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Posted on Sat, May 28, 2011 : 5:58 a.m.

Downtown Ann Arbor restaurant Cafe Japon renews lease, expands menu

By Lizzy Alfs

Cafe Japon, a restaurant and bakery located at 113 E. Liberty St. in downtown Ann Arbor, recently renewed its lease and expanded its menu.

Although the space was placed on the leasing market a few months ago, owner Miyoko Honma said she ultimately decided to renew the lease at her current location, which she has occupied for four years. Deb Pearson, agent for Bluestone Realty Advisors, said in a previous report that there was interest in the space from other restaurants while it was on the market.

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Cafe Japon, located at 113 E. Liberty Street, has been in this space for four years and recently renewed its lease.

Lizzy Alfs | AnnArbor.com

“I will not be moving and I will continue to offer my product to the customers, Honma said.

Asking annual rent is $28 per square foot plus taxes and insurance, according to a previous report. The space has 1,400 square feet and has seating for about 20 people.

Honma said she debated renewing her lease because she wants to eventually expand her business.

“This place is a little small for us,” Honma said. “We were looking at different venues.”

Now that she decided to renew, Honma said that she is expanding her menu to include a wider range of options at her restaurant, which specializes in Japanese and French cuisine.

“We will be introducing more interesting stuff,” Honma said. “We’re making puff pastries and adding comfort food like Spaghetti Bolognese.”

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at or 734-623-2584 or at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.

Comments

gundu

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 6:15 p.m.

Great news! I love the food and the atmosphere. Keep expanding!!

shadowriderhope

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 6:06 p.m.

Oh, their nutella-banana croissants are heavenly, as are pretty much all of their other pastries, and I once got this really amazing loaf made with cheese, sundried tomatoes, and lots of other roasted vegetables, perfect to slice up and toast for breakfast. I'm glad to hear they're sticking around. :)

say it plain

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:42 p.m.

Their breads and pastries are indeed very yummy, and different from other offerings in town! And @DBH, you inspired me to check out that inspection, and while I agree that violations need to be addressed, they didn't bug me compared to the results of some other establishments in town (none of their 'critical' violations seemed to involved foodstuffs being stored at improper temperatures etc or past expiration dates and so on...)

Epengar

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:20 p.m.

Their breads and pastries are delicious!

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 12:52 p.m.

Their last health inspection on 11/5/10 showed 3 critical violations and 8 noncritical violations. I will wait for the report of the inspection that likely was done sometime this month before giving them my business.

say it plain

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 11:38 p.m.

I accept what you say @DBH, and would expect those kinds of violations to be addressed. I just get more grossed out by improperly cooked/stored food violations than not enough sanitizer in the dishmachine (I thought the issue was more one of improper levels of chlorine in the machine, but i may have misread/misunderstood that), or an occasional error in handwashing procedures. Sometimes I don't ever want to eat out again when I look at those inspection reports lol...there are incredibly few places that don't have something nasty-looking in them at least some of the time! And gee, if you ever carefully watch your waitperson at any given restaurant in this town, yikes, you'd never want to eat what gets put in front of you if you care about 'germ transmission' lol! The amount of face touching, eye-rubbing, nose-twiddling, etc. that I sometimes witness among waitstaff between little breaks in their action and the actual food/silverware/drinks delivery, eek! :-) I've heard kitchen people say that fast food restaurants are often the 'cleanest' kitchens around, and that sometimes seems true on inspection reports, at least in part because they have very very precise procedures in place for how to touch/clean/store everydarnedthing. But when I chose to eat out I tend to avoid them anyway! And on restaurant inspection reports, I tend to worry lots more about improperly stored/expired/cooked food details than other stuff. Maybe that's in part because I've worked in kitchens before as well, and would take those kinds of violations as indicating less care than I'd like to see regarding the quality of the food itself...

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 11:35 p.m.

And Mike Folk, explain please what it is about my original comment you found "Libelous." You are accusing me of civilly criminal behavior with that word.

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 10:30 p.m.

And for my comment being libelous? Give me a break. I cite factual information in my comment and express a personal opinion. I have not defamed Café Japon in any way. Mike Folk, check the dictionary and you will see that "libelous" does not characterize my comment in any way.

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 10:02 p.m.

I am aware of what a critical (as well as a non critical) violation is. For those of you who are not, the Washtenaw County Public Health's Environmental Division states that "A critical violation is one that can directly lead to foodborne illness, such as an employee not washing his or her hands before preparing food or storing food at improper temperatures. ... A non critical violation is one that may not directly lead to foodborne illness but is important to the overall safety and sanitation of the facility. For example, a few cracked floor tiles will not cause an illness, but if they are not repaired and continually trap food and debris, these broken floor tiles may create a situation that attracts rodents, a much more serious concern." I do not serve anyone food other than myself, family or occasional guests. And no one pays me to do so. If I were being paid for serving food to others, I'd be darn sure to serve it in compliance with Health Department guidelines. It would be my responsibility to do so. One of the 3 most recent critical violations at Café Japon involved an employee rinsing off their gloves between food-handling tasks when, given what they had been doing and what were about to have done, they should have removed their gloves, washed their hands, and then regloved with clean ones. Specifics are not otherwise given, but it definitely looks like a situation in which I am glad I was not involved. They also were not using chemical sanitizer in the dishwashing machine. How hard is that? I prefer to eat from foodware that has been sanitized properly. There is a reason they have these rules in place. If I am going to give a restaurant my money, I expect them to follow the rules conscientiously.

Mike Folk

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 7:12 p.m.

They were very minor citations, and all corrected at the time of inspection. I wouldn't worry about this place. Seems like someone just wanted to write a bad review and had nothing but some inconsequential information to form their Libelous argument. Look for yourself before voting this person up. <a href="http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgeSearchRest.asp?Hit=DirectSearch&LastCty=28" rel='nofollow'>http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgeSearchRest.asp?Hit=DirectSearch&amp;LastCty=28</a>

say it plain

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:53 p.m.

yeah, and at least some of their violations seemed to be potentially related to the small space that made them consider looking for a different lease--stuff like storing things in ways the health dept doesn't want to see. My own tiny home kitchen makes it hard to fully satisfy code requirements, but somehow I manage to avoid getting sanitizer in my stir-fry ;-) Just to say...

bluetonguedlizard

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:38 p.m.

I would encourage you to look up what a critical violation can be. Also most people's home kitchens violate every rule in the book and yet most of us survive!

Nerak

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 11:42 a.m.

I'm really glad they're doing well enough to re-commit. This is a delightful place with excellent food, and it would be a real loss if they left. Those of us who are no longer students appreciate quiet places in the downtown.