ANN ARBOR — The newest addition to Ann Arbor’s fine dining scene is making a splash in a unique spot.
La Serre opened this spring on the ground floor of the Vanguard Ann Arbor hotel, a part of Marriott Bonvoy’s Autograph Collection that has the distinction of being the city’s first new downtown hotel in nearly a decade.
The restaurant occupies about half of the ground floor of the hotel at 201 Glen Ave, with its own entrance, two private dining rooms and an outdoor patio. Guests can also use the hotel valet at a discount.
La Serre, meaning ‘greenhouse’ in French, is styled after that country’s brasseries – relaxed gastropub-like establishments known for hearty, accessible meals.
La Serre, the French brasserie-style restaurant at The Vanguard hotel, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, May 21 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
“What we’re trying to create is a different perspective on the hotel scene in Ann Arbor,” executive chef Mike Polsinelli said. “We’re looking to keep Ann Arborites in Ann Arbor and trying to bring people in from outside of Ann Arbor as well.”
Menu mainstays include French classics like steak frites, chicken paillard and croque madame sandwiches as well as fresh takes on seafood dishes like hamachi crudo and even a house-ground, double-patty smash burger.
Chef de Cuisine Nathan Gudenburr says that beyond traditional French cuisine, the restaurant has been experimenting with new preparations: new summer items feature compressed fruits that are vacuum-sealed and allowed to marinate overnight in spices.
Compressed watermelon served with whipped feta, ninja radishes, toasted almonds and pea sprouts at La Serre, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, July 2 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
A new watermelon carpaccio-style dish features slices of flavor-infused watermelon over whipped feta topped with ninja radishes, roasted pistachio and pea sprouts.
“We take watermelon, salt it, let it dry out and then compress it with Giffard framboise – which is like a strawberry liqueur – and wine, several spices and a few peppercorns,” Gudenburr said. “This is like the not-spicy, more floral and berry-based French version of Chamoy.”
Gudenburr says the restaurant’s hamachi crudo features fresh-sliced raw fish topped with compressed spiced pears and pickled Serrano peppers in a passionfruit puree.
“Think warm mulling spices, like spiced cider – cinnamon, cloves and stuff like that.“ he said. ”It adds a lot of nice contrast to the dish.”
Hamachi crudo featuring fresh-sliced hamachi, compressed pear slices, and serrano peppers served with passionfruit vinaigrette, herb oil, chili oil and sea salt at La Serre, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, July 2 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
An upcoming menu highlight is a vegan dish based on cod Provençal, traditionally a seafood dish from the Mediterranean region of Provence in southern France. In place of saltwater cod, Gudenburr chose tournee-cut carrots and potatoes cooked in the recipe’s flavorful tomato-lemon puree.
La Serre draws inspiration from other French regional cuisines including a Nicoise salad that features seared ahi tuna and Lyonnaise potatoes pan-fried with caramelized onions.
For dinner, the restaurant serves up several steak dishes, including prime New York strip steak from Detroit-based Fairway Packing Co. The classic steak au poivre features slices of pepper-encrusted strip steak covered in a green peppercorn sauce with a side of Lyonnaise potatoes. Familiar steak frites are accompanied with Sauce Choron, a variation on the traditional Béarnaise sauce.
A traditional steak tartare served as an hors d’oeuvre leverages the restaurant’s high-quality cuts, finely minced into a patty that comes topped with an egg yolk and served with toasted baguette slices.
“I like this dish a lot because it’s really classic – it’s not ‘A fun play on…’” Gudenburr said. “It’s very much just a traditional steak tartare, French brasserie-style.”
Another highlight of the dinner menu is the whole branzino, a one-and-a-half-pound fish trimmed and stuffed with citrus and fresh herbs, seared in a cast-iron pan and then oven-roasted and served atop cured tomatoes and Lyonnaise-style potatoes.
A rolled breakfast omelet filled with ham and served with lyonnaise potatoes at La Serre, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, July 2 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
Unlike many of the French brasseries that inspired it, La Serre also serves breakfast. Quiche, french toast and omelettes take center stage. Gudenburr is particularly proud of the French-style rolled omelette, which can be stuffed with a customer’s choice of bacon, ham spinach, tomato, mushroom, gruyere or goat cheese.
“It’s something that most restaurants will not do, because it’s hard to pull off in a fast-paced setting,” he said. “To actually take the time to half-scramble the eggs and roll is just a detail orientation that we have.”
The restaurant’s dessert menu features several takes on rich chocolate ganache, including a chocolate Sabayon cake that’s coated in a mirrored glaze, topped with strawberries and gold dust and served over a swipe of raspberry jam.
Chocolate Sabayon cake filled with chocolate and espresso and covered in a mirror glaze, served with strawberries, yellow chocolate shavings over raspberry jam and topped with gold dust at La Serre, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, July 2 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
For Gudenburr, who has worked at downtown Ann Arbor restaurants for years before taking on his role at La Serre, the restaurant is part of a new wave of high-end cuisine that’s coming to the city.
“Between this, Echelon and Dixboro Project, I’m really happy to see us doing Detroit-level fine dining and bringing something different here… it’s exciting,” he said.
Wines on display at La Serre, the French brasserie-style restaurant on the ground flor of the Vanguard hotel, 201 Glen Ave. in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, May 21 2025.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
General Manager Alex Carlucci says the restaurant’s wine program is a priority. Later this year, he plans to launch a series of tasting menus that serve highlights from La Serre’s collection of more than 200 bottles paired with a five-course meal.
“We want to have exactly what everyone needs, some of it being really niche,” he said.
Between three meal services a day, espresso, pastry and wine menus and catering for the hotel’s event spaces, Carlucci says the restaurant aims to offer something for everyone.
“It’s a huge community that we want to serve – between the University of Michigan, the hospital and the local community. We want to be able to serve everything they want as authentically as we can present it.”
La Serre is open every day and offers breakfast from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., with the bar closing at 11 p.m. Dinner reservation can be made in advance on the restaurant’s website.
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