The Glass House

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room with its wall of windows seems to float above Palmer Field (which is actually across the street).

Outsourcing is a dirty word in Rust Belt states, but the U-M has been outsourcing most of its food service for a long time, and where food service is concerned, outsourcing can have the paradoxical effect of forging local connections.

The Glass House Cafe is actually the Ann Arbor outpost of Tecumseh destination restaurant Evans Street Station, which relies strongly on locally grown ingredients from vendors like Calder Dairy, Prochaska Farms, and Eat Local Eat Fresh. Chef Alan Merhar splits his time between here and Tecumseh. The seventy-seat Glass House attracts mostly faculty to its posh breakfast and lunch table service, with lunches like grilled Scottish salmon with pesto orzo and local tomato confit and breakfasts of strawberry crepes with mascarpone and almonds. Students are more drawn to the takeaway counter, open for many more hours, serving much cheaper wraps, sandwiches, snacks, and Starbucks (take-out customers have their own room of tables to sprawl on, with an equally spectacular view).