Vellum Restaurant to open in December, add 40 jobs in Ann Arbor

Downtown Ann Arbor is full of quick-service restaurants, but there's still room for upscale eateries, where dinner is a night in itself. That's the aim of Vellum Restaurant, named in the spirit of the printing press that formerly sat in the late-1800s building at 209 S. Main Street. "We saw Ann Arbor didn't really have an American restaurant with a very composed and stylized, a little bit more technical kind of menu," says Peter Roumanis, managing partner of Vellum. Roumanis co-owns the restaurant with his father, John Roumanis, owner of the Carlyle Grill and Mediterranno restaurants in Ann Arbor. Vellum will be open for dinner seven days a week, starting on December 10, according to Roumanis. The two-story restaurant will have seating for 135, a bar, and a small five-table lounge for waiting guests. The restaurant occupies the former pool hall area of the Full Moon Cafe. As such, everything from plumbing to a full kitchen had to be installed. The dining room will have extensive copper, brass, and wood finishes, and the original pressed tin ceiling remains. Forty new staff members, a mix of community residents, are undergoing training, Roumanis says. "[We hired] not just students, but also natives and locals, and we're really happy about that, because they really contribute to the lasting scene in Ann Arbor, not just the seasonal scene." Source: Peter Roumanis, co-owner of Vellum Restaurant Writer: Tanya Muzumdar