Eat at Mae's

I am embarrassed to admit that it took me almost four years to actually sit down and have a meal at Mae’s Restaurant in Pleasant Ridge. To be fair, I have tried to go there quite a few times on the weekend for brunch, but was never able to get there early enough to get a seat without waiting. In retrospect, if I had known how good the food is, I would have waited.

The cafe has the look and feel of a diner that you might see in a movie from the 1950s, which is actually when the place opened. Mae’s was called Anna’s Coffee Shop from 1959 to 2009 when it was bought by its current owner Jessica Lundgren. They took over in April of 2010 and updated the space without taking away from the original aesthetic. The idea was to create a great little local place where you could get homemade and Michigan made products. In fact, Mae’s makes a lot of the food in house, including the biscuits and gravy, pancake batter, all of their jams, and most of the baked goods that they sell. What they don't make in house they outsource to local companies like Zingerman's Bakehouse, McClure's Pickles, Great Lakes Coffee, Guernsey Dairy, Faygo, Vernors, and Better Made.

I ventured out for lunch this week on one of my days off and was pleasantly surprised when we only had to wait about five minutes for a table. I ordered a coffee and was also pleased when the waitress brought over some piping hot Michigan made Great Lakes Coffee with fresh cream. Mae’s has a large menu that includes sandwiches, salads, burgers, soups, and every breakfast item that you could ever imagine. My dining mate decided to order a breakfast burrito and I ordered a tuna salad sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries. They offer a choice of onion rings, regular fries, sweet potato fries, and chips when you order a sandwich. I had to go with the sweet potato because they are not easy to find and when they are done right, they are my favorite kind of fry. 

The food came out hot and was delicious. I had my sandwich on rye bread and loved that the lettuce was finely grated into the tuna. The sweet potato fries were the best that I have had to date. I was too busy eating my food to try my friends burrito, but it looked great and came with a side of fresh avocado. The best part came at the end of the meal, the food is all reasonably priced. To be fair, my dining mate paid for the meal. But even so, it's nice to get good food and not break the bank, no matter who is paying.

I cannot wait to go back to Mae’s and try more items off the menu. I need to try breakfast and am very intrested in a sandwich called the Soprano which includes grilled chicken breast with buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and creamy balsamic on a baguette. You can check out their full menu here.

Mae’s is located at 24060 Woodward Ave. in Pleasant Ridge. The Restaurant is closed on Mondays, open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

~S