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Safe Haven at The Jefferson Market

By Nan Bauer / Photography By Fresh Coast | February 05, 2019

Located on a quiet street some blocks west of downtown Ann Arbor proper, Jefferson Market feels like an echo of a kinder, gentler time from the moment you pull open its wooden screen door. Signs for local events are tacked up along the wall, in the merry way of a proud parent displaying the kids’ artwork on the refrigerator. The scrubbed-clean tables are well worn; a long one runs down the middle of the room, inviting guests to sit and get to know each other. The open kitchen provides full and equal view of the chef and the dishwasher (who sometimes is the chef). The compact menu and the pastries look like things that the best cook in the family would make.

That’s just how the Market’s proprietor and guiding light, Nic Sims, wants it. “This is our fourth location, and it’s our super family-focused one,” she says. She’s referring to the Mighty Good Coffee cafés dotting Ann Arbor, which she operates with her husband, David Myers. “We’re constantly working to create environments that feel safe and delicious.”

It’s been a long road to get here. Over a decade ago, Sims left a job as a project manager to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. Following her completion of the culinary program at Schoolcraft College, she opened her own catering and personal chef service, Skip to My Roux.

“Everything was on me,” she says. “My ego and identity were so invested in who I was as a cook.” It wasn’t a sustainable work model for her. After a couple of hectic years, she and Myers decided he’d follow his passion for coffee and develop Mighty Good, with Sims back doing the office gig.

But she continued to dream of unique ways to nurture hungry people—and in fact had begun to evolve an idea for “the recovery café.” As a self-identified “part of the recovery community,” her first iteration turned out to be Brillig, an alcohol-free bar that popped up once a month in Mighty Good’s Main Street location.

Despite rave reviews, Brillig didn’t last long; it was simply too much work to pull off as Sims continued to work her day job. But it proved an important transition point as she fine-tuned her ideas for a venue where “people can experience comfort in their food, in a restful and restorative environment, where everything felt nourishing.”

Then Jefferson Market became available for purchase in early 2017. Her dream became her day job.

Essential in her support role in Mighty Good’s runaway success, Sims nonetheless felt that the Market represented “the first time I could show up equally. David and I could do this together. The food could serve the coffee and vice versa.” And her entire outlook had changed from her early days as a chef. “I see myself as much more in service of the business. I support it, but it’s not who I am. It’s what I do.”

Chef de Cuisine Dugan Walser, late of Vellum, Savco and Terry B’s in Dexter, noticed that difference immediately. “When I walked in for a job interview I asked her about goals. Everywhere else I’ve ever worked, it’s been about numbers: increasing the bottom line from last year by 10 percent, making x amount more. But Nic said, ‘We want to pay our bills and pay our employees, and everybody walks out smiling,’ and it was pretty much the perfect answer.”

And Sims did mean everybody. One of Walser’s favorite parts of the job is “this feeling of community, where the kitchen is not separate from the guests, where the neighborhood comes in and talks over coffee and a scone, where real conversations are happening—it’s great.”

Scones, cookies and other pastries are made in house. The café also features light lunches: a changing roster of salads, bowls, sandwiches and soups. And though it fits easily on one page, the menu still covers a variety of eating styles, currently including a chili for meat eaters as well as vegan and gluten-free options. Ingredients are sourced locally when possible, with the focus on keeping prices affordable. Both Sims and Walser believe in simply enhancing the natural flavors of the food to their best effect. “When we make pumpkin soup, we want you to taste pretty much pure pumpkin,” says Walser, “not a bunch of other stuff.”

You’re likely to see Sims and sometimes Myers in the kitchen along with Walser in all capacities, including dishwashing—particularly at the Market’s wildly popular weekend brunches. “We’re a little off the beaten path,” says Sims. “Brunch gives people an opportunity to bring in their friends from out of town, so our community gets a little bigger.” And the couple is dedicated to helping people who are working to transition into new lives, hiring graduates of various local recovery programs and beginning to work with the Youth Justice initiative.

“We want to meet people wherever they happen to be, and help them find the space they need to feel good in the world,” says Sims. “Hey, do you want a scone? They don’t hold up overnight. Here, take it home.” The scone, flavored with Earl Grey tea and a sprinkle of cardamom, tastes delicious—and safe.

The Jefferson Market 609 W. Jefferson St., Ann Arbor 734-665-6666, TheJeffersonMarket.com