
If you’re looking for a new place to grab a bite, 2025 is a great year to be a metro Detroiter. Here are fifteen or so yet-to-open local restaurants that are making us seriously hungry.
Echelon Kitchen and Bar in Ann Arbor

Helmed by Joseph VanWagner (formerly of The Dixboro Project), Echelon aims to capture the true taste of Michigan by sourcing fresh produce from local suppliers like Argus Farm Stop. The menu will change “almost daily” with dishes prepared on an open-fire grill and stove. Vegan options will be plentiful, with inventive creations like char-grilled pickled cabbage served with an okonomiyaki pancake and tonburi. The long-anticipated restaurant plans to open this winter at 200 S Main St., where the BD’s used to be.
The Dirty Shake in Midtown Detroit

Sandy Levine and Chef Doug Hewett — the forces behind The Oakland, Chartreuse, and Freya — are planning a new Cass Corridor restaurant. The Dirty Shake will likely open in late January or early February, Levine tells Hour Detroit.
While Levine and Hewett made a name for themselves with their distinct approach to fine dining; this new establishment describes itself as purely a “no-frills neighborhood bar,” one with affordable prices that “bridges the gap between the charm of Detroit’s historic dive bars and the allure of the city’s more modern establishments,” per a press release.
The drinks menu will include slushies and riffs on Detroit classics, notably The Hummer, plus a variety of beers and nonalcoholic options. The food menu will include burgers and wings. It will occupy the long-vacant, incredibly charming brick building at 4642 Second Ave.
Nepantla Cafe in Southwest Detroit

Nepantla Cafe food truck chef-owner Rocky Coronado was a 2024 emerging chef semifinalist. Their vegan approach to Mexican cuisine is typified by offerings like pastor tacos with smoked lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms with citrus chili-marinated jackfruit, cilantro onions and grilled pineapple.
Coronado plans to open Nepantla as a brick and mortar at 5410 W. Vernor Highway sometime this year, which will have an expanded menu and serve as a “safe space for sober adults,” with plenty of nonalcoholic beverage offerings, they told Hour Detroit in June. Additionally, on-site greenhouses will grow produce for the restaurant.
Read Hour Detroit contributor Adam Davidson’s full interview with Coronado here.
Little Liberia in Detroit’s East English Village
Michigan’s first Liberian restaurant is scheduled to open this fall in Detroit’s East English Village. Chef-owner Ameneh Marhaba has operated Little Liberia as a pop-up/catering business since 2016. Her cooking incorporates African, Caribbean, and Southern influences — with offerings that have included chuck rice chicken gravy, seafood palm butter, and Liberian spring rolls.

The new brick and mortar plans to feature a bar area serving cocktails and mocktails, a seating area that includes high-tops, an outdoor seating area, and a retail section that will sell Little Liberia’s merchandise and signature products. It will occupy the ground floor of The Ribbon at 16530 E Warren Ave., a mixed-use development that was completed late last year across the street from Next Chapter Books and Eastside Roasterz.
Initially intended to open last year in Detroit’s New Center, Marhaba made the call to change locations last November, due to “unanticipated obstacles that became increasingly difficult to tackle,” she said in a press release. Marhaba was a 2023 Comerica Hatch Grant recipient, winning $100,000 towards opening her business.
Two New Restaurants from Omar Anani on Detroit’s East Side

Omar Anani, a 2021 Hour Detroiter and three-time James Beard honoree, is the chef behind Saffron De Twah, a Moroccan eatery on Detroit’s East Side. Last year, he purchased a building located at 16620 E. Warren Ave., in which he plans to open two new restaurants sometime this year.
Anani will be hosting pop-ups in his food truck at the new Warren Avenue location Saturdays all winter, he told Hour Detroit, to gather feedback from locals and create the menu.
Read contributor Danny Palumbo’s full story for our January issue.
Little Kim in Ann Arbor

Ji-Hye Kim, the chef-owner of Miss Kim, plans to open a new restaurant at Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown Market in 2025, according to an announcement on social media. The “grab-and-go” style eatery will serve Asian-inspired vegetarian and vegan options. Her Korean eatery, Miss Kim, is also located in the market and is part of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses. Kim has earned four James Beard semifinalist honors. More details will come soon, according to the announcement.
The Rectory in Detroit’s Boston-Edison District
The owners of The Congregation, a coffee shop located in a former church near Detroit’s historic Boston-Edison neighborhood, are turning a house nearby into a pizza restaurant, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. Anticipated during the first quarter of 2025, the pizzeria will be located at 1920 Atkinson St. and seat roughly 24 people with an additional 60 seats on its seasonal porch, co-owner Betsy Murdoch told Crain’s.
Waka by Baobab Fare in Detroit’s Eastern Market

Planned to open this summer, Waka is a Burundian street food eatery from Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, the owners of Baobab Fare. Waka started as a food truck in 2022, and will become a brick and mortar at 2465 Russell St. in the heart of Detroit’s Eastern Market. The menu will feature stewed meats and veggies wrapped up in chapati, a delicious whole wheat flatbread. It will occupy the space that once housed Russell Street Deli — which closed in 2019 after a 30-year run due to a dispute between the business and the landlord.
Mamba and Nijimbere, who have been recognized with multiple James Beard honors, are also planning a second location for Baobab Fare on Detroit’s east side at 16900 E. Warren, just up the street from Cadieux Café.
Marrow in Detroit’s Eastern Market
Marrow — the James Beard-nominated restaurant and butchery helmed by Sarah Welch — is in the process of renovating a two-story building at 2442 Riopelle St. in Detroit’s Eastern Market. The building, which was built in 1909 and spans over 14,000 feet, will become a restaurant, meat processing facility, and will serve as Marrow’s flagship store, according to a release.

Multiple Restaurants at Sakura Novi
A large retail center that’s been years in the making, Sakura Novi, is billed as “Michigan first Asian-themed, mixed-use development.” Located off Grand River Avenue just east of Main Street, Sakura will feature several dining and drinking destinations, including Dancing Pine Korean Steak House; Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House by the Chubby Cattle Group; Presotea Taiwanese boba tea shop; and Paris Baguette. Restaurants will begin to open in May 2025, according to a press release.

Big Rock Italian Chophouse in Birmingham
Currently anticipated to open late spring 2025, Big Rock Italian Chophouse will be located at 245 S. Eton St. in Birmingham. It’s housed inside the historic Grand Trunk Western Railroad Birmingham Depot, a building with a fascinating history. Investors said in 2023 that they would be investing $10 million into the building’s transformation.
Expect classic Italian steakhouse fare like prime steaks, house made pastas, wine, and cocktails, and a wide selection of spirits including a bourbon program. The concept is owned in part by Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which has operated several well-known local eateries including Mitchell’s Fish Market, Ocean Prime, and Cameron’s Steakhouse.
Read more at DBusiness.com.
Sunda New Asian Restaurant in downtown Detroit
A new restaurant serving sushi, nigiri, sashimi, dim sum, noodles, and more, plans to open this spring in downtown Detroit. It will occupy 33 W. Columbia St. in the Olympia Development-owned District Detroit area near Comerica Park, which also houses Frita Baditos, Union Assembly, and Mom’s Spaghetti.
Once it opens, it will be the restaurant’s fifth location. The restaurant is part of a micro-chain owned by Rockit Ranch, which is based in Chicago where it owns two Sunda New Asian restaurants; the other two are in Nashville and Tampa.
Read more at DBusiness.com.
Vive Restaurant in West Bloomfield
This upcoming West Bloomfield eatery will be helmed by former Hell’s Kitchen contestant Chef Jared Bobkin. Vive (a play on “vibe”) will be located at 33080 Northwestern Highway. Its menu will include house made pasta dishes like cacio e pepe and lobster ravioli; plus steaks, burgers, and seafoods, including caviar service. One signature cocktail, the Old Fashioned Vive, blends Elija Craig bourbon, honey syrup, Angostura bitters, and orange bitters.
A Grey Ghost burger restaurant in Ferndale

A new fast-casual concept is coming to Ferndale from Four Man Ladder, the hospitality group that owns Grey Ghost, Second Best, and Basan. Set to open this summer, the yet-to-be-named restaurant located at 22305 Woodward Ave. will feature the iconic Grey Ghost burger, a chicken sandwich, and sides. It will be mostly geared towards takeout customers, according to a press release.
Clean Eats in Clawson
After 12 years in West Bloomfield, Clean Eats, which describes itself as a “grab-n-go meal prep market,” is opening a second location in Clawson. The new location will have much of the same offerings as its West Bloomfield, including over 35 ready-to-eat meals, all of which clock in at under 450 calories. The 1,400 square foot space is slated to open soon at 819 W 14 Mile Rd, Clawson, owner Lena Dabish announced in a press release.

What new restaurants are you looking forward to in 2025? Let us know in the comments. To keep up with metro Detroit’s food and drink scene, subscribe to our newsletter.
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