In a city that's hot on the heels of some of North America's culinary capitals, Detroit's Ladder 4 is leading the charge. Executive chef and wine director John Yelinek lets 50 Best peek behind the pass of the Resy One To Watch Award 2025 winner.
Have you ever wondered where the chefs and bartenders of Detroit like to wind down when they're off duty? Resoundingly, the answer is Ladder 4. Founded by brothers James and Patrick Cadariu in 2022, the restaurant has swiftly gone from an under-the-radar wine bar to a dining destination for locals and visitors alike.
Ladder 4's rise is in part due to its accessible wine programme, which general manager Preston Smith and executive chef and wine director John Yelinek oversee with an emphasis on curiosity and affordability. However, some of the real magic of Ladder 4 happens in the kitchen, where Yelinek has shaped a menu defined by old-school technique and seasonal produce grown right across the street – all served with a playful sense of hospitality.
James and Patrick Cadariu began restoration work on the Vinewood Street 1910 firehouse in 2019
In an old firehouse in Detroit, Yelinek and his team are showing how classic cooking, bistro sensibility and community spirit can merge into something distinctly modern. It is a restaurant rooted in its neighbourhood but ambitious in vision – a place where caviar-topped crisps and burnt Basque cheesecake can share a table and where wine is always more about people than prestige.
Old-school vision
Yelinek started out at now-shuttered Roast, one of Detroit's most influential restaurants of the 2000s. Set in the historic Westin Book Cadillac hotel building, for years the stalwart steakhouse was considered one of the very few spots in downtown Detroit where diners could book in for a high-quality culinary experience. Yelinek joined Roast, where other stars of the Detroit dining scene such as Selden Standard's Andy Hollyday worked the pass, as a line cook in 2015. While Yelinek left Roast in 2020, he credits his time at the restaurant as formative to his craft.
"Everything at Roast was based on the fundamentals of classic cuisine in the kitchen. We were making veal demi, which was a three-day process, curing meats from a whole hog that we would bring in and break down – all the really old-school things that nobody really does with any regularity. I got super into that [while I was there]," he says.
Ladder 4's menu modus operandi is brilliant produce, like this golden chicken stuffed with Toulouse sausage, served with zero pretension
At meat-centric Roast, classic steakhouse dishes arriving at the white cloth-clad tables might have seemed simple, but the process from produce to plate was anything but. This style of cooking is something that shaped Yelinek's vision for Ladder 4. "There's something really satisfying about putting something on a plate that's simple to the eye but that you put a lot into. What happens between point A and point B matters a lot," he muses.
French bistro meets Michigan
After Roast, Yelinek ran pop-ups such as Park Ranger, where he began exploring the intersection of French bistro classics with his upbringing in northern Michigan – another building block that informs Ladder 4's philosophy.
His Paris-meets-Michigan approach complements the restaurant's wine programme, which champions small growers and family-run vineyards. No cocktails, no distractions – just a list that moves fluidly from an Alsatian crémant to Spanish skin-contact bottles and structured Piedmontese reds. This collaborative way of working makes Ladder 4 special, somewhere where a wine bar and a serious kitchen are not separate identities but two sides of the same conversation.
Early on, Yelinek says, it became clear that in order to make the economics of running a wine bar sustainable, they would need to offer a food menu to match the intentionality of the wines being selected and poured for guests.
"At first, I was bartending at Ladder 4 and was doing a little consulting here and there before we really had a very robust dinner [offering]," he says. When developing the new menu, Yelinek took inspiration from his popular Park Ranger concept: "Park Ranger was a love letter to how I grew up – camping, fishing, being outdoors – combined with this love I have for bistro food. I have some French folks on the in-law side of the family, so we travel over there a decent amount. The first time I had a proper bistro meal in Paris after leaving the airport, I said: 'man, I get it'."
Yelinek's (centre) Michigan-meets-Paris vision complements James (right) and Patrick (left) Cadariu's laid-back wine bar concept
Yelinek admits that matching classic Parisian fare with the outdoorsy spirit of his childhood isn't always an easy task. "This is the part where it gets a little tricky. I'd adapt things – maybe I'd work with some lake trout instead of rainbow trout, which I'd put with almonds and the green beans. For snails, I'd skewer them and grill them over coals and brush them with a reduced mushroom liquid, then finish them with the classic bright green, garlicky parsley butter."
His pop-up's twists were playful and injected a little freshness into bistro cuisine, a style that's charmed Ladder 4's regulars since: "[At Park Ranger] we would do a tartare, but rather than plating it up and doing the egg on it and serving it with bread or fries, we would dress it up like a very classic tartare and put it on a toasted sesame bun instead of a burger patty. It was delicious and people went crazy for it."
Fun dining
While produce is key to the cooking at Ladder 4, it's also about lifestyle and attitude. "It's not just about working with ingredients that are more ubiquitous here, it's also about what you do if you're hanging out outside – cooking over a fire, probably making burgers. So here's a burger, but it's beef tartare," he explains.
Detroit's vibrant community is key to Ladder 4's success
A lighthearted spirit is key to the restaurant's identity, so while creating a stand-out menu and unique wine offering are endeavours taken seriously at Ladder 4, the same doesn't go for the team. "A big pillar for me is taking what I'm doing seriously but not taking myself too seriously. We're just serving people dinner at the end of the day, so we should have fun with it."
Yelinek counts camping trips among many fun-focused inspirations for the concept of Ladder 4, saying: "[When I get away camping], I'll buy a nice piece of meat to cook over the fire one night. There's also something very romantic and nostalgic to me about cooking pancakes for breakfast one morning, just throwing a pan into the fire. We'll take a deli container with some stuff that we mixed up ahead of time, crack a couple of eggs in it, splash a little buttermilk in it and do that."
Ladder 4's menu contains modern takes on bistro classics like tuna crudo with tomato water, fennel pollen and blistered peppers from its nearby garden
At Ladder 4, this balance that Yelinek strikes between time-honoured technique and a playful upper Midwest sensibility shows in the menu: vitello tonnato with Ortiz tuna dressing and caper berries, crunchy skate wing sandwich with pickled cabbage and lemon, branzino with grape leaf and olive tapenade, or a salata de vinete of aubergine and feta. There is rigour behind each dish, but also a sense of humour – a reminder that eating is meant to be pleasurable.
Ladder 4 is the winner of the Resy One To Watch Award 2025, as part of North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025. The full list will be revealed on 25 September from Las Vegas.
