Nearly two weeks after its debut, Jon Carlson, co-owner of
mash, has found the new whiskey, bourbon, and beer lounge meshes well with his barbecue joint upstairs.
The lounge, in the basement of the
Blue Tractor barbecue restaurant and brewery at 207 E. Washington St. in Ann Arbor, replaces the cellar lounge of Café Habana, Carlson's Latin-themed restaurant and salsateca, which will be re-opening at the corner of Main and Liberty Streets the week before Labor Day.
"It does allow our kitchen to concentrate more on barbecue," Carlson says. When the kitchen was doing two styles of food, Latin and barbecue, concurrently, "it just didn't function well for us ... Mash really goes well with Blue Tractor," Carlson says. Carlson is a partner in 2 Mission, LLC, owner of mash, Blue Tractor, and Café Habana, among other restaurants.
The 150-seat-capacity lounge underwent a conversion from a salsa nightspot to a retro feel with Edison lightbulbs, vintage wallpaper, a '60s-style fireplace, and live folk music.
Mash has about 10-15 new employees, according to Carlson, with a total headcount of 90 spread between Blue Tractor and mash.
Source: Jon Carlson, owner of mash, Blue Tractor, and Café Habana
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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