MIDWEST
I Ate My Way Through Detroit, and These 12 Restaurants Totally Deserve the Hype
By Maria Rodriguez | July 10, 2025
Marrow
AUTHOR BIO: With a day job that requires constant travel, Maria Rodriguez is likely a frequenter of your favorite restaurant. She’s reviewed restaurants since 2007 in publications from Barcelona to Bakersfield.
At this point, I go to Detroit so often I should probably start paying taxes. Or at least admit I’ve become one of those obnoxious quasi-locals who recommends restaurants with the authority of someone who’s lived there for years, despite never having once endured a Michigan winter. Still, after dozens of meals from Hamtramck to Corktown, I’ve built up a hit list of spots I’ll happily argue about.
So whether you're searching “restaurants near me in Detroit” from your hotel bed or just looking for the best Detroit restaurants to justify your flight, this list is for you. It's ranked, because some places really are better than others, and written with the kind of opinions you only develop after a hundred pasta dishes and at least one sushi omakase that required a small emotional commitment.
1. Oak & Reel
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Chef Jared Gadbaw returned home from a Michelin-anointed New York seafood gig and made Detroit his testing ground for coastal Italian with Great Lakes discipline. The swordfish is slow-roasted, the pasta shapes are intentionally obscure, and even the basement bar feels considered. Order the squid ink lumache if it’s on, and then stay for cocktails and whatever strange, glorious chef collab is happening next.
2. Marrow
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Chef Sarah Welch’s West Village butcher shop slash restaurant puts out entirely original dishes that each feel essential, from ricotta gnocchi to a baklava doughnut. This is the place where you can casually order roasted bone marrow with your crayfish dumplings and still be tempted by the tasting menu. Welch feeds you well and also teaches you how to eat better—starting with lunch, now served five days a week.
3. Selden Standard
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This place has been quietly operating at an absurdly high level since 2014, still plating things like orecchiette with rapini and sweet corn agnolotti. Chef Andy Hollyday’s pasta is sneaky-good, but the restaurant’s real genius is its ability to turn seasonal local produce into something that tastes like it was grown for this exact dish. On top of that near perfection, the space, with its reclaimed wood and reliable buzz, is worth the trip.
4. Freya
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The tasting menu from chef Doug Hewitt isn’t some white-tablecloth endurance test—it’s relaxed, vinyl-soundtracked, and unexpectedly fun. Expect five or nine courses of seasonal plates you’ll want to photograph and eat slowly, with drink pairings from next door’s Dragonfly bar if you’re feeling extra. If you’re not ready to commit, come midweek for the a la carte menu, which is somehow just as thoughtful.
5. Warda Patisserie
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Chef Warda Bouguettaya turns butter and flour into quiet poetry at her award-winning patisserie, where the maritozzi are soft clouds and the tarts come laced with memories of North Africa. The James Beard doesn’t lie—her work is stunning, but not precious. Come for the sweets, but don’t sleep on the mushroom torta or the savory options that remind you she’s a chef, not just a baker.
6. Ladder 4 Wine Bar
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At Ladder 4, the wine list reads like a manifesto, and the food is what happens when you let a pop-up chef loose with a walk-in fridge. Chef John Yelinek’s scallop crudo and chicken neck sausage (yes, with the head still attached) are just weird enough to work. Come for the burnt Basque cheesecake, stay for the Champagne Room that still feels faintly like a firehouse.
7. Flowers of Vietnam
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What began as a pop-up in the old Vernor Coney Island is now one of Detroit’s best restaurants—without qualifications. Yes, there’s a whole fried fish. Yes, there are caramel wings, vermicelli, and cocktails that feel less like a gimmick and more like a requirement. And yes, a meal here just might redefine forever what Vietnamese food means to you and everyone else.
8. Leña
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In a city full of over-the-fire cooking, Leña stands out for knowing what it’s doing with the hearth. The team here channels the Basque region and Catalonia with grilled sea bream, bacalao croquetas, and dry-aged steak kissed by Michigan oak. Go during happy hour for half-price cider and snacks, but don’t miss the pintxos—especially anything involving lamb or romesco.
9. Mabel Gray
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You never really know what’s on the menu at Mabel Gray, which is half the fun—Chef James Rigato scrawls it out daily and lets you interpret the rest. One day it’s lamb ribs with fish sauce caramel, the next it’s trumpet mushrooms on vintage plates. It all works, mostly because it doesn’t try too hard to impress you.
10. Vecino
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Chef Ricardo Mojica built Detroit’s first heirloom nixtamal program, but Vecino isn’t here to nerd out—it’s here to make the best masa-based dishes in the city, period. The tlayuda is a riot of sirloin, beans, and crispy blue corn, and the quesadillas come stuffed with maitake mushrooms and epazote, finished over an open flame. Mojica and his team turn a deceptively simple menu into something that feels bold, generous, and wholly new for Detroit.
11. Bar Pigalle
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With its green velvet booths and French-ish menu, Bar Pigalle somehow makes steak frites and heirloom carrots feel cool again. Chef Norman Valenti’s team here came from fine-dining stock but left the snobbery behind. Go for brunch and get the croque madame, even if you don’t know how to pronounce it.
12. Casa Amado Taqueria
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Chef Amado Lopez turned a struggling hot dog joint into a James Beard-nominated taqueria, and the Sonoran dogs are still on the menu—now joined by red chile-braised pork and plantain empanadas. Berkley locals already know it’s good; the rest of us should be driving north for lunch. There’s real heart here, wrapped in a tortilla and garnished with pickled onions.
