Macomb County, which encompasses the cities on the eastern shore of Southeast Michigan, is not often recognized for its culinary acumen. The region, however, brimming with residents of a myriad of cultural backgrounds, is home to diverse cuisines and mom-and-pop shops centered on family recipes.
Sterling Heights, one of Macomb’s largest suburbs, has a rich landscape of unassuming restaurants of all varieties. According to 2020 census data previously reported by the Free Press, 23.5% of Sterling Heights residents are Middle Eastern or North African, with 86% having roots in Iraq. The demographic has brought some of the region’s finest Middle Eastern restaurants to Sterling Heights, and a large Asian presence in Sterling Heights and nearby Troy brings quality Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian eats to the city.
From flaming-hot Sichuan noodles to salty Albanian sausages, Sterling Heights has a kaleidoscope of flavors and foods to try – they’re likely just tucked into an unassuming strip mall or side-of-the-road outpost. Here are the spots you should not miss.
Caribbean Authentic Cuisine
In Southeast Michigan, food that represents various countries within the Caribbean diaspora is scattered. It isn’t concentrated like Mexican food in Southwest Detroit, or Lebanese in Dearborn. One of the region’s best hideouts for Jamaican and West Indian flavors is Caribbean Authentic Cuisine at a Sterling Heights strip mall on Dequindre and 16 Mile Road. As its name suggests, Caribbean Authentic serves traditional dishes native to places like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. Here, oxtail dinners are generous, served slathered in a rich brown stew teeming with soft carrots and thyme over rice and peas. There’s also curry goat, whole snapper grilled with citrus butter, spicy jerk chicken and flaky beef patties. Slosh those savory, spicy dishes down with sweet, housemade juices, such as sorrel, a spiced hibiscus drink, soursop blended with coconut water or raw peanut punch.
37136 Dequindre Road, Sterling Heights. 586-272-2594; caribbeanauthenticcuisine.com
Dream Restaurant
Dream Market, the Sterling Heights supermarket now with locations at 15 Mile and Ryan Road and 18 Mile and Ryan, has been serving ingredients often used in Middle Eastern and Arabic cuisines for more than a decade. With Dream Restaurant, the new cafeteria-style restaurant attached to the 15 Mile location that opened last year, guests can indulge in an array of Iraqi dishes that were once relegated to a small hot food bar at the market. Try dishes by the pound at the hot food and appetizer section, such as sweet and sour eggplant stuffed with beef and rice or crispy pita chips and smoky hummus. Head to the fish department for fresh fish grilled on an open fire, or venture over to the most popular department at the restaurant: the charcoal chicken station. Whole spatchcocked chickens are roasted over hot coals, creating crispy skin and tender meat. For just $12.99, you’ll have a small cup of beans, spiced rice and a full meal for two.
Dream Restaurant, 40940 Ryan Road, Sterling Heights. 248-883-7326; dreammarketusa.com/restaurant
Isla
If you’ve never visited Isla, a Filipino restaurant run by husband-and-wife duo Juan Paul “JP” Garcia and Jacqueline Joy Diño-Garcia, you’ve likely zipped past it on Metro Parkway. The small restaurant is in a strip mall on the perimeter of big box stores. Stop in for outstanding meals inspired by the couple’s upbringing in the province of Iloilo in the Philippines. JP heads up the savory department at the fast-casual restaurant with rice and noodle bowls. Chicken adobo, the unofficial dish of the Philippines, places flavorful chicken over white rice with chopped onions and Pancit Palabok layers a medley of shrimp, crab, and chicharron over bouncy rice noodles. Do not leave without trying the restaurant’s confections. As Isla’s pastry chef, Jacqueline shines with desserts that are as beautiful as they are delicious. An ube cake layers a vibrant purple almond ube cake with tangy mango and coconut.
2496 Metro Parkway., Sterling Heights. 586-883-7526; isladetroit.com
Jakova Grill
There are few establishments for Balkan cuisine in metro Detroit – Jakova Grill is one. The Albanian restaurant, sandwiched between a barbershop and Metro by T-Mobile in a Mound Road strip mall, has become a go-to for byrek, a flaky coil of a pastry filled with ground meat, cheese or spinach and wound into a spiral like a long sausage link. Also popular are plates of qebapa, salty, skinless beef sausage links served on top of kajmak, a smooth, savory clotted cream. Don’t skip a side of shredded, pickled cabbage. It’s crispy, pungent and, served cold like sauerkraut or coleslaw, delightfully refreshing alongside other big-flavor dishes.
38037 Mound Road, Sterling Heights. 586-939-3940; jakovagrill.com
Korea Palace
For more than 20 years, Korea Palace has been a reliable haunt for Korean traditions – particularly, Korean barbecue. Sear ingredients like thin slices of beef, pork belly or shrimp tableside with cabbage, mushrooms and a range of spices and sauces. Or, opt for a comforting hot pot filled with a variety of meats and vegetables in a hot and spicy broth. Pair any of the dishes with Korean beverages, such as soju or Korean rice wines.
34744 Dequindre Road, Sterling Heights. 586-978-0500; koreapalacerestaurant.com
Las Tortugas Taqueria
Las Tortugas Taqueria established itself as a trusted source for Mexican cuisine in Macomb County for over a decade from its original location in Shelby Township. The restaurant relocated to its current Sterling Heights post in 2020, and has continued serving the dishes native to north-central Mexico, namely San Luis Potosí, that it initially became known for. Think tacos asada or tacos al pastor con copia, made with double corn tortillas to keep tacos with juicy fillings and generous toppings intact. There are vegetarian tacos filled with nopales, cactus cooked on a griddle until soft, or flor de Jamaica, more commonly known stateside as hibiscus. They say you please no one trying to please everyone, but the extensive menu here satisfies a range of taste preferences. From Cali-style burritos and Tex-Mex-style fajitas to breakfast and Mexican beers and cocktails, an extensive menu is suitable for all.
40850 Van Dyke Ave., Sterling Heights. 586-554-758; tortugastaqueria.com
The Pantry Restaurant
When a restaurant manages to stay in business for nearly 50 years, chances are, it’s doing something right. The Pantry, with locations now in Sterling Heights and Clinton Township, discovered its formula for success back in 1978 and continues to draw large crowds for all-day breakfast every day of the week. Guests flock to this family-run restaurant famous for its oven-baked pancakes, including the eggy German pancake, Dutch baby and a Horn of Plenty, a Dutch baby filled with a garden of fresh melons and berries and a swirl of whipped cream. The more traditional pancakes, hot and golden from the griddle, come in many varieties. There are sweet potato pancakes and buttermilk pancakes, buckwheat pancakes and savory potato pancakes loaded with ham, onion and cheddar cheese. For a singular experience, try the Texas flapjacks. Three cakes as thin as fritters, as chewy as waffles and with the crispy edges of a great, lacy dumpling, arrive the size of your plate with a big scoop of butter and silky syrup.
34220 Van Dyke Ave., Sterling Heights. 586-939-1370; thepantryrestaurant.com
Trizest Restaurant
If there’s one thing Trizest wants you to know, it’s that the Chinese restaurant serves dishes with a kick. Smack at the very top of its menu read: “Spicy Chinese Sichuan Food,” as if the phrase is the restaurant’s tagline. The same words once hung above the entrance before guests even stepped foot into the dining room. It’s true, there are many dishes that reflect the distinguishing characteristic of Sichuan cuisine – steep spice levels show up in the General Tso’s chicken, garlic cucumbers and fried duck in a spicy fir pot. But you should know that the true defining factor of Trizest is that each dish, regardless of whether it prickles your taste buds or wells tear in your eyes, is beautifully made. Challenge yourself to venture away from the usuals – Sichuan chicken, lo mein or dumplings – and instead try the double-flavored squirrel-shaped fish. Two pieces of white fish are fileted and carved into what look like long pinecones, then fried crisp and drenched in two sauces – one sweet and sour sauce and another with a mild red chili oil. The dish is masterful in craft and flavor and can feed two, depending on how hungry you are.
33170 Dequindre Road, Sterling Heights. 586-268-1450; trizestrestaurant.com
Zarzoor Restaurant
There are many Mediterranean restaurants in Sterling Heights, but few are as ambitious and sought after as Zarzoor. First and foremost, the Iraqi eatery boasts an expansive modern dining room with booths and tables that can accommodate a pair of diners or a large group. Platters are presented on copper serving trays and teas are served in copper pots. Try quzi lamb – slow-roasted meat served with long-grain rice topped with buttery slivers of almond – and don’t skip the fresh bread. It’s hot and chewy and coated in char marks from the oven.
4220 15 Mile Road, Sterling Heights. 586-983-9045; zarzoorrestaurant.com
Contact Detroit Free Press Dining and Restaurant Critic Lyndsay C. Green at: LCGreen@freepress.com. Follow @LadyLuff on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for extras and insider scoops on Detroit-area dining.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Neighborhood Flavor: Where to eat in Sterling Heights
Reporting by Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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