory $5 or less per person budget, so it's a perfect Frugal Floozie Friday feature!

If you look over the menu, you'll see only a small selection of the offerings; chalkboards give daily specials, as well. But in perusing the menu, you will notice that some excellent ingredients - cheeses from Chelsea's Greystone Creamery, porchetta, pistachios, and my beloved fennel - are all featured prominently.

I ordered a small serving of the Crunch Time salad, pictured above, for $4.95 - a tremendous deal for an excellent dish as large as a half-cantaloupe. It features "Shaved fresh fennel, apple and mixed greens, lemon vinaigrette," and was crisp, fresh, and perfectly portioned so that the licorice-y fennel and sweet-tart apple didn't overwhelm the tender greens. The dressing was so ideally coating the vegetables that they shone with its bright flavor but did not drip or get soggy. (Of course, the salad was so fabulous that I hardly gave them much opportunity to soak, either.) And Wonder Woman very graciously offered me a taste of the creamy, salty Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad that Bad Fairy had been making as I chatted at the counter while ordering.

My dinner companions ordered sandwiches: the Porchetta Banh Mi, with Italian pork roast and a fennel-apple slaw, and a Chicken Banh Mi showcasing not just the poultry but also a zesty but not too hot sriracha mayonnaise.  (The latter is pictured here, though they look remarkably alike in my photos; thus, no need to show both.)  The traditional buns were so tender and flavorful, even with all those other ingredients attempting to show them up.

The banh mi were both served with a delicate, finely shredded cole slaw in a very light - not creamy, not vinegary - dressing.  And they were quickly devoured - I wasn't even given a taste of the former!  The latter was great, with tender strips of chicken and a wonderful mix of greens, carrots and cilantro, rather than merely some shreds of iceberg lettuce and a slice of tomato.

The Banh Mi cost $6.95, putting them over our budget for one person; but they're large enough to split, and then you'll have a spare $1.50 in your budget for tea or lemonade.

But, truth be told, you'll actually want to allow room both in your stomach and in your budget for dessert.

Because your half-sandwich will cost $3.50-ish, that will leave $1.50 for a scoop of gelato - we tried both the raspberry, which was lovely, and the salted caramel. As I posted on Facebook after my dinner at Bona Sera, if the salted caramel gelato was my last dessert on this Earth, I could die "blissfully happy in a giddy reverie." It was buttery, salty, and like liquid gold as it melted on my tongue. I've been craving it since I left, and promised Wonder Woman I'd be back for more. Even a 2-scoop serving is within our frugal limits!

Bona Sera is not just dedicated to serving good food, but also to doing good work. In April the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation, a local micro-philanthropic group, gave Wonder Woman and Bad Fairy a grant of $1000 to help get the new cafe established. In presenting the prize, trustees noted that the secret supper club has "raised over $20,000 for area nonprofits" - including one of my personal favorites, SOS Community Services which serves the homeless - "by hosting clandestine dinner parties in secret locations across Southeast Michigan."

The new restaurant "will not only create jobs in Ypsilanti, and draw more people downtown, but allow the organization to continue its charitable work as well." And Bad Fairy says that their new kitchen "will also be available to other local food industry start-ups for affordable rates as a way of encouraging and supporting other entrepreneurs.”

Rather than being a standard restaurant with just a sea of tables or a stereotypical coffee shop with overstuffed chairs, Bona Sera ofers a mix of seating with a uniquely quirky decor that is spacious and welcoming. My friend Ruth Kraut noted "how beautiful the space is.  So peaceful!"  And I will admit to coveting the sofas, too, in addition to another serving of the salted caramel gelato.

So head on down to Bona Sera, and see what Bad Fairy and Wonder Woman are making. There's even a mannequin in the window who carries a sign advertising new dishes. Go for the food, go for the whimsy ... whatever your reason, just go!

Bona Sera Cafe
200 W. Michigan Ave.
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
734-751-4458
Tuesdays - Saturdays: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.



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Frugal Floozie Friday: Iorio's Gelateria

We're celebrating at Iorio's Gelateria today, because it's a special occasion: Happy 1st birthday to Frugal Floozie Friday!

This is my 52nd post featuring fabulous foods that can be found for $5 or less per person.  The project started on May 20, 2011 by showcasing a lovely Detroit crêperie near the Detroit Institute of Arts, Good Girls Go to Paris.  My BFF Wendy and I thought we'd have an adventure and see if we could find some treats for those who are on tight budgets, so that they could still have some fun without feeling too much deprivation.  Who knew it would turn into such a popular feature?

There was no need for cake at today's party, because there's such luscious ice cream ... but oh, so much more than mere "ice cream."  Iorio's [ee-OH-ree-ohz] gelato is so rich, so vividly flavored, and so luxurious that I could work my way through a thesaurus and still feel I wasn't describing it adequately.  I've tried many, many flavors and have never tasted one I haven't adored.

When Jeremy and I visited recently, he chose the mango and I chose a combination of port wine and bacio [BAH-chyo], which is dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts.  These are the small cups (about a generous half measuring cup) for a mere $3.25; you can get a medium for $4 and a grande for $4.50.  Cones cost 50 cents and biscotti are available for $1.  And you can choose as many flavors as you'd like to combine in your serving.

Jeremy's gelato was as vibrant as if it were a freshly ripened piece of fruit, and there were chunks of mango mixed into it.  The port wine was sweet and very fruity, and its texture was similar to sorbet.  It paired perfectly - as port and chocolate do! - with the chocolate-based gelato, which was decadently rich and creamy.

There is always a wide variety of offerings to choose from: fruit- or chocolate-based, mint, coffee-infused, and even unusual ones like a sweet and intriguing maple-bacon flavor I once tasted just to see how it was.  (You can have tastes of anything that strikes your fancy.)  And the staff is fabulously friendly, greeting customers with a hearty "Ciao!" when they come in.

The great-grandchildren of Italian immigrants, the Iorio family takes immense pride in its heritage and in the delicious treats offered at the shop.  If you haven't visited them yet, you should do so immediately.  Today's a special occasion, after all!  Why not celebrate with me and enjoy some gelato?

Iorio's Gelateria
522 E. William
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Monday: 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Tuesday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.



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