The hearth is the room. Walk into Leña, look left, and the kitchen opens out around a wood-fire hearth burning Michigan oak, cherry, and applewood. Almost everything that hits the table touched the fire.
Piquillo peppers stuffed with Lake Superior whitefish. Diver scallop with an onion ring on top. Acorn-fed Iberian ham, sliced thin, served plain.
The room is 3,200 square feet, the seating runs to eighty-six, and the design is more living-room-with-good-bones than dining-room-with-attitude. Leña opened May 8, 2024, at 2720 Brush Street, on the ground floor of Bedrock's City Modern development. The restaurant comes from Matt Tulpa and Tarun Kajeepeta, who also run the downtown speakeasy Shelby.
Director of operations Mindy Lopus came from Birmingham's Tallulah Wine Bar and Bella Piatti and was general manager at SheWolf. The kitchen team is heavy on Detroit hospitality alumni. New York native Mike Conrad is executive chef, after time at Takoi in Corktown and the short-lived Magnet in Core City.
Sous chef Marcello Molteni works the line with him. The pastry chef is the name to know. Lena Sareini was a James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year semifinalist in both 2018 and 2019 during her time at Selden Standard, and she is the reason the dessert section reads like a separate restaurant.
General manager Gabe DeFlaviis also came from Selden. The Selden Standard tree has now produced enough sister restaurants that Detroit dining could pin it on a wall and chart the descendants. The menu splits into pintxos, tapas, larger plates, and "del fuego" hearth-cooked entrees.
Pintxos run $8 to $16 and arrive two per order on slices of baguette. The grilled snow pea salad is short and excellent. The chorizo-stuffed chicken is the order someone at the table will reorder.
Sherry by the two- and four-ounce pour is a smart way to taste your way through the wall map of Spanish wine regions painted up the east side of the room. Service starts at five, which is more Detroit than Madrid. Reservations are nearly required on weekends.
There is a $25-per-person fee for cancellations under four hours out, which tells you something about how busy it gets. By the end of 2024, Leña had landed on the city's best-new-restaurant short lists.
The plaudits were earned.
2720 Brush St., Detroit.
