Two highly lauded Detroit restaurants made The New York Times’ list as favorites in the U.S. right now.
On Tuesday, Sept. 15, the Times released its annual list of “50 Best Restaurants in America” selected by its reporters and editors.
Named to the list are acclaimed restaurants Roses, on Detroit’s east side on Jefferson, and Tacos Wuey, in southwest Detroit on West Vernor. Both restaurants have received plenty of kudos across metro Detroit media.
Rose's is the 2026 Detroit Free Press/Chevy Detroit Restaurant of the Year.
The Times’ Sara Bonisteel noted the “delightful diner” now serves dinner instead of breakfast and lunch. Bonisteel gave nods to its burger served on sourdough and its Polish fare of pierogi, kluski and kielbasa. Roses Polish nachos,
Bonisteel wrote “… unite two Midwestern powerhouses, potato chips and smoked whitefish, with a shower of pickles and trout roe and dollops of crème fraîche.”
Served at Roses Detroit Free Press/Chevy Detroit Top 10 Takeover event, the Polish Nachos were a favorite with diners.
Bonisteel also noted the restaurant's space.
“Eating in this circa-1964 space, with its green walls and pink and orange curtains, feels a bit like having a meal in Grandma’s sunroom, but the wax-drenched candlesticks standing watch like peacocks and the colorful bouquets plucked from the parking lot garden out back keep it fresh and modern.”
The New York Times’ Brett Anderson wrote of the southwest Detroit spot Tacos Wuey, from noted chef Eddie Vargas, to how it reflects on Mexican cuisines, specifically from Jalisco.
“The birria recipe comes from his father, Jose, and is deployed in unconventional ways: stuffed inside egg rolls and quesadillas and, most memorably, as the basis for ramen, complete with a dark consomé,” Anderson wrote.
Tacos Wuey, Anderson wrote, is a “highly personal restaurant” in Mexicantown. “You’ll find housemade salsa macha on the menu — sometimes made with cranberries or hibiscus — and also on the tables, as you would chile crisp in a Sichuan place.”
Of the salsa macha, Anderson noted, you can spoon it “over the lard-fried chicken Milanese served with spaghetti verde.”
Tacos Wuey, landed in the No. 2 spot on the Detroit Free Press/Chevy Detroit Top 10 Best New restaurants for its approach to centuries-old Mexican foodways.
“Tacos Wuey straddles old and new worlds, ushering ancient culinary traditions into a modern era, without compromising their integrity,” wrote Free Press dining critic Lyndsay Green.
For its list, The New York Times said its team of 16 scouting restaurants across the country from “small-town Wisconsin to downtown Manhattan” was bigger than ever. Its list doesn’t rank the restaurants but lists them by state.
In April, the Times lauded another Detroit eatery as one the “greatest” among the country’s Mexican restaurants. The little over two years old darling Vecino restaurant in Detroit's Midtown made the Times list of “41 of the Greatest Mexican Restaurants Across the United States.”
It was the only Michigan restaurant to make the list.
“There has never been a better time for Mexican food in the United States,” the authors wrote. “A culinary renaissance over the last 15 years has expanded the American palate well beyond Tex-Mex, tacos and game-night nachos.”
In its two-part piece, the Times’ food writers detailed the impact and growth of Mexican food across the region, plus a snapshot of the 41 restaurants in the United States.
Times food writer Brett Anderson wrote of Vecino’s co-owner spending much of her time working at restaurants in Detroit’s Mexicantown and the restaurant’s spotlight on Mexico City cuisine.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SusanMariecooks. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New York Times 50 Best Restaurants list includes Detroit eateries
