Peteet’s Famous Cheesecakes

Peteet’s is the rare dessert shop that has become a genuine metro Detroit name, and the origin story is pure Oak Park: founder Patrick Peteet learned to bake in an Oak Park middle-school home-ec class, tinkered with his aunt’s cheesecake recipe, made a happy mistake everyone loved, and — after the recession closed the family’s real-estate business — turned the hobby into a bakery in 2010. Fifteen years later he’s making preservative-free cheesecakes fresh daily in something like 90 flavors, from the acclaimed sweet potato to novelties like Superman, and you’ll find his cakes on menus and shelves well beyond the shop, from the Fox Theatre to Cliff Bell’s.

The slices are huge, the flavors sell out fast (come early for lemon and key lime), and the family that started it still runs the counter. Grab a slice for yourself or a whole cake for the group — it’s a reliable out-of-town-guest flex. We’ve got it on our list as one of Oak Park‘s proudest hometown success stories — and you can taste why it caught on at spots like Cliff Bell’s.