The Ann Arbor News

Business

William Jones, manager of the soon-to-open Cafe Creole, looks over the tiered downtown restaurant with service manager Pat Lagalo, left, and bar manager Linda Ramsey.

Creole restaurant ready to open

Ann Arbor’s first Creole restaurant is expected to open this weekend, according to its owners.

The Cafe Creole, 111 Catherine St., will feature Louisiana-style cooking in an informal, cafe atmosphere, said William Jones, one of the owners.

The restaurant will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week, he said. The cuisine will be Creole and Acadian, which Jones said is a mixture of French, Spanish, Caribbean and Native American foods and techniques.

Shellfish and such pot dishes as file gumbo and jambalaya will be featured.

The restaurant’s three chefs have had extensive experience in Creole cooking, he said, and the four owners of the business all are from Louisiana.

Other owners besides Jones, who will be the Cafe Creole’s general manager, are Thomas Moorehead, director of Community Services at the University of Michigan; Madison Foster, a professor at the U-M School of Social Work; and George Foster, a professor at the U-M School of Social Work; and George Hill, president of Foster Chemicals of Detroit.

The restaurant will charge “moderate” prices for its food and drink, Jones said. Some special drinks to be served will include the traditional mint julip, a milk punch and a Sazarac, which Jones said is a mixture of bourbon “and a little mystery.”