Writing
a restaurant review usually entails choosing several courses from a
restaurant’s menu, sampling them, and then writing an honest opinion of
the food, the service, the décor and the unique attributes that make the
restaurant worth visiting. This is what I set out to do when I was
asked to review the Raven Café on 932 Military Street in Port Huron by
the owner, Jerry Edson. However, after spending a couple of hours
talking and dining at the Raven with Jerry and my husband on a recent
Thursday night, I came to realize that I would not be only reviewing a
restaurant, but would be reviewing an entire cultural experience.
Jerry
is a native of Port Huron, graduating from Port Huron High School. He
attended the University of Michigan after high school, transferring and
graduating ultimately from Albion College. He then attended Harvard Law
School and graduated in 1967. Returning to Port Huron, he established a
very successful 30 year law practice.
Jerry
always had fond memories of his days in Ann Arbor while in college –
especially the atmosphere of the coffee houses popular at that time. In
1993, when one of the oldest buildings in Port Huron became available
for purchase, Jerry had a vision of creating that same type of
environment in his home town.
The
building Jerry bought formerly housed the old WHLS Studios, but had
been empty for many years prior to his purchase. It was deteriorating
rapidly and, as Jerry says, was a real eyesore to the downtown area. The
building needed to be completely gutted until only the shell of the
building remained. The one salvageable part was the solid brick walls,
which remained in good condition.
Jerry
then embarked on an eight year odyssey of gargantuan proportions to
create the intimate, cultural mecca that the Raven is today. He
eventually turned over his law practice to his partner to devote himself
full time to the project, which opened on December 2, 2002.
Before
a customer even walks in the doors of the Raven, it’s obvious there is
something special about the place. The intricate outside woodwork, the
stained glass window, and the large black raven perched above the
restaurant sign hint that the restoration of this building was a true
labor of love for someone.
Stepping
inside, it becomes apparent that no detail of the interior was left to
chance. Each phase was orchestrated by a person with a unique vision.
That person was Jerry Edson.
The
lavish hardwoods on the walls came from boards made from trees on
Jerry’s own property. A large plane was brought into the building to use
in the construction process. Tiffany lighting and stained glass
windows, along with faux paint art deco walls create the look of a
Greenwich Village hideaway. Multi-levels, created by the stairway, loft,
and outdoor balcony overlooking the Black River, create intimate spots
for conversation. Thousands of antique books line the walls for patrons
to peruse.
Ashley
Morisette of Port Huron was curled up in a chair reading one of the
books on the Thursday night that we visited the establishment. She now
lives in Florida, but said that every time she comes back home, this is
the place she chooses to come. “It is so relaxing here – I’m just really
comfortable,” she said.
How
Jerry acquired such a collection of books is an interesting story in
itself. He saw an ad when he was doing the restoration work for someone
who was selling 300,000 antique books in Carsonville, Michigan. When he
tracked down the sale, it was in an old theater there and the books were
being sold for a dime apiece. Rather than just choose what he needed,
Jerry made the sellers an offer they couldn’t refuse, and he become the
owner of all 300,000! It took him three months to sort through the books
and salvage those that weren’t damaged. They eventually became the
library of the Raven.
The
more than fifty posters that line the walls on all levels actually came
from poster shops in Greenwich Village. Jerry spent a couple of weeks
just after 9/11 in New York scrounging the Village poster shops for ones
that appealed to him, knowing that he wanted to use them for wall décor
in the Raven. Each one tells a story of its own and adds to the visual
cultural experience of the restaurant.
The tables have stylized portraits that Jerry had commissioned a graphic artist, who formerly lived above the Raven, to paint.
When
Jerry opened the Raven, it was his intent to have the Raven exemplify
the type of espresso bar that could compete with the top coffee houses
in California or Oregon. He attended many national coffee conventions
and employed the help from coffee experts in choosing the coffees for
his café.
One
brand, Raven’s Brew, had a direct influence in the final decision of
what the café should be called. Jerry held a contest having future
patrons suggest a name for the restaurant. Several times the name the
Raven came up (a reference to one of the most famous narrative poems in
history, “The Raven”, written in the 1880s by Edgar Allan Poe). Jerry
wasn’t sold at first on the name, considering “Club Casablanca” or
“Bastille” as preferable. However, when Raven’s Brew coffee was one of
the coffees he had tested for serving in his café and was declared to
“knock the socks off” of the coffee expert Jerry had hired, the name
officially became Raven Café.
Originally,
Jerry intended it to be a non-alcoholic establishment. However, when he
saw a need to increase the traffic to the business, and the Downtown
Development Authority opened up several new liquor licenses, the time
seemed right to add alcoholic drinks.
Today,
The Raven has a class C full liquor license. Their extensive drink menu
includes not only specialty coffees, espresso drinks, chai tea, shakes,
chillers, smoothies, nutritional and energy supplements, but also
specialty drafts and bottled beers, house and select wines, cocktails,
martinis and frozen drinks.
The
Raven operates without ovens or fryers, but the extensive seven page
menu of unique and traditional deli, baked and grilled sandwiches, along
with mouth-watering appetizers and side dishes, homemade soups,
specialty salads, thin-crusted gourmet pizzas and calorie-laden desserts
give ample choices for lunch or dinner.
The
night we visited, we started with a plate of humus and garlic grilled
pita bread followed by lobster bisque. Both were excellent (I could have
made a meal on the soup alone!). I ordered the slow-cooked pulled pork
roast sandwich, which was marinated in Caribbean seasonings and served
with chipotle mayonnaise on an onion roll. My husband ordered The
‘Venetian’ Herb-Crusted Chicken sandwich, served with melted provolone
cheese, red onion, balsamic vinaigrette, basil and parsley on a crusty
Italian baguette oven-crusted with marinated roasted red bell peppers
and parmesan cheese. We both had half of our own and half of each
other’s sandwiches – I couldn’t have chosen which was better. The Raven
takes the idea of a sandwich to a true culinary experience. Jerry
ordered an Eldorado Mesquite Chicken Salad, which contained grilled
mesquite chicken over The Raven Salad Mix with chopped red onion,
tomato, hard-boiled egg and black bean corn relish, tossed in chipotle
cilantro ranch dressing, topped with crumbled bacon and shredded three
cheese mix with corntortilla chips. Definitely a meal in itself – and
the presentation was exquisite.
The Raven is open seven days a week and has live acoustic entertainment five nights per
week.
It has become one of the leading acoustic venues in the whole state. On
the evening we were there, John Lamb of Royal Oak was the entertainer.
Jerry has future plans of adding a night for karaoke and also a night to
show classic movies.
We
chose Thursday night to visit the Raven thinking it would be a little
slower than the weekends would be, but the place was packed even though
the streets outside were almost deserted. We saw people conversing,
people by themselves enjoying books from the shelves, a young man with
his computer at the bar enjoying a 20 ounce latte, and many people just
relaxing and enjoying the music.
I
highly recommend that our readers plan a visit to The Raven. You will
want to immerse yourself in the whole cultural experience that Jerry has
so meticulously created. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Unlike
the raven in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem who kept repeating the words
“Nevermore”, once you have experienced the Raven, you will be saying
“Evermore” instead.
ThumbPrint News Review:
