Guy Fieri has said that The Fly Trap in Ferndale, Michigan was one of the first restaurants he saw when he started watching his own show — and that it was fabulous. That’s a meaningful line from someone who has been inside thousands of restaurants, and it tracks with what Delish confirmed when they named The Fly Trap Michigan’s best Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stop two years running. It appeared in Season 2, Episode 11 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives — “Off the Hook Specials,” aired January 20, 2008 — and delivered a menu that nobody expected: a “finer diner” on Woodward Avenue serving gingerbread waffles, Vietnamese pho bowls, Thai-style peanut chicken, and a Red Chili Salmon Burger alongside classic diner standards, all in a tiny room with nine tables and a lunch counter where people line up in January cold to wait outside for a seat.
Quick Facts
Restaurant: The Fly Trap
City: Ferndale, Michigan
Cuisine: American / Eclectic
DDD Season: 2
DDD Episode: 11
Episode Title: Off the Hook Specials
Original Air Date: January 20, 2008
Address: 22950 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, MI 48220
Phone: 248-399-5150
Website: https://www.theflytrapferndale.com/
Status: Open
About The Fly Trap
The Fly Trap opened in 2004 on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale — a city known as the breakfast capital of Metro Detroit and a hub for creative independent restaurants. The menu, which the kitchen calls “blunch,” spans breakfast and lunch with a daily-changing chalkboard that reflects what the kitchen is working with and feeling that day. House-made sauces and jams are available for purchase to take home. The space is small, colorful, and completely committed to its own vision, which is why it still draws lines more than two decades in.
The Food Network description was precise: “Triple D meets tofu.” The Fly Trap was not afraid to put a pho bowl or tofu fried rice on a diner menu when virtually no other diner in Michigan was doing it, and that willingness to mix global flavors with American comfort food staples is still the signature of the place.
What to Eat at The Fly Trap
The Red Chili Salmon Burger is the dish Guy highlighted — house-made, spicy, not what you expect to find at a diner, and exactly the kind of thing that earns a DDD segment. The Vietnamese Pho Bowl — with a lemongrass-infused broth and fresh herbs — is the global outlier on the menu that most regulars eventually come around to. The Gingerbread Waffles are the sweet breakfast signature. The Tofu Fried Rice has its own loyal following. The house-made Swat Sauce — a fiery habanero hot sauce — is the condiment worth taking home.
Plan Your Visit
The Fly Trap is open Monday through Sunday 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Arrive early on weekends — the wait for a table at this nine-table room gets long fast.
Address: 22950 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, MI 48220
Phone: 248-399-5150
Website: https://www.theflytrapferndale.com/
Status: Open
Flavortown Approved
The Fly Trap’s creative approach to diner food is exactly the spirit Guy Fieri celebrates in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip with Recipes. Planning a Michigan road trip? More Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives has more Michigan stops worth knowing about.
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The Fly Trap appeared in Season 2, Episode 11 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, “Off the Hook Specials,” originally aired January 20, 2008.