A Michigan city and restaurants get big accolades on national level

It was a busy news week in the culinary world with the announcement that the Michelin Guide is launching an edition focused on the Great Lakes region, including eligible restaurants in Detroit and in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

But historic Michelin news aside, metro Detroit’s and Michigan’s culinary scene, from Midtown Detroit to Traverse City, continues to receive other, nationwide accolades.

One big shoutout comes from the magazine that named Traverse City its Food City of the Year.

Midwest Living magazine cited Traverse City in March, and Michigan restaurants fared well across categories in its annual Best of the Midwest Awards. 

“Traverse City is having a moment. No longer celebrated only for its blue-green Lake Michigan shoreline, white pine-lined inland lakes, and pastoral countryside, this northern Michigan destination is also making waves for its culinary community,” Midwest Living wrote. 

Traverse City is known for its surrounding rich agriculture and wine growing, known as AVAs, or American Viticultural Area, and defined as so for the area's growing conditions.  

In its write-up on Traverse City, Midwest Living cited more than a dozen of the area's restaurants, including the Cooks’ House, Modern Bird and Trattoria Stella.

The hottest seats in Michigan

As part of Midwest Living's annual award, there are several categories. On the magazine's list of 13 restaurants as having the hottest seats in the country, three are from Michigan. 

• Little Kim in Ann Arbor, from Ji Hye Kim, a five-time James Beard Award semifinalist, opened across the alleyway from Kim’s Miss Kim. “The vibe is fast-casual, but the flavors are chef-driven through and through,” according to Midwest Living. Little Kim opened in August 2025, with dishes at the new eatery reflecting the cuisine of Korea, Japan, China and India, while also highlighting local farms, producers and sustainability.

• Roar Brewing in Midtown opened a year ago and is Detroit’s first Black-owned brewery. Owned by Evan Fay, an Air Force veteran, the brewery’s flagship beer is a Honey Oat Stout that pairs with a selection of rotating beers, paired with classic bar food.  Billed as a community place, burgers and wings are on the menu and the Roar Brewery hosts sports watch parties, game nights and entertainment. 

• Tall Trees Cafe in Ferndale, Midwest Living wrote, “earned its perpetual lines the honest way − with sandwiches that actually deserve the hype.” The Ferndale lunch spot opened in 2024, and Midwest Living noted it for its spicy mortadella sandwich and other sandwiches on its small seasonal rotating menu. “The sandwich is perfect,” noted Free Press dining critic Lyndsay Green in a previous Free Press report. Tall Trees Cafe is from Mike Finsilver, who Green called a “master sandwich maker.”

Noted for its Detroit-style Pizza

On Midwest Living’s Best Pizza Restaurants is Michigan & Trumbull Pizza spot in Midtown. Detroit-style pizza continues to have its moment nationwide and globally. The magazine noted that while Michigan and Trumbull is not an original place for Detroit-style pizza, “we love Michigan and Trumbull’s modern edge and hometown pride,” the authors wrote. Named after Michigan and Trumbull streets. where the Detroit Tigers played for decades, “the pizzas have the most perfectly caramelized cheesy edges.”

Modern Bird in Traverse City, noted for its dishes that use locally sourced ingredients, was named to the New York Times 50 Best Restaurants in America right now list.

Food & Wine’s 2026 Global Tastemakers Award for the Top 10 Small US Cities for Food and Drink, once again, (the city made the 2025 list) included Traverse City and its restaurant scene. While Food & Wine noted “Northern Michigan’s spectacular scenery,” its “savvy restaurateurs are building something special on an agricultural foundation in the so-called Cherry Capital of the World.” The magazine gave a shoutout to notable and well-established restaurants like The Cooks’ House and Modern Bird, “whose Chicago transplants apply fine-dining chops to a globe-trotting menu.”

Food & Wine’s Global Tastemakers also list Detroit on its list of Top 10 US Cities for Pastry. The highlights include James Beard Award-winning Warda Pâtisserie, where owner and chef Warda Bouguettaya, a 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chef  “writes a love letter to her Algerian heritage and global inspirations in the form of black sesame financiers filled with glistening mango jelly, slices of custardy flan, and basil-infused lemon tarts piped with vanilla mascarpone cream.” Other places noted include ube cookies and pan de coco at Filipino-owned JP Makes and Bakes and Oak Park’s Forest Bakery; both places landed on the Detroit Free Press/Chevy Detroit 2025 Top 10 New Restaurants & Dining Experiences in metro Detroit.

In Michigan's northwest area of the lower peninsula, Traverse City has also been honored as one of the "best small town food scenes" in the nation, according to USA TODAY's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.