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Vegetable-Heavy, Wood-Fired Restaurant To Open At Old BD's Mongolian Grill On Main Street

Vegetable-Heavy, Wood-Fired Restaurant To Open At Old BD's Mongolian Grill On Main Street

Morning, Ann Arbor! If Lowertown Bar & Cafe wanted to introduce themselves to the city by winning the Michigander March Madness bracket, they’re on track.

Swing by the new Northside coffee shop and bar, order a Cafe Miel, and compliment them on their 94.4 percentile bracket.

If you’re not into learning about how local businesses are faring in March Madness, you’re reading the wrong hyperlocal newsletter. Let’s dive in.

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ANN ARBORITES SHOULD KNOW

Apple Maps

🍴 Echelon Kitchen + Bar: After sitting empty since bd’s Mongolian Grill moved out in 2022, Echelon Kitchen + Bar is set to open at 200 S. Main St. later this summer. A farm-to-fork restaurant, Echelon Kitchen + Bar will offer a seasonal, vegetable-heavy menu cooked in a wood-burning oven. Echelon aims to be “an elevated dining restaurant without all of the pretentiousness of fine dining”. Here’s a link to Echelon’s website and Instagram.

🏒 Frozen Four: After upsetting Michigan State 5-2, Michigan hockey is headed to the Frozen Four semi-finals. The Wolverines will be crowned national champs if they can beat No. 1 Boston College and the winner of No. 2 Boston University vs. No. 3 Denver.

🏈 Harbaugh Watch: He may no longer be our coach, but he’s too entertaining not to report on. Despite moving to L.A. and accepting a $16 million per year contract, Jim Harbaugh has been living in an RV in a trailer park near the Chargers facility. Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator Greg Roman lives in an RV just 100 feet away. Never change, coach, never change.

MICHIGANDERS SHOULD KNOW

Pure Michigan

💧 Fresh Lives Here: A year after Pure Michigan launched the “Keep it Fresh” ad campaign highlighting Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City, the state’s tourism office expanded the campaign to include videos on Michigan’s fresh rides, fresh climbs, fresh notes, and fresh goals. Designed to attract out-of-state visitors to the mitten this summer, the ads will run in 15 strategic markets until July 31.

🏀 “Illegal Invaders”: Last week, State Rep. Matt Maddock tweeted a photo of three buses receiving a police escort from the Detroit Metro Airport. Maddock accused the buses of being full of some of the hundreds of thousands of “illegal invaders” coming to the state. The buses were Gonazaga’s basketball team headed to their Sweet 16 game at Little Caesars Arena.

☢️ Power Plant Restart: After receiving a $1.5 billion federal loan, the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is working to be the nation’s first-ever restarted nuclear power plant. When the Southwest Michigan power plant closed in May of 2022 it was the oldest of the state’s three nuclear power plants and was generating 5% of the state’s electricity.