The Story
About Frita Batidos
Frita Batidos has been serving up Cuban-inspired street food in downtown Ann Arbor since 2010, built around a daydream chef Eve Aronoff Fernandez had for years: pairing two Cuban staples she fell in love with visiting her grandmother in Miami as a kid. The frita is Cuban street food’s answer to the burger — a spiced chorizo patty piled with shoestring fries and tucked into a soft egg bun — and the batido is its natural companion, a tropical milkshake made from fresh fruit, crushed ice, and sweetened milk, with or without rum.
The kitchen follows the tenets of the Slow Food Movement, making almost everything from scratch and shifting the menu with the seasons. Ingredients are sourced from local farmers and purveyors whenever possible, an ongoing commitment that shapes the menu as much as the Cuban starting point does.
What Makes Frita Batidos Special
Eve is quick to point out that Frita Batidos isn’t a traditional Cuban restaurant, and she isn’t Cuban herself — the menu is her own creation, shaped by years spent immersed in Cuban and broader Latino culinary traditions and the melting-pot influences (Chinese, Spanish, Creole, and more) that run through them. That personal, unpretentious approach to a borrowed cuisine, combined with scratch cooking and a genuine commitment to local sourcing, is what’s carried the restaurant from a daydream into an Ann Arbor institution and, later, additional locations.
Visit Frita Batidos in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Frita Batidos is located on West Washington Street in downtown Ann Arbor, open Monday through Thursday and Sunday from 11am to 11pm, and Friday and Saturday from 11am to midnight. Stop in for a frita and a batido whether you’re grabbing a quick bite downtown or settling in for a full meal with friends.