Michigan.
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120 places
Rooms you can walk into, ranked the way I would send you.
Key: what the badges mean
★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.
Go here first.
Where I'd actually send you first: the rooms I'd put a visitor in on night one, in town rather than an hour down the highway, spread so six cards are six different answers. Producers, markets and the rest of the city are below.
Casa Dominick's?
Solid · Italian-American, sangria · Central Campus · $$
walk-in
Richard DeVarti studied in Madrid, came home and suggested his father start serving sangria, and Dom's has poured it by the quart Mason jar since the 1960s.
RoosRoast Liberty?
Solid · Coffee · Downtown · $
walk-in
John Roos names his roasts like dishes on a menu, and the medium is called Lobster Butter Love.
Mani Osteria & Bar?
Solid · Italian, Neapolitan pizza · Ann Arbor · $$$
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.
HOMES Brewpub?
Solid · Asian street food, beer · West Side · $$
walk-in
Nick Panchame came off the brewhouse at Right Brain in Traverse City and set this place up on kettle sours and hops, with an Asian street food menu where the burgers usually go.
Somewhere tonight.
One tap hides everything shut today and everything that needs a booking, then sorts the rest by how close it is to you. I don’t publish opening hours, because they go stale faster than anyone can check them. Check the door before you go.
The dependable sends
Good cooking needs no occasion, and these are the ones I hand out on a normal Tuesday. 3 here.
Zingerman's Delicatessen?
Jewish deli, sandwiches · Kerrytown · $$$
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.
Bløm Meadworks?
Mead, cider · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-in
Matt Ritchey was head brewer at Begyle in Chicago until he learned he could not process gluten, so he went to honey and ferments it dry enough to session.
Fleetwood Diner?
American diner · Ann Arbor · $
walk-in
The Fleetwood came up from Toledo as a prefab steel diner kit in 1949 and grew into a twenty-four-hour counter for bar-crawlers at 3am and construction crews at 6.
On my list
These are on my list; I haven't been yet. 111 here.
Blank Slate Creamery?
Ice cream · Ann Arbor · $
walk-in
Janice Sigler left the University of Michigan Alumni Association to churn ice cream on W. Liberty, and she sets her base with eggs instead of carrageenan or guar gum.
Sava's?
American · State Street · $$
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?
Japanese, ramen · Ann Arbor · $$
walk-in
An employee will come out from behind the glass door in the basement and cut your ramen on an imported multi-step machine.
Tomukun Noodle Bar?
Pan-Asian, ramen · Ann Arbor · $$
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.
The Last Word?
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.