Ann Arbor's Spencer Makes USA Today’s Best 2026 Restaurants List

If you needed another reason to believe Michigan’s food scene is having a moment, here it is. USA Today just released its 2026 Restaurants of the Year list, narrowing it down to 39 restaurants in the entire country, and one of them is in Michigan. That is some elite company!

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Michigan has been getting a lot of national food recognition lately. For example, Traverse City was recently named one of the top dining destinations in the entire world. A Michigan pizza spot also landed among the 10 best in the entire U.S. Now, another homegrown restaurant is earning a place on one of the most selective national lists out there.

How USA Today Selects Its Restaurants

What makes this particular honor stand out is how USA Today builds the list. Instead of sending in outside critics or relying on online reviews, the selections come from USA Today Network journalists who live and work in the communities they cover. These are writers who dine at these places regularly and truly understand their local food scenes.

Spncer Ann Arbor via Facebook

Meet Spencer in Ann Arbor

In this case, the Michigan restaurant that made the 2026 list is Spencer in Ann Arbor!

Spencer is owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Abby Olitzky and Steve Hall. The downtown Ann Arbor restaurant and wine shop opened in 2015 and has built a loyal following for its seasonal, farm-driven dishes and thoughtfully curated wine program.

Spencer Ann Arbor via Facebook

Lyndsay C. Green of the Detroit Free Press says of Spencer,

By day, Spencer is a wine shop, with rows of hundreds of natural wines. By night, it moonlights as a cozy fine dining restaurant centered on seasonal ingredients. The room is transformed with sturdy, wooden communal tables, where diners rub elbows as they cut into fresh pastas and tear apart pieces of hot, fluffy bread. The tasting menu here is dictated by produce availability at nearby farms and preserves from previous peak seasons, like pickled cherries in December. When the temperature is right, enjoy lunch at the patio bar, where the best of the restaurant and the wine shop converge for a standout meal paired with quality libations. Ten years in, Spencer offers something magical in the heart of Ann Arbor any time of day.

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Spencer Ann Arbor via Facebook

Seasonal Menu Highlights

Spencer’s menu shifts with the seasons and what is available from nearby farms, so it is always evolving. For February, that includes sourdough pancakes with sauerkraut and alpine cheese, roast mushrooms with herb salad and winter squash, and a winter salad made with endive, celeriac, fennel and apple.

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Heartier dishes include chicken paprikash with pappardelle and summer peppers or winter greens rotolo with farm cheese and walnut sauce. And for dessert, rye sticky pudding with burnt honey caramel and custard—yum!

It is the kind of place that feels distinctly Michigan, rooted in the seasons and the farms around it. And now, it is officially one of just 39 restaurants in the entire country to earn this recognition from USA Today.

Booking Tips for March Reservations

Reservations for March open on February 26 at 5 p.m. If it was already tough to snag a table before this honor, it is probably about to get even harder. If Spencer has been on your list, this might be the time to make that reservation!

Best of the Best: Michigan’s Top Restaurants to Try

Looking for a new restaurant to try? Add these to your bucket list! From the best diners and delis to the best steakhouses, bakeries, and Mexican eateries, we've compiled a list of Michigan's best restaurants based on national rankings.

Using reviews, awards, and the experiences of their teams, publications like Lovefood.com, 24/7 Tempo, Tasting Table, and Yelp have declared these the top eats in the Mitten State.

Gallery Credit: Janna