These 12 restaurants defined the past decade of dining in metro Detroit

Mark Kurlyandchik | Detroit Free Press

A few weeks back, Esquire food writer Jeff Gordinier took to Twitter to post a list of 12 restaurants that defined dining out in New York during the past decade.

Other journalists in other cities used it as a prompt to compile their own lists, and I thought it'd be an interesting and enlightening exercise to do one for (metro) Detroit.

Twelve restaurants that defined the past decade of eating in New York City, no particular order: Estela, The Cecil, Via Carota, Carbone, Mission Chinese Food, ABC Kitchen, Cosme, Atomix, The NoMad, Wildair, Sushi Nakazawa, Superiority Burger. — Jeff Gordinier (@JeffGordinier) December 5, 2019

This isn't a "best of" list. And some of the entrants aren't without their controversies. Rather, these locally owned food and beverage businesses help tell the story of metro Detroit's indie dining scene since 2010. In many ways, the landscape is unrecognizable from the beginning of the decade, and these 12 spots helped shift it in their own ways.

There are plenty of other places that aren't featured that one could make a case for. Townhouse transformed both a Birmingham street corner (particularly in summer) and a downtown Detroit one while introducing us to Jeremy Sasson's over-the-top (and growing) brand of hospitality. Joe Muer Seafood revived one of Detroit's most famous restaurants of yore while kicking off a mini trend of retro revivals (London Chop House, Caucus Club, et al). And even a place like Crispelli's seemed downright revolutionary in suburban Detroit circa 2012 when it brought its fast-casual, high-volume dining model and stone-fired Neapolitan style pies to the deep dish pizza capital of the world.

And the only reason Michael Symon's Roast — one of the city's most influential restaurants in ushering in the modern era — didn't make the list is because it opened in 2008. It's very much the spiritual ancestor to many of the restaurants that would succeed it in the following decade.

Still, the dozen restaurants below are the ones that I think help explain where we came from and we're at now. This list isn't comprehensive and is meant to spark a discussion rather than act as some sort of definitive endpoint.

Did we miss any? Disagree on any of the selections? Feel free to chime in with your take in the comments and join our recently launched Facebook group, Eat Drink Freep, where we discuss all things food and drink in metro Detroit.

Interested in Detroit-area restaurants, bars, craft beer and nightlife? Join our "Eat Drink Freep" Facebook Group to get news, recommendations and more!

Without further ado, here are the 12 restaurants that defined the past decade of dining in Detroit and its suburbs, listed in the order they opened.

Astro Coffee (July 2011)

It may seem strange to kick off a list of decade-defining restaurants with a cafe, but when Astro Coffee opened in what was still a mostly derelict stretch of Michigan Avenue in Corktown in 2011, it was the first of an incoming tide of third wave coffee shops that now dot the city. In addition to its dedication to sustainability and quality, its highly Instagrammable aesthetic and a killer egg sandwich, Astro recently spawned its own roastery and the Bon Appetit-lauded Ochre Bakery in Core City. These days, there are plenty of spots to get a decent cup of Joe in Detroit, but Astro remains among the best options.

Torino (April 2013)

Tasting menus abound in modern Detroit, from the more casual family-style "chef's selections" at places like Marrow and Magnet to the high-end coursed out affairs at the Chef's Table at the Foundation Hotel and Pernoi. But back in 2013, metro Detroit hadn't seen a conceptual tasting menu since Tribute closed at the end of the previous decade. Enter: Chef Garrett Lipar and his show-stopping, tasting-menu-only concept Torino, located in a former coffee shop, and featuring barely a kitchen to speak of. Torino garnered national press and attention, including a couple Rising Star Chef of the Year semifinalist nods for Lipar from the James Beard Foundation, and launched the career of one of the Detroit area's most visionary chefs while putting a little town called Ferndale on the culinary map. The run was short-lived, though, and Torino closed the following year after the health department deemed the kitchen insufficient for Lipar's ambitions. These days, Lipar can be found behind his spectacular eight-seat tasting counter Albena in Detroit.

Revolver (September 2013)

A decade ago, food trucks were all the rage, viewed as a more nimble version of restaurants without all the start-up costs — a good way to get into the restaurant business, the thinking went. And though food trucks now proliferate, their role in Detroit's dining scene was a tad overblown. Because, well, they're not so easy to run after all. Add maintenance costs and arcane laws in different municipalities to the equation and you get the idea. So the concept of pop-up dinners more or less took their place as a way for up-and-coming chefs to grow their brand and develop their concepts without a brick-and-mortar home. The scene was burgeoning in 2013 when co-founders Tunde Wey and Peter Dalinowski launched Revolver in Hamtramck with the simple idea of being a different kind of restaurant every weekend. Revolver helped legitimize the local pop-up scene and served as a launching pad for numerous chefs. Wey left shortly after the founding to become a culinary star and nationally respected food activist, but Dalinowski remains as programmer and headwaiter during the still-popular weekend dinners.

Detroit Vegan Soul (September 2013)

Sure, vegetarian restaurants like Seva and Inn Season have been plying their non-meat trade in the area for decades, but when Detroit Vegan Soul opened in a nascent West Village spot in 2013, it signified the start of the vegan dining trend that would sweep the city in intervening years while challenging the notions of what soul food could be. The link between diet and the high prevalence of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes in the African-American community is well-documented. DVS partners Erika Boyd and Kirsten Ussery-Boyd helped spawn a movement to counteract that. The partners opened a second location in Grandmont-Rosedale in 2017 and have inspired black-owned vegan food businesses like The Kitchen, by Cooking with Que and LIT Vegan Kitchen. There's a reason why Detroit keeps making PETA's annual list of vegan-friendly cities, and Detroit Vegan Soul had a big hand in it.

Wright & Co. (July 2014)

If the Sugar House served food, Detroit's first craft cocktail bar of the modern era would likely be in this place. But Wright & Co., a partnership between Detroit Optimist Society principal Dave Kwiatkowski and his frequent collaborator, chef Marc Djozlija, launched a hospitality group that has turned into a local food-and-dining superpower. Wright, which introduced many Tigers game revelers to the concept of small plates, was also one of the early dining entrants in a reviving downtown.

Selden Standard (November 2014)

If there's a spiritual torchbearer for Roast this decade, it's undoubtedly Selden Standard, a partnership of Evan Hansen and former Roast executive chef Andy Hollyday. The pair turned a rundown laundry in what was once a ragged stretch of the Cass Corridor into one of Detroit's most heralded and most copied restaurants. Its dedication to seasonality and local agriculture filtered through a lens of Mediterranean-tinged New American small plates kissed by wood fire seems less than novel these days, but Selden both kicked off the trend and perfected it while training a new generation of bar talent.

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles (January 2015)

With the long and ceaseless lines that formed for Kuzzo's in its early days, you'd think the northwest Detroit restaurant founded by a former NFL cornerback and his cousin had invented the concept of chicken and waffles. But no — they just did the dish well in a neighborhood ripe for a positive story. At a time when all the talk was about downtown's revival, Kuzzo's instead drew attention to the Avenue of Fashion and the plight of Detroit's neighborhoods. With its high rate of black-owned businesses, the Avenue has become a perennial stop for Democratic candidates seeking higher office, as evidenced by both Hillary Clinton and Gretchen Whitmer's visits to Kuzzo's during their respective campaigns, and Michael Bloomberg's reported recent visit to neighboring Good Times on the Ave just last week.

Republic Tavern (February 2015)

Seeing the old castle-like Grand Army of the Republic building come back to life was certainly a hopeful sign for area residents years before there was much hope for the Michigan Central Station. Republic, despite its unceremonious splits with its first two executive chefs Kate Williams and Sarah Welch, helped bring greater visibility to their brands and ethos of whole animal butchery and utilization. They now run two of metro Detroit's most beloved restaurants, Lady of the House and Marrow respectively, and have expanded into additional food and beverage operations in the past year. But you could make the case that Republic was the launchpad for both.

Sister Pie (April 2015)

Lisa Ludwinski began baking in her parents' kitchen, but the press came fast and heavy after she opened Sister Pie in West Village in the spring of 2015. Ludwinski's community-focused business plan, infectious Instagram account and superlative pies propelled her to two semifinalist nods for Outstanding Baker from the James Beard Awards and a New York Times-besting cookbook. Detroit-style pizza is certainly having its moment nationally, but when it comes to Detroit-style pie, Ludwinski's creations are what come to mind for many of our fellow Americans.

Mabel Gray (September 2015)

In the past decade, few local chefs have seen their star rise like James Rigato. The outspoken, quick-witted Howell native first made his name at The Root in White Lake, but it was at his Hazel Park jewel Mabel Gray where Rigato truly came into his own. With Mabel, the chef injected a much-needed dose of energy — and economy — into the sleepy inner-ring suburb of Hazel Park, proving that you don't need a spot in restaurant row to be successful. With a daily changing menu, tiny open kitchen and irreverent rock 'n' roll vibe, Rigato and his tight-knit staff cemented the upheaval of fine dining's elitist history while lifting the collective voice of Michigan's culinary community to the national stage.

Takoi (March 2016)

Takoi began its life as a barely functional food truck at Two James under a different moniker that can be used as a slur for transgender Thai people and, as such, is probably the most controversial restaurant of the past decade. With its out-of-this-world vibe and lively Thai-inspired cuisine, Takoi immediately made its mark on the local dining scene. And then it went up in flames. Just as the restaurant readied its re-opening months later, activists called attention to the pejorative nature of its misunderstood name . In response, the owners swapped two letters. And they encased the rebuilt restaurant in a 16-foot-high chain-link fence, prompting more public blowback. What's often lost in these types of retellings, though, is the quiet genius of chef Brad Greenhill's cooking and his confidence as a chef and operator. His two opening sous chefs are now chef de cuisines at two of Detroit's hottest new restaurants — the Takoi followup Magnet in Core City and Nest Egg Hospitality's Mink in Corktown —​​​​​​​ and Greenhill himself has become a leader in the local no-tipping movement.

Ima (December 2016)

The original Ima in Corktown snuck onto the scene in the quiet days between Christmas and New Year's Eve in 2016 with a small menu of udon noodles in broth, a couple rice bowls and some interesting appetizers (jicama tacos, anyone?). One slurp of that broth, though, and you could tell there was some serious cooking going on behind the scenes. I named it to my Best New Restaurants list some six weeks later and made a prediction that once it got its legs under it, chef Mike Ransom's Japanese-style noodle shop would become a real contender. Two years and an additional location later, it became my Restaurant of the Year. And just a few weeks ago, Ransom hit it out of the park again with a third outpost in Midtown, this one augmented by a fryer and the totally of-the-moment fried chicken sandwich. At least from the outside, Ima appears to be the independently owned, locally operated fast-casual mini-chain that is the dream of any restaurant operator looking at the trend lines of the next decade.

Send your dining tips to Free Press Restaurant Critic Mark Kurlyandchik at 313-222-5026 or mkurlyandc@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MKurlyandchik and Instagram @curlyhandshake. Read more restaurant news and reviews and sign up for our Food and Dining newsletter.