Kai Garden 116 S. Main St., Ann Arbor; 734-995-1785; kaigarden.com: Kai Garden features a menu of more than 180 items. They include the standards — pork fried rice, sweet and sour chicken — as well as more interesting dishes such as catfish hot pot, rose scallops, and spicy pig ears. The steamed sole, a large flat fish, is worth the half-hour wait just to watch the show: Your waitress removes the flesh from the bones with a butter knife. It's steamed first, then sprinkled with matchsticks of ginger and scallions, and served with a rich brown special soy sauce. 

Krishna Catering & Restaurant 28636 Ford Rd., Garden City; 734-513-3663; krishnacatering.com: Krishna is a street-food joint that serves a wide variety of vegetarian Indian food. It's a bare-bones operation with plasticware, serve-yourself water from a cooler, just eight back-to-back tables and lots of carryout. Dishes go for $3.50 and the max is $8.50. Food comes from north and south India - you'll recognize the chutneys, sambar, samosas and dosas. A unique dish is khaman dhokala — cubes that looks like cornbread but are actually steamed chickpea batter, with sprinkles of shredded coconut and cilantro on top. 

La Shish 22039 Michigan Ave., Dearborn; 313-582-8400: Quality is outstanding and portion control nonexistent. La Shish bread is a circle of dough that puffs up like popovers, served hot to your table and replenished indefinitely. The menu is long and includes lamb chops, quail and seafood. The baba ghanoush is especially smoky, ultra-creamy and garlicky. Kibbeh is available raw, fried, baked or mixed with tomatoes. Grape leaves, spinach pie, meat pie, shawarma, cabbage rolls, foul, hummus with pine nuts or lamb or both — it's all there. 

Majestic Café 4124 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-9700; majesticcafe.com: Majestic Café's menu takes its inspiration from all over the map. If you order a dish whose ingredients you normally like, you're likely to be pleased. A fabulous appetizer is the pan-roasted scallops with asparagus purée and morels. Ravioli is a recurring theme. Entrées are large, and there's a shared plate charge of $2. The café is only one aspect of the Majestic entertainment complex, which offers music, bowling, pool and a pizzeria, with a bar for each and an overlapping clientele. 

Michigo Pizza 255 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-439-6195; michigopizza.com: It's true Chicago-style deep-dish they're after (hence the mild pun nested in the name). The ingredients are fresh and prepared in-house. The dough is made with olive oil and a bit of honey, producing a flaky crust. The cheese is mozzarella and provolone, and the sauce is a fresh-tasting tomato with basil and a bit of wine. It takes at least a half-hour to bake a large pie - a good reason to order an antipasto salad. Monday through Thursday for eat-in diners: Pizzas are $3 cheaper, meaning an individual-size for $5.95. 

Miguel's Cantina 870 S. Rochester Rd., Rochester Hills; 248-453-5371; eatatmiguels.com: Miguel's delivers energetic ambience, friendly service and quality fare. The atmosphere is a mash-up of sports bar and casual family dining. Meals are served with hot corn chips and fresh roasted tomato salsa prepared tableside. Entrées range from several traditional tamales to tacos "Americanos" for the less adventurous. Authentic Mexican tacos are made with soft corn tortillas, onions and cilantro. The refried beans and Mexican rice is more flavorful than most in town. If you have room for dessert, fried ice cream is a popular choice. 

Morning Glory Coffee and Pastries 85 Kercheval Ave., Grosse Pointe Farms; 313-647-0298: Baked goods are made fresh daily: giant cupcakes, fresh fruit tarts, croissants, scones, brownies, cannoli, muffins, beignets, lemon bars and raspberry ganache tarts. Among the best sellers is a beignet: a hunk of deep-fried dough with a cinnamon sugar or powdered-sugar dusting. Almost everything is made in-house, from pounding pesto to dicing tomato relish to slicing or pulling the meats for soups and sandwiches. Adding to the charm: a front patio with Greek-style statues, bright-red iron café furniture, a glassed-in indoor-outdoor fireplace and heated floors.

Pho Viet 3854 E. 13 Mile Rd., Warren;
586-558-8115: There are nearly 20 ways to order pho at Pho Viet. Most are some combination of proteins — rare beef, well-done flank, brisket, tendon, tripe, beef meatballs, or all of the above. The Bun cha gio thit nuong is wholly satisfying — a combination of rice vermicelli and vegetables under grilled pork and a crispy roll. With tall ceilings and a wide, open floor plan, the dining area feels enormous. It's quiet on weekday nights, but the lunch hour on a Sunday was busy. The service was superior. 

Ristorante Ciao 22023 Michigan Ave., Dearborn; 313-277-2426: Enter Ciao and emerge in a bath of cream. Of 14 pasta dishes, only five include a tomato sauce. Sun-dried are used in the linguine alla vodka e salmone, where the sweet flavor marries perfectly with that of asparagus, spinach and salmon in a "creamy, spicy vodka sauce." The mushroom and lobster bisque are sublime. There are six upscale, stone-oven-baked pizzas — tomatoes fresh or sun-dried. Desserts include bread pudding and a house-made cinnamon gelato. The service was professional; the waitstaff exclaimed in delight over our choices.

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