a very good $7 Negroni in Detroit

at one of my favorite restaurants in the city

I don’t like the question, “What’s the best restaurant in Detroit?”

How on earth do you even begin to quantify such a thing? Everyone—me, you, your cousin, my mailman—we all have different criteria, different tastes, proclivities, and things we look for in a dining experience. That’s why I think it’s a fool’s errand to choose just one restaurant. That’s why I like to group the city’s “best” restaurants in terms of 6-8.

“What restaurants in Detroit would I most want to show my out-of-town friends?” is the question I actually find myself pondering. What’s a fun-as-hell weekend here?

If a friend came to town for just three days (Friday to Sunday), what restaurants would I insist that they visit? Where would I bring them to show them the city? What can they get here that they might be able to get where they live? What restaurants feel quintessentially Detroit?

It’s an ever-changing short list rummaging around my head, but let’s call it a docket of 6-8 special places in the city that I’m always pondering, always shifting in and out. And I’ll tell you one restaurant that’s on that list right now: