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VOL. 46 | NO. 24 | SEPTEMBER 16-29, 2026
Best of Detroit
EDITORIAL
Reader’s Choice .................. 13
Editor in Chief - Steve Neavling
ADVERTISING
Staff Picks ............................. 39
Advertising Executive - Jessica Smith
Culture
Creative Director - Haimanti Germain
CREATIVE SERVICES
Savage Love ...................... 106
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6 September 16-29, 2026 | metrotimes.com
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best of detroit
READER’S CHOICE
T
he votes are in, Detroit. After weeks of nominating, campaigning, debating, and clicking through a very long list of categories, you’ve officially crowned the winners of the 2026 Metro Times Best of Detroit Readers’ Poll. These are the restaurants you keep going back to, the bars you swear by, the shops you recommend, the musicians you blast, the dispensaries you trust, and the local people and places you think deserve some damn recognition. Some winners defended their titles. Others knocked off longtime favorites. A few may inspire arguments. That’s part of the fun. These are your picks, your favorites, and your Best of Detroit.
Belle Isle is one of the best getaways in metro Detroit.
STEVE NEAVLING
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BEST PHOTOGRAPHER
LEM PHOTOGRAPHY lemphotography.org
BEST PLACE TO BE A GEEK
MICHIGAN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 12600 Dixie Hwy., Holly | michrenfest.com
BEST PLACE TO SEE AN INDIE FILM
DETROIT FILM THEATRE 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit | dia.org/dft
BEST STREET FAIR
DALLY IN THE ALLEY Cass Corridor, Detroit | dallyinthealley.com
BEST TRIBUTE BAND
Tia Graham co-hosts “The Metro at WDET.”
STEVE NEAVLING
MEGA 80S mega80s.com
Arts & Entertainment
BEST VENUE FOR ELECTRONIC MUSIC
ELEKTRICITY 15 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac | elektricitymusic.com
BEST VENUE FOR FOLK MUSIC
THE ARK 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor | theark.org
BEST ANIME CONVENTION
BEST CONCERT THEATRE
BEST LOCAL COMEDIAN
YOUMACON
MAGIC BAG
1 Washington Blvd., Detroit | youmacon.com
22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale | themagicbag.com
JOHANNA MEDRANDA
BEST ANNUAL FESTIVAL
ARTS BEATS & EATS Downtown Royal Oak | artsbeatseats.com
East side of Woodward Ave. between E. Nine Mile Rd. and E. Troy St., Ferndale | ferndalediy.com
EL CLUB
johannamedranda.com
4114 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit | elclubdetroit.com
BEST LOCAL PODCAST
BEST VENUE FOR JAZZ MUSIC
DREW AND MIKE SHOW
JAZZ CAFE
BEST COSPLAY AT A COMIC CON
ASTRONOMICON 1275 S. Huron St., Ypsilanti | astronomicon.com
BEST ART FAIR
DIY STREET FAIR
BEST VENUE FOR HIP-HOP
BEST DJ
DJ GODFATHER djgodfather.com
350 Madison St., Detroit | jazzcafedetroit.com
drewandmikepodcast.com BEST VENUE FOR METAL BEST MOVIE THEATER
REDFORD THEATRE
TOKEN LOUNGE 28949 Joy Rd., Westland | tokenlounge.com
17360 Lahser Rd., Detroit | redfordtheatre.com BEST ART GALLERY
BEST DRAG SHOW
TANGENT GALLERY
FIVE15 600 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | five15.net
715 E. Milwaukee Ave., Detroit | tangentgallery.com
BEST VENUE FOR ROCK ‘N’ ROLL BEST MULTI-SPORT COMPLEX
MAD TRACK ARENA 601 Mack Ave., Detroit | madtrackarena.com
BEST BEER FESTIVAL
DETROIT FALL BEER FESTIVAL
BEST FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX
C.J. BARRYMORE’S
Eastern Market, 2934 Russell St., Detroit | mibeer.com
21750 Hall Rd., Clinton Township | cjbarrymores.com
BEST BURLESQUE SHOW/TROUPE
BEST FILM FESTIVAL
JUNETEENTH JAMZ
ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL
Detroit House of Comedy, 2301 Woodward Ave., Detroit | Detroit House of Comedy event page
BEST MUSIC FESTIVAL
MOVEMENT 1 Hart Plaza, Detroit | movementfestival.com
BEST COMIC CON
BEST NIGHT OUT
FIVE15
603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor | aafilmfest.org
600 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | five15.net
BEST LIVE THEATER
BEST PEOPLE WATCHING
MOTOR CITY COMIC CON
TIPPING POINT THEATRE
MICHIGAN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
46100 Grand River Ave., Novi | motorcitycomiccon.com
361 E. Cady St., Northville | tippingpointtheatre.com
12600 Dixie Hwy., Holly | michrenfest.com
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CROFOOT BALLROOM 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac | thecrofoot.com
BEST VISUAL ARTIST
OLAYAMI DABLS mbad.org
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BARS + clubs BEST ARCADE BAR
BEST DIVE BAR (MACOMB)
BARCADE
LOCKER ROOM SALOON
666 Selden St., Detroit | barcade.com/location/detroit
7790 Auburn Rd., Utica | thelockerroomsaloon.com BEST BAR
SIDE HUSTLE LOUNGE 1226 Library St., Detroit | sidehustledetroit.com
BEST HAPPY HOUR FOR DRINKS
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
OSTREA
EASTERN PALACE CLUB
536 Shelby St., Detroit | ostreadetroit.com
21509 John R Rd., Hazel Park | epchp.com BEST IRISH PUB
DANNY’S IRISH PUB 22824 Woodward Ave., Ferndale | dannysferndale.com
GUSOLINE ALLEY 309 S. Center St., Royal Oak | facebook.com/Gusoline-Alley-541056732643138
POCKET CHANGE 1454 Gratiot Ave., Detroit | instagram.com/pocketchangedetroit
BEST KARAOKE NIGHT
MCSHANE’S IRISH PUB & WHISKEY BAR 1460 Michigan Ave., Detroit | mcshanespub.com
BEST MARGARITA BEST DIVE BAR (OAKLAND)
BEST NEW BAR
MR. MIGUEL’S MEXICAN GRILLE & CANTINA
BEST PATIO FOR DRINKING
THE OLD MIAMI 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit | theoldmiami.com
BEST ROOFTOP BAR
THE MONARCH CLUB
Multiple locations | mrmiguels.com
33 John R St., Detroit | monarchclubdetroit.com
BEST MARTINI
BEST SPORTS BAR
SPKRBOX
TAP AT MGM GRAND DETROIT
BEST BAR BEFORE A GAME
THE OLD SHILLELAGH
BEST DIVE BAR (WASHTENAW)
349 Monroe St., Detroit | oldshillelagh.com
112 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor | a2alleybar.com
THE ALLEY BAR
200 Grand River Ave., Detroit | spkrbox.bar
1777 Third Ave., Detroit | MGM Grand Detroit TAP page BEST BAR FOOD
GUS’ SNUG 38 S. Main St., Clawson | gussnug.com
BEST DIVE BAR (WAYNE)
BEST MEADERY
THE OLD MIAMI
B. NEKTAR MEADERY
3930 Cass Ave., Detroit | theoldmiami.com
1511 Jarvis St., Ferndale | bnektar.com BEST BAR FOR DAY DRINKING
ROCK ON THIRD 112 E. Third St., Royal Oak | rockon3rd.com
4265 Woodward Ave., Detroit | hopcat.com/detroit
BEST MICROBREWERY OR BREWPUB
ROYAL OAK BREWERY 215 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak | royaloakbrewery.com
BEST BAR ON THE WATER
BEST GAY BAR
CABANA BLUE LAKEFRONT SPORTS BAR & GRILL
PRONTO LOUNGE & SHOWBAR
7317 Dyke Rd., Clay Twp. | cabanabluelakefront.com
608 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | prontolounge.com
EASTERN PALACE CLUB 21509 John R Rd., Hazel Park | epchp.com
BEST DRAFT SELECTION
HOPCAT DETROIT
BEST TIKI BAR
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT
FIVE15 600 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | five15.net
BEST MOCKTAIL LIST
EASTERN PALACE CLUB
MOTORCITY WINE
21509 John R Rd., Hazel Park | epchp.com
1949 Michigan Ave., Detroit | motorcitywine.com
BEST WINE BAR
BEST BEER BOTTLE SELECTION
YE OLDE TAP ROOM 14915 Charlevoix St., Detroit | yeoldetaproom.com
BEST BLOODY MARY
VIVIO’S DETROIT 2460 Market St., Detroit | viviosdetroit.net
BEST BOURBON/WHISKEY BOTTLE SELECTION AT A BAR OR RESTAURANT
THE OUTPOST 22812 Woodward Ave. #200, Ferndale | tcwhiskey.com/outpost
BEST COMEDY CLUB
THE COMEDY BAR 6531 Woodward Ave., Detroit | comedybar.com/detroit
BEST DANCE CLUB
BLEU DETROIT 1540 Woodward Ave., Detroit | facebook.com/bleudetroitofficial
BEST DISTILLERY TASTING ROOM
MOTOR CITY GAS 325 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak | motorcitygas.com
Candy Bar is tucked inside the Siren Hotel in downtown Detroit.
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COURTESY OF CANDY BAR
OUR FEARLESS LEADER HAS FALLEN IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE OLD MIAMI OWNER, VIETNAM VETERAN & CASS CORRIDOR LEGEND
DANIEL “DANNY” OVERSTREET 4/19/1948 - 5/01/2026
Thurs 9/17
Fri 9/25
NFL GAMEDAY (AWAY) DETROIT LIONS VS BUFFALO BILLS
3 THE HARDWAY/PINK SPIT/ CHELSHOTS
WATCH THE GAME ON OUR BIG SCREENS! 8:15PM KICKOFF
(PROTO PUNK/RIOT GURL/PUNK ROCK) DOORS@9P/$5COVER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH WHATLEY!
Sat 9/26
Fri 9/18
NUKE & THE NIGHTSHIFT/ST THOMAS BOYS ACADEMY/CHOKING SUSAN
NATIONAL POW/ MIA RECOGNITION DAY!
(PUNK ROCK/ENERGETIC/ ROCK’N’ROLL/DETROIT PUNK) DOORS@9P/$5COVER
HAPPY 79TH BIRTHDAY TO THE US AIR FORCE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBBY ROB HARRIS
JENS APARTMENT/DANNY VANZANDT/NATHAN’S PATIENCE (POWER POP/ALT ROCK/ ROCK’N’ROLL/POP PUNK) DOORS@9PM/$5COVER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SYDNEY BOYCE! Sat 9/19
DIVAS VS DIVAS
(MONTHLY DANCE PARTY) DOORS@9P/$5COVER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOU SETZLER Mon 9/21
Sun 9/27
NFL GAMEDAY (HOME) DETROIT LIONS VS NEW YORK JETS WATCH THE GAME ON OUR BIG SCREENS! 1PM KICKOFF
Mon 9/28
FREE POOL ALL DAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC “Z” ZIMNICKI! Tues 9/29
OPEN MIC IN THE D FEAT. MUSIC/POETRY/TALENT
FREE POOL ALL DAY
HOSTED BY JAH LION 8PM-MIDNITE
Tues 9/22
Coming Up:
OPEN MIC IN THE D FEAT. MUSIC/POETRY/ TALENT HOSTED BY JAH LION 8PM-MIDNITE
9/30 RIDE SLOW: A Denim + Design Event 10/02 Static Factory/ Super Horndog/Burning Time 10/03 House of 1000 Joumanas 10/05 Malört Cocktail Competition 10/09 Rob Lewis Band/Jacki Daniels/ Julia Rose 10/10 DIVAS vs DIVAS (monthly dance party) 10/16 3 the Hard Way/ Sour Milk (CHI)/No Luck 10/17 BIZARRE (D12) 10/23 Dunamis (record release) 10/24 Howdy Saloon Detroit Pres. HOWDYWEEN 10/31 Pink 50’s Halloween Bash (Annual) 11/06 False Harbor/Remnose/ Neighbor Dog 11/13 FOUL MOUTH 11/20 Narragansett XXXMAS Office Party 11/26 WE ARE OPEN FOR THANKSGIVING
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The Outpost in Ferndale serves up unique and tasty cocktails.
STEVE NEAVLING
Beer, Wine + Spirits BEST BEER
BEST MICHIGAN TEQUILA
BUDWEISER
900 GRADOS TEQUILA
budweiser.com
900gradostequila.com BEST BEER SELECTION IN A STORE
RED WAGON SHOPPE
BEST MICHIGAN VODKA
ZIM’S VODKA zimsvodka.com
Multiple locations | redwagonshoppe.com BEST MICHIGAN WHISKEY BEST BOURBON
WOODFORD RESERVE
MOTOR CITY GAS 325 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak | motorcitygas.com
woodfordreserve.com BEST MICHIGAN WINE (WHITE) BEST GIN
TWO JAMES SPIRITS
BONOBO WINERY 12011 Center Rd., Traverse City | bonobowinery.com
2445 Michigan Ave., Detroit | twojames.com BEST SHOT BEST HARD CIDER
BLAKE’S HARD CIDER
LONDON CHOP HOUSE 155 W. Congress St., Detroit | thelondonchophouse.com
17985 Armada Center Rd., Armada | blakeshardcider.com BEST TEQUILA BEST MICHIGAN BEER
BELL’S OBERON ALE bellsbeer.com
BEST MICHIGAN BOURBON
MOTOR CITY GAS 325 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak | motorcitygas.com
BEST MICHIGAN BREWER
FOUNDERS BREWING CO. 235 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. SW, Grand Rapids | foundersbrewing.com
TEQUILA HERRADURA herradura.com
BEST VODKA
TITO’S HANDMADE VODKA titosvodka.com
BEST WINE SELECTION IN A STORE
TOTAL WINE & MORE Multiple locations | totalwine.com
BEST MICHIGAN RUM
RUSTED CROW SPIRITS 6056 N. Telegraph Rd., Dearborn Heights | rustedcrowspirits.com
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BEST FARMERS MARKET (SUBURBS)
ROYAL OAK FARMERS MARKET 316 E. 11 Mile Rd., Royal Oak | romi.gov/1533/Farmers-Market
BEST FLEA MARKET
DIXIELAND FLEA MARKET 2045 Dixie Hwy., Waterford Twp. | dixielandfleamkt.com
BEST GIFT SHOP
CITY BIRD 460 W. Canfield St., Detroit | citybirddetroit.com
BEST GROCERY STORE
JOE’S PRODUCE GOURMET MARKET 33152 Seven Mile Rd., Livonia | joesproduce.com
BEST GROUP NIGHT OUT
FIVE15 DRAG QUEEN BINGO 600 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | five15.net
The Detroit Barber Co. is in Corktown.
STEVE NEAVLING
Shops + Services
BEST HAUNTED HOUSE
BEST CIDER MILL
EREBUS HAUNTED ATTRACTION
FRANKLIN CIDER MILL 7450 Franklin Rd., Bloomfield Hills | franklincidermill.com
18 S. Perry St., Pontiac | hauntedpontiac.com
BEST HOSPITALITY GROUP
BEST COMIC BOOK/ COLLECTIBLES SHOP
APEX HOSPITALITY GROUP
GREEN BRAIN COMICS
facebook.com/apexhospitalitygroup
13936 Michigan Ave., Dearborn | greenbraincomics.com BEST ADULT VIDEO STORE
BEST BICYCLE SHOP
UPTOWN VIDEO
DOWNTOWN FERNDALE BIKE SHOP
16401 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit | 16541 Woodward Ave., Highland Park | uptownadult.com
163 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | downtown-bikeshop.com BEST ALTERNATIVE FASHION STORE
NOIR LEATHER 175 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | noirleather.com
BEST JEWELRY STORE BEST CONSIGNMENT SHOP
REGENERATION NEW & USED CLOTHING
22266 Michigan Ave., Dearborn | stevenbernardjewelers.com
23700 Woodward Ave., Pleasant Ridge | regenerationclothing.org
BEST LAW FIRM
BEST CREDIT UNION
19390 W. 10 Mile Rd., Southfield | fiegerlaw.com
FIEGER LAW
BEST BOOKSTORE (DETROIT)
JOHN K. KING USED & RARE BOOKS 901 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit | johnkingbooksdetroit.com
CREDIT UNION ONE Multiple locations | cuone.org
BEST LOCAL NONPROFIT
BEST ARCADE
MOTOR CITY GAME CORNER ARCADE 33151 23 Mile Rd., Chesterfield Twp. | inspirationclothing.com/ arcade
BEST BOOKSTORE (SUBURBS)
SIDETRACK BOOKSHOP 325 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | sidetrackbooks.com
BEST AUTO REPAIR
TAMAROFF HONDA 28585 Telegraph Rd., Southfield | tamaroffhonda.com
BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL
DETROIT FOUNDATION HOTEL 250 W. Larned St., Detroit | detroitfoundationhotel.com
BEST BANK
CREDIT UNION ONE Multiple locations | cuone.org
BEST BARBERSHOP
GENTLEMEN FIRST BARBERSHOP 949 S. Military St., Dearborn | gentlemenfirst.com
STEVEN BERNARD JEWELERS LTD
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
BEST EYEWEAR
SEE EYEWEAR
4707 St. Antoine St., Suite 200, Detroit | ronaldmcdonaldhousedetroit.org
Multiple locations | seeeyewear.com
BEST EYEWEAR BOUTIQUE
OPTIK BIRMINGHAM: JOE ALES, OD
BEST MASSAGE
WOODHOUSE SPA
364 N. Adams Rd., Rochester Hills | woodhousespas.com
247 W. Maple Rd., Birmingham | optikbirmingham.com BEST MEN’S CLOTHING
BEST BOWLING ALLEY
BOWLERO LANES & LOUNGE 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak | bowlerodetroit.com
BEST FARMERS MARKET (DETROIT)
TODD’S MENSWEAR 520 W. 11 Mile Rd., Royal Oak | toddsmenswear.com
EASTERN MARKET 2934 Russell St., Detroit | easternmarket.org
BEST METAPHYSICAL STORE
BOSTON TEA ROOM 1220 Woodward Heights, Ferndale | bostontearoom.com
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BEST MICHIGAN-MADE PRODUCT
FAYGO faygo.com
BEST MOBILE DEVICE REPAIR
COMPUTER VIRUS (“GOD”)
BEST SPA
IMMERSE SPA 1777 Third Ave., Detroit | mgmgranddetroit.mgmresorts.com
BEST SPECIALTY MARKET
CITY MARKET 575 Brush St., Detroit | citymarketdetroit.com
21513 Kelly Rd., Eastpointe | mobilecomputerrepairdoctor.com BEST STREETWEAR STORE
MEN ON THE MOVE
INSPIRATION CLOTHING LLC.
573 E. Huron River Dr., Belleville | michiganmovers.com
inspirationclothing.com
BEST MOVING COMPANY
BEST MUSEUM GIFT SHOP
BEST STRIP CLUB
CHARLES H. WRIGHT MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
415 E. Congress St., Detroit | legendsindetroit.com
315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit | thewright.org
BEST STRIP CLUB IN WINDSOR
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD RETAIL DISTRICT
DOWNTOWN FERNDALE downtownferndale.com
LEGENDS
LEOPARDS LOUNGE 1190 Wyandotte St. W., Windsor | leopardslounge.com
BEST TATTOO SHOP (OAKLAND)
SIGNATURE TATTOO 230 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | signaturetattoo.com
BEST PAWN SHOP
AMERICAN JEWELRY AND LOAN 20450 Greenfield Rd., Detroit | pawndetroit.com
BEST TATTOO SHOP (MACOMB)
ELITE INK 25543 Van Dyke Ave., Center Line | 247tattoos.com
BEST PET SUPPLY
PET SUPPLIES PLUS Multiple locations | petsuppliesplus.com
BEST PIERCING STUDIO
DV8 PIERCING AND DESIGNER JEWELRY 1531 Union Lake Rd., Commerce Twp. | dv8bodyart.com
BEST THRIFT STORE
VALUE WORLD THRIFT Multiple locations | valueworld.com
BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING STORE
REWARE VINTAGE 2965 12 Mile Rd., Suite 200, Berkley | rewarevintage.com
BEST PLACE TO BUY BDSM GEAR
NOIR LEATHER 175 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | noirleather.com
BEST RECORD STORE
DEARBORN MUSIC
BEST VISITOR EXPERIENCE
FORD PIQUETTE AVENUE PLANT MUSEUM 461 Piquette Ave., Detroit | fordpiquetteplant.org
22501 Michigan Ave., Dearborn | dearbornmusic.net BEST WESTERN WEAR BEST RESALE SHOP
COUNCIL RESALE 3297 W. 12 Mile Rd., Berkley | councilresale.net
SCOTT COLBURN BOOTS & WESTERN WEAR 20411 Farmington Rd., Livonia | scottcolburnwestern.com
BEST SALON
6 SALON Multiple locations | sixsalon.com
BEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING
COUP D’ÉTAT 9301 Kercheval Ave., Suite 6, Detroit | shopcoupdetat.com
BEST SKATEPARK
MODERN SKATE & SURF 1500 N. Stephenson Hwy., Royal Oak | modernskate.com
BEST YOGA
NAMASTE YOGA 3121 Rochester Rd., Royal Oak | namaste-yoga.net
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food BEST BAGEL
NEW YORK BAGEL Multiple locations | newyorkbagel-detroit.com
BEST BAKERY
MK CANNELLE Multiple locations | mkcannelle.com
BEST BAR FOOD
GUS’ SNUG 38 S. Main St., Clawson | gussnug.com
BEST BARBECUE
UNION WOODSHOP 18 S. Main St., Clarkston | unionwoodshop.com
BEST BREAKFAST SANDWICH
MITSOS GREEK FOOD & COFFEE 2614 Riopelle St., Unit 4, Detroit | mitsosgreek.com
BEST BREAKFAST/BRUNCH
TOAST 23144 Woodward Ave., Ferndale | 203 Pierce St., Birmingham | toastbirmingham.com
BEST BURGER
MOTZ’S BURGERS Multiple locations | motzs.com
BEST CAJUN
FISHBONES Multiple locations | fishbonesusa.com
BEST CARRYOUT
Cold Truth serves vegan ice cream in Midtown in Detroit.
STEVE NEAVLING
BEST CUBAN
BEST FOOD HALL
BEST ICE CREAM SHOP
VICENTE’S CUBAN CUISINE
DETROIT SHIPPING COMPANY
MILK & FROTH
1250 Library St., Detroit | vicentesdetroit.com
474 Peterboro St., Detroit | detroitshippingcompany.com
535 Griswold St., Suite 112, Detroit | 328 S. Main St., Ann Arbor | milkandfroth.com
BEST DEEP DISH/ DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA
BEST FOOD TRUCK
BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT
FORTUNE COOKING FOOD TRUCK
180 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | starofindiami.com
BUDDY’S PIZZA Multiple locations | buddyspizza.com
STAR OF INDIA
fortunecookingfoodtruck.com BEST IRISH FOOD
BEST DELI
STAGE DELI
O’CONNOR’S PUBLIC HOUSE
BEST FRENCH CUISINE
LE SUPRÊME
6873 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield | stagedeli.com
1265 Washington Blvd., Detroit | lesupremedetroit.com
324 S. Main St., Rochester | oconnorsrochester.com
BEST DESSERTS AT A RESTAURANT
BEST GREEK RESTAURANT
BEST ITALIAN
Multiple locations | mybigfatshawarma.com
BEST CHINESE FOOD
AURORA ITALIANA WEST BLOOMFIELD
MY BIG FAT SHAWARMA
SHANGRI-LA
6199 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield | auroraitaliana.com
4710 Cass Ave., Detroit | midtownshangri-la.com BEST DINER BEST COFFEEHOUSE (INDIE)
THE RED HOOK
DIME STORE 719 Griswold St., #180, Detroit | eatdimestore.com
Multiple locations | theredhookcoffee.com BEST DOUGHNUT SHOP BEST CONEY
AMERICAN CONEY ISLAND
APPLE FRITTER DONUT SHOP 741 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | facebook.com/fritterman
114 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit | americanconeyisland.com BEST FISH & CHIPS
BREAD BASKET DELI
SCOTTY SIMPSON’S FISH & CHIPS
Multiple locations | breadbasketdelis.com
22200 Fenkell Ave., Detroit | scottysfishandchips.com
BEST CORNED BEEF
PEGASUS TAVERNA
MARIO’S
Multiple locations | pegasustavernas.com
4222 Second Ave., Detroit | mariosdetroit.com
BEST GRILLED CHEESE
BEST JAPANESE FOOD
IMA
CAFÉ MUSE 418 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | cafemuseroyaloak.com
Multiple locations | imanoodles.com
BEST GYRO
BEST JUICE BAR
KOUZINA GREEK STREET FOOD
BEYOND JUICERY + EATERY
121 N. Main St., Royal Oak | gokouzina.com
Multiple locations | beyondjuiceryeatery.com
BEST HAPPY HOUR MENU
BEST LATE-NIGHT/ 24-HOUR RESTAURANT
OSTREA 536 Shelby St., Detroit | ostreadetroit.com
YEMEN CAFÉ 8740 Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck | yemencaferestaurant.com
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BEST MAC AND CHEESE
BEST SAGANAKI
RUDY’S PRIME STEAKHOUSE
PEGASUS TAVERNA Multiple locations | pegasustavernas.com
9 S. Main St., Clarkston | rudysprimesteakhouse.com BEST SEAFOOD BEST MEDITERRANEAN
AVENTURA
OSTREA 536 Shelby St., Detroit | ostreadetroit.com
216 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor | aventuraannarbor.com BEST SHAWARMA BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT
TAQUERIA MI PUEBLO
BUCHAREST GRILL Multiple locations | bucharestgrill.com
7278 Dix St., Detroit | mipueblorestaurant.com BEST SLIDERS BEST MIDDLE EASTERN RESTAURANT
GREEN DOT STABLES
AL AMEER RESTAURANT
2200 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit | greendotstables.com
Multiple locations | alameerrestaurant.com
BEST SOUL FOOD
CORNBREAD BEST NEW RESTAURANT
29852 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield | cornbreadsoulfood.com
UNC’S PIZZA 1133 Griswold St., Detroit | uncspizza.com
BEST STEAKHOUSE
BEST NOODLE RESTAURANT
LONDON CHOP HOUSE
EDO RAMEN HOUSE
155 W. Congress St., Detroit | thelondonchophouse.com
4313 W. 13 Mile Rd., Royal Oak | edo-lounge.com BEST SURF AND TURF BEST OLD-SCHOOL RESTAURANT
LONDON CHOP HOUSE 155 W. Congress St., Detroit | thelondonchophouse.com
TOM’S OYSTER BAR 318 S. Main St., Royal Oak | tomsoysterbar.com
BEST SUSHI
PRONTO
NARA SUSHI & HIBACHI STEAKHOUSE
608 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak | prontolounge.com
5656 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield | naragrille.com
BEST PIZZA (DETROIT)
BEST TACOS
MOOTZ PIZZERIA & BAR
MR. MIGUEL’S MEXICAN GRILLE & CANTINA
BEST PATIO
1230 Library St., Detroit | mootzpizzeria.com
Multiple locations | mrmiguels.com BEST PIZZA (SUBURBS)
GREEN LANTERN PIZZA
BEST THAI
GO SY THAI
Multiple locations | greenlanternpizza.com
4240 Cass Ave., Suite 103, Detroit | gosythai.com
BEST POLISH RESTAURANT
BEST VEGAN/VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT
POLISH VILLAGE CAFE
SPACECAT V-STRO
2990 Yemans St., Hamtramck | polishvillage.cafe
255 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | spacecatvstro.com
BEST RESTAURANT
BEST VEGETARIAN/VEGAN CARRY-OUT
CAFÉ CORTINA 30715 W. 10 Mile Rd., Farmington Hills | cafecortina.com
BEST ROMANTIC RESTAURANT
THE WHITNEY 4421 Woodward Ave., Detroit | thewhitney.com
BASIL INDIAN BISTRO 32621 Northwestern Hwy., Farmington Hills | basilindianbistro.com
BEST WINGS
SWEETWATER TAVERN Multiple locations | sweetwatertaverns.com
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Best bet
BEST CASINO RESTAURANT
PRISM AT HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN 555 E. Lafayette Ave., Detroit | hollywoodgreektown.com
BEST CASINO HOTEL
MGM GRAND DETROIT 1777 Third Ave., Detroit | mgmgranddetroit.mgmresorts.com
BEST CASINO TABLE GAMES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN 555 E. Lafayette Ave., Detroit | hollywoodgreektown.com BEST CASINO TO SEE A SHOW
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit | motorcitycasino.com
BEST PLAYERS CLUB
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit | motorcitycasino.com
BEST POKER
MGM GRAND DETROIT Hollywood Casino at Greektown is a favorite among gamblers.
EMPLOYMENT Marketing Project Manager/ Westland, MI – Responsible for leading marketing strategies to drive growth, increase brand awareness, and expand market presence both domestically and internationally; develop and implement comprehensive marketing strategies to achieve business growth targets in domestic and international markets; creation of marketing materials and visual contentincluding brochures, digital advertisements, and web graphicsto support campaigns and reinforce brand messaging; among other duties. BS+1 yrs experience; up to 50% domestic and international travel. Moresco USA, Inc. Send resume to tori.hunsinger@ morescousa.com. No phone calls please.
STEVE NEAVLING
1777 Third Ave., Detroit | mgmgranddetroit.mgmresorts.com
EMPLOYMENT Compliance Manager - Americas, OPmobility C-Power, Troy, MI. Plan &execute simple to complex investigations of fraud, w/ or w/ out allegations, misuse of corporate resources, violations of intl. controls, &other forms of financ. abuse. Track &confirm major intl. controls failures at country ®ional levels, using advanced data collection, data mgmt, &data anlys techniques, &applying knowledge of ops &related enterprise resource solutions concepts, incl. using Excel, SAP, &PowerBI tools. Reqrd annual travel w/ 5-10 plant visits P/A (averaging 1wk per trip), to any of 11 OPmobility mfg plants in U.S., MEX, BRA, &ARG, to meet &ensure intl. controls &procedures (incl. KPIs) compliance by Purchasing (bidding process), Logistics (cycle count, goods in transit, truck utilization), Finance (travel expenses, secured banking payment methods), Qlty (under declared scrap), &H.R. Depts (local regs financ. risks from excessive overtime, &segregation of duty risk), from 5-10wks P/A. Master, Bus Admin, Mgmt, Acctg, or related. 36 mos exp as Compliance Mgr or related, planning &executing investigations into allegations of fraud, w/ or w/out allegations, &tracking &confirming major intl. controls failures at country or regional levels, or related. E-mail resume to zumra.husanovic@ opmobility.com (Ref#5280).
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A “We love Detroit” sign in downtown Detroit.
STEVE NEAVLING
People + Places BEST AUTHOR
BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (R&B)
NANDI COMER
NYLON KEIES
nandicomer.com
instagram.com/nylonkeies
BEST BURLESQUE PERFORMER
BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (ROCK)
LILITH VON TAL
JACK WHITE
instagram.com/lilithvontal
BEST DRAG QUEEN
JEZEBEL jayorellana.com
BEST LOCAL AMBASSADOR
EMINEM eminem.com
BEST LOCAL JOURNALIST
jackwhiteiii.com
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD TO LIVE IN
ROSEDALE PARK Detroit | rosedalepark.org
BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE
BELLE ISLE PARK 99 Pleasure Dr., Detroit | michigan.gov/dnr
AMANDA LECLAIRE
BEST PLACE FOR A KID’S BIRTHDAY PARTY
wdet.org/author/aleclaire Best Local Social Media Influencer
DETROIT FLYHOUSE CIRCUS SCHOOL
AMANDA SWEET amandasweetlive.com
1321 Watson St., Detroit | detroitflyhouse.com
BEST POET BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (AMERICANA)
THE WHISKEY CHARMERS
JESSICA CARE MOORE jessicacaremoore.org
thewhiskeycharmers.com BEST POLITICIAN BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (HIP-HOP)
TWIZTID
ABDUL EL-SAYED abdulforsenate.com
majikninjaentertainment.com/artists/twiztid WORST VILLAIN BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (PUNK)
THE IDIOT KIDS
MATTHEW MOROUN ambassadorbridge.com
theidiotkids.bandcamp.com
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Weed BEST HEAD SHOP
B.D.T. SMOKE SHOP 21640 John R Rd., Hazel Park | bdtmi.com
BEST LOCAL FLOWER
THE HIVE AT BDT 21630 John R Rd., Hazel Park | thehivemichigan.com
BEST CONSUMPTION LOUNGE
BOWDEGA
BEST EDIBLE BRAND
BEST NEW DISPENSARY
HEY! CAPTAIN
HOUSE OF DANK — GRATIOT
officialheycaptain.com
19703 U.S. 12, New Buffalo | bowdega.com
BEST DELIVERY SERVICE AT A DISPENSARY
LIV CANNABIS Multiple locations | livcannabis.com
11999 Gratiot Ave., Detroit | shophod.com BEST EDIBLE SELECTION AT A DISPENSARY
BEST PREROLL
PLEASANTREES
UTOPIA GARDENS
Multiple locations | enjoypleasantrees.com
6541 E. Lafayette St., Detroit | utopiagardens.com
BEST DISPENSARY WEBSITE FOR DEALS
BEST FLOWER
BEST PREROLL SELECTION
NARVONA
KING OF BUDZ
narvona.com
HERBOLOGY CANNABIS CO. Multiple locations | shophcc.com
Multiple locations | kingofbudz.com BEST GUMMY BRAND
BEST BUNDLE DEALS AT A DISPENSARY
THE CAKE HOUSE Multiple locations | cakehousecannabis.com
BEST CANNABIS-INFUSED DRINK BRAND
PLEASANTEA emeraldcanningpartners.com/pleasanteas
BEST CELEBRITY WEED COLLAB
HOUSE OF DANK GRATIOT — PEEZY AND ICEWEAR VEZZO
BEST DISPOSABLE
DETROIT EDIBLES
BEST RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY
GROWING PAINS
detroitedibles.com
HOUSE OF DANK
thegrowingpainsofficial.com
BEST DRIVE-THRU SERVICE AT A DISPENSARY
NOXX BEST DRIVE-UP SERVICE AT DISPENSARY
NATURE’S REMEDY CANNABIS
MOST DESERVINGLY HYPED LOCAL FLOWER
mkxoilco.com
HYTEK hytekdetroit.com
BEST MARIJUANA DISPENSARY DEALS
PUFF CANNABIS — UTICA 44825 Van Dyke Ave., Utica | puffutica.com
925 E. Drayton St., Ferndale | naturesremedycannabis.com
BEST EDIBLE (NON-GUMMY)
POLARE
MKX OIL CO.
23632 Woodward Ave., Pleasant Ridge | noxx.com
11999 Gratiot Ave., Detroit | shophod.com
BEST CONCENTRATE BRAND
Multiple locations | shophod.com BEST MARIJUANA CARTRIDGE BRAND
HEY! CAPTAIN officialheycaptain.com
STRONGEST WEED AT A DISPENSARY
WEST COAST MEDS + REC 8620 Lyndon St., Detroit | westcoastmeds.com
BEST MARIJUANA PROVISIONING CENTER FOR CONCENTRATES
PURE OPTIONS Multiple locations | pureoptions.com
instagram.com/pelle_polare
Detroit-based Hytek is one of the best cannabis cultivators in the state. .
STEVE NEAVLING
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best of detroit
STAFF PICKS
Fairies are among the many fantasy creatures roaming the Michigan Renaissance Festival grounds.
R
COURTESY OF MICHIGAN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
eaders aren’t the only ones with opinions around here. For the first time in a while, the Metro Times staff is getting back into the Best of Detroit game with our own decidedly unscientific collection of favorites. Instead of trying to name the single “best restaurant” or “best bar,” we went looking for the things that make metro Detroit interesting, delicious, strange, funny, beautiful, and occasionally ridiculous. That means everything from great weed and unforgettable meals to beloved local institutions, oddly specific products, places worth a drive, and categories we probably invented because nobody else would. There was no ballot or algorithm. Just a newsroom that spends a lot of time exploring Detroit and has plenty of opinions about it. metrotimes.com | September 16-29, 2026 39
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players, and other big shots all look perfectly at home beneath the polished surroundings. It’s a place where getting a good table can feel like a status symbol and being recognized may seem like part of the service. If you ever hear someone ask, “Do you know who I am?” resist the urge to answer. Chances are, they’re about to tell you anyway.
BEST PLACE TO ESCAPE MAGA
Complete write-ups organized by ballot category
FOOD BEST RESTAURANT FOR PRETENDING YOU HAVE YOUR LIFE TOGETHER
HIGHLANDS Highlands lets you rise above your problems, at least for the length of dinner. Perched high above downtown Detroit, the polished steakhouse offers sweeping views, serious wine, and the kind of atmosphere that suggests you understand investments, answer emails promptly, and never leave laundry in the dryer for three days. Order confidently, admire the skyline, and avoid mentioning the overdraft alert waiting on your phone. From the 71st floor, overdue bills, unfinished errands, and every bad decision below look pleasantly small. You may not actually have your life together, but for one elegant meal, nobody has to know.
BEST FOOD WORTH STAINING YOUR CLOTHES FOR
PAMBAZO AT SHEILA’S TAQUERIA Do not wear white. Sheila’s Taqueria in Melvindale serves a pambazo that practically guarantees evidence of the meal will follow you home. The bread is dipped in red guajillo chile sauce before it’s fried, then stuffed with a hearty filling that makes eating it neatly nearly impossible. The first bite is rich, spicy, messy, and immediately worth the risk. Sauce gets on your fingers, your napkins pile up, and sooner or later a drop is headed for your shirt. Consider the stain a souvenir.
BEST PLACE TO HEAR SOMEONE SAY “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”
PRIME + PROPER Prime + Proper is the kind of downtown steakhouse where power lunches can stretch into expensive dinners and somebody at the next table may actually be important. Athletes, executives, local celebrities, political
KITAB CAFE When the political noise gets exhausting, Kitab Cafe in Midtown offers a comfortable place to tune it out. Grab a coffee, one of its excellent sandwiches or pastries, settle into a cozy seat, and browse shelves filled with books on civil rights, social justice, spirituality, Islam, and the Middle East. Kitab was created as a place where people from different backgrounds can read, work, meet, and feel welcome, and that mission is easy to see in its diverse crowd. You may even find free copies of the Quran on the shelves. It’s a place where Palestinians are treated as people with rights, differences are celebrated, and nobody seems particularly interested in making America angry again.
BEST PRODUCT THAT SCREAMS DETROIT
BETTER MADE CHIPS WITH A FAYGO Some Detroit pairings just make sense. Better Made chips and a cold Faygo have been showing up together at corner stores, cookouts, parties, and family gatherings for generations. They’re inexpensive, unmistakably local, and tied to the city in a way no luxury brand could manufacture. Pick your chip, pick your Faygo flavor, and argue about the correct combination if you must. Barbecue and Rock & Rye? Redpop and plain? Whatever your allegiance, few snacks are as tied to metro Detroit as this decadent combo.
BEST PATIO IN GREEKTOWN
PEGASUS TAVERNA Greektown is at its best when you can sit outside and watch the neighborhood move around you, and Pegasus Taverna puts you right in the middle of it. The longtime family-owned Greek restaurant has been serving the neighborhood since 1980, with classics like lamb chops, seafood, spinach pie, and plenty of dishes meant to be lingered over. Its patio turns dinner into prime people-watching, especially on warm nights when Monroe Street is buzzing. There may be trendier patios around town, but Pegasus has decades
of Greektown character and a frontrow seat to one of Detroit’s most lively neighborhoods.
BEST PATIO FOR LIVE MUSIC
EDO RAMEN Edo Ramen gives you a little more than dinner on the patio. The Royal Oak restaurant has made live music part of its identity, regularly bringing local musicians into the mix while serving ramen, sushi, cocktails, and other Japanese-inspired dishes. Metro Times has highlighted performances there by Detroit rock veterans, including Sponge frontman Vinnie Dombroski, and the venue continues to host live music alongside art and other events. It’s relaxed enough for dinner but lively enough to turn a warm night outside into something more memorable.
BEST PATIO IN ROYAL OAK
PRONTO LOUNGE Pronto’s patio has long been one of Royal Oak’s best places to turn a drink outside into an entire night. The LGBTQ+ mainstay has been around since 1991, serving food and cocktails alongside drag shows, DJs, dancing, and a steady calendar of events. Out back, the spacious patio has its own energy, especially on warm nights and during Pride, when the crowd spills outside and the party keeps going. Plenty of patios offer tables and umbrellas. Pronto offers personality, community, and the likelihood that you’ll stay until closing time.
BEST DOUGHNUTS WORTH BRINGING BACK FROM THE DEAD
DUTCH GIRL DONUTS When Dutch Girl Donuts closed in 2021, Detroit lost more than a doughnut shop. It lost one of those old-school places that seemed like it would always be there. Thankfully, the Woodward Avenue institution returned in 2024, bringing back the glazed doughnuts, crullers, cake doughnuts, and round-the-clock temptation generations of Detroiters grew up with. The reopening drew long lines of grateful customers. Dutch Girl doesn’t need gimmicks, cereal toppings, or trendy flavors. It just makes really damn good doughnuts, and one is never enough.
BEST BAGEL THAT DOESN’T NEED A GIMMICK
EASTSIDE BAGEL At a time when bagels are being loaded with increasingly elaborate toppings and turned into social media bait, Eastside Bagel keeps things
refreshingly straightforward. The St. Clair Shores shop has been making New York-style bagels for more than two decades, with nearly two dozen varieties, fresh whipped cream cheese, and breakfast and deli sandwiches that don’t need much explaining. The bagels are chewy, flavorful, and substantial enough to stand on their own. Eastside even made the finals for metro Detroit’s best bagels again this year. Sometimes the best innovation is knowing when you already got it right.
BEST COFFEE SHOP WORTH WORSHIPPING
THE CONGREGATION The Congregation already had the perfect name before anyone ordered a latte. Housed inside a restored 1920s church on Rosa Parks Boulevard, the Detroit coffee shop kept much of the building’s character while turning it into a neighborhood gathering place. There are stained-glass windows, old pews repurposed into the bar, plenty of room to settle in, and a sprawling outdoor space that comes alive in warmer months. The coffee is good enough to justify the pilgrimage, but the setting is what makes it memorable.
BEST BAKERY WORTH BLOWING YOUR DIET FOR
WARDA PÂTISSERIE Warda Pâtisserie is the kind of place where restraint lasts about as long as it takes to reach the pastry case. Chef Warda Bouguettaya blends French technique with flavors drawn from her Algerian roots and travels, turning out beautifully made tarts, cakes, cookies, and pastries that taste as good as they look. The Detroit bakery has earned national acclaim, including a James Beard Award, but it still feels personal rather than precious. You may walk in planning to split one pastry. Then you see the rest of the case. Diet starts tomorrow.
BEST SUB SHOP
OAK HOUSE DELI Oak House Deli keeps the formula simple. The Royal Oak shop serves hefty, no-frills sandwiches built with good bread, generous fillings, and enough variety to satisfy carnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike. The Italian, Reubens, club sandwiches, and plant-based options have all earned loyal followings, while its recent revival of the old Kmart sub proved the place also knows how to have a little fun. Oak House doesn’t need gimmicks or trendy ingredients. It just makes the kind of subs you start craving before lunch.
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spicy tuna crispy rice, Massaman scallops, miso-glazed black cod, and sushi topped with potato chips and shaved black truffle are scroll-stoppers. Fortunately, Sunda put plenty of effort into what happens after the picture is taken. What the photos can’t capture is that the food is as good as it looks.
BEST NEW REASON TO LOOK DOWN ON DETROIT
PINE HALL Usually, looking down on Detroit is discouraged. Pine Hall gets a pass. Perched on the 12th floor of Hudson’s Detroit, the new restaurant and rooftop bar offers sweeping views of downtown from the site of the former J.L. Hudson department store. The restaurant also nods to that history, borrowing its name from Hudson’s old Pine Room and even reviving the department store’s famous Maurice salad. Detroit spent decades staring at an empty hole where Hudson’s once stood. Now you can sit high above the same spot with a cocktail and watch the city spread out beneath you. That’s a considerably better view. Kitab Cafe in Detroit offers a space away from MAGA. BEST STONER FOOD
THE MAC ATTACK AT TAYSTEE’S BURGERS The Mac Attack at Taystee’s Burgers feels like somebody designed a sandwich specifically for the moment when the munchies overpower good judgment. The Dearborn-born burger piles mac-andcheese bites, American cheese, coleslaw, tomato, and spicy mayo onto a beef patty, creating a gloriously messy combination of crispy, creamy, salty, and spicy. Somehow everything works really well together. Taystee’s started inside a gas station, which only adds to the charm. If you’re high, hungry, and suddenly convinced a burger needs fried mac and cheese on top, the Mac Attack understands you.
BEST NEW RESTAURANT WITHOUT BORDERS
NOMAD ROTISSERIE Award-winning chef Omar Anani has never seemed interested in cooking inside neat boundaries. At Nomad Rotisserie, the two-time James Beard Award finalist and Chopped champion builds the menu around rotisserie chicken and flavors from Palestine, Iraq, Greece, Syria, Korea, Peru, and beyond. The food is rooted in tradition without being trapped by it, with pressed wraps, whole and half chickens, and sauces made from scratch. The restaurant’s motto is short, but spot on: “No Borders. Just Flavor.” In a city shaped by generations of immigrants, Nomad feels like the kind of new restaurant Detroit should have.
BEST NEW RESTAURANT WORTH THE WAIT
LITTLE LIBERIA Chef Ameneh Marhaba spent about a decade trying to turn Little Liberia from a pop-up into a permanent restaurant, surviving false starts and a failed New Center plan before finally opening in East English Village this spring. The wait paid off. Believed to be Michigan’s first dedicated Liberian restaurant, Little Liberia serves roasted goat shank, cassava leaves, fried fish, groundnut stew, and cocktails inspired by Marhaba’s heritage. Detroit’s restaurant scene can move fast, with new concepts appearing and disappearing in a blink. Little Liberia took the opposite route. Marhaba stuck with the idea until Detroit finally got the restaurant she had been trying to give it.
BEST FOOD TRUCK GLOW-UP
DETROIT 75 KITCHEN Detroit 75 Kitchen built its reputation from a food truck and carryout operation in southwest Detroit, proving you don’t need a fancy dining room to make people drive across town for lunch. This year, the beloved sandwich shop took a big step forward with its first full-service restaurant in Madison Heights. The new location gives fans somewhere to actually sit down with the sandwiches, fries, and bold flavors that turned Detroit 75 into a local favorite in the first place. Plenty of food trucks dream of making the leap to brick and mortar.
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STEVE NEAVLING
Detroit 75 managed to grow without losing what made people line up for it.
BEST POP-UP THAT FINALLY GREW UP
AMELIA STREET PIZZA CO. Matt Arb spent years building a following for Amelia Street Pizza Co. through pop-ups, letting Detroit-area pizza lovers chase down his sourdough pies wherever they happened to appear. Now the wandering is over. Amelia Street finally has a permanent home in Hazel Park, where Arb can give his carefully fermented crusts and inventive toppings the consistency of an actual kitchen and address. Pop-ups are great until you realize your favorite pizza requires checking Instagram and driving somewhere different every week. Amelia Street did the hard part. It made people care before it had a restaurant. Now fans finally know where to find it.
BEST NEW RESTAURANT FOR MAKING YOUR PHONE EAT FIRST
SUNDA NEW ASIAN You could eat at Sunda without photographing anything, but the restaurant doesn’t make that easy. The downtown Detroit newcomer is filled with beauty, from a dramatic cherry blossom installation above a pink quartzite bar to another bar wrapped in shimmering capiz shells. Then the food arrives. Oxtail potstickers,
BEST NEW REASON TO BLOW YOUR DINNER BUDGET
THE DANCING PINE The Dancing Pine is not where you go because payday is still three days away. The new upscale Korean steakhouse at Sakura Novi leans unapologetically into wagyu, caviar, seafood, and tableside cooking, with executive chef James “JJ” Jung bringing experience from Nobu and other high-end restaurants. It’s the kind of meal where restraint begins disappearing somewhere between the first cocktail and the words “let’s get the wagyu.” That may hurt when the check arrives, but at least you’ll remember where the money went. Some dinners are about value. The Dancing Pine is about deciding tonight probably isn’t the night to check your bank balance.
BEST LOCAL RESTAURANT CRITIC
LYNDSAY C. GREEN Lyndsay C. Green does far more than tell readers whether a restaurant is worth the money. The Detroit Free Press critic uses food to tell larger stories about Detroit, including race, culture, neighborhoods, labor, identity, and who gets seen in the city’s dining scene. Since taking over the beat in 2021, Green has become one of the country’s most acclaimed restaurant critics, earning two James Beard Awards and becoming a Pulitzer Prize finalist for criticism. Her writing can be funny, vulnerable, skeptical, and deeply reported, while still making you hungry. Detroit deserves restaurant criticism as complicated and interesting as its food scene. Green nails it.
BEST FESTIVAL THAT UNDERSTANDS LUNCH
DETROIT SANDWICH PARTY Some festivals are built around lofty concepts like art, culture, or music. Detroit Sandwich Party understands that humanity also needs bread with stuff between it. The annual Eastern Market gathering has grown into a celebration featuring roughly 50 vendors serving sample-size versions of sandwiches ranging from classic meat-andcheese creations to vegan, gluten-free, dessert, and ice cream varieties. Organizer Carlos Parisi spun the event out of Detroit Sandwich Week, creating a festival around perhaps the most universally understandable food format ever devised. There is even one hard boundary. Hot dogs don’t count. Finally, somebody willing to take a stand.
BEST EXCUSE TO BUY SOMETHING PEACH-FLAVORED
ROMEO PEACH FESTIVAL Romeo has been building an entire Labor Day weekend around peaches for 95 years, and at this point nobody should question the commitment. The sprawling Macomb County tradition includes parades, carnival rides, live music, art, a 5K and 10K, a used-book
sale, craft shows, more than 100 beers, and enough peach-related food to make you wonder whether absolutely everything should be peach flavored. Probably not. But that’s hardly the spirit of the occasion. For five days, Romeo gives itself over to its favorite fruit, and generations of metro Detroiters keep coming back to help celebrate.
BEST PLACE TO EAT TACOS WHILE WATCHING GROWN MEN IN MASKS FIGHT
DETROIT TACO SHOWDOWN Tacos and professional wrestling don’t obviously belong together until you see them sharing a building. Detroit Taco Showdown brings up to a dozen Michigan taquerias and restaurants to Eastern Market for a day of tacos, margarita tastings, music, Mexican dancers, games, and masked lucha libre wrestlers. Restaurants battle for taco supremacy while wrestlers settle their own disagreements in considerably more physical fashion. Plenty of food festivals simply ask you to eat and wander around. Taco Showdown understands that somewhere between your second margarita and third taco, watching somebody launch himself from the ropes starts sounding like an excellent idea.
BEST TASTE OF EAST AFRICA
BAOBAB FARE Baobab Fare has become one of Detroit’s most distinctive restaurants by doing something deceptively simple: cooking the food its owners know and love. Founded by Burundian refugees Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, the New Center restaurant serves deeply comforting East African dishes like mbuzi, a slow-roasted goat shank served with rice, beans, plantains, and corn salad, alongside tangy pan-fried chicken and vegan stews. What began as a dream after the couple arrived in Detroit has grown into an award-winning restaurant, food truck, and celebration of Burundian culture. Their motto says it best: “Detroit Ni Nyumbani,” which translates to “Detroit is home.”
BEST PLACE TO EAT AWAY A HANGOVER
TOAST Some mornings call for yogurt and restraint. The morning after definitely does not. Toast in Ferndale is where you go when last night’s decisions have left you requiring eggs, potatoes, grease, carbs, coffee, and possibly divine intervention. The breakfast-and-lunch spot has plenty of recovery options, but the Trashy Hashy practically sounds medicinal. It features shredded potatoes loaded with bacon, onion, peppers, tomato, jalapeño, pepper
jack, turkey sausage gravy, over-easy eggs, and toast. There’s also corned beef hash, chicken and waffles, pancakes, omelets, and enough coffee to slowly restore basic human function. No judgment, either. At Toast, everyone understands why you’re wearing sunglasses indoors.
BEST FRENCH FRIES
HOPCAT Some restaurants serve fries because burgers look lonely without them. At HopCat, the fries are practically the reason to go. Its famous Cosmik Fries are beer-battered, crisp on the outside, fluffy inside, dusted with cracked black pepper seasoning, and served with a side of cheese sauce. They’re salty, greasy, wildly addictive, and somehow still good after you’ve told yourself three separate times that you’re done eating them. You can get them loaded with bacon and jalapeños or dressed up with parmesan and truffle oil, but the originals don’t need much help. HopCat has built a whole damn reputation around a side dish. That reputation is deserved.
BEST REASON TO REMEMBER BIRRIA IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOAT
LA JALISCIENSE Birria has conquered America, and somewhere along the way beef became so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget where
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the dish started. La Jalisciense offers a delicious corrective. The Southwest Detroit taqueria serves birria de chivo, a deeply seasoned goat stew marinated with chiles and spices and served with onions, cilantro, and tortillas. You can also get the goat tucked into quesabirrias with cheese and consommé for dipping. Beef birria can be wonderful, but La Jalisciense reminds us that the original deserves its flowers. Or, better yet, another tortilla.
BEST PLACE TO DRINK YOUR VERNORS WITH ICE CREAM
MERCURY BURGER BAR There are few more Detroit ways to consume dessert than pouring Vernors over vanilla ice cream and calling the resulting fizzy, creamy concoction a Boston Cooler. Mercury Burger Bar keeps the tradition alive alongside the burgers, fries, tots, and other things you probably came to Corktown intending to eat. But the Boston Cooler deserves billing of its own. The ginger bite of Vernors cuts through the vanilla ice cream just enough to keep the whole thing from becoming unbearably sweet. Is it a drink? Dessert? Milkshake? Detroit cultural artifact? Yes. Stop overthinking it and grab a straw.
BEST SLIDERS THAT DON’T NEED A GLOW-UP
TELWAY HAMBURGERS Not everything old needs to be reimagined with brioche, aioli, and an adjective like “elevated.” Telway’s sliders have survived just fine without any of that nonsense. The tiny west-side hamburger stand has long specialized in the elemental pleasure of a small, greasy burger cooked with onions and served cheaply enough that ordering one would be ridiculous. You order several. That’s the system. Telway isn’t trying to turn the slider into something worthy of a tasting menu, nor should it. Some foods reach perfection not through innovation but through generations of people wisely deciding to leave the damn thing alone.
BEST DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA THAT REFUSES TO CHANGE
LOUI’S PIZZA Pizza trends come and go. Hot honey arrives. Burrata appears. Somebody decides pizza needs truffles. Meanwhile, Loui’s keeps making the kind of gloriously old-school Detroit-style pie that helped define the form in the first place: thick, cheesy, saucy, square, and unapologetically substantial. The Hazel Park institution feels
reassuringly immune to whatever pizza discourse is happening on TikTok this week. You don’t go to Loui’s looking for somebody’s clever reinvention of Detroit-style pizza. You go because sometimes the smartest thing a restaurant can do is recognize that generations of customers already told you what works.
for extra char and dry rub. At a Lebanese restaurant, you expect hummus, kibbeh, and lamb chops. But here, you’ll also find some of the area’s most memorable ribs. Metro Detroit dining has always been wonderfully complicated and surprising.
BEST PIZZA FOR PEOPLE WHO TAKE THE CRISPY EDGE PERSONALLY
MITSOS
MICHIGAN & TRUMBULL For most Detroit-style pizza obsessives, the middle pieces are merely obstacles separating them from the corners. Michigan & Trumbull understands. Its thick pies arrive with a crisp, caramelized perimeter that oozes with lightly burned Wisconsin brick cheese and savory sauce. The dough is made fresh daily, while toppings can range from straightforward pepperoni to pickled chiles, hot honey, vodka sauce, chorizo, and whipped goat cheese. Whatever you choose, those crispy edges will never disappoint.
BEST BREAKFAST YOU CAN HOLD IN ONE HAND
Breakfast is generally improved by putting it inside bread, especially when that bread is a warm grilled pita. Mitsos, the Greek cafe in Eastern Market, has turned that simple truth into one of the city’s great portable breakfasts. Its egg-and-cheese pita is warm, gooey, chewy, and beautifully uncomplicated, with options to add lamb, sausage, chicken, or other upgrades when plain eggs and cheese aren’t enough. It’s exactly the kind of food Eastern Market demands: inexpensive, substantial, and easy to eat while wandering around carrying things you did not intend to buy. Forks are fine. Pita is better.
BEST RESTAURANT FOR MAKING PICKLE SOUP SEXY BEST DETROIT PIZZA WITH A SOURDOUGH FLEX
SICILY’S PIZZERIA Detroit-style pizza already requires patience. Sicily’s decided it wasn’t patient enough. The Southwest Detroit pizzeria naturally ferments its sourdough crust without commercial yeast, sugar, or vegetable oil, producing a pizza with the chewy, flavorful character of good bread beneath all that cheese and sauce. Sicily’s has been around since 1989, long before sourdough became something everyone suddenly developed strong opinions about during quarantine. The result isn’t pizza masquerading as an artisanal science project. It’s recognizably Detroit pizza with a crust interesting and unique enough to become a big part of the appeal. Flex away.
ROSE’S “Dill pickle soup” sounds like something served from a crockpot at a church basement potluck. Rose’s somehow makes it feel seductive. The reinvigorated east-side restaurant has embraced Polish cooking through a seasonal, decidedly modern lens, and its occasional dill pickle soup trades the heavy creaminess often associated with the dish for a clear chicken broth loaded with cabbage, potatoes, shredded chicken, and that unmistakable pickle tang. Rose’s has gone through several lives over the years, but its latest incarnation manages the tricky feat of respecting grandma food without treating it like museum material. Pickle soup has never looked so good.
BEST TORTILLAS WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO BEST RIBS WHERE YOU’D LEAST EXPECT THEM
PHOENICIA Nobody walks into one of metro Detroit’s most celebrated Lebanese restaurants expecting the pork ribs to steal the show. That’s exactly why Phoenicia’s are so much fun. Founder Sameer Eid developed a taste for Texas barbecue after immigrating to the United States, eventually turning his own dry-rubbed baby backs into an unlikely restaurant signature. They’re lean, charred, slightly spicy, and decidedly not the fall-off-the-bone variety. Regulars to the Birmingham restaurant know to request them “Samy-style”
VECINO A tortilla is supposed to be part of the meal, but at Vecino it demands your attention. The Midtown restaurant draws heavily from Mexican cooking traditions while treating ingredients that are often relegated to supporting roles as worthy of serious consideration. Here, the tortilla isn’t just a vehicle to get food to your mouth. That means the tortilla isn’t just a way to deliver food to your mouth. It has flavor, texture, and character of its own. Vecino makes them from corn sourced from Mexico using nixtamalization, an ancient process in which dried corn is cooked and soaked before being ground into masa.
It’s a centuries-old technique, and you can really taste the difference. Just wait until you see what else is on the menu.
BEST PLACE TO LET THE KITCHEN DECIDE WHAT YOU’RE HAVING
LADDER 4 WINE BAR Control freaks may struggle at Ladder 4. That’s part of the fun. Chef John Yelinek’s menu changes with the seasons, what comes out of the restaurant’s garden, what local farmers deliver, and what happens to look especially good that day. The result is a restaurant best approached without a rigid plan. Order some wine. Ask questions. Say yes to things. Ladder 4 has earned national attention since opening inside a former Detroit firehouse in 2022, but it still approaches dinner with refreshing looseness. Sometimes the best order isn’t the thing you researched beforehand. It’s whatever the kitchen is most excited about tonight.
BEST EXCUSE TO ORDER FOUR DIFFERENT SLIDERS
GREEN DOT STABLES The entire business model at Green Dot Stables seems designed to defeat decisiveness. Cheeseburger? Sure. But there’s also banh mi, Korean, Cuban, corned beef, fish fry, buffalo chicken, falafel, an olive burger, and whatever mystery meat happens to be occupying the menu. Fortunately, the sliders are small and inexpensive enough that choosing just one would be missing the point. Get four. Make everyone at the table order different ones. Commence negotiations. Green Dot transformed the humble slider into an excuse to eat dinner like you’re sampling hors d’oeuvres at the world’s strangest wedding reception, only with better fries and considerably more beer.
BEST PLACE TO EAT LIKE YOUR POLISH GRANDMOTHER IS WATCHING
POLISH VILLAGE CAFE Hamtramck has changed dramatically over the decades, but descending into Polish Village Cafe still feels like entering a little pocket where certain culinary rules remain sacred. Pierogi should be properly browned. Stuffed cabbage should be filling. Kielbasa belongs on the table. Soup is not optional just because you think you’re saving room. The basement restaurant has been feeding generations of customers the sort of sturdy Polish comfort food that makes calorie counting seem vaguely disrespectful. Whether or not you actually grew up with a Polish grandmother, eat as though one is sitting nearby monitoring your plate. And for God’s sake, finish your pierogi.
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BEST BAKLAVA SELECTION FOR LOSING ALL SELF-CONTROL
SHATILA BAKERY Walking into Shatila with the intention of buying “a little baklava” is adorable. The Dearborn institution confronts you with trays upon trays of pistachios, walnuts, cashews, phyllo, syrup, shapes, sizes, and variations until whatever restraint you brought through the door collapses completely. Baklava is only part of the story. There are cakes, cookies, ice cream, kanafeh, and other Middle Eastern sweets, but those enormous displays of meticulously layered pastries are nearly impossible to resist. Buy an assortment. Pretend most of it is for guests. Then drive home knowing perfectly well those guests are never going to see half of it.
BEST HUMMUS THAT MAKES GROCERY STORE HUMMUS SAD
AL AMEER There is nothing wrong with supermarket hummus until you eat really good hummus and realize how much better chickpeas can have it. Al Ameer’s version is silky, rich with tahini, and smooth enough to make that plastic tub waiting in your refrigerator feel like an entirely different food. The Dearborn restaurant has spent decades establishing itself as one of metro Detroit’s essential destinations for Lebanese cooking, and sometimes the simplest
dishes explain why. Hummus doesn’t need roasted red peppers, everything-bagel seasoning, or some other supermarket gimmick. Chickpeas. Tahini. Technique. Warm bread. Repeat until the plate is suspiciously clean.
BEST SHAWARMA WORTH CROSSING WARREN AVENUE FOR
HAMIDO Dearborn does not suffer from a shawarma shortage, which means standing out takes work. Hamido has long managed it with the sort of shawarma that inspires fierce loyalty and highly specific ordering rituals. The meat comes carved from the spit, tucked into bread with the appropriate supporting cast, and delivered without anyone feeling the need to turn the sandwich into a culinary manifesto. In a city where excellent Middle Eastern food is so common that Detroiters can become downright spoiled about it, “good shawarma” isn’t enough. Hamido’s sets the standard for delicious shawarma.
BEST FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH WITH A JAPANESE PASSPORT
SUPERCRISP The fried chicken sandwich boom gave us approximately 40 million variations on chicken, pickles, and spicy mayo. SuperCrisp takes a more interesting route.
The Midtown fast-casual spot gives fried chicken a Japanese spin, layering crunchy, juicy chicken with flavors and ingredients that make the sandwich stand apart from the endless parade of Nashville knockoffs. It’s recognizable enough to satisfy the fundamental craving: crispy bird inside bread but different enough that you remember where you ate it. Detroit has no shortage of great fried chicken. SuperCrisp proves there’s still plenty of room to mess around with the format.
BEST BOWL OF NOODLES FOR A MISERABLE MICHIGAN DAY
IMA When winter settles over Detroit, a bowl of warm noodles from Ima may be exactly what you need. The restaurant started in Corktown and has since expanded to Midtown and Madison Heights, while its Corktown flagship remains on Michigan Avenue. The menu goes well beyond udon, with ramen, pho, rice bowls, dumplings, yaki udon, and, in Corktown, Japanese-inspired small plates and dishes from the robata grill. Still, the noodle soups are especially satisfying on the coldest days. Think rich broths, chewy noodles, vegetables, and enough spice to warm you up. Ima’s food is comforting and filling without being heavy, with plenty of choices for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diners. February may still be miserable. Dinner doesn’t have to be.
BEST PLACE TO SLURP LOUDLY WITHOUT APOLOGIZING
JOHNNY NOODLE KING Some meals reward good table manners. Noodles are not among them. Johnny Noodle King is built for enthusiastic eating: raman, broth, noodles, spice, chopsticks, and enough splattering potential that wearing an expensive white shirt constitutes an act of hubris. The southwest Detroit noodle shop has long been the place to attack a steaming bowl without worrying whether you look elegant doing it. Get your face close to the bowl, pull up the noodles while they’re hot, and let the broth and steam bring you the warmth you’ve been seeking.
BEST RESTAURANT TO TEST YOUR SPICE TOLERANCE
TRIZEST Everybody who claims to “love spicy food” eventually meets a dish that requires renegotiating the terms. Trizest is a fine place for that conversation. The Sterling Heights restaurant specializes in Sichuan cooking, where chile heat is only half the equation: Sichuan peppercorns bring their own floral, tingling, mouth-numbing sensation to the party. That combination can turn dinner into a full-body experience in which your lips buzz, your forehead sweats, and you nevertheless keep reaching for another
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bite. Order according to your actual abilities rather than the heroic version of yourself you described to the server. Trizest has nothing to prove. You might.
BEST PLACE TO EAT THAI FOOD WITH THE VOLUME TURNED UP
TAKOI Takoi doesn’t cook timid food. The Corktown restaurant describes its flavors as dynamic, bold, fun, and often spicy, which is refreshingly accurate advertising. Its cooking draws on regional Thai cuisine while incorporating Michigan-grown ingredients, including produce from its own HiO Farm about a mile away. The menu changes frequently, but expect chile, acid, herbs, smoke, funk, crunch, and the occasional dish that makes everybody at the table stop talking for a second. Even the room feels turned up. Takoi isn’t where you go for a polite pad Thai before a movie. It’s where you go when dinner is the night out.
BEST DUMPLINGS FOR ORDERING ANOTHER ORDER IMMEDIATELY
KUNGFU BROS DUMPLINGS & NOODLES The dangerous thing about dumplings is how quickly six becomes insufficient. KungFu Bros in Westland makes its dumplings and noodles in-house daily, drawing on the northeastern Chinese food traditions its immigrant owners grew up with. There are pan-fried dumplings, soup dumplings, spicy wontons, and enough noodle dishes to distract you briefly from ordering still more dumplings. Briefly. Then another plate arrives, everybody takes one,
somebody takes the last one, and suddenly you’re flagging down the server again. The restaurant opened in 2022, but it already feels like the sort of place people reluctantly tell friends about because they’d rather keep the tables to themselves.
BEST RESTAURANT THAT MAKES VIETNAMESE FOOD FEEL LIKE A PARTY
FLOWERS OF VIETNAM Flowers of Vietnam has never seemed especially interested in behaving like a quiet neighborhood restaurant. Born from a pop-up inside a Vernor Highway coney island, it grew into a full-fledged Southwest Detroit destination where Vietnamese flavors arrive with big energy and a room that feels ready for the night to keep going. This is food for passing plates around, ordering more than necessary, and discovering halfway through dinner that the table has become considerably louder than when you sat down. Flowers is open only Thursday through Sunday, which somehow adds to the feeling that you caught something happening rather than merely made a dinner reservation.
BEST PASTRY THAT LOOKS TOO PRETTY TO EAT BUT YOU’LL EAT IT ANYWAY
WARDA PÂTISSERIE Warda Pâtisserie presents the sort of pastries that make adults pull out their phones before picking up their forks. Warda Bouguettaya’s creations are meticulous, colorful, and influenced by flavors stretching across North Africa, the Mediterranean, and beyond, often looking more like tiny architectural projects
than dessert. You may briefly feel guilty destroying one. This feeling passes. A pastry exists to be eaten, no matter how beautifully somebody piped, glazed, layered, or decorated it. Photograph it if you must. Admire it from multiple angles. Then crack through whatever immaculate exterior stands between you and dessert. Beauty is fleeting. Pastry should be too.
BEST PLACE TO PRETEND YOU’RE IN PARIS BEFORE WORK
CANNELLE BY MATT KNIO Most weekday mornings involve nothing more glamorous than coffee swallowed while staring at a phone. Cannelle offers another possibility. Matt Knio trained in France before bringing serious French pastry technique to metro Detroit, and his downtown shop opens early enough to sneak some Parisian fantasy into an otherwise ordinary workday. There are croissants, macarons, tarts, cakes, breads, and pastries arranged with the kind of precision that makes breakfast suddenly seem like an occasion. Sit down with coffee and something buttery and flaky and, for perhaps 20 minutes, Grand River Avenue can become a boulevard in Paris. Then check your email and ruin everything.
BEST DESSERT FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS TOO SWEET
FOR THE LOVE OF SUGAR For the Love of Sugar has never been accused of subtlety, and thank God for that. The Midtown bakery is for people who look at a towering slice of cake cov-
ered in frosting and think, “That seems reasonable.” Cakes arrive in unapologetically indulgent flavors, joined by macarons, cookies, cheesecakes, and other desserts unfairly made to make restraint impossible. This isn’t where you go for three artfully scattered berries beside a teaspoon of mousse. It’s where you go when you want dessert that is decadent, rich, sweet, colorful, celebratory, and generously portioned. Whether you’re looking for a specialized birthday cake or a plump cookie or brownie, For the Love of Sugar has you covered.
BEST DOUGHNUT SHOP FOR PEOPLE WHO ALSO WANT BREAKFAST
DONUT VILLA Sometimes a doughnut is breakfast. Sometimes breakfast is breakfast and then you want a doughnut. Donut Villa wisely accommodates both philosophies. The southwest Detroit institution serves the classic morning lineup of eggs, pancakes, breakfast meats, coffee alongside display cases filled with glazed, frosted, filled, sprinkled, twisted, and otherwise gloriously unnecessary baked goods. That makes it ideal for people who require something savory before publicly admitting they wanted sugar all along. Order breakfast. Feel responsible. Then point toward the doughnut case as though the decision just occurred to you. Nobody believes you, but nobody needs to.
BEST PLACE TO BUY PACZKI WITHOUT WAITING FOR FAT TUESDAY
NEW PALACE BAKERY Most metro Detroiters behave as though pączki emerge from the earth once a year, creating predawn lines across Hamtramck before disappearing until the next Lent. New Palace Bakery knows better. The longtime Polish bakery sells them beyond the annual frenzy, meaning raspberry, custard, prune, lemon, and other fillings do not require scheduling your breakfast around the liturgical calendar. When Pączki Day does arrive, New Palace goes completely berserk, adding specialty flavors and opening at 3 a.m. until it sells out. But the smarter move may be eating one when nobody is keeping score. February does not own fried dough.
BEST PLACE TO MAKE A CROISSANT FEEL LIKE AN EVENT
WHITE WOLF JAPANESE PATISSERIE
Sunda New Asian is a new restaurant in downtown Detroit, and it’s visual bait for your photos.
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PHOTO CREDIT TK
A croissant does not technically require ceremony. Butter, flour, a napkin, done. White Wolf Japanese Patisserie disagrees. Its carefully executed pas-
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tries combine French technique with Japanese precision and flavors, turning something as familiar as a croissant into the kind of object you examine before eating. The Clawson bakery has built a devoted following around laminated dough, cakes, breads, and sweets that look almost unnervingly perfect. It’s the sort of place where picking up breakfast can feel like buying yourself a present. And really, given what mornings generally ask of us, there are worse ways to start the day than with an unreasonable amount of butter.
BEST RESTAURANT FOR TRUSTING THE CHEF
MABEL GRAY Part of the pleasure of eating at Mabel Gray in Hazel Park is not knowing exactly what you’re going to get. Chef James Rigato changes the menu constantly, following seasons, ingredients, whims, and whatever happens to be inspiring the kitchen. That means the dish you loved last time may be gone, replaced by something you hadn’t planned on ordering and may never encounter again. That’s good. Restaurants should occasionally surprise us. Rigato has built Mabel Gray’s reputation by asking diners to trust that approach, whether it’s the regular menu, a tasting format, or one of the restaurant’s periodic special events. Stop researching every plate. Trust the kitchen.
BEST BURGER FOR PEOPLE WHO USUALLY DON’T ORDER THE BURGER
GREY GHOST Ordering a burger at a restaurant known for ambitious cooking may seem like an odd choise. That’s not the case at Grey Ghost, a Brush Park restaurant that built its reputation around meat, cocktails, and chef-driven cooking. If you come with the intention of eating a lavish feast, don’t be surprised if the burger changes your mind. This is the burger for the person who normally says, “I can get a burger anywhere,” right before tasting somebody else’s and reconsidering every choice. There’s nothing wrong with ordering the fancy entrée. Just understand that you may spend the meal staring across the table at what you should have ordered.
any of them. Redcoat Tavern has been a Royal Oak institution for decades, serving thick burgers inside a dark, clubby room where the lighting seems permanently set to “1970s.” You can customize yours, argue over toppings, and develop strong opinions about the proper side, but the basic proposition remains reassuringly unchanged. Trends exist because restaurants need reasons to persuade us something familiar is new again. Redcoat simply keeps making the burger people already wanted.
BEST BURGER THAT PROVES TINY IS ENOUGH
MOTZ’S BURGERS A Motz’s slider looks almost comically modest beside the towering half-pound monstrosities that dominate modern burger menus. Then you eat one and immediately understand the system. Thin beef cooks on the griddle with caramelized onions, then gets mustard, ketchup, and pickles before disappearing inside a tiny bun. One is a snack. Two start making sense. Three may be the correct answer. Motz’s has been doing this on Fort Street for generations, and the current menu still keeps the basic hamburger wonderfully inexpensive. Bigger is not automatically better. Sometimes the greatest contribution a burger can make is giving you an excuse to order another burger.
BEST SANDWICH THAT REQUIRES BOTH HANDS
MUDGIE’S DELI There are dainty sandwiches meant to accompany tea. Mudgie’s doesn’t specialize in those. The Corktown deli has spent years building the sort of sandwiches that require commitment, strategy, and ideally both hands. Meat gets piled high, and toppings refuse to stay put. There’s no polite way to eat a Mudgie’s sandwich. That’s part of the charm. Mudgie’s is a deli in the grand American tradition of asking why three slices of meat would suffice when considerably more meat exists. Grab firmly. Lean forward. Accept that something will fall onto the plate. A good sandwich shouldn’t always make things easy for you.
BEST PLACE TO EAT CORNED BEEF LIKE DETROIT MEANS IT
HYGRADE DELI BEST BURGER THAT HAS SURVIVED EVERY BURGER TREND
REDCOAT TAVERN The Redcoat burger predates smashburger mania, brioche mania, bacon-jam mania, and whatever burger mania arrives next. It has survived because it never particularly needed
Detroit takes corned beef seriously, and Hygrade has been making the case for generations. The Michigan Avenue deli’s Reuben starts with a mountain of freshly sliced corned beef, adds sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, then traps the whole magnificent situation between grilled rye. It is not minimalist. It is not
particularly aerodynamic. It is Detroit deli food doing exactly what Detroit deli food should do. Corned beef appears everywhere around here. But sometimes you want it on sandwiches, in egg rolls, or piled onto breakfast. And sometimes you want the classic form done properly. Hygrade gives you enough meat to remember why the city became obsessed in the first place.
BEST ITALIAN SANDWICH WORTH RUINING YOUR SHIRT FOR
ROCCO’S ITALIAN DELI Any Italian sandwich that can be eaten neatly should be regarded with suspicion. At Rocco’s, cured meats, cheese, vegetables, dressing, and bread are piled into sandwiches that are substantial without being ridiculous. The Cass Corridor deli brings an old-school Italian-market sensibility to a modern sandwich shop with prosciutto, salami, mortadella, mozzarella, and plenty of oil and vinegar. Wear something dark. Lean over the wrapper. Dignity is temporary. Lunch stains build character. BEST SANDWICH YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF THE WEEK THINKING ABOUT
BALKAN HOUSE Balkan House’s döner has a nasty habit of becoming a recurring thought. Thinly sliced meat, fresh vegetables, sauce, and that distinctive pillowy bread come together into a sandwich substantial enough to qualify as a meal but balanced enough that you somehow still want another one soon afterward. The Hamtramck restaurant helped introduce plenty of metro Detroit diners to the German-style döner kebab, and for many, the first reaction is essentially: Where the hell has this been? Detroit has no shortage of excellent sandwiches. The harder achievement is making one that pops back into your mind three days later while you’re trying to concentrate on something else.
BEST SHAWARMA FOR PEOPLE WHO MEASURE LUNCH BY WEIGHT
BUCHAREST GRILL Bucharest Grill’s shawarma has never been about delicacy. These things arrive with heft. Chicken, garlic sauce, pickles, potatoes, and whatever else you’ve ordered are rolled tightly into a wrap that feels reassuringly substantial in the hand, as though lunch has been measured in pounds rather than portions. Bucharest helped popularize its distinctive Romanian-influenced take on shawarma across Detroit through multiple locations, inspiring plenty of imitators and an army of customers
who regard extra garlic as a fundamental right. You may not need the whole thing. That has never stopped anyone. Just clear some desk space before you unwrap it.
BEST PLACE TO TURN CORNED BEEF INTO AN EGG ROLL
ASIAN CORNED BEEF Detroit looked at corned beef, looked at the egg roll, and asked the question that matters most in American cuisine: Why not both? Asian Corned Beef has been answering for decades. Shredded corned beef gets tucked inside an egg roll wrapper and fried until crisp, creating something that feels simultaneously like Chinese American takeout, a Jewish deli, and Detroit improvisation. It shouldn’t need to make cultural sense beyond the fact that it tastes good. The corned beef egg roll has become one of those foods so associated with Detroit that locals can forget how weird it sounds elsewhere. Their loss. More for us.
BEST RESTAURANT FOR PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MEXICAN AND ITALIAN
EL BARZON Most restaurants ask you to settle on a cuisine before making a reservation. El Barzon asks why. Chef Norberto Garita built the Southwest Detroit restaurant around both the Mexican food of his upbringing and the Italian cooking he mastered professionally, resulting in a menu where mole, tacos, enchiladas, pastas, risotto, and other dishes coexist without requiring anybody to pick a side. It sounds like the sort of mashup somebody dreamed up for a reality cooking competition, but El Barzon has spent years proving the combination makes perfect sense. One person wants pasta. Someone else wants mole. Congratulations. Dinner negotiations are over.
BEST FISH AND CHIPS THAT DON’T NEED REINVENTION
SCOTTY SIMPSON’S FISH & CHIPS Somebody could probably put miso aioli on fish and chips, serve it on a slate tile, and charge $28. Scotty Simpson’s has more important things to do. The west-side institution has spent decades frying fish until the batter is crisp, piling it beside fries, and demonstrating the enduring appeal of leaving a classic alone. The room feels like another era because, in many ways, it is. That’s precisely why people love it. Not every beloved restaurant needs to continually reinvent itself to remain relevant. Sometimes relevance comes from knowing when not to change a thing.
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BEST PLACE TO REMEMBER A CONEY IS A COMPLETE MEAL
LAFAYETTE CONEY ISLAND A coney is frequently treated like a snack, perhaps because it costs less and arrives faster than food we’ve arbitrarily decided counts as dinner. Lafayette Coney Island rejects that logic one chili-covered hot dog at a time. Beef frank. Steamed bun. Chili. Mustard. Onions. Maybe fries. Definitely the possibility of ordering another. That’s a meal, and Detroiters have spent generations proving it. Lafayette’s narrow downtown dining room adds the proper atmosphere, with crowded tables, rapid-fire service, and absolutely no need for somebody to explain the concept to you. Fine dining has courses. Detroit has coneys. We’re doing OK.
BEST PLACE TO START A CONEY ISLAND ARGUMENT
AMERICAN CONEY ISLAND There may be no more Detroit tradition than eating a coney followed immediately by arguing about where you should have eaten it. American Coney Island sits beside Lafayette downtown, making the rivalry wonderfully efficient. You don’t even have to cross a street to pick a side. American has been serving coneys for more than a century, building its own fiercely loyal following around the classic combination of hot dog, chili, mustard, and onions. Is it better than its neighbor? We’re not stepping into that minefield. The important thing is that Detroit has managed to turn two hot dog restaurants sharing a wall into an intergenerational civic dispute. Never change.
DRINKS BEST COCKTAIL THAT WON’T RUIN TOMORROW
NO FUN BEVERAGES No Fun Beverages was created for people who like cocktails but don’t necessarily want the alcohol. Founded by longtime bar and restaurant workers Haimanti Germain and Matt Mitchell, the metro Detroit brand launched with Ashes to Orange, a smoky, old fashioned-style zero-proof cocktail with notes of citrus, warm spice, and balanced sweetness. The goal is to give people something genuinely interesting to drink at a bar, concert, party, or dinner instead of another soda or club water. It still has the complexity and ritual of a proper cocktail. It just won’t make you regret that second one in the morning.
BEST UNIQUE WHISKEY VARIETY
MOTOR CITY GAS Motor City Gas has spent more than a decade proving that great bourbon doesn’t have to come from Kentucky. The small Royal Oak distillery makes its whiskey in-house, working in small batches and turning out a constantly changing lineup that rewards repeat visits. Its tasting room has the feel of a neighborhood whiskey bar rather than a polished corporate showroom, and the bottles have earned a loyal following well beyond metro Detroit. Motor City Gas has already collected plenty of awards, but the best endorsement may be how quickly a bottle disappears once somebody decides to share it.
BEST LOCAL FARM-TO-BOTTLE WHISKEY
MOTOR CITY GAS Motor City Gas takes “local whiskey” more seriously than simply putting Michigan on the label. The Royal Oak distillery makes whiskey from Michigan-grown grain and handles the process from grain to bottle, including long fermentations, copper pot distillation, and years of barrel aging. Its lineup ranges from bourbon and single malt to more unusual experiments made with sorghum, wheat, and specialty grains, giving whiskey nerds plenty to explore. The result is booze with an actual sense of place. Plenty of distilleries make whiskey in Michigan. Motor City Gas makes whiskey that tastes like it started here.
BEST WHISKEY
JACK DANIEL’S Some bottles become popular because they’re trendy. Jack Daniel’s became popular because it has spent generations being exactly what people expect it to be. The Tennessee whiskey is smooth, slightly sweet, instantly recognizable, and just as comfortable poured neat as it is mixed with Coke. There are rarer bottles, more expensive bottles, and plenty of whiskey snobs eager to explain why their favorite is better. That’s fine. Jack Daniel’s doesn’t need the validation. It has survived changing tastes, countless imitators, and more bar arguments than anyone could count. Sometimes the classic really is the classic.
BEST PLACE TO DRINK BOURBON LIKE IT’S CULTURAL ENRICHMENT
DETROIT BOURBON & BLUES FESTIVAL Drinking whiskey becomes considerably more respectable when somebody hands you a tasting glass and starts talking about distillation. Detroit Bourbon & Blues Festival leans into that loophole, filling Eastern Market’s Shed 5 with American-made bourbons and whiskeys, live blues, food trucks, vendors, and even cocktail classes. The annual 21-and-up gathering encour-
ages visitors to compare pours and learn a thing or two while they’re at it. You’re not day drinking. You’re expanding your palate, exploring an important American spirit, and supporting live music. Please use the proper terminology when explaining this later.
cranberry juice. The name nods to an era when Detroit was booming and sometimes called the Paris of the West. Make a martini, drink it chilled, and give the vodka a chance to actually participate.
BEST PLACE TO WATCH WRESTLING BETWEEN BEERS
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY HOMEGROWN RYE
DETROIT FALL BEER FESTIVAL Hundreds of Michigan beers would probably be sufficient entertainment. The Detroit Fall Beer Festival adds professional wrestling anyway. The Michigan Brewers Guild’s annual Eastern Market gathering is one of the largest all-Michigan beer tastings around, pairing breweries from across the state with local food, live music, and wrestling matches included with admission. It’s an inspired combination. Sample a stout, try an IPA, watch somebody get body-slammed, then return to debating whether the barrel-aged porter has enough vanilla on the finish. Beer festivals can occasionally take themselves too seriously. This one apparently understands that we’re supposed to be having fun.
BEST EXCUSE TO START DRINKING BEFORE NOON
ST. PATRICK’S DAY IN CORKTOWN Detroit’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration is technically about Irish heritage. It’s also one of the few days when seeing somebody holding a beer before lunch barely registers as unusual. The centerpiece is the massive Corktown parade, which typically draws 80,000 to 100,000 people to Michigan Avenue with floats, marching bands, Irish organizations, and enough green clothing to affect your vision. Around it comes an entire weekend of parties, pub crawls, tents, DJs, and bars getting started remarkably early. You can absolutely attend sober and appreciate the cultural tradition. Tens of thousands of your fellow revelers will respect that decision from the bar.
BEST VODKA FOR PEOPLE WHO SAY VODKA HAS NO FLAVOR
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY GILDED AGE VODKA Vodka has spent years being treated like the spirit you choose when you don’t particularly want to taste the spirit. Gilded Age Vodka makes a pretty good argument against that. Detroit City Distillery makes it entirely from Michigan corn and distills it in copper pots, producing a smooth vodka with subtle notes of vanilla, melon, and grain rather than something designed merely to disappear beneath
BEST RYE WITH MORE GOLD THAN YOUR JEWELRY BOX
Homegrown Rye has collected enough gold medals that Detroit City Distillery may eventually need a bigger trophy shelf. Made with 97% Michigan-grown rye, the whiskey has won Double Gold at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition three times. That hardware backs up what’s in the bottle: a bold, spicy rye with plenty of character and a genuine Michigan pedigree from grain to glass. Detroit City Distillery calls it farm-to-bottle whiskey, and in this case the local angle isn’t marketing fluff. The rye really does begin in Michigan soil. Your jewelry collection may be less decorated, but at least you can drink this.
BEST WAY TO DRINK A PĄCZKI
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY PACZKI DAY VODKA Detroit City Distillery looked at Pączki Day and apparently decided eating several thousand calories before noon wasn’t enough. Its annual Pączki Day Vodka is actually distilled with raspberry pączki from Hamtramck’s New Palace Bakery, blending one beloved local tradition with another beloved local tradition: drinking. The distillery has expanded the lineup over the years, including an orange cream version, but the original raspberry remains the wonderfully ridiculous star. You could simply eat a pączki and drink vodka separately. Detroit City Distillery has thoughtfully eliminated that unnecessary extra step.
BEST WAY TO DRINK FLOWER DAY
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY FLOWER DAY VODKA Eastern Market Flower Day usually ends with a trunk full of plants you didn’t intend to buy. Detroit City Distillery found another way to bring the experience home. Its seasonal Flower Day Vodka infuses Michigan corn vodka with Michigan-grown lavender and fresh lemon, producing a bright, floral spirit without artificial flavors or sweeteners. It’s essentially springtime in Detroit distilled into a bottle, minus the crowds and the desperate attempt to fit six hanging baskets into the back seat. Your tomato plants may eventually die. The vodka is considerably easier to keep alive.
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BEST VODKA WITH THE TROPHY CASE TO PROVE IT
VALENTINE VODKA Plenty of vodka brands describe themselves as premium. Ferndale’s Valentine Distilling has the accolades to back it up. Its flagship vodka is made in small batches using copper stills and no additives, and it was named World’s Best Vodka at the World Vodka Awards in consecutive years. That’s a pretty effective answer to anyone who assumes great vodka has to arrive from Eastern Europe in an imported bottle. Valentine has spent years proving Michigan can make spirits that compete with anybody. Drink it neat, put it in a martini, or bury it beneath cranberry juice if you insist. The vodka has nothing left to prove.
BEST BOURBON MADE IN AN OLD SLAUGHTERHOUSE
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY BUTCHER’S CUT BOURBON If you’re going to make bourbon in Eastern Market, doing it inside a former slaughterhouse feels appropriately Detroit. Detroit City Distillery produces Butcher’s Cut Bourbon at its Whiskey Factory using Michigan grain and hand-smoked Michigan oak, creating a rich whiskey that has collected seri-
ous awards, including multiple Double Gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The name nods to the building’s meatpacking history, but nothing about the bourbon feels like a novelty. It’s legitimately excellent whiskey with an origin story no Kentucky distillery can steal. Detroit may not have invented bourbon, but apparently we know what to do with it.
BEST BOURBON NAMED AFTER A MAYOR WHO HATED MONOPOLIES
MAYOR PINGREE BOURBON Detroit Mayor Hazen Pingree fought utility monopolies, battled powerful corporations, created public works programs, and became one of the country’s most famous progressive reformers. Naturally, Ferndale’s Valentine Distilling named a bourbon after him. Mayor Pingree Bourbon has developed a following well beyond metro Detroit, with releases earning high scores and awards while combining carefully selected whiskey with Valentine’s own distillate. There are plenty of bourbons named after old-timey men whose principal accomplishment seems to have been owning a hat. Pingree actually earned the tribute. We suspect the famously anti-monopoly mayor would also appreciate being produced by an independent Michigan distillery.
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BEST RUM WITH A DETROIT PASSPORT
TWO JAMES DOCTOR BIRD JAMAICAN RUM Doctor Bird begins its life in Jamaica, where high-ester rum develops the gloriously funky tropical flavors that rum obsessives love. Then it travels to Corktown, where Two James Spirits blends and finishes it in Moscatel sherry casks. The result is a distinctly international bottle with banana, pineapple, ripe fruit, spice, and enough personality to make ordinary rum seem timid. Doctor Bird has earned major spirits awards, but the best part may be that it refuses to taste generic. It’s Jamaican at heart, finished in Detroit, and proof that sometimes the best local product is the one that knows when to get a passport.
BEST GIN THAT SHOPS AT EASTERN MARKET
DETROIT CITY DISTILLERY RAILROAD GIN Railroad Gin takes the whole “locally made” thing farther than most spirits. Detroit City Distillery builds the botanical profile around ingredients including juniper, cardamom, coriander, star anise, cinnamon, and
citrus peel sourced from Germack in Eastern Market. The result is a crisp, aromatic London-style gin that tastes equally at home in a martini, gin and tonic, or whatever elaborate cocktail you suddenly feel qualified to make after buying nice gin. Plenty of Detroit businesses say they support other Detroit businesses. Railroad Gin actually goes shopping down the street before ending up in your glass.
BEST WAY TO MEET THE GREEN FAIRY WITHOUT LEAVING CORKTOWN
TWO JAMES NAIN ROUGE ABSINTHE Absinthe already comes with enough mythology before Detroit gets involved. Two James Spirits adds our own mischievous legend by naming its version after the Nain Rouge, the red dwarf whose appearances supposedly foreshadow disaster in Detroit. Made in Corktown from a traditional French-style recipe using wormwood, fennel, green anise, and a small forest of other botanicals, Nain Rouge clocks in at a formidable 120 proof. It’s herbal, complex, and considerably more interesting than taking a shot of something fluorescent at a college bar. Will you see the Nain Rouge afterward? Probably not. But at 120 proof, we’re making no guarantees.
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BEST MICHIGAN WINE TO BRAG ABOUT
FRENCH VALLEY VINEYARD DESSERT RIESLING Michigan wine has spent years getting better while people outside the state continue acting surprised about it. French Valley Vineyard provided another reason to stop being surprised when its 2024 Dessert Riesling won the 2026 Michigan Governor’s Cup, scoring 97 points against hundreds of wines from across the state. Made on the Leelanau Peninsula, the wine showcases exactly why Riesling thrives in northern Michigan’s cool climate, with concentrated fruit and acidity keeping the sweetness from becoming cloying. Bring a bottle to dinner with somebody who still thinks Michigan wine can’t hold its own. You’ll quickly change their mind. Tucked inside the Siren Hotel in Detroit, Candy Bar is the pefect environment for a kiss.
COURTESY OF CANDY BAR
BEST MICHIGAN BUBBLES
MAWBY BLANC BRUT Mawby was making sparkling wine in northern Michigan long before bubbly became mandatory at every brunch with an Instagram account. The Leelanau Peninsula winery has built its entire identity around bubbles, and its Blanc Brut was named Best Sparkling Wine at the 2026 Michigan Governor’s Cup. Crisp, dry, and made with the kind of care that has earned Mawby a national following, it’s further evidence that Michigan does not need permission from Champagne to celebrate properly. Save it for an anniversary if you want. Or open it on a Tuesday because you survived the workday. Bubbles are wasted waiting around for special occasions.
BEST POP FLAVOR TO START A DETROIT ARGUMENT
BEST WAY TO PUT MORE DETROIT IN YOUR ESPRESSO MARTINI
BEST PLACE FOR A QUESTIONABLE FIRST DATE
FAYGO ROCK & RYE
TWO JAMES COFFEE LIQUEUR
DETROIT AXE
Ask Detroiters to name the best Faygo flavor and prepare for an unexpectedly passionate debate. Redpop has its loyalists. Some people will fight for Moon Mist. Others swear by Orange, Creme Soda, or whichever flavor reminds them most strongly of childhood. But Rock & Rye occupies special territory, with its strange, delicious mix of cream soda and cherry earning generations of devoted fans. Faygo has been making pop in Detroit since 1907, giving the city more than a century to develop strong opinions about sugar water. We’re giving Rock & Rye the crown. Please direct all complaints to someone else.
BEST MEAD FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK MEAD IS A RENAISSANCE FAIR GIMMICK
BEST POP DETROITERS STILL TREAT LIKE MEDICINE
SCHRAMM’S MEAD
VERNORS
Forget whatever syrupy substance somebody handed you in a plastic goblet while a man wearing chain mail shouted “huzzah.” Schramm’s Mead takes fermented honey very seriously. The Ferndale producer has built a cult following with richly flavored meads made from carefully selected honey, fruit, and other ingredients, including legendary releases like Black Agnes. Some bottles attract the kind of obsessive attention normally reserved for rare bourbon or wine. Mead may be one of humanity’s oldest alcoholic drinks, but Schramm’s makes a convincing argument that we haven’t finished figuring out how good it can be. No turkey leg or fake British accent required.
Generations of Michigan children learned the same medical protocol. Upset stomach? Vernors. Feeling sick? Vernors. Recovering from the flu? Apparently Vernors again. The famously gingery pop turned 160 this year, and while we should stress that there is no medical evidence requiring your refrigerator to contain it, good luck convincing a Michigan grandmother of that. Vernors has become so deeply embedded in local culture that drinking it can feel less like having pop and more like following family instructions. Does it cure what ails you? We’re journalists, not doctors. But if you’re sick and somebody brings you Vernors, you know they’re from Michigan.
The espresso martini has conquered seemingly every bar in America, so the least Detroit can do is make ours a little more local. Two James produces its coffee liqueur in Corktown using its own vodka, locally roasted coffee, cane sugar, and vanilla, creating a rich bottle designed for exactly the sort of cocktail that combines getting tired with refusing to go home. It works in an espresso martini, White Russian, or poured into something warm when plain coffee suddenly seems insufficient. Caffeine and alcohol were always going to find each other. Two James simply arranged for them to meet in Detroit.
BARS & CLUBS
Nothing says romance like handing someone you met online a sharpened hatchet. Detroit Axe turns the usual first-date small talk into a test of aim, competitiveness, and how calmly your companion handles losing. The Ferndale and Corktown locations offer drinks, games, and plenty of opportunities to discover troubling personality traits before ordering a second round. Maybe hurling axes will break the ice and produce an unforgettable love story. Maybe your date will celebrate every bull’s-eye like they won the Super Bowl. Either way, you’ll learn more about each other than you would over coffee, and it’s possibly much more than you wanted to know.
BEST BAR TO FALL IN LOVE FOR ONE NIGHT
BLEU
BEST PLACE TO MEET SOMEONE YOU’LL REGRET
LOVE & TEQUILA With a name like Love & Tequila, the warning signs are right there on the door. The downtown Detroit bar comes alive late, when the music gets louder, the drinks go down easier, and strangers start looking more interesting. It’s the kind of place where numbers are exchanged quickly, red flags become harder to see, and tomorrow’s awkward text is tonight’s irresistible possibility. Maybe it turns into something real. More likely, it becomes a story you tell your friends with a sigh and the words, “I should’ve known.”
Bleu has long been one of downtown Detroit’s most reliable hookup spots, where dim lighting, a packed dance floor, and pounding music can make a stranger feel irresistible before you’ve learned their last name. Conversations happen inches apart, chemistry arrives quickly, and the night can take on the intensity of a whirlwind romance without any expectation that it will survive breakfast. Maybe you exchange numbers. Maybe you never see each other again. Maybe that’s exactly the point. At Bleu, falling in love for one night isn’t a failure of judgment. It’s practically part of the dress code.
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BEST PLACE TO MAKE OUT
CANDY BAR Candy Bar looks like it was designed with making out in mind. Tucked inside the Siren Hotel, the tiny downtown Detroit lounge is drenched in pink, wrapped in velvet, and dimly lit enough to make nearly anyone look mysterious. Its curved couches invite couples to sit far closer than necessary, while the intimate room leaves little space for pretending you’re only there for the cocktails. You won’t find much privacy, but that’s part of the thrill. Candy Bar turns a drink into a date and a date into an excuse to forget, briefly, that everyone else in the room can see you.
BEST PLACE TO HAVE A SECRET RENDEZVOUS
EVENING BAR Evening Bar already feels like somewhere you’re not supposed to be. Hidden behind an unmarked door in Parker’s Alley and tucked beneath the Shinola Hotel, the moody cocktail lounge offers low lighting, secluded seating, and just enough mystery to make an ordinary drink feel illicit. It’s the kind of place where two people can disappear from downtown without actually leaving it, settle into a shadowy corner, and pretend the rest of the city has no idea they’re there. The hotel upstairs only adds to the intrigue. For a discreet meeting with a little cinematic tension, Evening Bar knows how to keep a secret.
BEST PLACE TO FLIRT WITH A STRANGER
SOHO Soho makes flirting feel almost effortless. The downtown Ferndale bar draws a lively LGBTQ+ crowd with drinks, dancing, pool, and enough movement that nobody has to spend the night trapped at the same table. A glance across the room can turn into a conversation near the bar, a challenge at the pool table, or an invitation to the dance floor. The atmosphere is social without feeling forced, and strangers rarely stay strangers for long. Whether the chemistry lasts beyond closing time is another question. At Soho, making the first move is easy. Figuring out what comes next is up to you.
BEST PLACE TO FIND A SUMMER FLING
THE SKIP The Skip feels like summer distilled into frozen drinks, warm air, and questionable romantic optimism. Tucked into downtown Detroit’s Belt alley, the openair bar draws a steady crowd looking to escape the heat, loosen up, and pretend the season might last forever. Its tropical
cocktails and casual atmosphere make it easy to strike up a conversation with someone who seems perfect beneath the string lights. Maybe you’ll spend the next few months together. Maybe you’ll lose their number before Labor Day. Either way, The Skip is built for connections that arrive quickly, burn brightly, and disappear with the first cold night.
BEST BAR WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY HEAR EACH OTHER
BAR CHENIN At Bar Chenin, conversation is still part of the experience. The intimate wine bar inside the Siren Hotel in Detroit is small, stylish, and refreshingly free of the wall of noise that turns too many nights out into a series of shouted “WHAT?”s. That restraint hasn’t gone unnoticed. Bar Chenin was a 2026 James Beard Award nominee for Best New Bar, putting the tiny Detroit spot in rare national company. Come for the wine, stay because you can actually hear the person sitting across from you. In a city with plenty of loud bars, Chenin proves lowering the volume can be its own luxury.
BEST BAR FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE BARS
VESPER BOOKS & WINE Vesper Books & Wine is what happens when a bar realizes some people would rather be in a bookstore. The Core City spot pairs natural wine with shelves of books and a laid-back atmosphere that feels more like a neighborhood living room than a nightlife destination. There’s no pressure to shout over music, work a crowded room, or pretend you enjoy standing three-deep at the bar. You can browse, read, talk to a friend, or sit by yourself without looking out of place. For people who hate bars, Vesper offers a compelling compromise. You still get the drink, just without most of the reasons you avoid bars in the first place.
BEST PLACE TO SPOT A MIDLIFE CRISIS
LA CASA CIGAR LOUNGE La Casa Cigar Lounge has all the natural habitat of a midlife crisis under one roof. There are cigars, whiskey, leather chairs, and plenty of opportunities to discuss cars, golf, investments, or the sudden realization that life is moving much too fast. It’s the kind of place where a freshly divorced guy can debut a new watch, a new jacket, and perhaps a new philosophy about “finally living for himself.” None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Reinvention has to start somewhere. At La Casa, it just happens to arrive in a cloud of cigar smoke.
BEST PLACE TO REMEMBER TECHNO IS SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERGROUND
MARBLE BAR Detroit invented techno, but that doesn’t mean it belongs behind a velvet rope with bottle service. Marble Bar keeps the music where it feels right, in a tucked-away industrial room where underground house and techno remain the heart of the programming. The club pairs serious sound with indoor and outdoor dance spaces and routinely hosts Detroit DJs alongside international names. On the right night, when the room fills and the music locks in, it’s easy to lose track of time and get hypnotized by the music. Techno became a global industry. Marble Bar still makes it feel like a secret.
BEST PLACE TO DANCE UNTIL YOU FORGET WHAT TIME IT IS
TANGENT GALLERY Tangent Gallery operates on the theory that a night out should occasionally get weird. The sprawling Milwaukee Junction space hosts electronic music, punk, burlesque, art shows, costume parties, immersive events, and whatever other idea somebody is strange enough to make happen. Its long-running dance events have included parties stretching toward sunrise, which makes checking the clock feel almost beside the point. Tangent isn’t really a nightclub so much as a warehouse-sized permission slip for Detroit’s creative underground. Go in Friday night. There is at least some chance you emerge spiritually on Monday.
BEST PLACE TO DANCE UNTIL YOUR FRIENDS LEAVE WITHOUT YOU
TV LOUNGE TV Lounge has spent years giving Detroit dancers reasons to make terrible decisions about bedtime. The Grand River club leans heavily into house, techno, electronic music, and DJs, with a sprawling patio that becomes especially dangerous once you’ve convinced yourself you’re only staying for one more set. The club describes itself as Detroit’s longest-running nightclub, and its calendar still moves between hometown talent and touring names. Eventually your friends will say they’re leaving. You’ll say you’ll be right behind them. Everyone involved knows this is a lie.
BEST NEW PLACE TO GET LOST IN THE MUSIC
TIGRIS Tigris opened this summer with a refreshingly old-fashioned proposition. What if people at a music bar actually listened to the music? The Southwest Detroit hi-fi spot was designed around
a custom Bing Audio sound system, a deep vinyl collection, guest DJs, and a listening room where the sound, rather than the DJ, becomes the center of attention. By day, there’s coffee. At night, Middle Eastern-inspired cocktails and curated records take over. Detroit certainly doesn’t need another place where music is background noise. Tigris built an entire room around paying attention.
BEST PLACE TO HEAR JAZZ WITH YOUR COCKTAIL
CLIFF BELL’S Cliff Bell’s makes a jazz show feel like an occasion. The restored Art Deco club combines live music, dinner, cocktails, curved woodwork, and enough old-school atmosphere to make you briefly wonder whether you should have arrived wearing a fedora. Originally opened in 1935, the downtown room was revived after sitting dark for years and once again hosts jazz ranging from traditional to adventurous. Baker’s gives you Detroit jazz history in its most intimate form. Cliff Bell’s gives you the version where you order another drink and feel unusually sophisticated doing it.
BEST PLACE TO REMEMBER DETROIT INVENTED COOL
ARETHA’S JAZZ CAFE Aretha’s Jazz Cafe may carry the Queen of Soul’s name, but it doesn’t treat Detroit music like something finished decades ago. The intimate room inside Music Hall regularly showcases local jazz, funk, soul, R&B, rock, songwriters, poets, and emerging performers, alongside a long-running Sunday jazz jam designed to help musicians sharpen their craft. The room was renamed for Franklin to carry on her commitment to Detroit talent, which feels exactly right. Detroit’s musical legacy is enormous. Aretha’s is interested in what the next generation plans to add to it.
BEST PLACE TO GET HAMMERED WHILE PRETENDING YOU CAME FOR THE BAND
THE OLD MIAMI Maybe you really did come to Old Miami for the band. We believe you. Then somebody bought a round, you wandered into the enormous backyard, another friend appeared, and somehow the musical performance became only one component of a much longer evening. The Cass Corridor dive has live music, inexpensive drinks, military memorabilia, pool, and one of Detroit’s most unexpectedly lovely bar yards. It can be a punk club, neighborhood watering hole, veterans bar, and backyard party all at once. The band was great, by the way. Whatever their name was.
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BEST GAY BAR THAT NEVER NEEDED A REBRAND
GIGI’S Gigi’s has been doing this since 1973, which means it has survived disco, New Wave, grunge, bottle service, dating apps, rainbow capitalism, and several generations convinced they invented going out. The west-side Detroit institution remains an unapologetically old-school gay bar, with drag downstairs, dancing upstairs, and decades of queer history baked into the place. Its Miss Gigi’s title dates all the way back to the bar’s earliest days, while Saturday cabaret shows keep the tradition going. Plenty of nightlife spots spend fortunes trying to manufacture authenticity. Gigi’s earned it the slow way: one long, weird, fabulous night at a time.
BEST COCKTAIL BAR
THE OUTPOST Ferndale has plenty of places to grab a drink, but The Outpost feels like its own little world. Traverse City Whiskey Co.’s Woodward Avenue bar is dark, polished, and inviting, with whiskey-lined shelves, a glowing back bar, and cocktails that lean into bourbon and rye without getting boring. Drinks mix whiskey with ingredients like espresso, peach, pomegranate, honey, and even strawberry and pineapple. The grilled cheeses are no afterthought either, with versions featuring kimchi, brisket, short rib, and more. Add a vinyl-focused music program curated by Detroit producer and DJ Eddie Logix, and The Outpost becomes a place worth staying for another round.
BEST PLACE TO PRETEND CASS AVENUE IS IN MADRID BEST PLACE TO KEEP PRIDE GOING AFTER JUNE
NECTO Pride Month eventually ends. Necto apparently never got the memo. The Ann Arbor nightclub’s Pride Friday has been running every week since 1984, making it one of Michigan’s longest-running LGBTQ+ nightlife traditions. Every Friday brings DJs, dancing, queer pop, club hits, special events, and a crowd that doesn’t require a corporate rainbow logo to remember what Pride is supposed to be about. The club itself opened as Necto in 2001, but the weekly gay night predates it by nearly two decades. June is great. Parades are great. But queer people require somewhere to dance in October, February, and every ordinary Friday in between. Necto understands the assignment.
CATA VINO MERCADO & WINE BAR Cata Vino makes it surprisingly easy to forget you’re on Cass Avenue for a while. The Spanish wine bar and mercado pours bottles and glasses from across Spain, with plenty of sherry, vermouth, and lesser-known wines worth exploring. Then there’s the food. Think cured meats, cheeses, olives, and seafood. Connected to La Feria next door, Cata Vino has the relaxed feel of a neighborhood spot in Madrid. Order a glass, crack open some conservas, and Detroit starts feeling a few thousand miles closer to Madrid.
ARTS &
ENTERTAINMENT BEST WALK-UP SONG
BEST PLACE TO TURN BINGO INTO A DRAG SHOW
FIVE15 At Five15, yelling “Bingo!” may be the least dramatic thing that happens all night. The downtown Royal Oak institution has turned the retirement-home pastime into a full-blown drag comedy spectacle, complete with queens, crowd work, prizes, cocktails, and enough adult humor to ensure nobody confuses this with grandma’s church fundraiser. Drag Queen Bingo now runs throughout the weekend, with performers including Sabin, Victoria Sanchez, Iowna Lotza Katz, and other local favorites rotating through the host’s chair. The game is technically still bingo. There are numbers and cards and everything. But if you came primarily because you’re passionate about B-12, you have profoundly misunderstood the evening.
HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW Or should we say best opportunity for a walk-up song? The way we see it, Tigers rookie infielder Hao-Yu Lee, who’s already crushed a few clutch hits in his young career, can single-handedly propel the Tigers into the playoffs just as soon as he adopts The Heavy’s 2009 hit “How You Like Me Now.” Hao-Yu like dat? (We’d like that a lot, actually.) Go get ’em, Tigers!
BEST PLACE TO GET YOUR FREAK ON
MARCHE DU NAIN ROUGE Marche du Nain Rouge is one of those rare Detroit traditions where showing up dressed normally almost feels embarrassing. Every spring, thousands of people pour into the streets in elaborate costumes, masks, horns, capes, face paint, and whatever wonderfully strange
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creation they came up with at home. The parade celebrates Detroit’s mischievous red dwarf while giving everyone else permission to be as loud, theatrical, and weird as they want for an afternoon in the Cass Corridor. It’s colorful, creative, proudly eccentric, and unmistakably Detroit. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to let your freak flag fly, this is it.
recognizable young rappers, with an easy charisma, sharp storytelling, and songs that can move comfortably between street rap and something much more melodic. He has also remained visible in the community, supporting gun buybacks and other efforts aimed at Detroit youth. With a new album arriving this summer, Skilla Baby’s rise still feels far from finished.
BEST PODCAST FOR LOSERS
BEST UP-AND-COMING SINGER
THE NO BS NEWS HOUR WITH CHARLIE LEDUFF
NYLON KEIES
Charlie LeDuff was once one of Detroit’s most entertaining journalists, a Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author whose fearless, hilarious, attack-dog reporting earned him national acclaim. Then somewhere along the way, the eccentric watchdog became a grievance factory with a host of complaints about Democrats, immigrants, COVID cover-ups, election fraud, crime, mayhem. You get the point. His No BS News Hour increasingly traffics in right-wing outrage, insults, and Trump-friendly alarmism, delivered with the swagger of a man seemingly unaware of how far his act has fallen. He was fired by the Detroit News after aiming a coded c-word insult at Attorney General Dana Nessel and later faced a domestic-violence charge that was ultimately dismissed. The saddest part is that LeDuff still seems convinced everyone else is the joke.
BEST PLACE TO GET LOST IN DETROIT
JOHN K. KING USED & RARE BOOKS John K. King is less a bookstore than a maze built out of books. The massive former glove factory near downtown is packed floor after floor with towering shelves, narrow aisles, handwritten signs, and enough obscure titles to make any sense of time disappear. You can walk in looking for one book and emerge hours later with six, having somehow wandered through military history, jazz biographies, old Detroit ephemera, and a section you didn’t know existed. Getting lost is almost unavoidable. At John K. King, that’s not a problem. You’ll find all kinds of delightful and nerdy discoveries.
BEST RAPPER
SKILLA BABY Detroit produces rappers at a rate most cities could only envy, but Skilla Baby has separated himself from the pack. Born Trevon Gardner, the Detroit native built his following the hard way, spending his last dollars entering local showcases before Sada Baby took him under his wing. Since then, Skilla has grown from a hometown favorite into one of the city’s most
Detroit R&B singer Nylon Keies has been putting in the work, and 2026 is starting to look like a breakthrough year. The singer, actress, and model has steadily built a following with soulful vocals and polished, emotionally direct songs, while performing alongside artists including K. Michelle and Kash Doll. This spring, she won Artist of the Year at HOT 107.5’s Music Industry Showcase after a standout performance at the Russell Industrial Center. Her latest single, “Best Years,” followed in March. Detroit has never lacked great singers. At this rate, “up-and-coming” may not describe her for much longer.
BEST SINGER
CHARITY WARD Charity Ward has one of those voices that can sound intimate enough for a quiet room and powerful enough to fill one. The Detroit singer-songwriter grew up steeped in gospel, picked up the guitar at 13, and has spent years developing a warm, soulful strain of R&B that feels unmistakably her own. Her profile has grown well beyond Detroit, including a collaboration with Snoop Dogg on “Cruel,” while her 2025 album, “Warm and Soft,” showed an artist increasingly comfortable putting vulnerability front and center. Detroit has produced more than its share of extraordinary voices. Charity deserves to be counted among them.
BEST CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHER
JOE MAROON PHOTOGRAPHY Concert photographers rarely get ideal conditions. Sometimes they’re stuck at the soundboard. Sometimes the lighting is terrible. Sometimes they get three songs. And sometimes they get one. Joe Maroon still comes back with photographs that make you feel like you were standing in front of the stage. A regular Metro Times contributor who shoots shows around Detroit numerous times a month, Maroon has a knack for capturing the energy and personality of a performance. Sometimes it’s a musician mid-flight, a perfectly timed expression, a burst of light that lasts half a second. He’s technically sharp, endlessly reliable, and, most importantly, clearly loves the music he’s photographing. You can see it in his photos.
BEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
VIOLET IKONOMOVA Violet Ikonomova has built her career around holding powerful people and institutions accountable when they’re up to no good or bilking taxpayers. The former Metro Times investigative reporter, now at the Detroit Free Press, has dug into City Hall, police shootings, demolition hazards, nonprofit oversight, immigration enforcement, and ethics problems in city government. Her reporting has helped bring new safeguards in Detroit’s demolition program, changes to policing practices, and reforms following the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy scandal. Ikonomova’s work is rigorous, persistent, and focused on consequences, not just headlines. Detroit has no shortage of powerful institutions. It needs reporters willing to scrutinize them. In an industry shedding investigative reporters and replacing them with content creators, Ikonomova is the kind of reporter Detroit can’t afford to lose.
BEST INDEPENDENT NEWS OUTLET
PLANET DETROIT Some of Detroit’s biggest stories are happening in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the neighborhoods surrounded by industry. Planet Detroit
has made those stories its specialty. The independent nonprofit newsroom digs into pollution, public health, climate change, environmental justice, utilities, and the decisions that determine who bears the costs. It also works directly with residents through its Neighborhood Reporting Lab, training Detroiters to report on environmental issues in their own communities. At a time when shrinking newsrooms can make specialized reporting harder to sustain, Planet Detroit has built an entire operation around stories that are too important to ignore.
BEST COMMUNITY NEWSROOM
BRIDGEDETROIT BridgeDetroit starts with an idea more newsrooms could borrow: Ask Detroiters what they actually want journalists to cover. The nonprofit newsroom uses community input to help set its reporting priorities, producing deeply reported stories about housing, education, government, neighborhoods, health, and the everyday issues that shape life in the city. That approach hasn’t meant sacrificing hard-nosed journalism. In 2026, BridgeDetroit collected national, state, and local honors, including recognition for community impact. Detroiters are frequently talked about, studied, and reported on. BridgeDetroit
has built its newsroom around listening to Detroiters first.
BEST EXPERIMENT IN LOCAL JOURNALISM
DETROIT DOCUMENTERS Most people don’t have the time or inclination to spend Tuesday night watching a three-hour government meeting. Thankfully, Detroit Documenters can pay someone to do it for you. The Outlier Media program trains and pays ordinary Detroiters to attend public meetings, take detailed notes, and contribute to a public record of what local officials are doing. It’s journalism, civic engagement, and government accountability rolled into one wonderfully simple idea. Public bodies make countless decisions in sparsely attended meetings where almost nobody is watching. Detroit Documenters puts more eyes in those rooms and gives residents a direct role in keeping track of the people making decisions on their behalf.
BEST HOUSING REPORTER
AARON MONDRY Detroit’s housing problems can be maddeningly complicated, but Aaron Mondry has a knack for showing how they affect the people trying to keep a
roof over their heads. At Outlier Media, Mondry has dug into broken rental enforcement, unsafe properties, eviction defense, landlord loopholes, and the city’s struggling Right to Counsel program. His reporting frequently exposes the gap between what Detroit’s housing laws promise and what tenants experience in practice. Housing is one of the most consequential issues in Detroit, yet it’s often undercovered. Mondry keeps the focus where it belongs, on whether Detroiters have a safe, affordable place to live.
BEST REPORTER ON THE COST OF LIVING IN DETROIT
NUSHRAT RAHMAN Nushrat Rahman reports on the things that determine whether people can afford to stay in Detroit. The lifelong Detroiter covers economic mobility for the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit, with a beat that includes housing, water affordability, small businesses, and the financial pressures facing ordinary residents. Her recent work has examined everything from Detroit’s shrinking water-affordability program to risky land contracts that remain common in the city. Her reporting connects policy decisions to their real-world costs for Detroit residents. Rahman keeps asking one of Detroit’s most important questions: Who can still afford to live here?
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BEST ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER
BEST DETROIT HISTORY NEWSLETTER
BRIAN ALLNUTT
THE LITTLE DETROIT HISTORY LETTER
Brian Allnutt has spent the past year following the pollution, power demands, and political fights accompanying Michigan’s rush to build massive data centers. But that’s only one part of his environmental beat at Planet Detroit. Allnutt has reported on dirty air, unsafe drinking water, utility costs, industrial pollution, radioactive waste, and federal rollbacks of environmental protections. His accountability reporting earned him a major Michigan Press Association honor this year, with judges citing its real-world impact. Environmental stories can be technical and easy for officials and companies to bury in permits and regulatory jargon. Allnutt keeps digging until readers can see what’s really happening.
Amy Elliott Bragg has a gift for finding the Detroit history you didn’t know you wanted to know. In “The Little Detroit History Letter,” she digs through archives and ephemera for stories about forgotten characters, odd civic battles, cemeteries, timekeeping, astronomy, and other corners of the city’s past that rarely make it into the standard history books. The writing is curious, accessible, and delightfully specific, the kind of history that makes you look differently at a street or building you’ve passed a hundred times. Detroit’s past is enormous. Bragg keeps uncovering the strange little stories hiding inside it.
BEST NEWSLETTER FOR MOVIE LOVERS BEST POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTER
ROSS JONES Ross Jones has spent years asking a question police departments would often rather avoid: Why do officers with long histories of misconduct keep getting badges? The WXYZ investigative reporter exposed how dozens of troubled Detroit cops remained on the force despite repeated complaints, lawsuits, discipline, and even violence. Then he followed the problem across Michigan, documenting “wandering cops” who left one department under a cloud only to find work at another. His reporting has forced disciplinary changes, prompted state action against bad cops’ licenses, inspired legislation, and helped bring criminal charges. Plenty of reporters cover the police. Jones keeps investigating the cops the police failed to police.
BEST LOCAL SUBSTACK
DETROIT ONE MILLION Sam Robinson’s Detroit One Million is political writing with personality and independence. Robinson follows Detroit politics, development, power, and civic life with the reporting instincts of a longtime local journalist and the freedom to tell readers what he actually thinks. The result is informed, conversational, occasionally pointed, and far more interesting than another government press release dressed up as news. Detroit has plenty of people trying to shape the city’s future. Robinson pays attention to who they are, what they want, and what they’re doing when most people aren’t watching.
13 local music categories for Best of Detroit. The selections are Milo’s; the descriptions are ours.
BEST GARAGE ROCK BAND
TOBOGGAN MAN Toboggan Man sounds like a band that learned the lessons of Detroit garage rock without feeling obligated to reenact 2001. The Detroit group mixes raw guitars and early rock ’n’ roll with surf-rock energy, loose humor, and raucous live shows built for packed rooms. Its 2025 album “Loves You” was recorded largely in a basement and living room, which seems appropriate for music that works best without much polish between the band and the listener. Detroit has never had trouble producing loud guitar bands. Toboggan Man gives us another good reason to keep the tradition alive.
THE WEEKLY WATCHLIST
BEST ROCK BAND
There are more interesting movies playing around metro Detroit than anyone with a job can reasonably keep track of. Colleen Cirocco does the work for us. Every Wednesday, The Weekly Watchlist rounds up screenings at independent theaters, microcinemas, film clubs, festivals, and assorted places showing everything from cult oddities to new independent releases and repertory classics. Cirocco doesn’t just list what’s playing. She gives readers a sense of the lively film culture happening outside the multiplex, often highlighting one-night-only screenings and events that are easy to miss. For local movie obsessives, opening the Watchlist can be dangerous. Suddenly your entire week is booked.
Checker may only have two members, but nobody seems to have told them they’re supposed to sound small. Guitarist and singer Cinquex and drummer and singer McKenna Fain make swaggering, oversized rock ’n’ roll that pulls from classic rock, underground indie, and the music they grew up with. Metro Times has been watching their rise for years, and their 2026 release “I Really Do Believe” finds them continuing to push their self-described “rock for off-colored people.” Detroit has produced more than enough nostalgia acts. Checker sounds much more interested in what the city’s next great rock band could be.
CHECKER
BEST PUNK BAND BEST WAY TO HEAR NEW LOCAL MUSIC
JEFF MILO Jeff Milo has spent years making sure Detroit musicians don’t have to wait for the rest of the world to notice them. On WDET’s MI Local, the veteran music journalist digs into Michigan-made music across genres, spotlighting emerging artists, new releases, live shows, and bands that might otherwise never make it onto commercial radio. He also brings musicians into the studio to perform and talk about what they’re creating, giving listeners a direct connection to the scene. Detroit produces more great music than anyone can reasonably keep up with. Milo makes the job a whole lot easier. Speaking of Jeff Milo, he graciously agreed to pick the winners in the next
TY TY keeps the proposition refreshingly simple. The Detroit band describes itself as “detroit punk,” and songs like “DEVIL TATTOO,” “Hot Wheel City,” and “WE R TY” don’t waste much time arguing otherwise. The sound is stripped down, loud, scrappy, and built around the uncomplicated pleasures of guitars, drums, attitude, and getting people moving. In a genre that can occasionally disappear up its own ideology, TY remembers that punk is also supposed to be fun. Their own description might say it best: simple, easy rock ’n’ roll. Sometimes that’s all you need.
BEST JAZZ ARTIST
MARCUS ELLIOT Marcus Elliot can play straight-ahead jazz, push deep into the avant-garde,
or jump onto a recording with Shigeto and blur the line between jazz and electronic music. That range has made the Detroit saxophonist, composer, and educator one of the leading figures in the city’s contemporary jazz scene. His Big Motifs ensemble expands that vision with Afrobeat, hard bop, and big-band muscle, while his Sounds From the Park series has created music inspired by Detroit’s public spaces and performed inside them. Detroit jazz has always been about carrying the tradition forward. Elliot does that without standing still.
BEST AMERICANA BAND
JACKAMO The magic of Jackamo begins with sisters Alison and Tessa Wiercioch singing together. They’ve been harmonizing since childhood, and that lifelong familiarity gives the Detroit band’s music a warmth that can’t be manufactured in a rehearsal room. Joined by guitarist Jimmy Showers, Jackamo wraps those harmonies around acoustic guitars, intimate storytelling, folk, and Americana without making any of it feel precious. The trio has steadily released new music, including several singles in 2025, while remaining a fixture of Detroit’s live music scene. Plenty of bands can harmonize. Jackamo sounds like people who learned how before they knew they were starting a band.
BEST INDIE ROCK BAND
ZASTAVA Zastava makes indie rock for people who like a little abrasion around the edges. The Detroit band folds postpunk, shoegaze, noise, and sharp guitar textures together without letting the atmosphere swallow the songs. Its 2025 album “Buildings” gave the group a larger canvas, followed this year by the two-song single “Senseless + Blaine.” Metro Times previously praised the band for merging discordant post-punk with shoegaze, which remains a pretty good description of the tension at the center of its music. Zastava can be hazy, heavy, and beautiful, all in one song.
BEST POP ROCK BAND
DEADBEAT BEAT Deadbeat Beat has been around long enough that calling the band persistent almost feels inadequate. Founders Alex Glendening and Maria Nuccilli have been making music together since they were teenagers, building songs from jangly guitars, surf-pop melodies, bright harmonies, and lyrics that get considerably heavier the closer you lis-
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ten. Their fourth album, “From Here to Ohio,” arrived this summer after years of marriages, houses, day jobs, family responsibilities, and all the other things that tend to kill bands. Somehow, Deadbeat Beat kept going. Better yet, they still sound like they’re having fun.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL ARTIST
NA BONSAI Trying to force Na Bonsai into a single genre is impossible. The Detroit guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and graphic-score composer moves through neo-soul, electronic music, Afrofuturism, improvisation, and sound art, breaking down boundaries. Their performances can feel as much like installations or rituals as conventional concerts, and the 2025 album “Obsidian Bloom” further expanded that strange and deeply personal musical world. Detroit has a long history of artists ignoring the rules and inventing their own language instead. Na Bonsai sounds perfectly comfortable in that lineage.
BEST SINGER-SONGWRITER
CHLOE DRALLOS For years, Chloe Drallos made dark, dreamy rock under the name Zilched. Then she stripped the name away and
started again. Her 2026 album “The Cave,” the first full-length released under her own name, finds the Detroit singer-songwriter moving toward folk, rock, country, and something more intimate, while holding onto the emotional intensity that made her earlier work compelling. Drallos has described the record as a kind of rebirth, written through uncertainty, disillusionment, and eventually something brighter. Reinvention can be risky. In Drallos’ case, dropping an old identity seems to have revealed the songwriter who was underneath it all along.
BEST LO-FI ROCK/POP
NANCY FRIDAY Nancy Friday makes music that doesn’t polish away its personality. Led by songwriter Vanessa Beard, the Detroit project mixes lo-fi recording, dream rock, garage pop, punk, and power pop into songs that feel intimate without sounding fragile. Its self-titled 2025 album was recorded in Highland Park, while the lovely new single “Church Bells” arrived this summer. At a time when even bedroom recordings can be polished until every rough edge disappears, Nancy Friday understands that imperfection can be part of the charm. Sometimes a song should sound like people actually made it.
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BEST PROG/AVANT-GARDE ROCK
MRKT MRKT has never seemed especially interested in fitting neatly onto a bill. The Detroit band has spent more than a decade moving through art rock, psychedelia, post-punk, noise, and lengthy excursions that can turn a conventional rock song into something much stranger. After several years between major releases, MRKT returned with new material in 2025, culminating in “Ring Round with the Yellow Page.” The songs range from concise experiments to a 10-minute centerpiece. Detroit rock is at its best when musicians wander beyond the obvious path. MRKT has been wandering out there for years.
BEST ELECTRONICA ARTIST
REBECCA GOLDBERG Rebecca Goldberg has spent years exploring Detroit electronic music rather than merely repeating its history. The producer, DJ, and live performer known as the 313 Acid Queen moves between acid, techno, electro, ambient music, and field recordings, sometimes using the sounds of Detroit itself as raw material. This year she released her debut full-length album, “Night City,” through Detroit Underground and returned to Movement for a live performance. Goldberg clearly reveres
the city’s electronic legacy. What makes her interesting is that she treats it as something to build on rather than something preserved behind glass.
BEST AMBIENT/AVANT-GARDE ARTIST
AHYA SIMONE A harp is only the beginning with Ahya Simone. The Detroit-born artist, composer, singer, filmmaker, and organizer has spent years pulling the instrument out of its classical setting and into R&B, jazz, electronic music, ambient sound, and whatever other territory catches her interest. Her work is equally shaped by Detroit’s Black queer and trans communities, which she has celebrated through music, film, and projects including Femme Queen Chronicles. Simone has never seemed particularly concerned with choosing one artistic lane. That restlessness is precisely what makes her so compelling. Her work moves easily between disciplines, genres, and communities without being confined by any of them.
BEST FACE OF THE NEW DETROIT RAP SCENE
LELO Detroit rap never stays still for long, and Lelo is helping push it into new
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territory. The Oak Park native has built a fast-growing following with a slippery, unpredictable style that pulls from Detroit street rap while bending it toward something more atmospheric and off-center. His 2025 debut, “New Detroit,” helped establish him as one of the most interesting young voices in the region, and 2026 has only accelerated the momentum with new music, touring, and national attention. Lelo still feels early enough to qualify as upand-coming, but not for much longer. Detroit has seen this trajectory before. The rest of the country usually catches up eventually.
BEST LOCAL STORYTELLER
SATORI SHAKOOR Satori Shakoor understands that the best stories don’t need much decoration. They need honesty, timing, and someone willing to tell the truth in front of a room full of strangers. Through The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers, Shakoor has spent years creating a stage for Detroiters to share deeply personal stories about family, grief, identity, survival, and everything in between. She has also brought that work to WDET and national audiences while continuing to perform herself. Detroit has no shortage of stories. Shakoor’s gift is knowing how to make people stop, listen, and recognize a little of themselves in someone else’s.
ing around him into one of the city’s funniest social media acts. He has the personality, timing, local knowledge, and willingness to say almost anything that a good podcast needs. Better yet, he has already flirted with the idea of a talk show. Give Crispyy a microphone, a few Detroit characters, and an hour with no adult supervision. We’d listen.
BEST REPORTER WHO KNOWS EVERYONE HAS A STORY
JOHN CARLISLE John Carlisle has spent years proving that some of Detroit’s best stories belong to people most reporters would walk right past. The longtime Detroit Free Press feature writer finds eccentric characters, neighborhood institutions, forgotten buildings, struggling businesses, and ordinary people living unexpectedly interesting lives, then gives them the time and attention usually reserved for politicians and celebrities. Long before joining the Free Press, Carlisle did the same thing for Metro Times as Detroitblogger John, roaming the city in search of stories nobody else bothered to find. His gift is simple but rare. He assumes everyone has a story, then sticks around long enough to hear it. And no one can tell a story quite like Carlisle.
BEST LOCAL CELEBRITY YOU’D ACTUALLY WANT TO MEET
DIARRA KILPATRICK BEST INSTAGRAM FOR DETROIT CULTURE IN REAL TIME
KAHN SANTORI DAVISON Kahn Santori Davison’s Instagram feels less like a curated feed than a running record of Detroit as it’s happening. One post might capture a rapper backstage, the next an artist, a neighborhood fixture, a cultural moment, or somebody you didn’t know you needed to know about until he put them in front of the camera. Davison brings a journalist’s curiosity, a photographer’s eye, and a lifelong love of music and the city to everything he documents. He has spent years writing, shooting, and chronicling Detroit culture, and his feed reflects that range. Scroll long enough and you don’t just see what’s happening. You start to see who’s making it happen.
BEST PERSON WHO SHOULD HAVE A PODCAST
TAY CRISPYY Tay Crispyy already knows how to make Detroit stop scrolling. His wildly exaggerated “Reporting Live” videos turned fake wigs, breathless street reports, and whatever chaos happened to be unfold-
Diarra Kilpatrick has every reason to be a little Hollywood by now. The Detroit native created, writes, produces, and stars in “Diarra from Detroit,” the funny, sharp mystery series that returned for a second season this summer and has pushed her further into the national spotlight. She even made her Jimmy Kimmel Live! debut in July, interviewed by Colman Domingo, who happens to be a fan of the show. Through it all, Kilpatrick still comes across as funny, thoughtful, and genuinely connected to the city that shaped her work. Some celebrities you’d settle for a selfie with. Kilpatrick seems like someone you’d actually want to sit down and talk to.
BEST REINVENTION
ANDRE “DRUNKEN MASTER” HARRIS Andre “Drunken Master” Harris once built his name in Detroit hip-hop. Then his life took a much harder turn, including incarceration and, eventually, clemency. Since returning home, Harris has put much of his energy into mentoring, speaking about redemption, and helping others avoid the mistakes and circumstances that derailed his own life. His story isn’t interesting
because he became famous again. It’s interesting because he found a different use for the experience that nearly consumed him. Reinvention doesn’t always mean changing careers or getting a makeover. Sometimes it means deciding the rest of your life is going to stand for something different.
BEST SECOND CHANCE PUT TO GOOD USE
KENNETH NIXON Kenneth Nixon lost nearly 16 years of his life to a wrongful conviction before he was exonerated in 2021. Since then, he has spent much of his freedom trying to make life easier for the people coming home behind him. Nixon co-founded the Organization of Exonerees, has advocated for criminal justice reform, helped create housing for people returning from prison, and worked to remove basic reentry barriers involving IDs, banking, education, and employment. This year, his organization even launched an app designed by exonerees to connect newly freed people with resources. Nixon deserved his freedom all along. What he has chosen to do with it is extraordinary.
BEST CELEB SIGHTING
APPARENTLY HALF OF HOLLYWOOD IN NOVI For one weekend in May, Novi had an unusually high concentration of people you recognize from television and movies. Motor City Comic Con brought William Shatner, Simon Pegg, John Boyega, Karl Urban, Selma Blair, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Charlie Cox, Hayley Atwell, and plenty more to the Vibe Credit Union Showplace. Thousands of fans showed up for autographs, photos, panels, cosplay, and the surreal experience of casually passing Captain Kirk, Finn from Star Wars, or half the cast of The Boys in suburban Michigan. If you wanted a celebrity sighting in 2026, apparently Novi was the place to be.
BEST WRITER BUILDING DETROIT’S NEXT GENERATION OF WRITERS
NANDI COMER Nandi Comer has built an acclaimed writing career of her own, but some of her most important work happens by helping other Detroit writers find their voices. The poet, educator, and co-director of Detroit Lit has spent years mentoring writers, creating opportunities for new work, and strengthening the city’s literary community. She also helped shape Metro Times’ 2026 Fiction Issue, bringing emerging and
established voices together on the page. Detroit has never lacked stories or storytellers. What it needs are people willing to make space for the next ones. Comer has made that part of her work.
BEST PLACE TO PROVE YOU’RE FROM DETROIT
WDET You can learn a lot about somebody by asking what they listen to on WDET. Detroit’s public radio station has been broadcasting from the city for more than 75 years, mixing local news, politics, culture, and music with the kind of programming that assumes its audience actually cares about this place. From The Metro to MI Local and its deep bench of Detroit voices, WDET has long sounded like the city rather than merely broadcasting into it. Anybody can claim Detroit. Knowing which WDET host you trust, which show you never miss, and which local artist you first heard on 101.9 makes the case a little stronger.
BEST MUSICAL ARTIST (HIP HOP)
TWIZTID Twiztid has spent nearly three decades building one of the most devoted fan bases to come out of Detroit’s underground. Jamie Madrox and Monoxide carved out their own corner of horrorcore with dark humor, heavy beats, theatrical imagery, and enough genre-hopping to keep the formula from getting stale. They’ve survived label changes, shifting scenes, and countless trends while continuing to release music, tour nationally, and return home to packed Detroit shows. Plenty of hip-hop acts burn hot and disappear. Twiztid turned outsider status into longevity, and at this point, that may be their most impressive trick.
BEST CELEBRITY GUESTS AT A COMIC CON
MOTOR CITY COMIC CON Motor City Comic Con has gotten very good at turning Novi into the center of the pop-culture universe for a weekend. Its spring 2026 edition brought in William Shatner, Simon Pegg, John Boyega, Karl Urban, Selma Blair, and plenty of other actors with the kind of résumés that make fans happily stand in long lines for an autograph or photo. The appeal is part nostalgia, part fandom, and part the surreal experience of seeing Captain Kirk or a Star Wars hero wandering around suburban Michigan. Plenty of conventions promise celebrity guests. Motor City Comic Con consistently delivers names people actually want to meet.
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BEST VISITOR EXPERIENCE
FORD PIQUETTE AVENUE PLANT MUSEUM Detroit has plenty of museums about cars, but few put you this close to where the automobile actually changed the world. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is the birthplace of the Model T, preserved inside the 121-year-old factory where Henry Ford and his team developed it. Today, the National Historic Landmark is filled with photographs, original artifacts, and more than 65 rare vehicles, including Ford’s early letter cars and models from competitors like Packard, Cadillac, and Detroit Electric. Guided tours bring the history to life, but even wandering the creaky old factory floors on your own feels like stepping into the moment Detroit became the Motor City.
BEST NEW NOVEL SET IN DETROIT
“A FORTUNE OF SAND” BY RUTA SEPETYS Ruta Sepetys drops readers into Detroit in 1927, when auto fortunes were exploding, Prohibition was in full swing, and enormous wealth could hide some very ugly secrets. “A Fortune of Sand” follows Marjorie Lennox, the rebellious daughter of a powerful automotive dynasty who escapes into an elite arts program that quickly becomes far more sinister than it appears. Inspired by real, long-buried history, the national bestseller mixes mystery, gothic atmosphere, family dysfunction, and the excesses of Jazz Age Detroit. Sepetys did her homework, and it shows. The city isn’t merely the backdrop. It’s part of what makes the whole thing so deliciously dark.
BEST FICTION ABOUT DETROIT’S BLACK BOTTOM
BLACK BOTTOM SAINTS BY ALICE RANDALL Alice Randall’s Black Bottom Saints brings one of Detroit’s most important lost neighborhoods roaring back to life. Narrated by real-life impresario and gossip columnist Ziggy Johnson, the novel turns more than 50 Black artists, athletes, doctors, activists, entertainers, and neighborhood characters into a kind of secular book of saints. Randall mixes history with invention, taking readers into the clubs, theaters, churches, and streets of Black Bottom before urban renewal and freeway construction helped erase it. Detroit history too often begins and ends with Motown. Randall reminds us how much extraordinary Black life was already flourishing here long before Hitsville opened its doors.
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BEST MEMOIR ABOUT SURVIVING LIONS’ FANDOM
HONOLULU BLUES BY JOEL WALKOWSKI Some families pass down recipes, heirlooms, or property. Joel Walkowski inherited the Detroit Lions. In Honolulu Blues, the Detroit-area writer traces how decades of football heartbreak became tangled up with his relationship with his eccentric father, Banjo Bob, as well as addiction, generational trauma, family, and the strange wisdom that comes from rooting for a team historically skilled at crushing hope. Walkowski understands that Lions fandom was never really just about football. It was something handed from one generation to the next, heartbreak and all. Thankfully, these days the inheritance comes with considerably fewer losses.
BEST HISTORY OF LIONS MISERY AND REDEMPTION
THE LIONS FINALLY ROAR BY BILL MORRIS For decades, being a Lions fan meant developing an unusually high tolerance for disappointment. In The Lions Finally Roar, Detroit native Bill Morris traces the franchise from William Clay Ford’s long and often painful ownership through the Matt Millen disaster years and finally into the Sheila Ford Hamp era, when the impossible happened and the Lions became legitimate contenders. Morris also connects the team’s fortunes to Detroit’s own complicated history, giving the book more depth than a season-by-season recap. Lions fans already lived through most of the misery. At least now there’s finally a redemption chapter worth reading.
BEST FESTIVAL THAT COMMITS TO THE BIT
NICOLAS UNCAGED Nicolas Uncaged has spent a decade proving that if you’re going to build an entire festival around Nicolas Cage, you might as well go completely off the rails. The Hamtramck event pairs Cage double features with themed drinks, costumes, stunts, and whatever other absurdity organizers can dream up. Past editions have featured a shotgun wedding officiated by an Elvis impersonator, drinks served in blood bags, and even Cage stuntman Schuyler White setting himself on fire. The festival has never made money, according to its organizers, which somehow makes the commitment even more impressive. Some jokes get old. Nicolas Uncaged just keeps finding new ways to escalate them.
palace is a glorious overload of columns, carvings, chandeliers, animals, ornamentation, and architectural details borrowed from seemingly half the planet. Its six-story lobby alone could occupy you until intermission. Then you remember somebody famous is performing onstage. Detroit has plenty of handsome theaters. The Fox operates on an entirely different scale, grand, ornate, or unapologetically extravagant.
BEST PLACE TO HEAR OPERA PROPERLY
DETROIT OPERA HOUSE
Nothing says metro Detroit quite like a fizzy, flavorful Faygo. BEST PLACE TO HEAR DETROIT’S UNDERGROUND ALL AT ONCE
AUDIOJACK MUSIC FEST Detroit’s underground scenes don’t always share the same room. AudioJack Music Fest is trying to fix that. The new 13-hour festival takes over the Lincoln Factory with four stages and more than 50 artists spanning hip-hop, R&B, house, techno, ghetto tech, Afrobeat, DJs, poetry, visual art, and more. Headliners JMSN and GT share space with established and emerging artists, while late-night sets keep the party moving until 4 a.m. The real appeal is the collision of scenes that usually operate separately. If you want to hear what Detroit sounds like beneath the mainstream, AudioJack puts a lot of it under one roof.
BEST PLACE TO SEE RAP BEFORE THE ARTIST GETS TOO BIG
THE SHELTER The Shelter has been catching rappers before the rest of the world catches up for decades. The 400-capacity basement beneath St. Andrew’s Hall is forever tied to Eminem, who sharpened his battle-rap skills there before becoming one of the biggest artists on the planet. The room has also hosted early shows by plenty of future stars outside hip-hop, including the White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age. It remains small, dark, sweaty, and close enough to the stage
that you can practically watch a career taking off in real time.
BEST PLACE TO SEE RAP WHEN THE ARTIST IS ALREADY BIG
ST. ANDREW’S HALL DETROIT St. Andrew’s Hall occupies a sweet spot in Detroit concert life. At roughly 1,000 people, it’s big enough to draw nationally known rappers but intimate enough that a sold-out show still feels like an event rather than a spectacle happening somewhere across an arena. Detroit artists including Royce da 5’9”, Danny Brown, and Black Milk have played the room, while generations of touring acts have passed through on their way up. The Shelter downstairs gets the mythology, but St. Andrew’s is where you can still see a big name without needing binoculars.
BEST PLACE TO HEAR JAZZ WHERE THE GHOSTS ARE LISTENING
BAKER’S KEYBOARD LOUNGE Baker’s Keyboard Lounge opened in 1934, which means an almost absurd amount of jazz history has passed through the room. Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Louis Armstrong are among the legends who performed there. After a
STEVE NEAVLING
monthlong renovation this year, Baker’s reopened with its famous piano-key bar and intimate character intact. You can renovate a room. You can’t manufacture nine decades of musical history. At Baker’s, every set comes with the feeling that an awful lot of extraordinary music happened here before you arrived.
BEST CONCERT WITH A VIEW
THE ARETHA FRANKLIN AMPHITHEATRE Some concert venues give you a stage and some seats. The Aretha gives you the Detroit River. The waterfront amphitheater, originally opened as Chene Park in 1984, has long specialized in jazz, R&B, soul, and music perfectly suited to a warm Detroit night. The river sits just beyond the stage, boats drift past, Canada glows across the water, and suddenly the scenery becomes part of the show. Plenty of venues can book a great artist. Very few can offer the Detroit River as the opening act.
BEST THEATER THAT MAKES THE SHOW FEEL ALMOST SECONDARY
FOX THEATRE DETROIT There are concerts at the Fox Theatre when you may spend an embarrassing amount of time staring at the ceiling. Opened in 1928, the enormous movie
Opera is supposed to be dramatic, and the Detroit Opera House understands the assignment before anybody sings a note. The C. Howard Crane-designed building opened as the Capitol Theatre in 1922 and, after years of decline, was spectacularly restored and reopened as the Detroit Opera House in 1996 with Luciano Pavarotti performing at the gala. Today it remains home to Detroit Opera as well as major dance productions. You could probably listen to opera through earbuds while doing laundry. But chandeliers, balconies, velvet, an orchestra, and 2,700 people gasping together feel considerably more appropriate.
BEST PLACE TO LOSE SOME HEARING
HARPOS Harpos is not interested in subtlety. The east-side former movie theater became a rock club in the 1970s and built its reputation on music best experienced at volumes that make ordinary conversation temporarily impossible. Motörhead, Slayer, Megadeth, Dio, Hatebreed, and generations of metal bands have rattled the room, while its history is filled with the kind of stories that make modern nightlife seem almost responsible. Harpos is loud, rough around the edges, and gloriously uninterested in becoming a tasteful cocktail lounge. Bring earplugs. Seriously. Your future self would like a word.
BEST PLACE TO BANG YOUR HEAD
SANCTUARY DETROIT Sanctuary is where metro Detroit’s heavier underground goes to sweat. The Hamtramck venue regularly books hardcore, punk, metal, and other music built for mosh pits rather than polite applause, while keeping the room intimate enough that the separation between performer and audience can disappear quickly. Since 2014, it has hosted local bands alongside touring acts, with shows happening throughout the week. Harpos
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carries decades of metal mythology. Sanctuary feels like where some of the next chapters are being written, preferably while somebody is being launched over the crowd.
BEST NEW WAREHOUSE FOR WHATEVER DETROIT DREAMS UP NEXT
LINCOLN FACTORY Lincoln Factory already feels less like a venue with a genre than a giant room waiting to see what Detroit throws into it. The Holden Street warehouse has hosted Movement parties, house and techno marathons, hip-hop, experimental events, and this year’s inaugural AudioJack Music Fest, which is bringing more than 50 musicians, DJs, poets, and artists into the building. That flexibility is the appeal. Detroit creative scenes have a habit of spilling across boundaries when somebody gives them enough space. Lincoln Factory has a lot of space. Now comes the fun part.
BEST PLACE TO SEE A BAND BEFORE YOU CAN’T AFFORD THEIR TICKETS
EL CLUB El Club’s alumni list is almost cruel in hindsight. Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Lizzo, Khruangbin, Omar Apollo, Fontaines D.C., Rico Nasty, Danny Brown, GZA, Ghostface Killah, and plenty of other artists have passed through the intimate Southwest Detroit room. That’s what makes checking the calendar fun. Tonight’s $25 ticket could become the artist you’re seeing from the upper deck of an arena three years from now. El Club books broadly across indie rock, rap, punk, electronic music, R&B, and whatever else sounds interesting. Buy early. You can brag later.
BEST PLACE TO SWEAT THROUGH A ROCK SHOW
MAGIC STICK The Magic Stick started when the Majestic complex ripped out bowling lanes upstairs and replaced them with a dance floor. That origin story somehow makes perfect sense once you’re packed into the room with a loud band and several hundred other people generating enough body heat to alter the climate. The venue became one of Detroit’s defining rooms for garage rock, alternative music, and electronic shows, and its current calendar remains pleasingly all over the place. Some concerts are meant to be watched comfortably from a chair. Magic Stick shows are better measured by how badly your shirt needs washing afterward.
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BEST PLACE TO SEE ROCK AND FEEL LIKE DETROIT STILL HAS A SCENE
PJ’S LAGER HOUSE Detroit rock has gone through enough boom-and-bust cycles to make declarations about “the scene” dangerous. Then you look at the Lager House calendar. The Corktown bar keeps booking local bands, touring indie acts, punk, rock, Americana, and artists you may not recognize until somebody convinces you to show up on a Tuesday. That constant churn is what a healthy music scene actually looks like. Not every band needs an arena, a festival slot, or a viral moment. Sometimes they need a room, a stage, a crowd, and a place willing to book another band tomorrow.
BEST PLACE TO HEAR MUSIC WITH 15,000 OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS
PINE KNOB MUSIC THEATRE Pine Knob is practically a Michigan summer ritual. For more than half a century, people have driven to Clarkston, spread blankets across the lawn, bought drinks at outdoor-concert prices, and watched everyone from hometown heroes to global superstars perform beneath the pavilion. The roughly 15,000-capacity amphitheater still books an absurd range of music, with this year’s lineup stretching from Jack White and Lil Wayne to TLC, Wu-Tang Clan, country stars, and metal. Half the experience is the concert. The other half is being outdoors with thousands of people who all had the same idea.
BEST PLACE TO SEE A CONCERT AND FEEL FANCY ABOUT IT
MEADOW BROOK AMPHITHEATRE Meadow Brook Amphitheatre is what happens when an outdoor concert gets a nice address. Tucked among the trees on Oakland University’s campus, the smaller amphitheater feels calmer and more intimate than the giant summer sheds, with pavilion seating, a lawn, and surroundings that make arriving for a concert feel almost civilized. The venue began life as a summer home for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and some of that genteel DNA remains even when the performer is considerably louder. You’re still drinking outside at a concert. You just feel a little classier about it.
BEST PLACE TO SEE YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST AND IMMEDIATELY COMPLAIN ABOUT PARKING
LITTLE CAESARS ARENA Little Caesars Arena is where the biggest tours go when Detroit clubs and the-
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aters can no longer contain them. J. Cole, Doja Cat, Weezer, Eric Clapton, Rush, and plenty of other arena-sized acts are passing through this year alone. The building has the sound, screens, amenities, and production muscle to make a giant concert feel suitably giant. Then the lights come up and thousands of people simultaneously remember that their cars are scattered across downtown and Cass Corridor parking garages and lots. Nothing brings concertgoers together quite like an encore. Except perhaps collectively muttering about where the hell they parked and how much they spent doing it.
BEST PLACE FOR SPOKEN WORD
IN HARMONY CAFE SWEETS & MORE Coffee and poetry have always made sense together, and In Harmony Cafe gives Detroit writers a welcoming place for both. The community-centered Dexter Avenue coffee shop hosts Spoken Word Saturdays, an open-mic showcase built around poetry, storytelling, and creative expression, with local writers and performers sharing the room while coffee, mocktails, and café food keep everyone supplied. Owners Keyona and Tahlib Barnes created In Harmony as a neighborhood gathering place rather than simply somewhere to grab caffeine. Spoken word works best when the room is actually listening. This one was built for community in the first place.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A BOOK YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED
DETROIT FESTIVAL OF BOOKS Nobody goes to Detroit Bookfest intending to buy 14 books. It just happens. The annual free festival takes over Eastern Market with more than 300 booksellers, authors, publishers, artists, and other vendors offering used books, rare books, strange books, comics, vinyl, ephemera, and plenty of things you didn’t know existed until suddenly you needed them. This year’s ninth edition was expected to draw as many as 20,000 people. The dangerous part is the sheer variety. You arrive looking for one novel and leave carrying a bag filled with Detroit history, an obscure biography, and a cookbook from 1973.
BEST REASON TO WEAR LEDERHOSEN IN CORKTOWN
SUPERGEIL OKTOBERFEST Supergeil’s Oktoberfest understands that subtlety has no place in a proper Bavarian drinking party. The Corktown restaurant’s fifth annual bash brings German beer, live polka, costumes,
drinking competitions, Bavarian games, and a whole roasted suckling pig brined in dark beer, caraway, garlic, honey, and marjoram. Lederhosen and dirndls are encouraged, though presumably nobody checks your papers at the door. Detroit has no shortage of opportunities to drink beer outside. Supergeil improves on the formula by adding accordions, competitive drinking, and several pounds of pork. Prost.
BEST FESTIVAL THAT STILL HASN’T GONE CORPORATE
DALLY IN THE ALLEY In an era when seemingly every public gathering comes with a presenting sponsor, branded activation, and somebody trying to scan your email address, Dally in the Alley remains gloriously stubborn and old-school. The Cass Corridor street fair has been around since the late 1970s and is still run by volunteers without corporate sponsorship. Local bands, artists, food vendors, beer, and tens of thousands of people squeeze into the neighborhood for one enormous block party. Keeping an event this large free and independent takes an absurd amount of work. Somehow, Dally keeps pulling it off without turning the alley into an advertisement.
BEST YACHT RACE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WATER
HAMTRAMCK LABOR DAY FESTIVAL Only Hamtramck could have a yacht race where the yachts have wheels. Every Labor Day, teams representing local bars climb aboard homemade canoe-like pushcarts and race down Joseph Campau while spectators soak them with buckets, squirt guns, and water balloons. The winning crew gets possession of a wooden captain’s wheel until the following year, because apparently even ridiculous sporting events require a Stanley Cup. The yacht race is only one part of a weekend filled with live music, wrestling, a parade, carnival rides, food, and beer, but it may be the purest expression of Hamtramck’s beautifully strange civic spirit.
BEST FREE FESTIVAL THAT HAS NO BUSINESS BEING FREE
DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL Ron Carter. Ravi Coltrane. Bob James. Joe Lovano. Cindy Blackman Santana. Four days of world-class jazz across multiple stages in downtown Detroit, and the person at the gate wants exactly zero dollars from you. The Detroit Jazz Festival calls itself the world’s largest free jazz festival, and after 47 years, the fact that it remains free feels almost miraculous. This year’s Labor Day weekend lineup
again mixes legends, international stars, rising musicians, and Detroit talent at Hart Plaza and the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center. In an age of $300 festival passes, Detroit still gives away one of its best cultural events.
BEST PLACE TO REMEMBER DETROIT INVENTED THE FUTURE
MOVEMENT Every Memorial Day weekend, electronic-music fans arrive from around the world to dance in the city where techno was born. Movement makes sure Detroit remains at the center of the story. This year’s lineup packed more than 115 acts into Hart Plaza, mixing international stars like Carl Cox and Sara Landry with Detroit royalty including Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, DJ Minx, DJ Godfather, and plenty more. The music Detroit created decades ago has spread to clubs and festivals across the planet. For three days each spring, much of that world comes back to where the future started.
BEST PLACE TO CELEBRATE THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
AFRICAN WORLD FESTIVAL For three days each summer, Hart Plaza becomes a massive celebration of Black culture from Detroit and across the African diaspora. Presented by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, African World Festival brings live music, spoken word, cultural performances, food, children’s activities, storytelling, and a marketplace filled with Black artists, makers, and entrepreneurs to the riverfront. The Wright describes it as one of the nation’s largest festivals celebrating the African diaspora. Detroit has long been one of America’s great centers of Black culture. African World Festival gives that history, creativity, and global connection the enormous public celebration they deserve.
BEST FESTIVAL WITH AN IDENTITY CRISIS
ARTS, BEATS & EATS Is Arts, Beats & Eats an art fair? A music festival? A food festival? A giant Royal Oak street party? Yes. The sprawling Labor Day weekend event crams a nationally ranked juried art fair, more than 200 musical acts on 11 stages, more than 65 food vendors, family activities, cultural programming, and hundreds of thousands of people into downtown Royal Oak. There is no particularly sensible reason all of these things need to happen simultaneously, which is also why it works. Pick a reason to go. By the time you leave, you’ll probably have done three completely different things.
BEST FESTIVAL FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE MORE THAN ONE CAPE
MICHIGAN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL There are casual Renaissance Festival visitors, and then there are people who have opinions about which cloak works best with which boots. The annual Holly extravaganza gives both groups weeks to wander through its 16th-century fantasy village among knights, jesters, musicians, magicians, and more than 150 artisans. There are 17 stages, full-contact jousting three times a day, themed weekends, pub crawls, elaborate costumes, and plenty of opportunities to eat with your hands while calling strangers “m’lord.” You can wear jeans if you want. But somewhere nearby, somebody spent six months sewing chain mail and is silently judging you.
BEST PLACE TO WEAR A COSTUME YOU SPENT SIX MONTHS MAKING
YOUMACON Halloween costumes are for amateurs. Youmacon cosplay can involve armor, wigs, props, makeup, sewing, electronics, and enough advance planning to qualify as a small construction project. Detroit’s enormous anime and pop-culture convention returns to Huntington Place over Halloween weekend with cosplay competitions, panels, gaming, karaoke, DJs, concerts, autograph sessions, and a massive marketplace and Artist Alley with more than 400 spaces. The convention even boasts 27,000 square feet of console and arcade gaming. Come dressed as yourself if you must. Just understand you’ll be surrounded by people who put considerably more effort into getting dressed that morning.
BEST PLACE TO SEE DETROIT GET DRESSED UP FOR DESIGN
DETROIT MONTH OF DESIGN Detroit spent a century proving that design can mean considerably more than making something look pretty. Every September, Detroit Month of Design turns that legacy into a citywide festival with roughly 100 exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks, tours, open studios, product launches, and other events spread across neighborhoods throughout the city. The 16th annual edition arrives under the theme “Design Moves the Future,” highlighting people using design to solve problems and build new possibilities. Detroit remains the only U.S. city designated a UNESCO City of Design. For one month, it gets to show everybody why.
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BEST FESTIVAL FOR SEEING WHAT DETROIT SOUNDS LIKE RIGHT NOW
HAMTRAMCK BLOWOUT The Hamtramck Blowout isn’t about flying in a giant headliner who already sells out arenas. It’s about finding out what’s happening in Detroit-area music right now. This year’s festival spread bands and artists across more than 20 Hamtramck venues, with rock, punk, electronic music, singer-songwriters, experimental acts, hip-hop, and other sounds spilling out of bars, cafés, bookstores, halls, and whatever else could hold a stage. The fun is moving from place to place and stumbling onto somebody you’ve never heard before. Some festivals tell you who the stars are. The Blowout lets you figure that out yourself.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A RECORD AND GET AN EDUCATION
PEOPLES RECORDS You can walk into Peoples Records looking for a record and walk out knowing considerably more about music than when you arrived. The Eastern Market-adjacent shop is especially deep in soul, jazz, Motown, and Detroit music, with enough obscure treasures mixed among the familiar names to humble even serious collectors. There’s also the Michigan Audio Heritage Society Museum tucked inside, because apparently simply selling great records wasn’t nerdy enough. Whether you’re hunting for something specific or flipping through crates until an album cover speaks to you, Peoples is a reminder that record shopping is at its best when discovery is half the point.
BEST RECORD STORE THAT’S ALSO A TOURIST ATTRACTION
THIRD MAN RECORDS Plenty of record stores sell vinyl. Third Man Records lets you stand feet away from where the stuff is actually made. Jack White’s Cass Corridor outpost combines a record shop and novelties lounge with a mastering studio and the Third Man Pressing plant, turning a shopping trip into something closer to a pilgrimage for vinyl obsessives. There are even tours of the operation. Yes, it can feel like a Detroit attraction almost as much as a neighborhood record store, but when the attraction involves watching records get pressed instead of buying another souvenir T-shirt, we’ll allow it. Just try leaving without purchasing something yellow and black.
BEST STORE FOR PEOPLE WHO STILL LIKE OWNING THINGS
GREEN BRAIN COMICS
BEST DETROIT SOUL SINGER WORTH WAITING 60 YEARS TO FIND
SEPTEMBER JONES
Streaming promised us access to everything and somehow left us renting our music, movies, books, software, and half our lives from corporations that can make any of it disappear. Green Brain Comics offers the increasingly radical alternative of buying a thing and then actually continuing to own it. The Dearborn shop is packed with comics and graphic novels you can read, lend, collect, reread, stack dangerously beside your bed, and someday discover are worth either $800 or approximately 35 cents. Physical media isn’t dead. It’s just surrounded by monthly subscription fees. Green Brain remains a fine place to acquire stories that nobody can remove from your account because a licensing agreement expired.
For nearly 60 years, September Jones had no idea that a record she made as a Detroit teenager had become a prized piece of Northern Soul history across the Atlantic. Jones recorded “I’m Coming Home” in 1966, then largely disappeared from the music business while the impossibly rare single took on a life of its own among British collectors and DJs. In 2025, record sleuths finally tracked her down alive, well, and stunned to learn people had been dancing to her voice for decades. Now in her 80s, Jones is finally receiving royalties and recognition, with more of her music headed for release. Some Detroit soul legends just take a little longer to find.
BEST DRAG QUEEN WHO COULD HOST THE APOCALYPSE
SHOPS & SERVICES
SABIN If civilization collapses tomorrow, somebody should make sure Sabin gets the microphone. The longtime Detroit-area drag performer has the particular skill set required to keep a room entertained while everything around it descends into chaos: quick wit, crowd control, impeccable timing, and absolutely no fear of embarrassing somebody who volunteered too much information. At Five15, Sabin hosts Drag Queen Bingo, brunch, and weekly themed trivia, where the questions are almost secondary to whatever happens between them. A great drag host doesn’t merely perform for a crowd. She controls its temperature. Sabin could probably keep one laughing through a meteor strike. Somebody just needs to save the bingo balls.
BEST DRAG QUEEN FOR TURNING A BAR INTO A THEATER
VICTORIA SANCHEZ Give Victoria Sanchez a microphone and suddenly the room has a stage whether one existed five minutes earlier or not. A fixture in Five15’s current lineup, Sanchez hosts Drag Queen Bingo and brunch while doing the thing great queens make look effortless: turning strangers sitting around tables into an audience. There’s comedy, crowd work, costumes, timing, improvisation, and that particular drag alchemy that makes a night out feel more like live theater than somebody simply performing at the front of a bar. The best drag doesn’t require velvet curtains or orchestra seats. Sometimes all it needs is a queen who knows exactly how to command a room.
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BEST PLACE TO BUY SOMETHING COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY
SHINOLA Nobody walks into Shinola because they urgently need a beautiful leather notebook, an elegant desk clock, or a carefully designed object that costs considerably more than the perfectly functional version already sitting at home. That’s part of the fun. The Detroit-born brand has a knack for making ordinary objects feel unusually desirable. There are watches, leather goods, clocks, notebooks, record players, coffee table books, and accessories designed and displayed with enough attention to materials and detail to make browing surprisingly tempting. You may enter just to browse and leave wondering how you ever survived without a luxury clock on your desk. Necessary? Absolutely not. Do you want it anyway? Unfortunately, yes.
BEST STORE THAT MAKES ONLINE SHOPPING SEEM BORING
THE RUST BELT MARKET Online shopping is convenient. It’s also pretty dull compared with wandering through The Rust Belt Market in Ferndale. The sprawling indoor marketplace brings dozens of independent shops together under one roof, selling everything from art and vintage clothing to jewelry, home goods, plants, and things you didn’t know you wanted until they were suddenly in your hands. Half the fun is not knowing what you’re going to find. You can talk to the people who ac-
tually made or picked out what they’re selling, grab a drink, and lose an hour browsing. Amazon has speed. The Rust Belt has personality.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A PIECE OF DETROIT
PEWABIC POTTERY Pewabic has been turning Detroit clay into art for more than a century, and its unmistakable tiles can be found throughout some of the city’s most beloved buildings and public spaces. The historic East Jefferson pottery still makes everything from richly glazed tiles to bowls, vases, ornaments, and other pieces that carry a little of Detroit’s artistic history with them. You don’t need to be restoring a historic building to bring some Pewabic home. Even a single tile feels connected to the city in a way mass-produced souvenirs never could. If you want an actual piece of Detroit, this is a pretty beautiful one.
BEST LAW FIRM
FIEGER LAW For more than 75 years, Fieger Law has built a legacy of standing up for American families across the country when the stakes are highest. Their strength is in the courtroom, where generations of fearless trial lawyers have taken on powerful corporations, institutions, and insurance companies — and delivered some of the largest verdicts in America. They combine relentless preparation, decades of experience and an unwavering commitment to their clients. Fieger Law doesn’t just handle cases — they fight to win and make a difference.
BEST NEW STORE
BADD KITTY Badd Kitty has taken over the former Noir Leather space in downtown Royal Oak and given the adult-store concept a decidedly more polished makeover. The family-owned, female-led boutique specializes in lingerie, body care, sex toys, and other intimate essentials, with an emphasis on making the experience feel welcoming rather than awkward or intimidating. The selection is broad, the presentation is stylish, and the staff is there to help without hovering. Plenty of stores sell things meant for the bedroom. Badd Kitty makes shopping for them feel a lot less like sneaking around and a lot more like, well, shopping.
BEST POTHOLE HERO
SUCHER TIRE Detroit potholes have ruined plenty of mornings, tires, rims, and moods. Fortunately, Sucher Tire has spent more than a century cleaning up the damage. The
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fourth-generation family business on East Davison, founded in 1922, stocks thousands of tires and wheels and can repair or replace whatever crater just took a bite out of your car. Flat tire? Bent rim? Wheel suddenly shaped like an egg? They’ve probably seen worse. Detroit may never defeat the pothole. Until then, Sucher Tire is doing heroic work on the front lines.
BEST ADULT SHOP
PLEASURE ZONE Pleasure Zone has been a Metro Times readers’ favorite for years, and it’s easy to see why. The Sterling Heights shop carries a wide selection of toys, lingerie, lubricants, accessories, and other grownup essentials without making the experience feel sleazy or uncomfortable. That matters. Shopping for sex should be fun, not awkward, and Pleasure Zone has built a reputation around giving customers plenty of options in a space where curiosity is welcome. Whether you know exactly what you want or are feeling adventurous, there’s a good chance you’ll leave with something that makes the night a little more interesting.
BEST GYM
PLANET FITNESS Planet Fitness has become the default gym for a reason. It’s cheap, everywhere,
open long hours, and built for people who want to work out without feeling like they wandered into a bodybuilding competition. The equipment is straightforward, the locations are usually spacious, and the whole “Judgement Free Zone” thing may be corny, but it works. You can lift, run, stretch, shower, and get out without anybody caring how much weight is on the bar. Plenty of gyms promise transformation. Planet Fitness succeeds by making exercise feel easy enough to actually keep doing.
BEST PLACE TO FRAME ARTWORK AND SPORTS MEMORABILIA
THE ART OF CUSTOM FRAMING The Art of Custom Framing has come a long way from the basement where owners Art and Denise Bashi started the business in 2004. Today, the Troy shop operates out of a 13,000-squarefoot space and handles everything from fine art and family keepsakes to signed jerseys, helmets, and other sports memorabilia. Its designers and framers bring decades of combined experience to the work, helping customers turn something meaningful into something worth putting on the wall. Anyone can buy a frame off the shelf. The Art of Custom Framing understands that sometimes what’s going inside deserves a little more attention.
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BEST PLACE TO BUY ROCK STAR CLOTHING
SHOWTIME Showtime has been dressing Detroit’s musicians, performers, and assorted beautiful weirdos since 1989. After nearly three decades on Woodward, the shop eventually resurfaced in Hamtramck, still packed with leather jackets, Western wear, jewelry, boots, stage-ready outfits, and enough gloriously over-thetop clothing to make a normal wardrobe seem like a personal failure. Owner Dan Tatarian has outfitted everyone from local bands to stars like Suzi Quatro and Slash, but the real appeal is that you don’t need a record deal to shop there. If you want to dress like you’re about to go onstage, Showtime has you covered. BEST PLACE TO BUY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
BERKLEY MUSIC Berkley Music is the kind of neighborhood shop musicians keep coming back to because it feels more like a resource than a sales floor. The longtime Berkley store carries guitars, basses, keyboards, drums, amplifiers, accessories, and plenty of gear for beginners and working players alike. Just as important, the staff actually knows the instruments and can help you figure out what fits instead of simply steering you toward the most expensive option. Whether you’re buying
your first guitar, upgrading an amp, or replacing the cable you somehow lose every six months, Berkley Music makes the process feel easy.
BEST BLACK-OWNED BOOKSTORE
SOURCE BOOKSELLERS Source Booksellers is the kind of bookstore where browsing can easily turn into an education. The independent, Black-owned Midtown shop specializes in nonfiction, with shelves rich in civil rights, Black history, Detroit and metro Detroit, culture, politics, health, and books by and about women. Owner Janet Webster Jones has been selling books for decades, and Source has become just as much a gathering place as a store, regularly hosting author talks, signings, discussions, and events that bring writers and readers together. Detroit has no shortage of stories worth knowing. Source Booksellers makes sure plenty of the important ones are within reach.
BEST BOOKSTORE THAT PUTS COMMUNITY BEFORE PROFIT
BOOK SUEY Book Suey is what happens when a bookstore is built around readers instead of shareholders. The Hamtramck co-op is owned and run by its mem-
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bers, with decisions made collectively and the focus kept on books, local writers, and bringing people together. Tucked inside Bank Suey, the shop hosts readings, discussions, and other literary events while stocking work from independent presses and authors who might not get prime shelf space at a chain store. Plenty of bookstores sell community as part of the brand. At Book Suey, the community actually owns the place.
BEST PLACE TO BLOW YOUR ENTIRE PLANT BUDGET
EASTERN MARKET FLOWER DAY You tell yourself you’re going to Flower Day for a couple of tomato plants. Then you see the hanging baskets. And the herbs. And the perennials. And maybe the yard really does need another hydrangea. Eastern Market’s Flower Day has been feeding this particular form of horticultural irresponsibility for more than 60 years, bringing more than 150 flower vendors to the market alongside food and live music. It’s Detroit’s biggest flower festival and one of the surest signs spring has actually arrived. Just remember that everything you buy eventually has to fit in the car.
BEST PLACE TO SHOP LIKE ETSY BECAME A CITY
DIY STREET FAIR For one weekend every September, downtown Ferndale becomes a sprawling marketplace of things made by actual human beings. The DIY Street Fair draws roughly 150 juried artists and makers selling original art, jewelry, ceramics, clothing, prints, home goods, and all manner of handmade objects, alongside local bands and food vendors. Organizers estimate about 75,000 people attend the free three-day event. The fair takes the “DIY” part seriously too, explicitly rejecting mass-produced work. If Etsy suddenly materialized around Nine Mile and came with live bands, beer, and food trucks, it would probably look a lot like this.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A RECORD YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED
DETROIT VINYLFEST Record collecting depends heavily on redefining the word “need.” Detroit Vinylfest makes that especially easy. The Eastern Market show returned for its second year with more than 70 vendors selling vinyl, CDs, cassettes, posters, music memorabilia, shirts, and other items capable of testing both shelf space and financial discipline. DJs spin records while musicians and other artists make appearances, turning the
whole thing into equal parts record fair and music gathering. You may already own three versions of Raw Power. But this pressing is different. Look at the label. Obviously you need it.
BEST PLACE TO SHOP LOCAL UNTIL YOUR WALLET GIVES OUT
ALL THINGS DETROIT DAY All Things Detroit Day makes supporting small businesses dangerously easy. The Eastern Market event brings together about 200 local makers, artists, designers, food businesses, and entrepreneurs selling Detroit fashion, art, home goods, specialty foods, accessories, and things you didn’t know you wanted before walking past their booth. More than 15,000 shoppers turned out for this spring’s event, and the marketplace returns again for the holidays. Buying local sounds wonderfully virtuous until you’re carrying six bags and trying to remember whether rent is due this week. At least your financial irresponsibility is circulating through Detroit’s small-business economy.
BEST REASON TO STAY OUT AFTER DARK AT EASTERN MARKET
EASTERN MARKET AFTER DARK Eastern Market is great during daylight. Once a year, it gets considerably weirder after sunset. Eastern Market After Dark turns the entire district into a free nighttime celebration of Detroit art and design, filling sheds, streets, storefronts, galleries, and public spaces with installations, creative vendors, live music, murals, food, drinks, pop-ups, and open studios. More than 33,000 people attended last year, and the 2026 edition expands from Shed 2 toward the riverfront with a Dequindre Cut activation and Slow Roll ride. It feels less like visiting an event than wandering through an entire neighborhood temporarily taken over by creative people.
BEST PLACE TO TURN A HOUSEPLANT HABIT INTO A SERIOUS PROBLEM
RARE PLANT FAIRY Rare Plant Fairy is what happens when owning a few houseplants escalates dramatically. Founder Jocelyn Ho started selling rare plants from the guest bedroom of her Detroit apartment in 2020. Today, the company operates from a 14,000-square-foot Detroit facility, grows much of its inventory itself, runs an in-house tissue-culture lab, and ships coveted botanical specimens to collectors around the country and abroad. The selection ranges from rela-
tively approachable rarities to “unicorn” plants that can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You may think you’re merely a person who likes plants. Rare Plant Fairy can help you discover that, actually, you’re a collector.
BEST PLACE TO BUY SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T KNOW DETROIT MADE
CITY BIRD City Bird is dangerous because you rarely leave with only what you came for. The Midtown shop is packed with Detroit and Michigan goods alongside jewelry, stationery, housewares, prints, apparel, toys, and things whose existence you didn’t know about until suddenly you need one. Founded by siblings Andy and Emily Linn, City Bird carries work from hundreds of independent artists and designers, including plenty from around the Great Lakes. That makes it less a souvenir shop than a crash course in how many creative people are making cool shit around here. Go in for a birthday card. Come out with a Vernors hair clip, a puzzle, and another tote bag.
BEST PLACE TO DRESS LIKE YOU HAVE BETTER TASTE THAN YOUR FRIENDS
OLD SOUL VINTAGE There are vintage stores where you sift through racks hoping to strike gold, and then there are vintage stores that make you suspect someone already did the hard part for you. Old Soul Vintage belongs in the latter camp. The appeal isn’t merely that the clothes are old. It’s that they look like the pieces people will stop you to ask about, which is really the entire point. Shopping vintage should involve a little luck, a little personality, and at least one moment when you reconsider your entire wardrobe. Old Soul makes all three likely. Just be prepared for your friends to ask where you got that jacket. You can lie.
BEST PLACE TO FIND THE JACKET EVERYONE WILL ASK ABOUT
FLAMINGO VINTAGE A truly great vintage find has two qualities. First, it looks like you’ve owned it forever. Second, everyone wants to know where the hell you got it. Flamingo Vintage is built for that kind of discovery, with racks that reward shoppers willing to bypass fast fashion and find clothes with some history already baked in. The best vintage pieces don’t make you look like you’re wearing a costume from another decade. They simply make whatever you were wearing before look boring. And while there’s no guarantee you’ll find the jacket on any particular visit, that unpredictability is why vintage shopping remains so much more satisfying than clicking “add to cart.”
BEST PLACE TO FIX THE BIKE YOU SWORE YOU’D FIX YOURSELF
METROPOLIS CYCLES It started with confidence. You watched a video. You bought the tool. You turned something counterclockwise that perhaps should not have been turned counterclockwise. Now your bicycle is making a noise that sounds expensive. This is when you take it to Metropolis Cycles. Detroit needs good neighborhood bike shops not merely to sell bikes but to keep the ones already on the street rolling, and Metropolis has long filled that role for commuters, recreational riders, and people who got in a little over their heads in the garage. There is no shame in asking a professional for help. Just maybe don’t tell them how many YouTube tutorials you watched first.
BEST BIKE SHOP FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY RIDE IN DETROIT
WHEELHOUSE DETROIT Detroit looks different from a bicycle. You notice the architecture, the riverfront, the neighborhoods, and yes, every pothole with terrifying clarity. Wheelhouse Detroit has spent years helping people experience the city from two wheels, whether they need a bike, a repair, a rental, or simply some advice before heading out. What makes a good urban bike shop isn’t just knowing bikes. It’s knowing what it’s actually like to ride one here. Wheelhouse gets that. Detroit will probably never be Copenhagen, and frankly we’d look ridiculous pretending otherwise. But every city is better when more people can safely explore it without staring through a windshield.
BEST PLACE TO ADMIT YOU NEED A REAL BARBER
DETROIT BARBER CO. At some point, every man who has been hacking away at his own hair in the bathroom mirror has to confront reality. Maybe the sides aren’t even. Maybe that beard line has migrated into previously uncharted territory. Maybe your spouse has started gently suggesting hats. Detroit Barber Co. is where you surrender. The Corktown shop built its reputation on old-school barbering without turning the whole thing into some ridiculous masculinity theme park. Get the haircut, get the beard cleaned up, and enjoy the humbling realization that someone who does this professionally can accomplish in half an hour what you’ve been unsuccessfully attempting for three years. Then throw away the clippers.
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BEST PLACE TO GET TATTOOED WITHOUT REGRETTING THE ART
MOTOWN TATTOO COMPANY A tattoo is a terrible place to bargain hunt. Unlike an ugly shirt or regrettable couch, you can’t shove it into the back of a closet when your tastes change. Motown Tattoo Company understands the stakes. With multiple Detroit locations and artists working across different styles, the shop gives customers room to find someone whose work actually fits what they want permanently attached to their bodies. The smartest tattoo decisions generally involve more research than “my friend knows a guy,” and Motown makes doing your homework easy. You’ll still have to explain the tattoo to your mother, of course. No artist in America can save you from that part.
BEST PLACE TO PUT SOMETHING PERMANENT WHERE YOUR MOM CAN SEE IT
ICONIC TATTOO & BODY PIERCING There are tattoos you can conceal under business attire, and then there are tattoos that announce themselves at Thanksgiving dinner before you’ve even taken off your coat. Iconic Tattoo & Body Piercing is for both, but we’re especially fond of the latter. A good tattoo shop should make the permanent part feel exciting rather than terrifying, with artists who understand that what seems like a brilliant idea at 22 may still be sitting on
your forearm at 62. Choose wisely. Ask questions. Tip your artist. And if Mom asks what possessed you to do this to your body, remember that “Metro Times told me to” is not an acceptable defense.
BEST FLORIST FOR WHEN GROCERY STORE FLOWERS AREN’T GOING TO CUT IT
GADDY’S FLORIST There is nothing inherently wrong with grabbing flowers next to the supermarket produce aisle. Sometimes you need tulips and toilet paper in the same trip. But certain occasions demand evidence that you actually put some thought into this. That’s where Gaddy’s Florist comes in. The longtime Detroit flower shop is the move when the bouquet itself needs to say something: congratulations, condolences, I love you, I screwed up, or perhaps the especially urgent “I really screwed up.” Flowers remain one of humanity’s stranger traditions when you think about it. Here are some beautiful plants. Please interpret my feelings. Thankfully, a good florist makes the message considerably easier to understand.
BEST FLOWERS FOR GETTING YOURSELF OUT OF TROUBLE
FLOWERS FOR DREAMS You forgot. Or you said something stupid. Or maybe you remembered but would like everyone to believe you are considerably more thoughtful
Rare Plant Fairy in Detroit has built an interntional following.
than the evidence suggests. Flowers for Dreams has you covered. The company built its identity around attractive, modern arrangements and a charitable model that directs a portion of purchases toward local causes, giving your emergency bouquet at least a little civic virtue. Does donating to charity erase whatever got you in trouble? Absolutely not. But beautiful flowers rarely hurt, and flowers that also do some good are even harder to argue with. Just don’t write “sorry you feel that way” on the card and undo all the progress.
BEST PLACE TO SPOIL A PET WHO ALREADY RUNS YOUR HOUSEHOLD
PREMIER PET SUPPLY Your dog does not pay rent. Your cat has never contributed to the grocery bill. Yet somehow both have convinced you that they require premium food, specialty treats, increasingly elaborate toys, and a bed nicer than the one you had in college. Premier Pet Supply understands who is really in charge. Its Detroit store carries food and supplies while also offering services including grooming, nail trims, a self-service dog wash, and nutritional counseling. The store also hosts adoption events, making it more than a place to stock up on food and toys. For pet owners inclined to spoil their animals a little, Premier Pet Supply makes that very easy.
BEST PLACE TO BUY COMICS WITHOUT HAVING TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF
GREEN BRAIN COMICS Comic books spent decades being treated as a hobby people were supposed to grow out of, which was always strange considering how many adults were perfectly comfortable spending Sunday afternoon screaming at football. Green Brain Comics in Dearborn never needed the permission. The shop is a haven for readers who know superheroes are only one corner of an enormous medium encompassing graphic novels, indie comics, manga, small publishers, and stories for just about every kind of reader. Newcomers aren’t required to know which multiverse Batman currently occupies either. Come in because you love comics or because you’re curious about them. Nobody is going to demand your nerd credentials at the door.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A GIFT FOR THE PERSON WHO IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SHOP FOR
LEON & LULU Everybody has one. The person who already owns everything, wants nothing, and responds to “What do you want for your birthday?” with the infuriating answer “Oh, you don’t have to get me anything.” Fine. Take them at their word if you enjoy familial conflict. The rest of us go to Leon & Lulu.
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The sprawling Clawson shop is packed with furniture, home goods, clothing, accessories, books, gifts, and an eclectic mix of unexpected finds that makes shopping for even the hardest person a little easier. Part of the appeal is wandering until you find something that seems exactly right, even if you had no idea what you were looking for when you walked in.
BEST PLACE TO REMEMBER PRINTING IS AN ART FORM
SIGNAL-RETURN The modern world has made printing so frictionless that most of us only think about it when the office printer jams. Signal-Return offers a much more satisfying reminder of what printing once meant: heavy machinery, physical type, ink, paper, craft, and actual human hands. The Detroit nonprofit is dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional letterpress printing while operating a production space, gallery, and retail shop at LANTERN on Kercheval. Founded in 2011, it treats the printing press not as some obsolete relic but as a living artistic medium. Spend enough time there and suddenly that laser printer at work feels profoundly disappointing. It doesn’t even smell like ink.
local skaters have gone there for decks, trucks, wheels, shoes, gear, advice, and the community that surrounds a scene outsiders have periodically declared dead for roughly four decades. Buying your first board can be intimidating when you don’t know a truck from a bearing; experienced skaters tend to know exactly what they want. Modern has the knowledge, selection, and history to serve both.
BEST PLACE TO MAKE YOUR HOUSE SMELL LIKE YOU HAVE YOUR LIFE TOGETHER
GREEN DAFFODIL Maybe there are dishes in the sink. Maybe laundry has been sitting in the dryer since Tuesday. Nobody walking through the door needs to know any of that if the house smells fantastic. Ferndale’s Green Daffodil has been helping with the deception since 2006, when owners Anne Simonetti and Siouxsan Miller began making soy candles. Their small-batch lineup now includes soaps, lotions, room sprays, lip balms, essential oils, bath products, and enough scents to make choosing one surprisingly difficult. The shop still makes its products locally and by hand. Light the candle, dim the lights, and suddenly at least one part of the house feels put together.
into a fashion brand with a broader idea about what Detroit style can look like. Its apparel is minimalist, modern, and unmistakably connected to the city without screaming souvenir shop. The company’s newer work has moved into made-at-request knitwear and experiments with more thoughtful domestic manufacturing, pushing the brand beyond the T-shirt that made it recognizable. Detroit style has never been one thing. Thank God. Otherwise we’d all be dressed like a Tigers giveaway.
BEST TIRE STORE BEST PLACE TO TURN THRIFTING INTO A TREASURE HUNT
LOST AND FOUND VINTAGE Lost and Found Vintage has moved around a little, most recently from its longtime Royal Oak home to Birmingham, but the hunt remains the same. The shop has built its reputation on carefully curated vintage clothing rather than forcing shoppers to paw through 400 stained T-shirts in hopes of locating one miracle. That doesn’t eliminate the thrill of discovery. It concentrates it. The racks span decades and styles, making it entirely possible to enter looking for nothing and leave emotionally attached to a coat made before you were born. That is vintage shopping at its best. Someone else already did the wearing-in. You just get to take the credit.
BEST PLACE TO SPEND $10 AND LEAVE WITH $100 WORTH OF IDEAS
BEST PLACE TO BUY SHOES WITH DETROIT CRED
ARTS & SCRAPS
BURN RUBBER
Arts & Scraps operates on the wonderful premise that one person’s industrial leftover is another person’s spaceship, sculpture, school project, costume, or thing nobody quite knows how to describe yet. The Detroit nonprofit collects reusable materials and gets them into the hands of teachers, kids, artists, organizations, and anybody else willing to see possibility in what might otherwise become waste. Its community store is packed with inexpensive odds and ends that immediately make your brain start inventing projects. That’s both the beauty and danger of the place. You may spend very little money. You may also leave having committed yourself to building something inexplicably enormous in your dining room.
Sneaker culture has gotten enormous, but Burn Rubber was doing this long before sneaker drops became spectacles. The Royal Oak boutique dates to 2004 and has been under owners Rick Williams and Roland Coit since 2007, building a national reputation while remaining deeply tied to metro Detroit. Today its shelves include Nike, Jordan, Adidas, New Balance, Saucony, and plenty more, but the appeal has always gone beyond inventory. Burn Rubber has become part of the culture around sneakers in metro Detroit, a place where serious collectors and casual shoppers can find something worth trying on. Its longevity says plenty about how deeply it has beome woven into the local scene.
BEST PLACE TO BUY A SKATEBOARD FROM PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY SKATE
BEST PLACE TO DRESS LIKE DETROIT WITHOUT WEARING AN OLD ENGLISH D
MODERN SKATE & SURF
DÉTROIT IS THE NEW BLACK
THE PLEASURE ZONE
There’s an important distinction between a store that sells skateboards and a skate shop. Modern Skate & Surf has been around metro Detroit long enough that nobody needs the difference explained. Generations of
There’s nothing wrong with an Old English D. Detroiters have simply demonstrated that civic pride can survive on clothing without it. Roslyn Karamoko launched Détroit Is the New Black in 2014, turning a simple phrase
There are purchases you display proudly on the coffee table, and then there are purchases you carry straight to the bedroom. The Pleasure Zone has been helping metro Detroiters with the latter since 2011, stocking everything
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from toys and lingerie to massage oils, lubes, games, and other things best explored without your mother around. The Sterling Heights shop also makes a point of being welcoming and judgment-free, which is useful when you have questions you’d rather not ask the teenager working at Spencer’s. Whether you know exactly what you want or are just ready to make the nightstand drawer a little more interesting, this is a very good place to start.
BEST SHOP FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK NEW FURNITURE HAS NO SOUL
VOGUE VINTAGE New furniture is perfectly functional. It is also frequently beige, gray, or some deeply depressing shade known as “greige.” Vogue Vintage in Ferndale offers another path. The shop is loaded with vintage and midcentury furniture, art, lighting, decor, electronics, records, clothing, and collectibles that already have a history before entering your home. The trick is walking in without immediately redesigning an entire room around a chair you spotted six minutes ago. Old furniture has scratches, quirks, and evidence that life happened around it. That’s not a defect. It’s the appeal. Besides, your house probably has enough things that arrived in a cardboard box with an Allen wrench.
SUCHER TIRE Detroit roads are hard on tires, and Sucher Tire has spent more than a century helping drivers recover. The fourth-generation family business on East Davison, founded in 1922, stocks thousands of tires and wheels and handles everything from flats and bent rims to full replacements. Need a new set? Blowout on the way to work? Wheel suddenly shaped like an egg? They’ve probably seen worse. After more than 100 years in business, Sucher Tire remains one of those dependable Detroit institutions you hope you don’t need. But when you do, you’re very glad they’re around. BEST VEGAN ICE CREAM SHOP
COLD TRUTH Cold Truth makes a pretty convincing case that cow’s milk is optional when it comes to decadent ice cream. The Cass Corridor shop makes its vegan soft serve from scratch, with rotating flavors that have included banana pudding, horchata, lavender, avocado-lime, and sweet cream, plus gluten-free waffle cones and plenty of over-the-top toppings. The texture is rich and creamy enough that nobody feels like they’re settling for the “vegan version.” Cold Truth also keeps one foot in the community, partnering with local groups on events including neighborhood cleanups and fundraisers. Turns out compassion and indulgence go pretty damn well together.
PEOPLE & PLACES BEST PLACE TO GET DUMPED
BEST ADULT SHOP
THE PEOPLE MOVER Getting dumped is bad enough. Getting dumped on the People Mover means spending the next several minutes circling downtown with the person who just ended your relationship. There’s no dramatic exit, no cab to hail, and no graceful way to disappear.
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You simply sit there together as the train keeps moving, passing the same streets while your future suddenly looks very different. Maybe one of you gets off at the next stop. Maybe neither of you knows what to do. Either way, the symbolism is brutal: The relationship is over, but somehow you’re still going in circles.
BEST PLACE TO BREAK UP WITHOUT MAKING A SCENE
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY Detroit Public Library offers everything needed for a civilized breakup, including a public setting, plenty of witnesses, and a strict expectation that everyone keep their voice down. There will be no shouting, no dramatic speeches, and certainly no overturned furniture beneath the library’s grand ceilings. Even the crying has to remain discreet. Once the damage is done, the newly single can retreat into the stacks, search for a self-help book, or quietly pretend to read until the other person leaves. Relationships may end loudly elsewhere, but at Detroit Public Library, heartbreak comes with a whisper.
BEST PLACE TO LET OUT YOUR ANGER
THE DAMAGE ZONE Sometimes deep breathing isn’t enough. At The Damage Zone in Detroit, you can put on protective gear, grab a weapon, and smash the hell out of old electronics, furniture, and whatever else has been marked for destruction. The rage room turns stress into a recreational activity, giving you a controlled place to break things without losing your security deposit or explaining yourself to the police. Bad day at work? Relationship problems? Lions loss? Take it out on a printer. It may not solve what made you angry, but watching an old television explode into pieces is a pretty satisfying start.
BEST PLACE TO HAVE A PUBLIC MELTDOWN
A LIONS GAME If you’re going to lose it in public, you might as well do it surrounded by 60,000 people feeling exactly the same way. A Lions game at Ford Field offers the rare opportunity to scream, swear, pace, throw your hands in the air, and question every decision that brought you here without attracting so much as a sideways glance. One bad call or fourth-quarter collapse can turn an entire stadium into group therapy. Cry if you need to. Yell at the officials. Hug a stranger. Nobody will judge you. Chances are, the person next to you is already having a meltdown of their own.
BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE ISN’T FROM DETROIT
THEY ASK IF DOWNTOWN IS SAFE AND WHETHER THEY SHOULD BRING A GUN Nothing gives away an out-of-towner faster than asking whether it’s safe to go downtown and, for extra points, whether they should bring a gun. Detroit’s downtown bears little resemblance to the dystopian image some people still carry around from decades-old headlines. On any given night, tens of thousands of people are heading to Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, or Pistons games, concerts, festivals, restaurants, and bars. Cameras and security are seemingly everywhere. Is Detroit crime-free? Of course not. Neither is any major city. But if you think attending a Tigers game requires packing heat, we already know you’re not from around here.
BEST THING SUBURBANITES CLAIM IS “BASICALLY DETROIT”
NOVI It usually starts with, “I’m from Detroit.” Then comes the follow-up. “Well, Novi.” That is a fairly generous interpretation of geography. Novi has sprawling subdivisions, shopping centers, chain restaurants, and endless parking. What it doesn’t have is much that resembles Detroit. Still, once some suburbanites cross state lines, metro Detroit apparently collapses into one convenient hometown. We understand the impulse. Detroit sounds cooler than Novi. Just don’t expect anyone who actually lives in the city to let you get away with it.
BEST EXAMPLE OF DETROIT DOING THINGS THE HARD WAY
PUBLIC TRANSIT Detroit has spent decades making the simple act of getting from one place to another unnecessarily complicated. The city and suburbs operate separate bus systems, regional transit plans have repeatedly stalled, and getting to major destinations without a car can require patience, transfers, and a willingness to surrender control of your schedule. For a region built around mobility, metro Detroit has somehow made moving around without an automobile one of its great civic challenges. We know how to build cars. We know how to build roads. Building a transit system that works seamlessly across the region remains the hard part.
BEST PLACE FOR A BACKROOM DEAL
DETROIT ATHLETIC CLUB You can’t just wander into the Detroit Athletic Club, and that’s part of the appeal. The century-old private club across metrotimes.com | September 16-29, 2026 87
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from Comerica Park has long been a gathering place for some of metro Detroit’s most powerful business, political, and civic figures. Behind its doors are dining rooms, lounges, meeting spaces, and the comforting knowledge that most of the public is somewhere else. We’re not suggesting anyone is actually cutting secret deals over dinner. But if you wanted to imagine how Detroit’s levers of power get pulled, a quiet table inside the DAC certainly looks the part. Sometimes exclusivity is half the atmosphere.
BEST PERSON MOST LIKELY TO SAVE DETROIT
DENZEL MCCAMPBELL Detroit has spent decades finding money for stadiums, luxury developments, and corporate incentives while too many residents still struggle with the basics. More than half of the city’s children live in poverty. Enter Denzel McCampbell, the progressive democratic socialist elected to City Council last year on a promise to put everyday Detroiters first. McCampbell rejects corporate PAC money and has pushed for better basic services, water affordability, equitable development, and a government accountable to residents rather than powerful interests. Can one council member save Detroit? Of course not. But shifting City Hall’s attention from people with the most influence to people with the greatest needs would be a damn good start.
lican has railed against pornography, attacked LGBTQ rights, called oral sex a “crime against God,” and introduced legislation that would ban online porn across Michigan. Then Metro Times found breach records linking his personal email address to Fling.com, a pornographic hookup site, with a profile listing interests including “fetish” and “groupsex.” Schriver insists the records are fake. Our reporting found extensive data linking the account to him. For a politician obsessed with what everyone else does in the bedroom, Schriver might want to spend a little less time throwing stones from inside his own glass house.
BEST VILLAINOUS REPUBLICAN
MIKE ROGERS Mike Rogers is back, and this time Michigan’s Trump-endorsed Republican Senate nominee is standing between Abdul El-Sayed and the U.S. Senate. Rogers has promised to stand with Trump and spent years in Congress opposing LGBTQ rights, including marriage equality, workplace protections, and allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. Now he’s pitching himself as the candidate who can bring Trump’s agenda to Michigan. After narrowly losing his 2024 Senate race, Rogers gets another shot in November. For voters who hoped Michigan had seen the last of his politics, apparently every good villain gets a sequel.
BEST LOCAL ECCENTRIC BEST PERSON MOST LIKELY TO SELL DETROIT
DAN GILBERT Dan Gilbert has spent more than a decade buying, building, and reshaping huge swaths of downtown Detroit. Through Bedrock, the billionaire controls an enormous real-estate portfolio that includes some of the city’s most prominent buildings, while his developments have benefited from tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks and other public incentives. Supporters credit Gilbert with helping revive downtown. Critics see something else: a city increasingly shaped around the priorities of billionaires and developers while many neighborhoods continue to struggle. If Detroit ever went up for sale, there’s a decent chance Gilbert would already have a significant stake in the deal.
BEST CULTURE-WAR HYPOCRITE
JOSH SCHRIVER State Rep. Josh Schriver has made policing other people’s sex lives something of a political mission. The Oxford Repub-
JUAN MARTINEZ If you see a giant aluminum pangolin cruising down a Detroit street, don’t panic. That’s probably just Juan Martinez riding one of his handmade animal bicycles. The Detroit artist has built an unlikely fleet that includes creatures like a bison, rhinoceros, and pangolin, turning ordinary bike rides into moving public art. Martinez’s creations are funny, strange, and instantly disarming, often prompting strangers to stop, stare, laugh, and start conversations. In a city with no shortage of characters, he stands out by making Detroit a little more whimsical every time he pedals past. Eccentric? Absolutely. And Detroit is better for it.
BEST PLACE DETROIT SHOULD NEVER SELL
BELLE ISLE Developers can have plenty of Detroit. Belle Isle is not for sale. The nearly 1,000-acre island has belonged to Detroit for generations, giving residents a beach, woods, picnic grounds, trails, an aquarium, a conservatory, and some of the best views of the river anywhere
in the city. The state took over management under a long-term lease in 2014, a move that understandably rubbed plenty of Detroiters the wrong way. But ownership still belongs to the city, and it should stay that way. Belle Isle is more than valuable real estate. It is public land, shared history, and one piece of Detroit that should never fall in someone else’s hands.
restaurants, and nightlife. Instead, much of the promised development failed to materialize while the Ilitch family turned large stretches of valuable downtown land into parking lots where fans get the privilege of paying handsomely to leave their cars. Little Caesars Arena is unquestionably more modern than the Joe. The deal that produced it is a lot harder to cheer for.
BEST EVIDENCE THE LIONS’ CURSE IS FINALLY OVER
BEST COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
A 9-8 SEASON FEELS LIKE A DISASTER For most of their history, nine Lions victories could send Detroit into the offseason feeling pretty damn good. Now it gets Dan Campbell giving himself an F. After back-to-back NFC North titles and a 15-win season in 2024, the Lions went 9-8 last year and missed the playoffs. Fans were crushed. That disappointment may be the clearest evidence yet that the old Lions are gone. Nobody is celebrating moral victories, respectable records, or simply avoiding embarrassment anymore. Detroit expects playoff runs and talks seriously about the Super Bowl. The curse may not officially be dead until the Lions win it all, but our standards sure as hell have changed.
YUSEF “BUNCHY” SHAKUR Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur knows firsthand how much a neighborhood can shape a life. The longtime Detroit organizer survived gang violence and incarceration before returning home and devoting himself to helping strengthen the same kinds of communities he once struggled in. Over the years, Shakur has worked as a youth mentor, author, educator, and advocate for racial justice and people returning from prison. He now leads the Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities, bringing his grassroots approach to an organization working across the state. His remarkable journey is also the subject of the new documentary Redemption Road. Shakur didn’t leave Detroit behind when his life changed. He stayed and worked to change it.
BEST GAME-DAY ATMOSPHERE
DETROIT CITY FC AT KEYWORTH STADIUM
BEST POLITICAL CANDIDATE
You don’t have to be a soccer fan to get swept up in a Detroit City FC match at Keyworth Stadium. The experience starts before kickoff, when supporters march through Hamtramck with drums, chants, flags, and enough energy to turn a neighborhood walk into a parade. Inside the stadium, the Northern Guard keeps the noise going as smoke rises, songs echo through the stands, and a few thousand fans somehow make the old stadium feel much bigger than it is. It’s rowdy, welcoming, colorful, and unlike any other sporting experience in metro Detroit. Even soccer skeptics tend to leave understanding the appeal.
Abdul El-Sayed spent much of the Democratic primary being told his progressive politics were too far left to win statewide. Michigan voters had other ideas. The physician and former Detroit health director defeated establishment favorite Haley Stevens to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, despite tens of millions of dollars in outside spending aimed at stopping him. El-Sayed has campaigned on universal health care, taking on corporate power, and making government work better for ordinary people rather than wealthy donors. Now he faces Trumpbacked Republican Mike Rogers in November. For Michigan progressives who have spent years waiting for their moment, El-Sayed just proved one can actually arrive.
BEST ARGUMENT FOR BRINGING BACK THE JOE
LITTLE CAESARS ARENA Joe Louis Arena is gone, so technically there’s no going back. But Little Caesars Arena has given nostalgic Red Wings fans plenty of reasons to miss it. Taxpayers poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the new arena and the surrounding District Detroit, which was supposed to become a bustling neighborhood of apartments, shops,
ABDUL EL-SAYED
BEST WAY TO RESIST ICE
BLOW THE WHISTLE AND KEEP THE CAMERAS ROLLING ICE agents may have badges, guns, and the power of the federal government behind them, but ordinary people have something important too: eyes, voices, and cameras. In Detroit and elsewhere, residents have blown whistles to warn
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BEST ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZER
THERESA LANDRUM Theresa Landrum didn’t set out to become an environmental activist. Living in southwest Detroit’s 48217 ZIP code, surrounded by refineries, factories, and some of the dirtiest air in Michigan, she didn’t feel like she had much of a choice. For more than two decades, Landrum has organized neighbors, confronted polluters, pushed state officials, and demanded that residents have a say in what they are forced to breathe. This year brought a major victory when a federal judge imposed a $100 million penalty against DTE and EES Coke over Clean Air Act violations and ordered millions more for community health projects. Landrum has spent years insisting southwest Detroit deserves cleaner air. She’s still making sure somebody listens.
BEST RECORDS WARRIOR
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION INITIATIVE The QLine is slow, unreliable, and an awful way to get around.
immigrant neighbors when agents arrive, filmed arrests, organized protests, and shown up as legal observers. It takes courage. Federal immigration raids have spread fear through Michigan communities, separating families and leaving some immigrants afraid to go to work, school, church, or even the doctor. The people documenting what happens aren’t just making ICE’s job harder. They’re making sure the rest of us can see what is being done when cruelty replaces civility.
BEST CIVIL LIBERTIES WATCHDOG
ACLU OF MICHIGAN When government power starts pushing against constitutional rights, the ACLU of Michigan is usually somewhere nearby asking uncomfortable questions. From police misconduct and surveillance to free speech, immigration enforcement, voting rights, and conditions behind bars, the Detroit-based organization has spent decades challenging government overreach in court and in public. That work feels especially urgent now, as battles over protest rights, immigration raids, and expanding surveillance become harder to ignore. The ACLU also spends plenty of time teaching people what their rights actually are before they need a lawyer. Civil liberties can sound abstract until yours are threatened. Then having a watchdog suddenly matters a lot.
BEST PERSON YOU’RE GLAD WAS WORKING THAT DAY
DDOT DRIVER THOMAS BURGAN DDOT driver Thomas Burgan was behind the wheel in April when a 9-year-old boy boarded his bus alone. Something didn’t seem right. Later, after Burgan received an alert about a missing child, he realized the boy was sitting on his bus and alerted police. The child was safely reunited with his family, and Burgan was later honored by the city for helping bring him home. It was the kind of moment that shows what public service can look like at its best. Burgan wasn’t looking for attention. He was paying attention, and on that day, it made all the difference.
BEST WORKERS’ RIGHTS ADVOCATE
SUGAR LAW CENTER FOR ECONOMIC & SOCIAL JUSTICE When workers get cheated out of wages, fired for speaking up, discriminated against, or blindsided by a mass layoff, the Sugar Law Center is often there to help. The Detroit-based public-interest law center has spent more than three decades fighting for low-wage workers and challenging employers and government agencies that stack the deck against them. Its work
STEVE NEAVLING
has included combating wage theft, protecting unemployment benefits, fighting workplace discrimination, and pushing for stronger protections when jobs disappear. Sugar Law also trains workers to understand their rights before something goes wrong. In a system where employers usually have more money and lawyers, having someone firmly on the worker’s side matters.
BEST TENANT ADVOCATE
MSU HOUSING JUSTICE CLINIC When Detroit renters go up against landlords, courts, and a housing system that too often tolerates unsafe conditions, the MSU Housing Justice Clinic has shown a willingness to fight back. The clinic represents tenants facing eviction and poor living conditions while increasingly taking aim at the larger systems that keep those problems in place. This year, it helped challenge Detroit’s 36th District Court over landlords seeking rent and evictions from properties that lacked required safety certifications. The clinic has also fought deed fraud and represented displaced residents. Tenant rights don’t mean much if nobody is willing to enforce them. The Housing Justice Clinic is making sure somebody does.
Government transparency doesn’t mean much if officials can simply decide the public isn’t entitled to know who is exercising government power. The University of Michigan’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative has been fighting that battle on behalf of Metro Times in a lawsuit seeking records identifying police officers. A Michigan court ruled against us, effectively finding that the public has no right to know the identities of certain officers. Metro Times has appealed, with the initiative continuing to represent us. Public records fights can be slow, technical, and expensive, which is exactly why lawyers willing to take them on matter. Secrecy has plenty of defenders. The public needs some too.
BEST HOMETOWN HERO NOBODY TALKS ABOUT
JERJUAN HOWARD Jerjuan Howard has spent years doing the kind of work that usually gets less attention than it deserves. On Detroit’s west side, he has helped improve his neighborhood, started a community garden, created a debate program for young people across the city, and opened the Howard Family Bookstore. His work eventually caught the attention of City Hall, where he became Detroit’s first director of youth initiatives. That title may be new, but the work isn’t. Howard has been investing in young people and his community since long before anyone handed him a government job. Detroit has plenty of people who talk about change. Howard has been busy doing it.
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BEST TRANSIT LINE THAT SOLVES ALMOST NOBODY’S COMMUTE
THE QLINE The QLINE is clean, free, and occasionally useful, especially if you need to travel 3.3 miles along Woodward between downtown and New Center and aren’t in much of a hurry. What it has never been is the kind of public transit Detroiters desperately need to get to work, the doctor, the grocery store, or anywhere else beyond its narrow route. Since opening, the streetcar has earned a reputation for delays, traffic problems, and painfully slow trips. It does a fine job moving visitors between restaurants, stadiums, museums, and bars. Detroit residents deserve a transit system designed to get them to their jobs, the pharmacy, a grocer, or the doctor’s office.
BEST POLITICAL IDENTITY CRISIS
MIKE DUGGAN Mike Duggan spent decades as a Democrat, then ran for governor as an independent while trying to court Democrats, Republicans, unions, business leaders, Trump voters, and just about anyone else who might listen. The result was a campaign that often seemed less post-partisan than politically homeless. Duggan attacked Democrats more aggressively, courted Republican donors, dodged questions about Trump, and insisted he hadn’t really changed. Voters apparently
disagreed. By May, he had fallen to 23% in a three-way poll and suspended his campaign. Duggan wanted to create a new political lane. Instead, he wound up turning off voters who found him disingenuous.
BEST PERSON TO EXPLAIN DETROIT TO YOU
JAMON JORDAN Jamon Jordan can make a familiar Detroit street feel like a history book you somehow missed. The city’s official historian and founder of the Black Scroll Network has spent years leading tours, giving lectures, and telling stories that center the Black Detroiters who shaped the city. Jordan has a gift for connecting the past to what’s still visible around us, from neighborhoods and landmarks to the forces that changed them. He doesn’t just recite dates or famous names. He explains why Detroit became the city it is. Spend an afternoon with Jordan and there’s a good chance you’ll never look at Detroit quite the same way again.
BEST PERSON TO MAKE YOU LOOK UP AT DETROIT
DAN AUSTIN Dan Austin has spent years reminding Detroiters to look above the storefronts and notice the extraordinary buildings
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around them. Through HistoricDetroit. org, Austin has documented more than 1,000 buildings and landmarks, assembling thousands of photographs and the stories behind the architects, owners, triumphs, neglect, and demolitions that shaped the city. He has also written extensively about Detroit architecture, turning his fascination with old buildings into one of the most useful public archives of the city’s built history. Now battling stage 4 cancer, Austin has created the Austin Past & Future Fund to help keep that work alive. Few people have taught Detroiters to see and appreciate the city through its buildings.
BEST REASON TO STOP DEMOLISHING THINGS
DETROIT’S RESURRECTED BUILDINGS For decades, Detroit treated abandonment like a death sentence for its architecture. Beautiful, irreplaceable buildings were demolished because they were vacant, deteriorating, or supposedly too far gone to save. Then Michigan Central Station came roaring back. So did Book Tower, the Metropolitan Building, the David Whitney Building, and other landmarks that once looked destined for the wrecking ball. Restoring these buildings wasn’t cheap or easy, but that’s the point. Once a one-ofa-kind building is demolished, no amount
of money can bring it back. Detroit has already lost enough architectural treasures to parking lots and empty fields. The buildings we saved are making a pretty convincing argument for patience.
BEST YOUTH ACTIVIST
JULIA CUNEO Julia Cuneo is part of a generation of young activists who refuse to wait politely for adults to fix the problems they inherited. Through Detroit Area Youth United Michigan, or DAYUM, Cuneo has helped organize young people around climate change, civic engagement, and the idea that teenagers should have a real voice in the policies shaping their future. The group’s work goes beyond rallies, teaching students how to organize, speak with lawmakers, and turn frustration into action. At a time when climate anxiety can leave young people feeling powerless, Cuneo is helping show them another option. Get organized, get loud, and make people listen.
BEST CIVIL LIBERTIES LESSON FOR A SCHOOL DISTRICT
DANIELLE KHALAF Danielle Khalaf was 14 when she quietly remained seated during the Pledge of Allegiance to protest the war in Gaza. Her teacher responded by publicly reprimand-
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ing her and, according to a lawsuit, telling the Palestinian-American student she should “go back” to where she came from. The problem for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools was that students have a constitutional right not to participate in the pledge. The ACLU of Michigan and Arab American Civil Rights League sued, and the district settled this year, agreeing to First Amendment training for staff and to remove any suggestion that Khalaf violated school policy. Sometimes the student ends up teaching the lesson.
BEST EMBODIMENT OF METRO TIMES
LEE DEVITO Lee DeVito didn’t just work at Metro Times. For years, he seemed to be Metro Times. He edited stories, wrote stories, ran the paper, went to countless concerts, and routinely worked seven days a week because that’s what the job demanded. When COVID devastated the newspaper’s finances, DeVito even laid himself off rather than cut a reporter, then kept working without pay to help keep the publication alive. He stayed until the end of July, carrying an enormous workload with little fanfare and an almost unreasonable devotion to Detroit journalism, music, and culture. If Metro Times has always been scrappy, stubborn, curious, and a little obsessive, DeVito embodied all of it.
BEST VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS
DIANE BUKOWSKI Diane Bukowski has spent decades reporting on people powerful institutions would often prefer everyone forget. First at the Michigan Citizen and, since 2010, as editor of the fiercely independent Voice of Detroit, Bukowski has relentlessly covered wrongful convictions, police killings and misconduct, prison abuses, juvenile lifers, evictions, Detroit’s bankruptcy, and the dismantling of public services. She has followed some incarcerated Detroiters’ cases for years, keeping their names and claims of innocence in public view long after most newsrooms moved on. Her journalism is unapologetically advocacy-minded, persistent, and deeply suspicious of power. Plenty of people get ignored by the system. Bukowski refuses to let them disappear.
BEST PODCAST FOR DETROIT INSIDERS
ML SOUL OF DETROIT It’s not every day you get to hear a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter shoot the shit about Detroit. M.L. Elrick helped expose the lies and text messages that brought down former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and decades of digging around City Hall have left him with stories, sourc-
es, and institutional memory few local journalists can match. On ML Soul of Detroit, Elrick and his crew mix politics, investigations, local characters, history, and the stories behind the stories, usually with plenty of wisecracks along the way. Detroit can be complicated, absurd, and occasionally unbelievable. Elrick has been around long enough to know why.
BEST LOCAL SCANDAL WAITING TO HAPPEN
DPD’S EXPANDING SURVEILLANCE APPARATUS Detroit police can already follow cars with license plate readers, tap into cameras at more than 1,000 Project Green Light locations, use facial recognition, monitor gunshots, access freeway and traffic cameras, and deploy an assortment of other surveillance tools. Now DPD wants drones too. That might inspire more confidence if the department’s history with surveillance hadn’t already included false facial-recognition arrests and fights over public oversight. This summer, the city even submitted a $2.2 million federal grant application for the drone program before City Council approved it. Police surveillance keeps getting bigger. The safeguards and public scrutiny had better grow just as fast.
BEST PLACE TO LOSE FRIENDS OVER A BOARD GAME
THE CORNER Nothing tests a friendship quite like a board game, and The Corner in Ferndale gives you more than 500 ways to find out who your real friends are. The downtown hangout has shelves packed with classics, strategy games, party games, and plenty of choices capable of turning a perfectly pleasant night into a dispute over rules, alliances, or who definitely cheated. If you can’t decide what to play, there’s even a “game sommelier” to help. The Corner also has a full bar, more than 50 Michigan beers and ciders, and food delivered right to the table, which means there’s really no reason to stop until somebody flips the board.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR GETTING OUT OF TOWN WITHOUT REALLY GOING ANYWHERE
CRANBROOK Cranbrook is one of those places that makes you forget you’re still in metro Detroit. Spread across a sprawling Bloomfield Hills campus, it offers enough art, architecture, gardens, trails, and museums to fill an entire day without ever feeling like you drove very far. You can wander the grounds, visit Cranbrook Art Museum, geek out at the Institute of Science, tour Cranbrook House, or simply admire buildings designed by some of the biggest
names in modern architecture. It feels secluded, cultured, and vaguely European in a way that makes suburban traffic seem very far away. Then you get back in the car and remember Woodward is right there.
down, and discover that freighter watching is far more entertaining than it has any right to be.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR LOOKING BACK AT DETROIT BEST DAY TRIP FOR PRETENDING YOU LEFT MICHIGAN
FRANKENMUTH Frankenmuth has never been interested in subtlety. Michigan’s “Little Bavaria” gives you timber-framed buildings, German restaurants, a covered bridge, a glockenspiel, beer, giant chicken dinners, and Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland, which proudly refuses to acknowledge that Christmas is technically only one day a year. You can shop Main Street, ride the Bavarian Belle Riverboat, roll a pretzel at Bavarian Inn, and consume enough fried chicken to make the drive home feel medically inadvisable. Is it actually Germany? Absolutely not. But for a little more than an hour and a half from Detroit, the commitment to the illusion is impressive. Bring an appetite and embrace the lederhosen.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR EATING, DRINKING, AND WANDERING
ANN ARBOR Ann Arbor is close enough to Detroit that calling it a getaway feels slightly dramatic, but spend a Saturday there and it works. Park downtown and you can bounce between restaurants, bars, coffee shops, museums, galleries, boutiques, and an absurd number of bookstores without getting back in the car. Destination Ann Arbor says the city has more than 30 independent bookstores, while the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the city’s various downtown districts give you plenty to do between meals. The trick is not planning too much. Pick a neighborhood, start walking, and let lunch turn into shopping, shopping turn into drinks, and drinks turn into wondering where the hell you parked.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR WATCHING REALLY BIG BOATS
PORT HURON There is something strangely mesmerizing about watching a 600-foot freighter slowly glide past while you sit on shore doing absolutely nothing productive. Port Huron is one of the best places in Michigan to indulge that particular Great Lakes obsession. The St. Clair River narrows beneath the Blue Water Bridge, bringing massive ships surprisingly close to shore as they travel between Lake Huron and points south. When you’ve stared at enough maritime commerce, visit the Fort Gratiot Light Station Michigan’s oldest lighthouse hit the beach, or wander downtown. But really, the boats are the attraction. Find a spot along the water, sit
WINDSOR Sometimes the best view of Detroit requires leaving the country. Cross the tunnel or Ambassador Bridge into Windsor and suddenly the skyline you spend your life standing inside is stretched out across the river like somebody arranged it for a postcard. Windsor’s riverfront makes a great starting point, with parks, public art, and long stretches of waterfront for walking or biking, while downtown offers restaurants, bars, and enough to turn a border crossing into an actual day trip instead of a glorified dinner reservation. Just remember your passport, passport card, enhanced driver’s license, or another accepted border document. Leaving America for the afternoon is easy. Getting back in without ID is considerably less charming.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR STANDING AT THE BOTTOM OF CANADA
POINT PELEE NATIONAL PARK Drive south from Detroit, cross into Canada, keep going south, and eventually you reach a place that feels like geography is screwing with you. Point Pelee National Park extends into Lake Erie to the southernmost point of mainland Canada, where a shifting sand spit narrows until there is basically nowhere left to walk. Getting there is only part of the appeal. The park has beaches, forests, a marsh boardwalk, paddling, hiking trails, and extraordinary bird migration. More than 390 species have been recorded in the Point Pelee birding area. Parks Canada recommends giving the place a full day. We agree. The novelty gets you there. The park makes you glad you went.
BEST DAY TRIP FOR GOING TO OHIO ON PURPOSE
TOLEDO We know. Ohio. But hear us out. Toledo has quietly assembled one of the easiest culture-heavy day trips from Detroit, anchored by a museum that would be impressive in a city several times its size. The Toledo Museum of Art has free general admission and a Glass Pavilion where you can watch free glassblowing demonstrations. Then there’s the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, where the aquarium alone contains more than 3,000 aquatic animals in 178,000 gallons of water. Add restaurants and a drive of roughly an hour from Detroit, and suddenly crossing the state line doesn’t seem so terrible. Just don’t tell Ohio we said anything nice. We have a reputation to maintain.
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BEST PLACE TO SEE DETROIT SHOW UP FOR PRIDE
MOTOR CITY PRIDE For one weekend each June, Hart Plaza becomes the center of LGBTQ+ Michigan. Motor City Pride draws more than 65,000 people downtown for a massive festival and parade filled with music, DJs, drag, community organizations, vendors, dancing, and enough rainbow everything to temporarily alter the Detroit skyline. But Pride here has roots deeper than the party. The organization traces its history to Detroit’s first gay-rights march in 1972, when people took to the streets to protest discrimination and demand equality. More than half a century later, they’re still taking to the streets. Only now there are a hell of a lot more people joining them.
BEST PLACE TO BE YOURSELF BEFORE YOU’RE READY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF
AFFIRMATIONS Not everyone arrives at an LGBTQ+ community center with everything figured out. That’s kind of the point. Affirmations has served southeast Michigan since 1989 as a place where queer and trans people can find community without first producing a polished explanation of who they are. The Ferndale center offers support groups, affordable mental health care, health services, youth programming, social events, recovery resources, and spaces where people can simply hang out with others who might understand. About 30,000 people now pass through its doors annually. Coming out can involve declarations, labels, and difficult conversations. Sometimes what you need first is somewhere you can just walk in and be.
BEST PRIDE CELEBRATION WITH HISTORY BEHIND IT
HOTTER THAN JULY Hotter Than July isn’t simply another Pride festival that appeared when corporations discovered rainbow logos. LGBT Detroit launched the celebration in 1995, and in 2026 it marked its 31st anniversary as Detroit’s longest-running Black LGBTQ+ Pride celebration. It’s also much more than one afternoon in a park. Hotter Than July stretches across multiple events, including a candlelight vigil, candidate forum, art and film programming, nightlife, worship, and the beloved Palmer Park picnic. That combination of politics, culture, spirituality, history, and celebration is exactly the point. Pride was never supposed to be merely a party. Hotter Than July remembers where the party came from.
BEST LGBTQ+ NONPROFIT FOR SHOWING UP WHEN IT MATTERS
RUTH ELLIS CENTER There’s putting a rainbow flag in the window, and then there’s actually showing up for LGBTQ+ young people when they need somewhere to live, a doctor, counseling, food, support, or simply a safe place to exist. Ruth Ellis Center does the latter. Named for the legendary Black lesbian Detroiter who spent decades opening her own home to people who needed it, the Highland Park-based organization provides housing, primary and behavioral health care, drop-in services, HIV prevention, peer support, education, and employment help. Its supportive-housing programs alone have helped dozens of young people find stable homes. Ruth Ellis took care of her community. The organization bearing her name keeps doing the same.
BEST ORGANIZATION KEEPING BLACK LGBTQ+ DETROIT VISIBLE
LGBT DETROIT Long before “visibility” became a corporate Pride Month buzzword, LGBT Detroit was creating it. The organization traces its roots to KICK Publishing Company, founded in 1994 as one of the country’s earliest Black LGBTQ+ media companies, and eventually evolved into the nonprofit now known as LGBT Detroit. Today it works in advocacy, education, health, youth development, community organizing, and culture while producing Hotter Than July, Detroit’s long-running Black Pride celebration. Its mission is direct: activate, amplify, and sustain LGBT culture, education, advocacy, and human rights. In a city where Black queer life has too often been ignored by both mainstream and LGBTQ+ institutions, being visible is no small thing.
BEST PLACE TO BE LOUD, QUEER, AND OUTSIDE
FERNDALE PRIDE Ferndale Pride spills across downtown like the city decided streets were more useful as dance floors. Michigan’s largest free LGBTQ+ Pride festival takes over West Nine Mile with more than 220 vendors, multiple stages, community organizations, local businesses, performers, families, dancing, and tens of thousands of people who have absolutely no intention of keeping things understated. That it remains free matters, too. Since launching in 2011, Ferndale Pride has also given more than $500,000 back to the community. Pride can be political, intimate, messy, joyful, and very loud. In Ferndale, you can do all of that outdoors right in the middle of town, exactly where everyone can see you.
BEST HAPPY HOUR FOR DRINKING SOMEWHERE HAUNTED
THE GHOSTBAR AT THE WHITNEY If your ideal happy hour comes with a side of paranormal activity, The Ghostbar at The Whitney has you covered. Tucked inside one of Detroit’s most famously “haunted” mansions, the third-floor bar serves cocktails in a setting where the ghost stories are nearly as much of a draw as the drinks. The Whitney has collected plenty of tales over the years about unexplained footsteps, apparitions, and other things that go bump in the night. Whether you believe any of it is up to you. Either way, there are worse places to grab a drink than a gorgeous Gilded Age mansion with a little supernatural baggage.
CASINOS BEST PLACE TO PRETEND YOU’RE IN VEGAS WITHOUT LEAVING DETROIT
MGM GRAND DETROIT MGM Grand Detroit is the closest you can get to the full Vegas-resort experience without spending four hours on a plane or voluntarily entering the Nevada desert. There’s a sprawling casino, luxury hotel, D.PRIME steakhouse, bars, an award-winning spa, and an indoor saltwater infinity pool. You could check in Friday night, eat an enormous steak, order cocktails, get a massage, swim, and emerge Sunday having barely acknowledged the outside world. Is it Vegas? No. But neither is there a six-hour flight delay waiting for you at the end.
BEST CASINO STAYCATION
MGM GRAND DETROIT Sometimes a vacation requires airfare, luggage, and weeks of planning. Sometimes it requires driving downtown and refusing to leave the building until tomorrow. MGM Grand Detroit makes the second option surprisingly convincing. Book a room, disappear into IMMERSE Spa, float around the indoor saltwater infinity pool, dress up for dinner at D.PRIME, and enjoy several cocktails without worrying about who has to drive home. The casino is there if you want it, but the real luxury may be waking up somewhere other than your own bedroom without ever having to explain yourself to TSA.
BEST CASINO FOR LOSING YOURSELF AT THE SPA INSTEAD
MGM GRAND DETROIT A casino offers plenty of ways to make several hours disappear. We prefer the
one involving a robe. MGM Grand Detroit’s IMMERSE Spa offers massages, facials, body treatments, and other opportunities to temporarily forget that emails, deadlines, and responsibilities exist. There’s also an indoor saltwater infinity pool nearby if your preferred form of gambling is seeing whether you can spend an entire afternoon doing absolutely nothing productive. The slot machines will still be there when you’re finished. Or don’t go back at all. Sometimes the smartest bet in the building is putting your money on a massage.
BEST PLACE TO SPEND YOUR MONEY SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE CASINO FLOOR
MGM GRAND DETROIT Casinos are famously good at providing ways to part with your money. MGM Grand Detroit simply gives you considerably more choices about how to do it. There’s D.PRIME for steaks and seafood, TAP for pub food and drinks, a hotel, IMMERSE Spa, and an indoor infinity pool waiting when you need to recover from all that spending. You could easily leave with a significantly lighter wallet without pulling a slot handle or knowing the first thing about blackjack. The difference is that a steak, massage, and nice hotel room are all things you can definitely take away from the transaction.
BEST PLACE TO GAMBLE ON WHETHER THE ENCORE WILL BE WORTH IT
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL The most interesting bets at MotorCity Casino Hotel may happen inside Sound Board. The intimate theater holds up to 2,400 people and brings nationally known musicians, comedians, and other performers close enough that even a big-name show can still feel relatively personal. The 2026 calendar has included artists ranging from country star Trace Adkins to Detroit R&B favorite Dwele. Will the performer come back for an encore? Will they play the song everyone has been waiting for? Those are odds we’re far more comfortable discussing than anything happening downstairs on the casino floor.
BEST CASINO WHERE THE HEADLINER IS ACTUALLY THE HEADLINER
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL At some casinos, entertainment feels like another amenity wedged between the buffet and the blackjack tables.
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MotorCity built Sound Board into a destination of its own. The 2,400-person theater regularly books nationally known musicians, comedians, and special events, with strong sightlines and enough intimacy that the performer doesn’t look like a tiny person occupying the distant end of an arena. You don’t need to gamble before the show, after the show, or at all. Buy the ticket, grab a drink, see somebody you actually came to see, and go home. Sometimes the biggest attraction inside a casino should simply be the person onstage.
BEST CASINO FOR PEOPLE WHO’D RATHER BET ON LIVE MUSIC
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL We’re much better at predicting whether Dwele will put on a good show than whether the next card is going to be a seven. Fortunately, MotorCity Casino Hotel gives music fans plenty to do. Sound Board brings nationally known performers into a relatively intimate theater, while Radio Bar keeps live DJs going on Fridays and Saturdays. Add dinner at Revel Steak and you have an entire casino night without needing to understand odds, table minimums, or why somebody beside you suddenly yelled at a card. Our money is on the music. At least when that hits, everybody wins.
BEST CASINO FOR STARTING IN GREEKTOWN AND SEEING WHERETHE NIGHT GOES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN Hollywood Casino at Greektown Hollywood Casino at Greektown has one enormous advantage that has nothing to do with gambling. Step outside and you’re already in one of downtown Detroit’s busiest entertainment districts. Dinner can become drinks, drinks can become another bar, somebody can suggest walking into the casino, and suddenly the evening bears little resemblance to the one you planned. Comerica Park, Ford Field, restaurants, bars, and downtown are all nearby, making the casino less a destination than another possible chapter in the night. Greektown rewards a willingness to improvise. Start somewhere. You’ll figure out the rest later.
BEST CASINO FOR PEOPLE-WATCHING
HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN Metro Times gave Greektown this award years ago, and some categories simply refuse to become obsolete. The casino sits in the middle of one of downtown’s most heavily trafficked nightlife districts, drawing tourists, sports fans, downtown workers, suburban partiers, serious gamblers, people killing time before dinner, and people whose evening plans have clearly taken an unexpected turn.
Find a comfortable perch and the crowd becomes its own entertainment. Casinos promise excitement, but sometimes the best show is watching everybody else experience theirs. We’ve been studying Detroit people for decades. Greektown continues to provide excellent fieldwork.
BEST CASINO FOR ACCIDENTALLY STAYING OUT LONGER THAN PLANNED
HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN Greektown is dangerous to anyone who begins an evening with the words “I’m not staying out late.” You can eat dinner, walk to another bar, wander into Hollywood Casino, lose track of whichever friend suggested one more drink, and discover that midnight somehow became 3 a.m. without anyone filing the appropriate paperwork. The casino’s downtown location makes it particularly easy to keep changing the plan because there is always somewhere else nearby to go. Responsible adults can certainly enjoy Greektown and return home at a reasonable hour. We’ve heard reports.
BEST CASINO FOR BRINGING OUT-OF-TOWNERS
HOLLYWOOD CASINO AT GREEKTOWN When somebody visits Detroit for the first time, you probably don’t want to strand them inside one building all
night. Hollywood Casino at Greektown gives visitors the casino experience while putting them in the middle of downtown, within easy reach of stadiums, bars, restaurants, and some of the city’s busiest streets. Walk around Greektown, grab dinner, show them the city, stop at the casino if everyone feels like it, and keep moving. The best Detroit introduction involves actually seeing Detroit. Here, the casino can be part of the tour rather than the entire itinerary.
BEST CASINO FOR EATING LIKE YOU ALREADY WON
MGM GRAND DETROIT You don’t need a winning night at the tables to order like you had one. D.PRIME at MGM Grand Detroit serves steaks, seafood, cocktails, and all the other things designed to make an ordinary dinner feel financially confident. The modern steakhouse is polished without becoming hopelessly stuffy, making it a perfectly good place to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, promotion, or imaginary jackpot. Order the steak you really want. Add the side dish nobody needs. Have another cocktail. You may not have won anything downstairs, but nobody at the table needs to know that.
BEST CASINO FOR DINNER AND A SHOW
MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL MotorCity has made date-night logistics unusually simple. Start at Revel Steak, where the steakhouse atmosphere comes without too much formality, then walk over to Sound Board for a concert or comedy show in one of Detroit’s more intimate major venues. If the night still feels young afterward, Radio Bar hosts DJs and live music on weekends. Dinner, drinks, entertainment, and a hotel are all under one roof, meaning nobody has to spend half the evening moving cars around Detroit. Gambling is entirely optional. The logistical victory is guaranteed.
BEST PLACE TO DRINK LIKE YOU HIT THE JACKPOT
MGM GRAND DETROIT
Burn1 is a cannabis consumption lounge connected to Bowdega in Utica.
STEVE NEAVLING
Winning is a state of mind, particularly when nobody asks to see the receipt. MGM Grand Detroit offers plenty of places to raise a glass, from cocktails over dinner at D.PRIME to drinks at TAP and elsewhere around the resort. Order something celebratory, toast whatever minor accomplishment got you through the week, and enjoy the pleasantly irrational confidence of someone who just beat the house. Did you actually win anything? Completely beside the point. A good cocktail doesn’t need documentary evidence.
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CANNABIS BEST WEED DEALS IN UTICA
BOWDEGA/ PUFF UTICA There’s no shortage of cannabis deals around metro Detroit, but Bowdega/ Puff Utica stands out by pairing low prices with one of the largest selections in Macomb County. The shelves are packed with flower, pre-rolls, vapes, concentrates, edibles, and just about everything else, with rotating specials that make it easy to stretch a cannabis budget without settling for slim pickings. Whether you’re hunting for a bargain ounce, stocking up on high-quality concentrates, or just looking for more options than you know what to do with, Bowdega/Puff Utica makes comparison shopping almost unnecessary. And if you’re not certain what you’re looking for, the budtenders are kind, patient, and knowledgeable. BEST STONER INSTITUTION
B.D.T. SMOKE SHOPS B.D.T. was selling pipes, rolling papers, bongs, and other stoner essentials back when openly celebrating weed could make a business the neighborhood black sheep. The Hazel Park institution has been around since 1973, surviving decades of prohibition, changing laws, and a culture that eventually caught up with it. Today, the family business has come full circle. Owner Curt Goure’s daughter, Dana Elgie, runs The Hive next door, a women-led dispensary that grows and sells its own high-quality flower on site. Long before cannabis became a billion-dollar industry, B.D.T. was already there for the people who loved it. Turns out the old head shop was just ahead of its time.
BEST DISPENSARY FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR WEED
THE REFINERY The Refinery is the kind of dispensary where experienced cannabis consumers can spend a long time studying the menu. The west-side Detroit shop has one of the biggest selections around, with a sprawling flower deli, shelves of top-shelf brands, and an unusually deep lineup of live rosin. It’s also the place to find the widest selection of Hytek, its sister cultivation brand and one of Detroit’s most consistently good flower producers. Prices are often surprisingly low for the quality, and new customers get generous deals on their first three visits. Whether you’re hunting for great flower or serious solventless concentrates, there’s a good chance The Refinery has what you’re looking for.
BEST WEED GROWN IN DETROIT
HYTEK Hytek has become one of the safest bets for anyone looking for top-shelf weed grown in Detroit. Its flower has long stood out for strong genetics, careful cultivation, and reliable quality across its impressively deep lineup. Over the past year, Hytek has also seriously stepped up its live rosin, turning out solventless concentrates that are as good as anything the industry has to offer. Whether you prefer rolling up or dabbing, Hytek has become one of the clearest examples of just how good Detroit-grown weed can be.
BEST VIBE AT A DISPENSARY
THE HIVE The Hive feels less like a weed superstore and more like the neighborhood dispensary that cannabis culture was supposed to produce. The woman-owned, independent Hazel Park shop grows its own fresh, high-quality flower and keeps the shelves stocked with an impressive selection of topshelf rosin and other concentrates. But what really sets The Hive apart is the atmosphere. The staff knows the products, the space feels welcoming rather than corporate, and there’s a genuine connection to the community and to B.D.T., the longtime head shop next door. Plenty of dispensaries can sell you good weed. The Hive makes you actually want to hang around. Bee-lieve the buzzzz.
owners unusual control over what reaches the shelves. The result is consistently fresh, flavorful flower and some of the best live rosin in Michigan, with distinctive strains like X-22, New York Minute, Papaya Van Winkle, and Kenny-Paz. The rustic shop has become a destination for cannabis connoisseurs from around the state. And once you’re stocked up, Bay City’s riverfront, historic downtown, and sprawling antique center give you plenty of reasons not to turn around and immediately head home.
BEST DEAL ON LIVE ROSIN BEST CANNABIS PREROLL
PENINSULA GARDENS A preroll is only as good as the flower inside it, and Peninsula Gardens starts with some of the best in Michigan. Its joints are consistently well rolled, smooth-smoking, and packed with the same high-quality flower the Lake Orion cultivator sells in the deli or mylar bags. The strain selection is another reason to keep coming back, with favorites like Electric Peanut Butter Cookie, Candy Blues, Runtz, Lantz, and Plan Z. Even the packaging feels a little more thoughtful, with prerolls tucked into sleek glass tubes instead of disposable plastic. The same attention Peninsula Gardens gives to its flower carries over to its prerolls, making them a reliable option. Unlike a lot of cultivators, Peninsula Gardens uses premium flower to roll its joints. You’ll taste and feel the difference.
BEST DISPENSARY FOR PREMIUM LIVE ROSIN
BEST SPECIALTY PREROLL
NATURE’S REMEDY
INFORMATION ENTROPY CANNONS
Nature’s Remedy is a rosin lover’s dream. The cozy Ferndale dispensary stocks an unusually deep selection of high-end solventless concentrates from brands like 710 Labs, Polare, Hunna Hash, Eastside Alchemy, Hytek, Information Entropy, LightSky Farms, Monopoly Melts, and Peninsula Gardens. Its 710 Labs lineup is especially impressive, with one of the biggest selections in the state. The budtenders know their products, the room feels welcoming rather than corporate, and nobody rushes you through a menu. For serious dabbers, few shops make choosing the right jar this much fun.
BEST DISPENSARY FOR A DAY TRIP
SUPERIOR FLOWERS Superior Flowers is reason enough to make the drive to Bay City. The tiny, owner-operated dispensary grows, washes, presses, packages, and sells everything on-site, giving its three
2.5-gram Neapolitan. They’re handpacked with quality flower, not trim or shake, loaded generously with live rosin, and consistently fresh, flavorful, and heavy-hitting. The Neapolitan is the masterpiece, layering three different flowers with three complementary rosins into a joint that evolves as it burns. It’s excessive for all the right reasons. Plenty of brands make infused prerolls. Ice Kream Hash Co. takes them to another new level.
Information Entropy’s two-gram Cannons are for people who think a regular joint just isn’t enough. Packed with the Ann Arbor cultivator’s own flower and finished with a wood tip, they burn smoothly, draw easily, and give strains like Mandarin Z, Limon Mandarina, Grapeheadz, Dragonfruit, Runtz, Sherb Cake, Project Z, Apples & Bananas, and Motorbreath #15 plenty of room to show off. The Apples & Bananas Cannon is a standout, with rich notes of funk, fruit, and spice coming through on every pull. These are big, flavorful joints made to be shared, though nobody says you have to.
BEST ROSIN-INFUSED PREROLL
ICE KREAM HASH CO. Ice Kream Hash Co. has turned the rosin-infused preroll into something of an art form. The Michigan hash maker offers an unusually deep lineup, from potent half-gram Single Scoops to one-gram joints and the massive
EXOTIC MATTER Exotic Matter has figured out how to make high-end hash without attaching a luxury price tag. The small-batch Michigan cultivator produces flavorful, smooth live rosin that can cost roughly half as much as many premium competitors, with two-gram jars offering some of the best value in the state. The strain lineup is deep too, with standouts like Papaya, Orange Yuzu, Blue Yuzu, Z, Purple Drank, P-Funk, Lemon Fuel, and Moroccan Peaches. Exotic Matter keeps production intentionally small and puts quality ahead of volume. The result is hash that tastes expensive without actually being expensive.
BEST CANNABIS VAPES
WOJO Wojo takes the same award-winning live rosin it puts in jars and makes it considerably easier to carry around. Its half-gram Wo-Go vapes are small, discreet, simple to use, and filled with pure live rosin without additives or fillers. The hardware is designed to preserve flavor and terpenes, and the pens are filled in small batches to help keep the oil fresh. That attention to quality has paid off too, with Wojo taking first place for live rosin vape at the 2025 Best in Grass awards. Good rosin already speaks for itself. Wojo just found a very convenient way to take it with you.
BEST LIVE ROSIN STRAIN
DEATH COAST Death Coast is made for people who like their rosin loud, funky, and unapologetically gassy. A cross of Death Star and Sour Diesel, the strain delivers a pungent mix of sour fuel, earth, and burnt rubber that leaps out of the jar and can make a room smell like a burning tire shop. Michigan hash makers have embraced it, with standout versions from Polare and collaborations featuring Matty B Stackers, among others. The best batches are fresh, smooth, terp-heavy, flavorful, and potent. In a market overflowing
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with fruit and candy strains, Death Coast is a welcome reminder that sometimes you want your hash to stink up the room.
BEST FLOWER STRAIN
TOAD VENOM Toad Venom has become one of Michigan’s most sought-after strains, even as some versions command topshelf prices. The hype comes from a distinctive mix of sweet cream, candy, citrus, gas, and funk, backed by sticky, resin-heavy buds and a potent high that tends to hit hard. Several Michigan growers have taken a crack at it, including Seed Junky, Pro Gro, and Mitten Canna, giving flower heads plenty to compare. Prices can climb well above what most people want to spend on an eighth, but Toad Venom keeps selling anyway. Sometimes the market gets carried away. Sometimes the weed really is that good.
BEST CREATIVE EDIBLES
HEY! CAPTAIN Hey! Captain seems determined to rescue dispensary shelves from endless rows of gummies. The Lansing-based brand has built a following with genuinely unusual edibles, including freeze-dried candies, ice cream bites, THC-infused potato chips, cheese crackers, and nug-shaped white chocolate. The creativity isn’t just a gimmick. Founder Kirk Reid has spent years refining fast-acting, full-spectrum edibles, and his creations have won numerous cannabis awards. The savory Taters are especially inspired, coming in flavors like spicy dill pickle and Michigan cherry BBQ. Plenty of brands can put THC in candy. Hey! Captain keeps asking a much more entertaining question: what else can we get high from?
BEST CANNABIS COMPETITION
ZALYMPIX MICHIGAN Plenty of cannabis competitions hand out trophies. Organized by Exotic Matters, Zalympix actually makes cultivators earn them. The annual competition starts with more than 100 flower and rosin submissions judged anonymously by an industry panel, with only the strongest entries advancing to the public round. That means the judge kits really do contain some of Michigan’s best weed, not simply whoever paid to participate. This year’s kits feature 27 flower finalists and 20 live rosin finalists from many of the state’s top cultivators, with consumers judging everything from flavor and terps to potency and overall quality.
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If you want to know who’s making Michigan’s best weed, Zalympix is one competition worth paying attention to.
BEST CANNABIS DRINK FOR REPLACING THE BEER IN YOUR HAND
HIGHLY CASUAL Cannabis drinks finally make sense when they stop pretending to be medicinal tonics and start offering something you’d drink at a party. Highly Casual, made in Mount Clemens through a collaboration between Pleasantrees and Blake’s, offers THC-infused sparkling drinks in several strengths, giving cannabis consumers an alternative to both alcohol and another gummy. The low-dose options are especially useful for people who want to sip something socially without getting launched into another dimension halfway through the can. Michigan grows plenty of weed and makes plenty of beverages. Highly Casual figured out how to combine the two into a delicious drink you’d hand out at barbecues.
BEST CANNABIS MICRO BUSINESS
THE HIVE AT B.D.T. The Hive has its flower dialed in. The Hazel Park microbusiness grows its own weed on-site, which means the buds hitting the shelves are consistently fresh, pungent, and properly cared for, instead of sitting around for months in some warehouse. Better yet, the prices are surprisingly reasonable for cannabis this good, making The Hive one of those rare places where “craft” doesn’t mean expensive. The selection changes regularly, but the quality rarely does. And flower is only part of the attraction. The Hive has also built an impressive live rosin selection, including a rosin deli that lets concentrate fans see the solventless hash as they stop. In a market overflowing with weed, The Hive proves smallscale cannabis can still do it better.
BEST WEED FOR PEOPLE WHO STILL MISS 2010
517 PREMIER CANNABIS FARMS Remember when dispensary menus were full of Sour Diesel, OG Kush, and Headband, instead of strains named after cereal, candy, and whatever somebody found in the snack aisle? 517 Premier Cannabis Farms hasn’t forgotten. The Lansing-area grower keeps old-school gas alive with 517 Headband, a legacy OG Kush x Sour Diesel cut, along with Private Reserve OG and Spartan OG. The Headband took Gassiest Flower at the 2025 Michigan
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Zalympix, while Spartan OG won the same honor in 2024. If pine, diesel, citrus, and kush are still your preferred terpenes, welcome back to 2010. Your weed missed you too.
BEST WEED FOR DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
OGKB2.1 FROM MI LOUD OGKB2.1 is designed for slowing down and melting away stress. MI Loud’s heavy-hitting cross of OG Kush Breath and Dosido is earthy, gassy, a little sweet, and very good at luring you to the couch. The family-run Jackson grow has built its reputation on small-batch, terpene-rich flower that’s properly dried and slow-cured instead of rushed out the door. OGKB2.1 has become one of its standouts, delivering the kind of deeply relaxing, euphoric high best paired with zero obligations, a comfortable chair, and absolutely no plans to improve yourself.
about it. Plenty of dispensaries want to be sleek retail experiences. Information Entropy feels more like you came to worship at the altar of terpenes.
BEST STRAIN FOR PRETENDING MICHIGAN HAS PALM TREES
YELLOW MERMAID #11 BY TIP TOP CROP Michigan may be short on palm trees, but Yellow Mermaid #11 does a pretty convincing impression of somewhere much warmer. Tip Top Crop’s sativa-leaning cross of Yellow Zushi and Bebesita hits with sugary Zkittlez-style candy flavor, bright citrus, and a strangely specific dried-pineapple sweetness that makes the tropical name feel earned. The small-batch Michigan cultivator says it selects strains with an emphasis on flavor, effect, and smokeability, and Yellow Mermaid checks all three boxes. The high stays upbeat, clear-headed, and creative, instead of sending the afternoon off the rails. Close your eyes, take a hit, and February in Michigan isn’t your problem.
BEST STRAIN THAT TASTES LIKE BREAKFAST
CRUNCH BERRIES BY GROWING PAINS Some strain names are pure marketing. Crunch Berries actually earns it. Growing Pains’ indica-dominant cross of Kimber Slice and Sweet Retreat comes through with a sweet, berry-heavy flavor that really does land somewhere between sugary cereal and candy, followed by a relaxing, euphoric high that can get pleasantly heavy. The Paw Paw cultivator has built a reputation for obsessing over genetics, flavor, and small-batch flower, growing from a basement operation into one of Michigan’s most respected cannabis brands. Crunch Berries feels perfectly on brand with its distinctive genetics, strong flavor, and just enough nostalgia to make you wonder whether there’s milk in the fridge.
BEST WAKE-AND-BAKE STRAIN
LIME HEADZ BY PENINSULA GARDENS Some morning strains wake you up. Lime Headz practically throws open the blinds. Peninsula Gardens’ bright, citrusy flower delivers an energetic, clear-headed high that makes it a natural fit for daytime smoking, especially when you want to feel good without immediately forgetting what you were supposed to be doing. The Lake Orion cultivator has become one of Michigan’s most dependable cannabis producers, turning out excellent flower along with strong prerolls, vapes, and live rosin. Lime Headz is a good example of why. It’s flavorful, lively, and functional enough to pair with coffee.
BEST LIVE ROSIN THUMBPRINT BEST DISPENSARY THAT FEELS LIKE A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
INFORMATION ENTROPY Information Entropy’s Ann Arbor shop is housed in a former church, and frankly, the conversion makes sense. The vaulted ceilings, arched windows, dark wood floors, and hanging lights give the place the kind of reverence usually reserved for something holier than live rosin. Then you get to the menu, which is stacked with Information Entropy’s own excellent flower and concentrates, alongside some of Michigan’s best cultivators. It’s calm, beautiful, and unusually serious about good weed without becoming pretentious
710 LABS + FEAR OF BOOF Thumbprints are already a fun excuse to put two different rosins in the same jar, but this collaboration makes the format feel genuinely special. 710 Labs contributed SB36#1 sauce, while Fear of Boof brought Orange Z badder, pairing two cultivators with strong reputations and some of the loudest orange terps around. Crack the jar and the smell takes over the room, with bright citrus, sweet orange, and plenty of funk. Both strains smoke smooth and flavorful on their own, but together they’re just ridiculously good. Two great rosins, two respected growers, one very hard jar to put down. metrotimes.com | September 16-29, 2026 105
CULTURE Savage Love Stay With Us by Dan Savage Dear Readers: I’m on a vacation (and bed rest) this week. Please enjoy this selection of letters from three previously published columns. — Dan
Q: Borrowing Gen Z’s love for labelling
everything, I’m a 46-year-old homoromantic asexual Canadian faggot. For me that means I’d like to love and be loved by another man but I’d hate having sex with him. To add a vexing complication, I also need some sort of power imbalance. Ideally, I would fall somewhere between being a man’s sub and being his slave. I’ve been searching for this since I came out in my early twenties. I’ve tried everything. Online, bars, hobby groups, friends, hookups. Vanilla relationships, single Masters, dominant couples, sex workers. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on both men and therapy, but here I am busted, miserable, and alone. The point is that no one — and I mean absolutely no one — wants what I want. My dream dude doesn’t exist. It’s easy to tell someone to move on, that there are other fish in the sea, etc., but sometimes your sea is a puddle and you really are the only guppy. I’m considering ending my life before the end of the year. I can’t shake the deep sadness and disappointment and misery that I feel, Dan, and this isn’t even touching on my current unemployment or newly-chronic health issues. What would you do if you were in my shoes? How does one switch off the built-in romantic drive? —Sought A Dom Accepting Sad Singlehood
A: I’m sorry you haven’t found your
ideal man, SADASS, or the right dominant couple or a vanilla guy you could love or a dominant sex worker you could see on the side. Not everyone finds their ideal mate/position/situation, despite our best efforts, which is why it’s important we build lives for ourselves that are rich and rewarding while we look for our dream dude(s). Because then even if we’re unhappily single — or we find ourselves unhappily single again — we would still have meaning and pleasure in our lives. And that makes it easier for us to live in hope that, should all the planets align, it could still happen for us or happen for us again. (Please note: I’m qualifying “single” with “unhappy” here not because all single people are unhappy — which is absolutely untrue — but because this single person, SADASS, is unhappy.) I have to assume it has happened for you once or twice, SADASS. While none of your relationships with any of the vanilla guys, single Masters, dominant couples, or sex workers you’ve met
along the way turned into long-term connections, there had to have been some good times and real — if not lasting — connections over the years. Instead of seeing those relationships as a string of failures because they ended, SADASS, you could choose to see them as a series of successful short-term relationships. And while you may regret that none lasted for years or decades, there’s nothing about being partnered that immunizes a person against loss, regret, or future singleness. If you were still with one of those vanilla guys, you might always regret not meeting a Master; if you were with a Master or a dominant couple, you might regret — from time to time — not having a more egalitarian relationship. Although you say you’re not interested in having sex, SADASS, your interests are erotically charged. If your erotic-if-not-sexual fantasies are causing you distress — if you want to switch off your built-in romantic/erotic drive — anti-depressants often lower and sometimes tank a person’s libido. For most people that’s an unwelcome side effect, but you may find it a blessing, SADASS, at least for now, SADASS, while you’re dealing with your health and employment issues. It’s an extreme move but it’s far less extreme than the one you’ve been contemplating, so it might be worth discussing with a sex-positive, kink-positive, reality-aware therapist. And you do sound legitimately depressed, so. Finally, please don’t end your life. The world is a far more interesting place with you in it. And while finding a romantic partner is never the solution to our problems — it’s always the start of a whole different set of problems — I’ve heard from countless people over the years who found something close to what they were looking for in their fifties, sixties, and even seventies. But it can’t happen for you if you aren’t here for it. Crisis Services Canada maintains a 24-hour suicide-prevention hotline: 833456-4566. In the United States please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255. Originally published October 20, 2020.
Q: I’ve always wanted to tie girls up,
but I can never convince a woman to let me. Lately, I’ve been exploring “bondage singles” sites online, but I’m totally new to this. How do I know which ones I can
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trust? There are hundreds of profiles, but it’s hard for me to believe I can really just answer an ad, meet a girl in a hotel room, and tie her up. It can’t be that simple, can it? —The Internet’s Enticing Dames
A: It can’t be and it isn’t, TIED, because no woman in her right mind is going to let some man she’s never met before tie her up in a hotel room. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen or hasn’t ever happened, but women stupid enough to take that risk are rare — and it should go without saying that any singles website promising to provide lonely guys with an endless stream of stupid women is a scam. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Justin Gorbey is a bondage practitioner and educator, as well as a professional artist and tattooer. Gorbey ties up a lot of women, as you can see on his Instagram account (@daskinbaku), and he doesn’t think you’re going to find someone on a “bondage singles” site, either. “I would recommend this person step away from the dating sites and step into some educational group meet-ups or ‘munches,’” said Gorbey. “TIED or any new person should focus on groups that match their own desires/interests, and connections will develop organically with time and effort—with a lot of fucking time and effort!” Kink social and education groups organize online but meet up offline — face-to-face, IRL, in meatspace — at munches (educational talks, no actual play) and play parties (actual play, hence the name). To find the kink organization(s) in your area, TIED, Gorbey suggests that you create a profile on FetLife, the biggest social network for kinky people, and start connecting with other like-minded kinksters at munches. “Going to munches will not only give TIED a chance to meet people,” said Gorbey, “they’ll give him a ‘guide’ for how to act — most groups generally go over house safe words/etiquette/ rules and consent/risk awareness at the beginning of a munch — and they’ll also give what I call a ‘visual vocabulary’ of what a real-life scene looks like. Porn and fetish fantasy often distort our perceptions of what is plausible or even possible for real people in a real-life scenario. Just watching others play helped me identify the things I found attractive as both a top and a bottom.” There are lots of men and women out there who are interested in bondage, TIED, and the organized kink scene is the best place for someone like you to find both mentors and play partners. You’ll be able to interact with kinky women at munches and parties, women who will be a lot likelier to let you tie them up after you’ve demonstrated you’re safe and sane yourself. “There are hours of intimacy before and after the moment captured for an Instagram photo,” said Gorbey. “These relationships require trust, vulnerability, and communication. These acts require a lot of hard work and commit-
ment, and they expose a person to risk. That’s why the only responsible answer to TIED’s question is to seek education first and play partners second.” Follow Justin Gorbey on Instagram @ daskinbaku. Originally published November 13, 2018.
Q: I’m a fortysomething gay male professor at a small college. I try hard not to get attracted to students, and usually succeed. But it’s tough to resist temptation when you’re surrounded by hot, smart, fun, horny young guys in a rural area with not many other options. Over the past several years, I’ve ended up having sex with several students. None of them were students I was currently teaching or likely to teach, and two had graduated. I’m not actually violating college policy, which only bans faculty from getting involved with students they’re currently teaching. I haven’t ever done anything on campus or made the first move—and when one of them starts trying to hit on me, I’ve usually mustered the willpower to ignore him. On rare occasions when I’ve ended up letting my cock do the thinking, I’ve treated my younger partners with kindness and respect and observed your campsite rule. All of these younger guys solemnly swore to keep our extracurricular activities secret, but still, word might leak out, and I don’t want to become known on campus as one of “those” professors. Most important, I don’t want my queer male students—many of whom look to me for mentorship—to think I’m grooming them for sex after I’m no longer teaching them, and I don’t want my female and straight male students to feel like second-class citizens. On the other hand, I’m a sex-positive person who believes that happy, consensual banging has its own intrinsic value. I tend to be attracted to younger guys, and I think part of the attraction is that they’re less jaded about sex and more excited. Fucking them feels less transactional than the typical hi-bang-jizz-wipe-bye Grindr hookup that seems to be the norm with gay guys in their 30s and older. I’m struggling with how I should feel about these off-campus romps. We’re all adults, and we’re not breaking any rules. Obviously, the behavior is professionally risky for me, probably foolhardy. But is it immoral? Above all, what should I do when future opportunities present themselves? —Professor Horn-Dog For the full article, check it out on metrotimes.com Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@ savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love
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