Detroit, MI

What’s Cooking? Metro Detroit Dining News for January 2026

Published

1 month ago

January 21, 2026

What’s Cooking? Metro Detroit Dining News for January 2026

A rendering of the first level of Rock & Brews, set to open this spring in downtown Royal Oak. // Rendering courtesy of Rock & Brews

Coming to the Table

Rock & Brews

Where: Royal Oak
Slated to Open: Spring

Rock & Brews — the national restaurant concept founded by KISS’ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — plans to make its Michigan debut in downtown Royal Oak this spring in the former HopCat space. As Simmons is fond of saying, “I like being part of a rock and roll band, but I love being part of a rock and roll brand.”

The restaurant will feature three levels: a first-floor dining room; second floor bar with a live concert stage; and third floor open-air rooftop sky lounge with DJing. Beers, “rocktails,” and American fare will make up the menu. Notably, several locations serve a dish named after a Detroit native: Alice Cooper’s Poison Burger. KISS itself has numerous ties to Detroit and Michigan. “Detroit really embraced us before any other city,” Stanley told Howard Stern in 2023, when explaining the inspiration behind the band’s 1976 hit “Detroit Rock City.” 208 West Fifth Ave., Royal Oak; rockandbrews.com

Cardoon

Where: Sylvan Lake
Slated to Open: Spring

From the team behind Sylvan Table comes an all-in-one European-inspired bakery, all-day café, deli, and provisions market highlighting local and seasonal ingredients. Cardoon is designed to be “a place where you can grab everything needed for your upcoming dinner party and also enjoy a glass of wine and bowl of pasta before hurrying home after work,” according to a statement from the business.

The café will serve coffee, beer, wine, and cocktails all day. In the morning, it will feature breakfast plates and pastries. Its full-service deli will have sliced-to-order meats and cheeses. The food menu will include schiacciata and panuozzo sandwiches, fresh pastas, pizzas, rustic breads, and viennoiserie. Other selections include porchetta schiacciata, a Danish-style hot dog, mortadella and pesto panuozzo, Swedish cardamom buns, as well as house-made sausages and cured-in-house charcuterie. Cardoon will be owned by Sylvan Table owners Nicole and Tim Ryan and helmed by Scott Martinelli, the opening executive sous chef at Sylvan Table. 2190 Orchard Lake Road, Sylvan Lake; (website coming soon).

Hunã Bar

Where: Ann Arbor
Slated to Open: February

A new tiki bar is coming to the space below Echelon Kitchen & Bar with eats and drinks from the same staff. Hunã Bar will feature tiki drinks and pu pus prepared by Chef Joseph VanWagner. Additionally, memberships to the bar will be available offering perks like access to events, members-only days, priority reservations, merchandise, and more. 200 S Main St, Ann Arbor; huna.bar
For a list of more openings, see our article Metro Detroit Restaurants on Our Radar for 2026

New Metro Detroit Restaurants, Bars, and Cafés

Lola’s Taco Bar

Where: Grosse Pointe Woods

The interior of Lola’s Taco Bar in Grosse Pointe Woods was designed by Colin Tury. // Photo by Gerard + Belevender

Lola’s Taco Bar celebrated its grand opening on Monday, Jan. 12. It serves tacos, burritos, bowls, queso, rotisserie chicken, margaritas, beers and more in a fast-casual setting. One of its owners, Brandon McRill, founded Rebelle, a Michelin star-winning restaurant in New York City. 20195 Mack Ave., Grosse Pointe Woods; lolastacobar.com
Read our full article on Lola’s Taco Bar here.
Medusa Cucina Siciliana

This Sicily-inspired eatery is the second Detroit restaurant from SheWolf chef-owner Anthony Lombardo — a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist. Medusa officially debuted on Thursday, Jan. 15 in Midtown Detroit. The menu features wine, cocktails, Sicilian street food, pastas, couscous, and small seafood bites like Insalata di Mare (grilled octopus, shrimp, calamari, banana pepper, potato, caper dressing). 644 Selden St., Detroit; medusa-detroit.com
Read our full article on Medusa here.
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Slows Bar BQ Berkley

Founded in Corktown, Slows Bar BQ is known for staples like brisket, pulled pork, ribs, mac ’n cheese, and signature sandwiches like The Yardbird. Its new Berkley location finally opened in late December inside the former Berkley Common building. Weeks before that, it opened another location in downtown Ann Arbor. 3087 12 Mile Rd., Berkley; slowsbarbq.com
Recent Food & Beverage Headlines

Motor City Brewing Works is pausing operations on Feb. 8

Photograph courtesy of Motor City Brewing Works

A Cass Corridor staple for pizzas and house-brewed beers is taking a leave of absence, WXYZ reports. Motor City Brewing Works is the oldest operating microbrewery in Michigan The brewery’s steam line (which operates on Detroit’s 100-year-old thermal steam grid) has corroded, making brewing an impossibility, owner John Linardos tells WXYZ. While closed, the brewery will look for solutions to become independent from the grid and options for the future of the location.
Hygrade Deli has closed and is currently in receivership

The future of a historic deli on Michigan Avenue in Detroit remains uncertain. Hygrade Deli closed in late December and is in receivership after defaulting on two business loans, the Detroit Free Press reports. Hygrade first opened in 1955, over 70 years ago.
Upcoming Dining and Drinks Events

The Fed Community Wine Dinner

When: Wednesday, Jan. 28

Where: The Fed, Clarkston

Cost: Starts at $185 per ticket, available on Tock.

An exclusive wine dinner is happening in The Gold Bar, a “speakeasy”-style bar in the basement of The Fed. The event is open to current and prospective wine locker holders, or simply those who are interested in experiencing a multi-course meal with wine pairings. The evening will feature an afterglow with music from John Arnold.
Vodka Fest 2026

Sample vodkas and meet brand ambassadors from all over the world, who can provide insight on their products. Food is available for purchase, and the evening will feature DJs and dancing. Proceeds from the evening will benefit K9 Charities.
Galentine Night’s Out

Sip champagne and enjoy strolling bites at the hotel’s third annual Galentine Night’s Out Celebration. The night will include a cash bar, live DJ, DIY bath salt making station, bingo, and shopping booths from local vendors.
Super Bowl Sunday Brunch

When: Feb. 8

Where: Grey Ghost, Detroit

Cost: $55 per guest, reserve on Resy.

Get ready for the big game with a multi-course brunch of Super Bowl-inspired fare, with drinks available at additional cost.

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Detroit, MI

Report: Lions tender K Jake Bates ERFA offer

Published

3 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Report: Lions tender K Jake Bates ERFA offer

The Detroit Lions are starting to take care of their own ahead of free agency, and it begins with one of the easier decisions to make. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the Lions have tendered kicker Jake Bates an exclusive rights free agent offer. What that means is Bates now has a one-year contract offer at the minimum salary ($1,075,000 for Bates). He can choose to sign it or sit out the season.

The reason the Lions can offer this ERFA tender is because Bates’ contract is expiring after just two accrued seasons in the NFL. All players with fewer than three years of experience who are on expiring contracts could be offered these ERFA tenders. In fact, the Lions did so with three other ERFAs earlier this offseason, all of whom already signed the deals: OL Michael Niese, RB Jacob Saylors, and CB Nick Whiteside.

Bates is coming off a season where he took a step back after an outstanding 2024. After making 89.7% of his field goals in his first year with the Lions, Bates slid back to just 79.4% accuracy. That said, five of his seven misses all season were from 50+ yards, and he was a perfect 14-of-14 from 39 yards or shorter. Additionally, he increased his extra point accuracy from 95.5% to 96.4%. He also steadily improved at the new NFL kickoff, which requires a lot more precision from kickers to boot the ball as close to the goal line without going into the end zone.

It’s unclear if the Lions intend on bringing in competition for Bates this offseason, but special teams coordinator Dave Fipp made it abundantly clear all last season that they value Bates, despite some struggles in 2025.

“Clearly, we have a very, very good player,” Fipp said in December. “If you put him on the streets, there would be a bunch of teams claiming him right away. And the truth is, we’d have a really hard time finding a guy even near the same player as him.”

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Detroit, MI

Detroit Pistons’ loss to Cavs shows weaknesses before playoffs

Published

15 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Detroit Pistons’ loss to Cavs shows weaknesses before playoffs

CLEVELAND – In just five days, the Detroit Pistons faced the Cleveland Cavaliers twice.

They split the games to finish their season series against the Central Division rivals, but with a potential reunion looming in the second round of the NBA playoffs, the Pistons came away from both games unsatisfied.

On Friday, it was the Pistons needing overtime to overcome a Cavaliers team missing James Harden and Donovan Mitchell at Little Caesars Arena. On Tuesday, March 3, in Cleveland, however – with Harden back in the lineup – the Pistons struggled in the areas they usually thrive, for a 113-109 loss.

The Pistons’ first loss on the road since Jan. 29 didn’t feature their usual fire for much of the night.

“I’m frustrated with the effort level, the attention to detail that we played on that end of the floor,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The times and opportunities where we did do the right thing, did get stops, we let people outwork us to come up with offensive rebounds. We can’t afford to not play at maximum effort. That’s been our superpower all year long and, tonight, I felt like there were times where we were outworked. If we’re outworked, this isn’t going to be the results that we want.”

The Pistons work at being the league’s most disruptive team via turnovers has given them a top-three defensive rating. They force turnovers on 17.2% of possessions – best in the NBA –and only trail the Houston Rockets in offensive rebounding percentage. They also lead the league in steals and blocks per game. Getting out in transition and capitalizing on second-chance opportunities has created an above-average offense despite struggles on 3-point shooting.

For three quarters against the Cavaliers, little of that materialized – as least until the Pistons grabbed seven steals in the final period (after just two in the first three). Overall, the Pistons were beat on the offensive glass (11-10), mustered just 10 fastbreak points (their lowest total since Jan. 27) and picked up 11 second-chance points (their least since Feb. 6).

It was, in all, a lackadaisical defensive performance, with the Pistons repeatedly losing shooters behind the arc as the Cavs knocked down 17 3-pointers – eight more than the Pistons.

“Obviously they’re a good team, but we haven’t been playing to our standard on that side of the ball,” Pistons wing Javonte Green said. “Coach talked about the effort we need to bring every game. We just need to play harder. We can’t get outworked on offensive rebounds and 50-50 balls, that’s our identity. I feel like we needed to pick up that slack.”

The Pistons also were hurt by a poor shooting performance by Cade Cunningham; he finished with 10 points and 14 assists but shot 4-for-16. Cleveland threw multiple defenders at him all night, and he obliged by passing the ball and setting up his teammates. It led to a big second half for Tobias Harris, who scored all 19 of his points in the last two quarters.

But it wasn’t enough.

“On the defensive end we just couldn’t put up a wall, couldn’t get a stand going,” Cunningham said. “Personally, I had a lot of bad closeouts; just off the ball, I didn’t feel sharp. Just gotta clean all that stuff up.”

With 22 games remaining, the Pistons are focused on cleaning up the margins so they’ll be ready for postseason play. These two games against the Cavaliers have given them a list of areas to clean up.

Friday, they needed an extra period to win after rallying from a late nine-point deficit despite losing Cunningham late after he fouled out with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Jalen Duren and Daniss Jenkins stepped up in overtime after Duncan Robinson also fouled out.

Mostly, the Cavaliers have proven they can pounce during soft stretches on defense. Thursday brings another rematch with a contender, as the Pistons wrap up a three-game road trip against the San Antonio Spurs (another opponent from last week).

“We didn’t play our best basketball the other night,” Bickerstaff said of the Cavaliers’ game on Feb. 27. “Give our guys credit because we played 53 minutes and were able to pull it out in some adverse conditions. Cade fouls out, Duncan fouls out, our guys still figure out a way to get it done.

“We need to be better. We need to be better defensively, we need to impose ourselves on the game a little bit more than we did last game. I thought the last two quarters of the Orlando game [on Sunday] were the best quarters we’ve played defensively since New York [on Feb. 19]. I hope, and told our guys, that we can continue to build off that, because that’s where it always starts for us. You can tell the tone by how we are defensively and how we’re getting after it.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky and/or X @omarisankofa.

[ MUST WATCH: Make “The Pistons Pulse” your go-to Pistons podcast, listen available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) or watch live on YouTube. ]

Next up: Spurs

Matchup: Pistons (45-15) at San Antonio (44-17).

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 5; Frost Bank Center, San Antonio.

TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).

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Detroit, MI

Police search for suspect, accomplice after teen injured in shooting outside Detroit school gym

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Police search for suspect, accomplice after teen injured in shooting outside Detroit school gym

March 3, 2026 / 6:54 PM EST
/ CBS Detroit

The Detroit Police Department is searching for a suspect and an accomplice in connection with a shooting last week that injured a teen outside a school gym.

The shooting happened in the 3400 block of St. Aubin, the same area where the Detroit Edison Public School Academy’s Early College of Excellence is located. Police say that at about 8:27 p.m. on Feb. 27, there was an altercation inside the gym that continued outside.

Detroit police are searching for a suspect and their accomplice in connection with a shooting outside a school.

Detroit Police Department

Police say the suspect allegedly fired multiple shots at the victim, striking him. The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment. His current condition is unknown.

Police say the accomplice who was with the suspect was also armed.

Anyone with information is asked to call DPD’s seventh precinct at 313-596-5740, Crime Stoppers at 800-Speak Up or DetroitRewards.tv.

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