November 19, 2014 | Thrillist

When the longtime Royal Oak restaurant/nightclub institution Sangria closed and the new owners announced their plans for the two-level space, there was some... trepidation. This is Royal Oak, after all; restaurants aren't exactly incentivized to be any good, and it's only a matter of time before the Downtown shirks all quirky-independent pretensions to just go straight up Bubba Gump Shrimp (and oh, that time is coming). Which makes Bistro 82 not just a welcome relief from what is too much of a gastronomic wasteland, but also, thanks to exceedingly talented Chef Derik Watson (formerly of Iridescence), puts it on the cutting edge of Metro Detroit's culinary scene. You can resist Royal Oak all you want, but you cannot ignore the beautifully-presented casually French fare of Bistro 82.