Angelo's Restaurant in Ann Arbor to be sold to University of Michigan

Nov 07, 2023

Eggs over easy, hash browns and buttered toast will no longer be served at a famous Ann Arbor breakfast spot. Neither will its famous raisin toast and deep-fried French toast.

Angelo's, the Ann Arbor diner that's also famous for Dick Siegel's ode to this place that "really hops" and where the service is "tops" is set to be no more as of December.

A sale is planned and the buyer is the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan has plans, pending approval by its Board of Regents at Thursday's meeting in Dearborn, to purchase the building at 1100 Catherine St. at the corner of Glenn Avenue that houses Angelo's Restaurant. It's across the street from the Catherine Street parking structure and near several Michigan Medicine medical facilities.

Current owner Stephen Vangelatos, who is the son of the original owner, the late Angelo Vangelatos, confirmed to MLive the sale and that the restaurant plans to close in December after 67 years in business.

Vangelatos, who just turned 65, said he feels great about the pending sale.

"I’ve been doing this my whole life, seven days a week," he said.

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The purchase includes Angelo's bakery and two residential apartments that border U-M-owned property. The purchase price, according to U-M Board of Regents documents, is $4.5 million.

Purchasing the less than a quarter-acre property, according to a U-M Board of Regents document recommending approval, allows the university options for "development in the Catherine Street area."

The purchase is expected to close by the end of March next year.

While both of Vangelatos’ sons have worked for him, they are not interested in the business. And then word got out that Vangelatos was thinking about retiring.

Vangelatos said he had connected to university folks before the pandemic about selling.

He connected with them again last December after receiving offers from developers.

"We came to terms," he said. "The big advantage is that it's easy. They are letting me go out on my own terms."

Vangelatos called the pending purchase "the worst-kept secret in Ann Arbor."

"Somewhere and somehow, it got out," he said.

Angelo Vangelatos, according to the restaurant's website, opened the eatery along with his wife, Patricia, in 1956. The couple married in 1954 and it took them two years to save enough money to open Angelo's.

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The couple grew the business over the years until retiring in 1986. Stephen Vangelatos, their son, and his wife, Jennifer, took over the restaurant. In the fall of 1989, Angelo died. His wife, Patricia passed away several years ago, Vangelatos said.

The couple continued to grow the business, remodeling the restaurant in 1990, according to its website, building a new kitchen and adding more seating. An expansion came three years later with the opening of Angelo's On The Side, which offered coffee and housed a separate kitchen for takeout. Because of growing business and demand, in 1995, its bakery operations opened, connecting and supporting both places for fresh bread baked daily.

In 2003, Angelo's was voted a Detroit Free Press Best Breakfast spot, namely for its homemade bread and deep-fried French toast made with raisin bread.

For years, Angelo's has been a busy Ann Arbor spot.

When it comes to bread making, Vangelatos said, on average during the busy seasons — football and when students come back and graduation — he makes four batches of bread a day. One batch, he said, makes 42 loaves.

"I'll probably miss getting up at 5 a.m. and driving down here," Vangelatos said. "The hardest part is knowing I can't come here. That I don't have this place to come to or the place doesn't need me."

Typically, Angelo's closes each year on Dec. 23 and stays closed through the Christmas and New Year's holidays and reopens in January.

Once the sale is approved, the last day will be Dec. 23, Vangelatos said.

"I am looking forward to one more football season and the students come back in September," Vangelatos said.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.