Restaurants in Madison Heights

Strawberry Moon's menu serves up freshly baked bread and pastries made from organic flour plucked straight from the vine. Lovers of loaves can opt for breads ranging from classics such as honey whole wheat ($3.89) to game-changing explosions of flour-flecked flavor such as jalapeño cheddar ($5.89). Dessert desirers need look no further than the pastries, muffins, and cookies—including the bakery's namesake, a crescent confection topped with pink icing—lining the bakery's shelves. Despite the sweet-tooth façade put up by Strawberry Moon, a streak of eclectic edibles runs through the fare, as sandwiches and pizzas also populate the menu. Gourmet pizzas include the Full Moon ($15.19 for a 14-inch pizza), a flavorful caravan of meats, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and pineapple, and the Julius C ($15.09 for a 14-inch pizza), a satisfying slab of creamy Caesar sauce, mozzarella, romano, grilled chicken, and fresh tomato. Oven-baked sandwiches of note include a cucumber sandwich ($6.19) with wasabi and Swiss cheese, and the Funky Monkey ($4.89), where banana and honey ride a groovy bass line of organic peanut butter.

Via Nove's stylish, multilevel eatery specializes in the delectable fare cooked predominantly in southern and central Italy, saving taste receptors thousands in travel costs by bringing scintillating entrees to Michigan. Commence your culinary tour of the boot-heeled motherland with a three-course dinner from a prix fixe menu, which presents appetizers such as seared scallop and applewood-smoked bacon, romantically perched atop an Italian-style potato crêpe. For your entree, use your fork as a divining rod to discover the Lake Michigan whitefish fillet meunièr, interspersed with potato, parsley, capers, and lemon; or rest on the pillowy house-made tortelloni, made pleasantly plump with braised beef tenderloin and painted in a vodka-palomino sauce. Then, similar to the curtain call after most high-school plays in Candyland, a double-chocolate cake tips its hat of chocolate mousse and espresso anglaise to raucous audience applause.

Lebanese cuisine, with its blend of fresh vegetables, spiced meats, and infusions of garlic and olive oil, strikes a happy balance between healthfulness and flavor appeal. The chefs at Bostaan maintain that balance, blending chickpeas, fava beans, and veggies into crispy falafel and charbroiling chicken or lamb to fill savory shawarma wraps. The restaurant's staff also brews Arabic coffee and squeezes fresh juices from oranges, carrots, beets, and radishes, creating healthy blends that add color to cheeks and cultivate desires to sing arias with people at the gas pump.:m]]

Cousins Elias Hajjar and Nicholas Aubrey take yearly trips back to Lebanon to visit their family, but they can eat authentic Lebanese cuisine without leaving the confines of their own restaurant. With Gemmayze, which is named after a bohemian neighborhood in Beirut, they "wanted to create not only a menu that exemplified what's happening in Beirut and Lebanon right now, but we wanted to re-create the atmosphere,” Hajjar said in a Detroit Metromix article. “So the colors on the walls and ceiling are light and very clean and refreshing, and the menu reflects that as well.”

Inside the multi-level dining room, dangling lights twist like a strand of DNA above tables topped with shareable plates of hummus, grape leaves, and kibbe nayee—minced raw meat with bulgur and spices. Each dish is made from scratch using recipes that date back generations. Nearby, decorative palm tree appliqués cling to windows and a large brushed metal frame displays a variety of vintage forks, which can only be wielded by the rightful ruler of England. After dinner, patrons can move into the lounge and perch atop comfy ottomans and banquettes swaddled in rich fabrics while sipping wine or a cocktail.

The 200-year-old stone walls of Christine’s Creekside Inn sheltered an 18th-century grist mill, a knitting mill, and a Prohibition-era speakeasy before hosting executive chef and owner Doug Delong. This is a second homecoming for Delong, who was one of the original chefs here during the early 1990s when the restaurant was called Old Mill Inn. After an apprenticeship at the Green Hills Inn to study American and French cuisine, Delong returned to restore the elegance of the restaurant and pour two decades of experience into his hearty meat- and seafood-focused cuisine. Italian taste dominates the menu, so veal and chicken are draped in traditional sauces with lemon and capers, artichokes, or marsala wine to complement their tiny borsalino hats. Steaks are hand-cut from certified Angus beef and pair nicely with wine or a microbrew from the diverse list of 14 bottled beers.

Delicate iron chandeliers descend from timber beams in the peaked ceiling, but their soft glow seems unnecessary against a wall of arched windows that reach nearly two stories on their tippy toes. The broad hall exudes both cathedral grandeur and country charm, making it suitable for an elegant night out or a wedding reception.

Royal Bengal Indian Cuisine’s executive chef employs 20 years of culinary experience gleaned from years spent in Pakistan’s five-star Avari hotel to whip up piquant Indian dishes infused with American flair. Bengal's team of gastronomic wizards meticulously create each dish using Easy-Bake Oven assembly instructions and the finest of ingredients such as fresh okra, housemade cheese, and freshly ground spices. Amid the rich, red walls of a spacious dining room, friendly servers deftly deliver platefuls of lamb, chicken, and seafood, and herbivorous noshers and cannibalistic tomatoes alike can treat tummies to a host of vegetarian dishes.