http://www.commongrill.com/
112 S. Main Street
Chelsea, MI 48118
(734) 475-0470
Starving Auctioneers Rating: 5 Gavels out of 5
The Common Grill in Chelsea, Michigan is not a likely spot to find starving auctioneers. First they have cloth napkins. Most of the places the Starving Auctioneers eat you're lucky to have a full roll of paper towels on the table. However this was no ordinary auctioneer power lunch. This was a celebration of Peter winning the 2010 Michigan State Auctioneer Champion, winning 2009 Auction of Year, being elected to the Michigan State Auctioneers Association Board of Directors and besting all comers in tiddlywinks in his spare time. A high class place with higher standards was in order. David Helmer was buying so that helped as well.The lovely and talented Ashley drew the short straw and was the server. Ashley was very observant and correctly identified Peter and David as auctioneers. Both were of course wearing standard issue The Auctioneer Channel attire which one can read clearly at 100 paces. Once the championship nature of the visit was made apparent Ashley got busy and made Peter a congratulatory greeting card out of receipt paper (seen here). Since she could not be in Kalamazoo the card was a nice way of saying she cared. She added extra dressing on the salads because Peter and David ‘looked like we might like that.’ GOOD CALL Ashley. As a matter of fact the only reason Starving Auctioneers eat salad is that it is a socially acceptable way to eat dressing and bacon bits. Doing Balsamic Vinaigrette shots with bacon as a chaser is just not as cool as it sounds and frowned upon in polite company.
The second reason that you are not likely find auctioneers in a high class place like The Common Grill is the food had both a quality and subtlety your standard issue Starving Auctioneers joint does not have. However given the jubilant mood, quality was the order of the day. Lunch was great. Peter had the Lobster Ravioli which tasted fresh and as if it had once been associated with a real sea going lobster. And it was very well prepared. David had the Grilled Chicken Club and in the process of putting ketchup on his sandwich covered his side of the table in the red condiment with one smooth motion. It was a neat trick and impressed Ashley who was just beginning to buy the line that we were successful auctioneers and Internet businessmen.
Lunch with David is never complete unless one makes a few unplanned side trips to walk it off. One of the many benefits to being the Michigan State Auctioneer Champion is that you receive a belt buckle that forever marks you as “The Champ.” After investigation however it was discovered that Peter did not own the required pair of cowboy boots that should always be worn with a belt buckle of that caliber. As luck would have it Chelsea, Michigan’s premiere outfitter of just such apparel and footwear was next door. Mule Skinner Boots was a store full of boots and hats and a few other leather odds and ends. Shortly thereafter, like a scene straight out of a bad ’80’s movie, Peter was walking the rough streets of Chelsea in a custom pair of brown 13 EE cowboy boots and looking for a fight or another bid calling contest to enter.
