Ann Arbor and Detroit
35 open around Michigan
Ann Arbor does most of the eating here, and it eats like a college town with money. Ferndale, Hazel Park and Warren sit on Detroit's north edge where the neighborhood restaurants went.
The towns
Restaurants28
Mani Osteria & Bar?
Solid · Italian, Neapolitan pizza · Ann Arbor · $$$
book ahead
Mani fires its pizza in a wood oven few Michigan kitchens still run, and the crust comes out built for mopping up the vodka rigatoni.
RiceWood?
Solid · Barbecue, Chamorro · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-in
Frank Fejeran smokes Texas cuts and lands them on two scoops of Chamorro rice with finadene, the vinegar-and-soy sauce he grew up on in Guam.
Aventura?
Solid · Spanish, tapas · Ann Arbor · $$$
book ahead
Sava Lelcaj joined three storefronts on E. Washington and hung a twelve-foot marquee out front, 249 eleven-watt bulbs pointing an arrow at the door.
Fleetwood Diner?
Solid · American diner · Ann Arbor · $
walk-in
The Fleetwood came up from Toledo as a prefab steel diner kit in 1949 and grew into a twenty-four-hour counter for bar-crawlers at 3am and construction crews at 6.
Sava's?
Listed · American · State Street · $$
walk-in
Sava Lelcaj went from a 43-seat cafe to a 300-seat room in twenty-eight days, and sold out of almost everything on her first night in it.
Slurping Turtle?
Listed · Japanese, ramen · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-in
An employee will come out from behind the glass door in the basement and cut your ramen on an imported multi-step machine.
Tomukun Noodle Bar?
Listed · Pan-Asian, ramen · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
Tomukun runs ramen, pho, udon, stir-fry and pork buns out of a second-floor room on E. Liberty, with sake and soju behind the bar.
Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger?
Temp closed · Burgers · Ann Arbor · $
Blimpy Burger was already shut when WEMU reported it on 18 March 2026.
Provisions1
Zingerman's Delicatessen?
Solid · Jewish deli, sandwiches · Kerrytown · $$$
walk-in
Two friends could not find a Jewish deli in Ann Arbor, so in 1982 Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig opened one by the Farmers' Market.
Craft beer2
HOMES Brewpub?
Solid · Asian street food, beer · West Side · $$
walk-in
Nick Panchame came off the brewhouse at Right Brain in Traverse City and set this place up on kettle sours and hops, with an Asian street food menu where the burgers usually go.
Bløm Meadworks?
Solid · Mead, cider · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-in
Matt Ritchey was head brewer at Begyle in Chicago until he learned he could not process gluten, so he went to honey and ferments it dry enough to session.
Cocktails2
Casa Dominick's?
Solid · Italian-American, sangria · Central Campus · $$
walk-in
Richard DeVarti studied in Madrid, came home and suggested his father start serving sangria, and Dom's has poured it by the quart Mason jar since the 1960s.
The Last Word?
Listed · Cocktails, American · Ann Arbor · $$$
book ahead
The Last Word keeps an ambiguous door on W. Huron, runs a kitchen alongside the bar, and lets you sit over one cocktail all night.
Coffee1
RoosRoast Liberty?
Solid · Coffee · Downtown · $
walk-in
John Roos names his roasts like dishes on a menu, and the medium is called Lobster Butter Love.
Bakes & sweet1
Blank Slate Creamery?
Listed · Ice cream · Ann Arbor · $
walk-in
Janice Sigler left the University of Michigan Alumni Association to churn ice cream on W. Liberty, and she sets her base with eggs instead of carrageenan or guar gum.
Elsewhere around Michigan