Roses Fine Food Named Detroit’s 2026 Restaurant of the Year After Comeback

The Detroit Free Press chose Roses Fine Food as its Restaurant of the Year for 2026. This eatery sits at 10551 E. Jefferson Ave. in Detroit and earned the prize after it threw open its doors again two years after shutting down.

The place operated for nine years before it closed in 2023. Diners knew it for sandwiches, brunch plates, bread baked in-house, sweet desserts, and cakes made to order.

Now it runs as a dinner restaurant. Candles stuck in wine bottles flicker across tables while wax drips down in white and rose shades. Chef Mitchell swapped brunch dishes for evening meals that pull from his Polish roots.

Food critic Lyndsay C. Green spelled out these menu shifts in the Free Press. "Where there were once briny allusions to Mitchell's Polish American heritage — pickles here and there, dill everywhere — the newer recipes are more personal, culled directly from the chef's fondest memories growing up with Polish grandparents," Green wrote.

Smoked kielbasa gets split and fried until the skin snaps, turning reddish and crisp. Potato dumplings bob in borscht. Dill pickle soup took over where organic grits used to sit. Soft scrambled eggs are gone, replaced by rich dumplings.

This represents a big shift from what came before. That old brunch joint with griddled potatoes and bacon strips transformed into a dinner house built on family recipes and childhood memories passed down through generations.

The Free Press gives this award to standout restaurants around Detroit each year. Roses Fine Food snagged it less than twelve months after welcoming guests back through its doors.