Series
33 articles
The Slice: Mid-Series Rankings
Five pizzerias in. Two styles evaluated. One ranking that's going to upset someone.
Five entries into The Slice, the best pizza series has a wood-fired Neapolitan at the top, a delivery kitchen defending its own category, and an argument that is not as settled as it looks.
The Slice: Pizza House
Entry six visits the 2 a.m. institution on Church Street. The question isn't whether it competes with Mani. It's whether it does what it does as well as anything in the city.
The Slice entry six covers Pizza House at 618 Church St. The deep dish, the breadsticks, the late-night delivery window. This is not the most refined pizza in Ann Arbor. It is the most reliable.
The Pour: Mid-Series Rankings
Five bars in. The Last Word holds. Everything else is an argument.
The Pour has evaluated five Washtenaw County cocktail bars. Here's where the rankings stand, what changed across entries, and what the series still needs to settle.
The Grind: All Six Entries, Ranked and Defended
Six coffee shops in. RoosRoast holds. The middle is the argument.
The Grind has evaluated all six Ann Arbor coffee shops in its first round. Here are the final rankings, with the reasoning behind every placement and the live arguments the series hasn't fully settled.
The Pour: Hunã Tiki Bar
Entry 5. The best rum program in Washtenaw County runs in a basement. The series has to decide what that's worth.
Entry 5 of The Pour goes underground on South Main. Hunã Tiki Bar is rum-forward and serious about it, which puts the series in an interesting position: how do you rank a specialist against generalists?
The Grind: Argus Farm Stop
Entry 6. Good coffee inside a food market. The ranking has to decide whether that context is a feature or an excuse.
The sixth entry in The Grind visits Argus Farm Stop at 325 W Liberty St, where the coffee is sourced from Michigan roasters and served at a counter inside a local food market. The cup is good. The question is what that means in a coffee ranking.
The Pour: Spencer
Entry 4. The best gimlet in the county comes from a bar that doesn't call itself one.
Spencer is a wine shop first, a restaurant second, and a cocktail bar third. The cocktail program is the best argument for why that order of priorities produces drinks other bars can't.
The Grind: Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea
Entry 5. Thirty-plus years in Ann Arbor, a tea list that runs to over 100 varieties, and the question of whether scale is a credential or a liability.
The fifth entry in The Grind visits Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, the local chain that Eva and James Amburgey founded in Ann Arbor in 1993. The tea program is the differentiator. The ranking is the argument.
The Fold: BTB Burrito
The taco series returns to Ann Arbor for the campus counter that stays open when everyone else has gone home.
The Fold Entry #6 covers BTB Burrito on South State Street, where tacos are built fast, priced low, and served until the kind of hours that the rest of the series never attempted.
The Grind: Vertex Coffee Roasters
Entry 4. A queer-owned roaster at the edge of campus with a coffee flight program that has no equivalent in Ann Arbor.
The fourth entry in The Grind visits Vertex Coffee Roasters at 1335 S University Ave, where Kara and Mackenzie Soto have built a coffee program around flights, flash-chilled coffee, and a roastery in Milan that supplies everything in the cup.
The Pour: Black Pearl
Entry 3. A seventeen-year-old martini program playing second violin to the seafood is still better than most bars' entire repertoire.
The third entry in The Pour evaluates Black Pearl's cocktail program, where the martini list is the signature and the drinks are built around a kitchen rather than a concept.
The Grind: Comet Coffee
Entry 3. In Nickels Arcade, a counter, three roasters on rotation, and the best cortado in Ann Arbor.
The third entry in The Grind visits Comet Coffee at 16 Nickels Arcade, where Jim Saborio has spent sixteen years proving that a short menu and a small room are an advantage, not a concession.
The Grind: Espy Cafe
Entry 2. On-source roasting, handmade ceramics, and an espresso pulled on a $6,000 machine. The newcomer makes its case.
The second entry in The Grind visits Espy Cafe at 404 W Huron St, where the roasting program, the room, and the no-tip ownership model all have something to prove. They mostly do.
The Pour: 312 Underground
Entry 2. The strongest seasonal program in Ann Arbor runs in a room most people don't know exists.
The second entry in The Pour goes underground. 312 Underground on South Main runs a seasonal cocktail program that changes fast enough to punish inattention, in a room that the street-level foot traffic has no idea is there.
B2A2: Zingerman's Roadhouse Burger
Entry eight goes to Jackson Avenue, where fried chicken is king and the burger is made with beef from regional farms on a Bakehouse bun.
The eighth entry in our Best Burger in Ann Arbor series visits Zingerman's Roadhouse. The $21 burger uses beef from regional farms, a house-made Bakehouse bun, and a kitchen philosophy built on ingredient obsession.
The Grind: RoosRoast
Entry 1. Twenty years of roasting in Ann Arbor, and the Lobster Butter Love is still the one.
The first entry in The Grind visits RoosRoast at 1155 Rosewood St, where the Lobster Butter Love espresso sets the benchmark and the room earns every return visit.
The Grind: Best Coffee in Ann Arbor
A running series evaluating Ann Arbor's coffee shops one at a time. One drink, one room, one honest read.
The Grind is a new Plate & Press series: one coffee shop, one drink, one honest evaluation. Starting with RoosRoast on Rosewood, working through every serious coffee program in Ann Arbor worth arguing about.
The Pour: The Last Word
Entry 1. Why the bar that started this series is still the one every other bar has to answer for.
The first entry in The Pour visits The Last Word on West Huron, where the namesake cocktail is the best version in Washtenaw County and the room earns the reference it makes.
The Pour: Best Cocktail Bar in Washtenaw County
A running series evaluating the county's serious cocktail programs, one drink at a time.
The Pour is a new Plate & Press series: one bar, one drink, one honest evaluation. Starting with The Last Word on West Huron, working through every cocktail bar in Washtenaw County worth arguing about.
The Slice: Detroit-Style Pizza and the Case for the Rectangle
The fourth entry goes to the source: a thick crust, crispy cheese edges, and the pan that started it all.
Detroit-style pizza is having a national moment, but it started here. The fourth Slice entry goes to the source: Buddy's Pizza and the pan that changed everything.
B2A2: The Rankings After Six Burgers
We've eaten our way from a cocktail bar to a Corktown slider joint. Here's how they stack up.
Six entries into the Best Burger in Ann Arbor series, it's time for an updated scorecard. From Raven's Club to Green Dot Stables, ranked and reasoned.
The Slice: Jolly Pumpkin's Wood-Fired Pizza
The third entry takes us to Dexter for brewery pizza that refuses to be an afterthought.
Jolly Pumpkin Dexter runs a wood-fired pizza program in a sour brewery. Our third Slice entry measures it against the first two.
The Slice: Supino Pizzeria
The second entry takes us to Eastern Market for New York-style thin crust and seventeen years of consistency.
Supino Pizzeria in Detroit's Eastern Market has been making thin-crust pizza since 2008. Our second entry in The Slice measures it against the wood-fired benchmark.
The Slice: Mani Osteria's Wood-Fired Pizza
The first entry in our Best Pizza series comes from a pasta restaurant. That tells you something.
Mani Osteria is known for handmade pasta, but the wood-fired pizza from its East Liberty kitchen deserves its own spotlight. Our first entry in The Slice.
The Slice: Best Pizza in Ann Arbor
A living series tracking the pizza worth eating in this town, one pie at a time.
A living guide to our Best Pizza in Ann Arbor series. We're eating through the arguments, from wood-fired Neapolitan to Detroit-style deep dish.
The Fold: The Rankings After Five Tacos
We've eaten our way from Ann Arbor's west side to Southwest Detroit. Here's how they stack up.
Five entries into The Fold taco series, it's time for a mid-series scorecard. From Dos Hermanos to Taqueria El Rey, ranked and reasoned.
The Fold: Taqueria El Rey
The taco series crosses the county line into Southwest Detroit for the first time.
The Fold Entry #5 takes the series to Southwest Detroit's Vernor Highway, where Taqueria El Rey has been serving some of the best tacos in the metro area for years.
The Fold: Tmaz Taqueria
The taco series comes back to Ann Arbor for a Packard Street institution open until 4 a.m.
The Fold Entry #4 returns to Ann Arbor proper for Tmaz Taqueria on Packard Street, where the al pastor has been turning heads for years and tacos run $2.50 when you buy two.
The Fold: Chela's
The taco series heads west on Dexter-Ann Arbor Road.
The Fold Entry #3 takes us to the Dexter corridor, where Chela's serves Mexico City street tacos from a family recipe and puts birria on the board every Friday and Saturday.
The Fold: MAIZ Mexican Cantina
The taco series crosses the Huron River into Ypsilanti for the first time.
The Fold Entry #2 takes us to Depot Town, where MAIZ Mexican Cantina builds tacos from scratch daily and makes a strong case for expanding our search beyond Ann Arbor's borders.
The Fold: Dos Hermanos Express
Our search for Ann Arbor's best taco starts on a commercial strip in Scio Township.
The first entry in our Best Taco in Ann Arbor series. Dos Hermanos Express serves tacos built on house-made tortillas, from-scratch salsas, and meats that taste like someone cares.
The Fold: Best Taco in Ann Arbor
A living series tracking our taco contenders across Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.
A living guide to our Best Taco in Ann Arbor series, including methodology, current contenders, and how we judge what makes a great taco.
Best Burger in Ann Arbor (B2A2): The Running List
A living series tracking our current contenders, notes, and repeat-order recommendations.
The B2A2 running list: best burger in Ann Arbor rankings after 13 entries. Current top three: Frita Batidos, Echelon, Grange Kitchen & Bar. Updated April 2026.