What Spencer's National Recognition Means for Ann Arbor's Food Identity
The downtown wine shop and restaurant just made USA Today's 2026 Restaurants of the Year list.
By day, Spencer is a wine shop. Rows of natural wines line the shelves of the downtown storefront at 113 E. Liberty St, which husband-and-wife team Abby Olitzky and Steve Hall have operated since 2015. You can walk in at noon, ask for a recommendation, and leave with a bottle you've never heard of that will become your new favorite.
By night, the room transforms. The wine shelves stay, but sturdy wooden communal tables materialize, candles get lit, and the kitchen begins producing seriously intentional food. The tasting menu changes with what nearby farms are growing.
When USA Today named Spencer to its 2026 Restaurants of the Year list earlier this month, it confirmed what regulars have known for a decade. This place is operating at a national level. Spencer is one of just 39 restaurants in the country on the list.
Ten Years of Quiet Excellence
Olitzky and Hall didn't build Spencer to chase awards. They built it because they wanted a place where wine and food could exist in honest conversation with each other, where the seasonal rhythm of Michigan agriculture could drive a menu without turning it into a gimmick.
The wine program is the backbone. Spencer carries hundreds of natural wines, and the staff can talk about any of them with the kind of specificity that makes you trust their taste. When the weather cooperates, the patio bar is the best lunch in Ann Arbor.
Spencer is the restaurant that makes you stop qualifying. Ann Arbor is a good food town. Period.
Reservations for March opened on February 26 at 5 p.m. and, predictably, went fast. If Spencer has been on your list, now is the time.
Spencer is at 113 E. Liberty St, Ann Arbor. Open for dinner Thursday through Sunday. Wine shop open Wednesday through Sunday. Reservations strongly recommended.