Ann Delisi: Detroit Free Press names Ladder 4 Wine Bar 2023 restaurant of the year

Ladder 4 Wine Bar is located inside a former Detroit fire station.

People dine at Ladder 4 Wine Bar, which was formerly a fire station in Detroit, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.

People dine at Ladder 4 Wine Bar, which was formerly a fire station in Detroit, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.

The Detroit Free Press announced today that Ladder 4 Wine Bar is the 2023 restaurant of the year.

Located in the Chadsey Condon neighborhood in Southwest Detroit, Ladder 4’s owners want you to know that they’re not a restaurant. Freep restaurant and dining critic Lyndsay C. Green tells me despite Ladder 4’s insistence that they’re a wine bar, the food they serve is excellent.

“I’ve had the best meals of the year at Ladder 4 consistently,” says Green. “What we know as a wine bar here in Detroit really is just sort of a place where you can get some snacks, maybe some Tapas. But abroad, a wine bar is a place where you can have a serious meal — and that’s what they’re doing at Ladder 4. So whether they want to call it a restaurant or not, I think they have to be recognized for this because what they’re doing is phenomenal.”


Listen: Detroit Free Press names Ladder 4 Wine Bar 2023 restaurant of the year


Listen to the final installment of my conversation series with Lyndsay Green above. You can hear my previous conversations with Green and view the rest of the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers 10 Best New Restaurants and More list here.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my Essential Cooking podcast with co-host Chef James Rigato.

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Author

  • Ann Delisi
    Ann Delisi hosts Essential Music, the Essential Conversations podcast series and the Essential Cooking broadcast and podcast. Born and raised in the Motor City, Ann is a broadcaster, interviewer, producer, music host, storyteller and proud Detroiter.