Local Eats: Loomi Cafe offers eclectic menu in Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown - MLive.com

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ANN ARBOR – Andrew Stevick had a humble start with a food cart in downtown Ann Arbor, but he’s brought his principled approach to eclectic cuisines to Loomi Cafe - the counter-serve space he opened in Kerrytown Market and Shops in 2019.

Stevick’s Palestinian heritage brought a Middle Eastern influence, and his experience working in South American restaurants on the East Coast lends a separate spicy flair that serves to complement the savory flavors associated with Middle Eastern dishes like lahm bi ajeen - a type of Lebanese meat pie.

He drew from the success of his Tandoori oven food cart to serve up affordable, hand-held dishes with international street food inspiration at a reasonable price.

Those quick and affordable meals make up the restaurant’s “doughs” menu, including Salvadorean-style pupusa, Indian paratha flatbread, man’ouche with imported Za’atar and the restaurant’s signature “cheesy pockets,” each stuffed or topped with a rotating ingredient. Customers can also choose from a list of straightforward lunch items including a burger, wings, fried lamb rib and fava beans, each around the $8 mark. That element of affordability was an important consideration for Stevick.

“We’ve tried to keep our price point pretty decent - I’d much rather have someone able to come here three times a week,” he said. “You get a small fattoush and a pupusa for $9, you can do that three times a week.”

For a bigger meal, customers can order from a menu of fully-composed entrees paired with a sauce, salad and their choice of rice, a fresh roll or potatoes. On any given week, the restaurant serves up some form of chicken, pork, beef, lamb, seafood and one or more vegetarian dishes. Many of his ingredients are sourced from local farmers at the market, and his Middle Eastern spices come from importers in nearby Dearborn.

“When I was in Rhode island, you’d go to a Dominican restaurant and the whole thing was in Spanish - you didn’t know how to figure it out,” he said. “Then eventually over a couple of months you got over your fear and you figured it out, and it was a very special place for you, and that’s what this is… we kind of create this experience for people to be, like, a little bit more of a part of it as opposed to ordering online.”

For the time being, Loomi will continue to be to-go only, with the dining space that once sat 35 serving as a waiting area for carryout orders, which customers are encouraged to place in-person to keep up with the rotating menu. Stevick says the restaurant closed voluntarily for five weeks in the early days of the pandemic to limit the staff’s exposure to COVID-19 in the tight confines of Kerrytown market’s hallways.

Although he says he could technically open for in-person dining if he seated customers in the waiting area, Stevick says he would rather not force customers to stand in line in the heavily-trafficked areas surrounding the restaurant. He’s even had to remove the diner-style seating that he purchased at auction and reupholstered himself.

Loomi Cafe, 407 N. Fifth Ave. inside Kerrytown Market and Shops, is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Local Eats: Loomi Cafe offers eclectic menu in Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown - MLive.com
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