ANN ARBOR, MI – Date nights with my wife are few and far between with two kids.<\/p>\n
Our dinners are mostly variations of macaroni and cheese, fruit, beans and other simple things my toddler enjoys. The newborn never strays away from mama\u2019s milk.<\/p>\n
So you can imagine her and I\u2019s elation when we finally got a few hours to ourselves at La Serre, the city\u2019s newest French brasserie-style bistro inside the Vanguard Hotel.<\/p>\n
As much as I enjoyed French takes on gnocchi and braised veggies, my American bones got the best of me as I adored La Serre\u2019s signature burger.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/b> Busy with a new baby? This Ann Arbor mom comes to your house to cook warm meals<\/a><\/p>\n The burger comes complete with two beef patties that balance char on the outside and pink juiciness on the inside. Two buttery brioche buns contain earthy mushrooms and the mild salt and nut flavors of gruyere cheese.<\/p>\n That first bite knocked my socks off and really set the tone for the entire meal.<\/p>\n When it comes to the appetizers, be prepared for copious sharing with your favorite person.<\/p>\n My wife and I dove into offerings such as the creamy Parisien gnocchi that melted in our mouths or the crispy artichoke frites enhanced by an aioli dipping sauce.<\/p>\n We also enjoyed French-inspired takes on the Manhattan and Old Fashioned, as well as a mocktail mule variation. Finishing the night with a Fonseca port paired excellently with the chocolate ganache and espresso cake.<\/p>\n I sometimes get intimidated by French restaurants. It\u2019s mostly because I have trouble pronouncing a lot of the words. The Boulevardier cocktail was one where I just pointed at the menu and the server nodded politely.<\/p>\n General manager Dominick Hobbs and his team eased my anxiety with their friendly service. You\u2019ll be in good hands at La Serre.<\/p>\n So yes, I went to a French restaurant and came away loving the most American item on its menu. But that\u2019s kind of the point of why I highly recommend it: you will feel home at La Serre.<\/p>\n DISH OF THE WEEK<\/b><\/p>\n La Serre Burger at La Serre<\/b><\/p>\n Address: <\/b>201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor<\/p>\n Hours: <\/b>7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day<\/p>\n Price: <\/b>$22<\/p>\n If you have a dish you\u2019d like Sam Dodge to write about, email him at sdodge@mlive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page<\/a> or sign up for the free \u201c3@3 Ann Arbor<\/a>\u201d daily newsletter.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANN ARBOR, MI – Date nights with my wife are few and far between with two kids. Our…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-161315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}