Standby

Standby opened in 2015 inside The Belt, the mural- and gallery-lined alley off Library Street in Downtown Detroit, and quickly became one of the city's most decorated bars: James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program (2017 and 2018), Eater Detroit's Bar of the Year (2016), and repeated Tales of the Cocktail regional honors. In 2025 The Pinnacle Guide gave it Two Pin "Outstanding" status, and in summer 2024 chef Matty Matheson (of "The Bear") joined as a partner — his first U.S. bar venture.

That same acclaimed cocktail program treats zero-proof as a first-class category rather than an afterthought. Standby's current menu marks select drinks "Zero proof" right alongside the alcoholic list: the Buddy Boy Negroni, credited to M. Matheson, is built on an N/A aperitif with charred citrus, maple, and green coffee; the California Sober uses a hemp & root spirit base with ginger, lemongrass, acidified orange, and CO₂ for lift and carbonation. The Farm to Highball — usually built on vodka with seasonal produce and a botanical soda — is also made available zero-proof on request, meaning guests aren't limited to a separate, shrunken mocktail list.

The Belt itself is part of Detroit's downtown arts revitalization, a narrow alley of large-scale murals and small storefronts entered off Gratiot Avenue and Library Street. Standby sits at the center of it, open late most nights of the week, which has made it as much a hangout for the city's own bar-industry crowd as for visitors chasing its national reputation.