About Plate & Press

Most cities our size don't have a food publication. Ann Arbor has two James Beard-recognized restaurants, and until now, no independent outlet covering them.

Plate & Press covers the restaurants, bars, cafes, and food makers of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the surrounding communities. We pay for our meals. We write what we think.

We started this because we noticed a gap. The national outlets covering our region cut their local editors. The tourism bureaus write like tourism bureaus. And the Instagram accounts, as good as they look, rarely go deeper than a photo.

What we believe

Food is culture. When someone opens a restaurant, they're betting their savings on it. When one closes, the neighborhood feels it. We think both stories deserve real reporting, not press releases.

What we don't do

No free meals from restaurants we cover. No paid placements disguised as reviews. Not every new opening gets a breathless write-up just because it's new. When we recommend a place, we've eaten there on our own dime and we genuinely think you should go.

What you can expect

Restaurant profiles that go past the menu. Neighborhood guides you'll actually bookmark. A weekly newsletter, short enough to read over coffee, with openings, closings, and one opinion you didn't ask for.

If you have a tip, a story idea, or just want to tell us about a place we need to try, send it to tips@plateandpress.com. We read everything.