Historic Ypsilanti restaurant The Bomber will soon be featured on America’s Best Restaurants (ABR), a popular YouTube channel that has spotlighted restaurants across the U.S. in over 1,000 videos since 2021. The ABR team visited The Bomber on Aug. 16, where they were treated to a number of fan-favorite dishes voted on by local patrons through The Bomber’s Facebook page.

"A woman I went to school with in the area had submitted our name to ABR, and then they reached out to us," says Bomber owner Johanna McCoy. "The team came and filmed on a Friday morning, which is our biggest rush, so things looked nice because the place was full."

McCoy says that while everyone has a favorite dish from the restaurant’s menu, a Facebook poll helped her and her staff decide on the Bomber Breakfast, the Southern skillet, and Captain Crunch French toast to showcase both their sweet and savory options on the episode. 

While McCoy is always excited to showcase The Bomber's food, she also appreciated a chance to introduce the ABR crew and audience to the restaurant’s nearly 90-year history and its connections to the Willow Run Bomber Plant. The plant built one B-24 Liberator airplane every 63 minutes during World War II, according to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation website.

"I appreciate the fact that I can tell people a little bit of the history," McCoy says. "People usually want to know why it’s called The Bomber and how it got started, so I get to give everybody a paragraph on that and why it’s so important."

Although McCoy and many of her patrons view the restaurant as an essential part of both Ypsilanti’s history and community of restaurants, she says The Bomber sometimes flies under the radar for visitors to the area. She says that any publicity opportunities, including previous coverage from The Food Network, are "fantastic." She hopes that the community will be quick to share the ABR episode when it's released. 

"We’re on Michigan Avenue, but we don’t have anything over the sidewalk to show we’re here, and people drive fast," McCoy says. "Things like this help folks to not forget about us."

The ABR episode featuring The Bomber does not have a scheduled release date, but McCoy says it should be available to view in a few months on ABR’s YouTube channel.

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo by Rylee Barnsdale.