Guest Post by my Aunt Maggie

We love the Village Kitchen—or the VK as we call it. Located in the same shopping mall as Plum Market, it is a diner supreme—our neighborhood restaurant. We go there often for breakfast and lunch. (Dinner is also available).

So why do we call it supreme?

It has all the fine attributes of a diner—quick service, all-American food, moderate prices—but some really nice extras. Extra number one is Helen the owner—a longtime member of the Greek restaurant owners community of Ann Arbor. When Lorri came here from Kansas City to go to school in the 1970s, she was amazed to find that half the restaurants in town were owned by Greeks—the Parthenon, Manikas, the Olympic Flame (now the Broken Egg) and Angelo’s—Greek salads and gyros everywhere. It wasn’t that way in Kansas City. Now the percentage of Greek owners is less but Helen, her sister and nephew still operate restaurants with that old time emphasis on quality. If you get to know Helen (not a difficult task), she will take you under her wing when you come in the door, and with good-humored ribbing make you feel at home.

Another VK extra is the décor. It’s not standard greasy spoon. All the seating is newly refurbished booths with upholstery that would feel at home on Main Street. And best of all, the back wall has been painted with two wonderful murals of Ann Arbor scenes. On one side is a view of downtown with the Parthenon Restaurant and the Greek Orthodox Church strongly featured. And the other is a view of West Park. If you look closely in both you will find Helen. Where’s Waldo? Where’s Helen? See if you can spot her.

But the essence of any diner is its food and here the VK is a step above most diners—or is it two steps. Recently we had lunch there with our friend Laura. She ordered the Chicken Julie Salad; I went for the tuna salad sandwich; and Lorri chose the daily special, chicken kebob with small Greek salad (hold the steak fries).

We were unanimous in our praise. Laura on her salad: “The lettuce is always cut up right in this restaurant. They make a salad you can actually eat. One of my favorite features is the toasted still-warm pita squares. The presentation is lovely–it goes beyond mere diner. I usually can’t eat it all so I bring it home and feed it to my 8-year-old son Sam as an after school snack.”

My sandwich, like in the three bears is just right. Real rye bread toasted just right and tuna salad that is just right—not super-saturated with mayo.

Lorri praises the fresh greens in her salad and the tasty chicken in her kabob—grilled just right—not dried out or greased out. And then a problem—here’s something to complain about—a piece of chicken bone in the kabob. Laura begs to differ. “Actually a bone is a good sign, it means they cook with real chicken, not a frozen thing they unthawed.”

We are dissatisfied about one thing—we can’t find anything to complain about. Let’s face it, VK is one of our favorite restaurants. Then Laura remembers: they don’t take credit cards—that’s a problem. For years we’ve had to be ready with cash or check to get out the door. We ask the waitress and learn that our cause for discontent is gone. VK started accepting credit cards a year ago.

Our Verdict: Great place: breakfast served all day; carefully prepared diner food; a variety of specials above and beyond the usual such as quiche of the day, Mexi-Combo Platter, Killer Nachos, and Greek Kabob.

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Food Question of the Day: When I was young and foolish, I always assumed that everything in the American diet was just a version of things that grew wild in North America. Not so, of course. Much of the food we eat originated somewhere else in the world: oranges in India; coffee in Ethiopia; apples in Central Asia. So where did chicken come from?

Answer from the About.Com website

Chickens (Gallus domesticus) were first domesticated from a wild form called red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), a bird that still runs wild in most of southeast Asia. That occurred probably about 8,000 years ago in what is now Thailand.

Since the wild progenitor of chickens is still among us, comparisons of behavior and other changes that exist are available to us. Behaviorally, domesticated chickens are less active, have fewer social interactions, are less aggressive to would-be predators, and are less likely to go looking for foreign food sources than their wild ancestors. Other changes include increased adult body weight and simplified plumage; egg production starts earlier, is more frequent, and produces larger eggs.