Mabel Gray

We have not eaten at Mabel Gray. We’ve gotten as far as the front door — we stuck our heads in on a Friday, asked the hostess how a person actually lands a table here, and looked out at a room already full at five o’clock. That is the entire problem with Mabel Gray, and also the entire point.

Chef James Rigato opened it in 2015 inside a cinderblock building that had been a neighborhood diner for decades, and it has been the reason people drive to Hazel Park ever since. There is no set menu: the food moves with the season and with whatever Rigato’s network of farms, butchers, and foragers turns up that week. The chef’s tasting menu runs $92, with a beverage pairing for $55 more. Reservations open on Tock on a rolling 30-day window, parties of six or fewer, and a few bar seats are held back for walk-ins — which is the loophole we’re currently eyeing.

The timing is interesting. In April, Michelin announced that its new American Great Lakes guide will cover the Detroit region — Oakland County included — with inspectors already out and the first selection due in 2027. No one is predicting anything, least of all us. But if you were quietly building a shortlist, this room and Bar Gabi, a few doors down, would both be on it. Very high on ours.