Vecino in Midtown Detroit named 2025 restaurant of the year
Detroit Free Press restaurant and dining critic Lyndsay C. Green has named Vecino in Midtown Detroit the 2025 restaurant of the year.
- Chefs from The Cooks’ House in Traverse City, are finalists for a James Beard Award.
- Ten Michigan restaurants and chefs were named semifinalists across multiple categories, but two moved on to the finalists round.
- The James Beard Awards are considered the culinary Oscars for excellence.
Of all the Michigan culinary semifinalists for prestigious James Beard Award nominations, only two Traverse City chefs will move on as finalists for the prestigious awards.
Chefs Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson of The Cooks’ House in Traverse City will be up against three Chicago chefs and a chef from Cincinnati, Ohio, vying for a coveted James Beard Award, Great Lakes division, which also includes Indiana.
Built on the concept of farm-to-fork, sustainable cuisine, The Cooks’ House is a 26-seat eatery on Wellington Street, according to its website.
After working together cooking in Las Vegas Michelin-starred kitchens, Blakeslee and Patterson got the idea to open the restaurant. Blakeslee, according to The Cooks House website, is a Traverse City native.
“We take most of our focus from the actual ingredients themselves,” Patterson explains on the website. “My food is a bit simpler, whereas Jen likes to work with more complex flavors from her travels in India, Mexico, and Southeast Asia.”
Small place, big offerings
Inside, paintings from local artists are one of the small dining room features, according to its website. While described as a “comfortable come-as-you-are approach” setting with “clothes” as its dress code, tables are set with white linens and crystal. Its website also boasts that the restaurant “retains a high staff-to-guest ratio so that diners are never wanting for comfort, and the atmosphere is relaxed and social with tables trading conversation.”
There is an a la carte menu plus 5- and 7-course menus highlighting local items, such as mushrooms. Multi-course menus start at $105, with an optional wine pairing for an additional charge.Dinner service is offered throughout the year, but the restaurant also offers cooking classes that focus on exploring regional cuisines in addition to seasonal options from local farmers’ markets.
Prestigious awards
Considered the highest honor in culinary excellence, the annual awards recognize restaurants and chefs nationwide for their achievements and skills in several categories. Excitement from the 2024 awards included Clawson sushi chef Hajime Sato being named the Best Chef Great Lakes. At the 2022 James Beard Awards Restaurant and Chef Awards, Warda Bouguettaya, owner of Midtown’s Warda Pâtisserie, was awarded Outstanding Pastry Chef.
Metro Detroit’s dining scene snubbed
Across several categories, 10 Michigan chefs, mostly in metro Detroit, were named semifinalists. Five chefs from Michigan made the Best Chef Midwest category, which includes, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.Semifinalist Michigan chefs were:
This was Ji Hye Kim’s fifth nod as a James Beard Semifinalist.
For the second year in a row, Selden Standard in Midtown was on the list of Outstanding Restaurants.
Vecino, Detroit, which was just revealed as the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Restaurant of Year, a semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant categories.
- Javier Bardauil, Barda, Detroit
- Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson, The Cooks’ House, Traverse City
- Missy Corey, Pennyroyal Cafe and Provisions, Saugatuck
- Ji Hye Kim, Miss Kim, Ann Arbor
- John Yelinek, Ladder 4 Wine Bar, Detroit
Outstanding Bakery semifinalist, Secret Bakery in Ferndale landed on the 2024 Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers list of Best New restaurants.
Baobab Fare, Detroit, known for East African cuisine in New Center, made the Outstanding Hospitality category. Its owners, Nadia Nijimbere and Hamissi Mamba, are Burundi natives who made the JBA Outstanding Restaurateur list in 2024 and both owners made the list of semifinalists in the 2022 and 2023 Best Chef awards, Great Lakes category. Baobab Fare on Woodward in the New Center area was named the 2022 Detroit Free Press No. 1 Best New Restaurant.
Ann Arbor’s Spencer was nominated again as a semifinalist in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. Spencer made the list as a semifinalist in 2024.
It’s the 35th anniversary of the prestigious James Beard Awards, which are considered the highest honor in culinary excellence. The annual awards recognize restaurants and chefs across the country for their achievements and skills in categories that include best chefs, best new restaurants and, new to the awards categories, best new bar.
The final winners will be named on June 16 at the James Beard Foundation Awards Gala at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. You can see the full list of finalists at jamesbeard.org.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.
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