The Grand Rapids restaurant scene seemed to finally turn around in 2024, with multiple exciting openings helping reinvigorate what had been a tough several years following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the last Grand Rapids Magazine Restaurant of the Year issue was turned in, there have been several openings like Scholar and Gin Gins and the long-awaited reopening of Sovengard.
Last year’s Restaurant of the Year, Grove, remained as stellar an experience as there is in Grand Rapids. However, the Magazine has instituted a new rule to help further expand the restaurant industry in West Michigan and amplify more restaurants doing great things: A restaurant can only win once every five years. And thus, the Magazine turned its attention to the other establishments making food for our city.
While the the three restaurants noted above shined in their own ways at times, the Magazine also instated a rule a restaurant needs to be open for at least year to establish itself in the scene.
And with that one restaurant shined above the rest in its own way, pushing the boundaries of what Michiganders might think of food — something most restaurants in Grand Rapids need to focus a bit more on if they hope to see Restaurant of the Year honors in the future.
That restaurant is: MeXo.
MeXo in so many ways has flown under the radar for most West Michigan diners when its focus on pre-hispanic Mexican cuisine is a rarity even in larger cities. In the past few years, pre-hispanic, mesoamerican restaurants opening were celebrated in New York, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Perhaps that’s because of its fairly nondescript location along Fulton Street on the way into downtown heading westward, or just a complete misunderstanding of what the offerings are, but MeXo is a hidden gem of sorts right under the nose of Grand Rapidians.
Chef Oscar Moreno is a true talent in the kitchen, making most everything on the menu from scratch, including the masa dough used to make the tortillas and so much more on the menu. He’s also a star on the dining room floor where he can enthrall a diner with his stories and intimate knowledge of Mexican food, drink and culture.
Each item on the menu is bursting with flavors, whether its something as simple as the classic guacamole to the cochinita pibil, a salt crusted pork belly slow braised in achiote, wrapped in banana leaves. There’s a good array of items on the menu from anyone, plenty of various meat, seafood and vegetarian options. And while there is certainly some spice on the menu, a sensitive palate need not worry at MeXo, there are mild options.
While it’s easy to assume a Mexican restaurant in Grand Rapids — despite our plethora of excellent taquerias — would be TexMex oriented, MeXo is anything but. Because of its pre-hispanic focus, much of the food is gluten and dairy free, as wheat and cattle were introduced to North America with the arrival of Europeans.
Sunday brunch at MeXo, which can be alarmingly empty at times, is one of the best and most creative in the city. The dishes are sizable and solidly priced, at about $14 for most dishes, like the Huevos con Chorizo and Omelette ala Espanola, but the true shiner at brunch is the Chef’s Chilaquiles, made with ingredients at Chef Oscar’s discretion each week.
And then there’s the bar. Tequila and mezcal are perhaps the hottest spirits in the country and MeXo trots out an impressive list. The cocktails too showcase those spirits in an excellent way, including classics like the Paloma Clasico, Oaxacan Margarita, MeXo Oaxaca Old Fashioned and the Palenque Margarita to more specialty creations like the Vaquero Sour and Galope Galiceno. E
And building off the thirst quenchers, MeXo also might be home to one of the best, if not the best, happy hours in town — one that again is often overlooked. The menu is tight, but cheap, from $7 MeXo Margaritas and Paloma Clasicos to $4 draft beers and an selection of tasty treats from the menu, like the sopes (masa dough shaped into a cup filled with sirloin picadillo & cotija cheese or vegan cuitlachoche, and topped with lettuce, tomato and salsa) or the huaraches (masa dough filled with beans, smoked peppers, brisket and pickled red onions and cotija cheese.), or a taco.
With a 3-6 p.m. time frame, it is conceivable to be in downtown Grand Rapids, have two drinks and a few filling, incredibly tasty snacks for dinner under $20.
Then there is the community building opportunities within MeXo. The restaurant hosts a monthly specialty dinner, where Chef Oscar and hispanic community members pair food and drink from various times and regions of Mexican history and share the cultural stories around that time and place.
And that is only where Chef Oscar’s community work begins. In his off time, he is out and about consulting with Mexican restauranteurs across the region helping them ensure their kitchens are working the best they can.
While MeXo has avoided the hype of some other restaurants in Grand Rapids, its credentials and boundary-pushing performance in the kitchen is well worth some laudation.
Dishes to try at MeXo:
Pozole Verde — Nixtamalized (process to make corn more workable) hominy stew with braised pork, tomatillo, epazote (Mexican herb) and cilantro. ($20)
Cochinita Pibil — Salt crusted pork belly slow braised in achiote (a peppery spice), wrapped in banana leaves. Served with black rice, escabeche (pickled vegetables) and Xnipec (a spicy sauce with habanero peppers and onion) salsa. ($28)
Camarones ala Diabla — Sauteed shrimp with citrus, morita chiles, guajillo chiles, tepache (a fermented pineapple beverage), árbol peppers and garlic sauce. ($28)
Pollo con Mole Poblano — Tepache and morita marinated chicken, topped with mole poblano. ($26)
Red Snapper Zarandeado — Red Snapper filet with zarandeado sauce, garlic, citrus and xnipec salsa. ($28)
Oaxacan Margarita — Blanco mezcal, velvet falernum, lime, pineapple, orange agave and bitters. ($11)
Paloma Rojo — Blanco mezcal, Aperol, grapefruit, lime, orange agave, chili salt rim. ($11)
Restaurants challenging for 2025:
It’s still early to even begin honestly thinking about the 2025 Restaurant of the Year… but we’re going to do it anyway. There are the restaurants that were in consideration, at least in part, this year — even if some of them had just opened and weren’t quite in our qualifying zone.
While we’re hesitant to praise steakhouses too much, they are still the type of restaurant most diners put on the night out pedestal. With that in mind, The Chop House and Bowdie’s Chophouse are on brink of certainly being two of the tip top restaurants in town. They excel at knowledgable, welcoming services, excellently cooked menu items and a warm environment.
Leo’s has been a a staple in Grand Rapids for two decades. It’s the seafood version of a steakhouse, providing what everybody wants and expects from a seafood restaurant. But as with the steakhouses, the menu is predictable and, while expertly executed, fairly basic. A lot can be pushed upon with specials and continuing to host spectacular events.
The service industry is in a dire need for help, nearly every restaurant in Grand Rapids is struggling with quality labor support. While a very fun menu concept and neat space helped Scholar open to plenty of fanfare, service struggled in the Magazine’s visits to the restaurant.
Mangiamo’s and Gin Gin’s both excelled in the Magazine’s visits. The restaurants are maintain excellent aesthetics, particularly for a lovely date night, and while the food was excellent, they left a lot of aspiration on the menu. The items are about as basic as one can imagine in the modern dining world, and could have easily been swapped between each other.
The Little Bird and Cafe Mamo hold plenty of hype within circles in Grand Rapids. Both have fun, creative menus that are pushing the boundaries of what Grand Rapidians are eating. They are excellent in many aspects, but there are some barriers of entry to new diners at these restaurants that need to be toned down from an attitude perspective.
The Sovengard, while a one-time stalwart in the Grand Rapids dining scene, is back to be new kid on the block. It reopened this summer with a menu as creative and thoughtful as it used to have — and just as delicious. That said, the service struggled in the first few visits and could have turned off plenty of diners eager to try a former Restaurant of the Year honoree. If they get the service and turn time ironed out, the honor could be Sovengard’s to lose next year.
Restaurants to try in Grand Rapids:
Bowdie’s — a classic steakhouse with a fantastic bar program and unique events.
Cafe Mamo — an extremely small, but well-crafted menu in a cozy space.
Gin Gin’s — The grown-up sibling of one of the city’s hottest hot spots, Butcher’s Union.
Leo’s — Great seafood in a fine-dining space can be found in Grand Rapids.
Mangiamo’s — A former mansion provides an intimate setting for classic AmericRan dining.
Scholar — Upscale American comfort food in a comfortable, three-story setting.
The Chop House — The classic, white table cloth steakhouse.
The Little Bird – Small menu with fun twists on classics.
The Sovengard — Midwestern New American meets New Nordic.
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