SavannahBlue, which makes its classy home out of a moody second-floor dining room overlooking Detroit’s little-known Times Square, describes its cuisine as a “Northern take on Southern comfort food” and hospitality. The menu includes shrimp and grits, an Alabama chicken sandwich on brioche, and braised oxtail over risotto. Take note of the dress code. (Currently closed for renovations.)

Serving upscale American food in a casual atmosphere, LeCulture Cafe moved from Eastern Market to Harmonie Park in 2020 for a larger kitchen. The dining room at the larger space remains popular, so make a reservation. Southern dishes include gumbo, catfish, and a Cajun-fried cornish hen accompanied by greens and macaroni and cheese.

Known for its ribs, wings, and live jazz, They Say also has a reputation for other meatier offerings with a Southern bent such as turkey chops, rib tips, and salmon croquettes. The restaurant also serves up wings and jazz at its Harper Woods outpost. Finish dinner off with bread pudding or red velvet cheesecake.

A Memphis institution, this chain has expanded to include several locations serving fried birds in metro Detroit. Start the meal with an appetizer with fried pickle spears, fried green tomatoes, or fried okra. Slightly sweet beans and slaw served with a meal of spicy chicken. Order it with a pecan, sweet potato, or chess pie.

Named for the famous late Detroit boxer, this restaurant by his namesake serves all-day brunch in a cute dining room seven days. The menu features southern favorites, including cinnamon roll flapjacks, bananas foster French toast, bread pudding, key lime pie flapjacks, shrimp and grits, and Joe Louis’s favorite, country-fried steak cheese grits.

The soul food here has never harmed a soul: It’s all vegan. While the East Side location is on a break, Detroit Vegan Soul in Grandmont-Rosedale is accepting online orders for curbside pickup. Vegan soul offers just-as-tasty plant-based versions of comforting soul food favorites such as hush puppies, “catfish” tofu, and smothered tempeh.

Sweet potato ice cream, chicken and sweet potato waffles, sweet potato cookies, and cornbread — Sweet Potato Sensations does it all, working hard to preserve the legacy of George Washington Carver. Headed to the Old Redford neighborhood eatery? Try the pie first. Carryout and delivery currently are available.

Everyone from Andrew Zimmern of the Travel Channel to comedian DL Hughley has raved about the carryout spot Motor City Soul Food, started in 2001 on Detroit’s northwest side by natives from Mississippi and Alabama. They expanded to Oak Park in 2013, where there also are long lines. The staples are there — fried chicken, okra, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese — but also the harder-to-find neck bones, ham hocks, and oxtail.

This east-side family-owned carryout institution always serves up friendly smiles and some of the best soul food in the city. The show-stopping turkey wings are the best sellers, by far. The ribs from the smoker out front are tasty, too. Don’t forget the fixins’, which are flavored with turkey instead of ham hocks or fatbacks: baked beans, collards, cabbage, green beans, and potato salad, for starters.

Around since 1997, this award-winning sit-down soul food restaurant fuses southern roots with an epicurean influence in traditional favorites and low-country cuisine. The menu reflects the palate of its modern, suburban guests but the stalwarts are there: fried chicken with Moet, vegan sloppy joes, and fried wings served in a commemorative shoebox.