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Why Tommy Brann’s made the SteakMap list

This is the oldest of the seven Brann’s locations in Michigan, open on Division Avenue in Wyoming since 1971, and it is the one with a name on the door for a reason.

Tommy Brann was the oldest son of John Brann, and he took over this restaurant at nineteen years old on a loan from his father. He ran it for fifty-two years, serving a term in the Michigan House of Representatives along the way, before selling it in 2023 to his sister Liz Stegehuis and her son Sean. It stayed in the family, which is the whole point of the place.

The sizzler

The Brann family has been in West Michigan food since 1938, and John Brann Sr. opened the first John Brann’s Steakhouse in Grand Rapids around 1960. That is where what the family calls Michigan’s Original Sizzle started — a marinated sirloin off the grill, arriving still audibly cooking. At the peak, the original room was selling around 800 sizzling steak dinners on a Saturday night.

The beef is specialty-sourced USDA Choice Angus, aged and cut to what the menu calls the family’s traditional specifications. This is not a dry-aging showroom and it does not pretend to be. It is a good sirloin done the same way for sixty years, and it comes with two sides and the yeast rolls.

Menu prices

From the Brann’s menu, August 2026: Sizzler steak 6oz $17.99, 8oz $18.99, 11oz $21.99; 8oz prime rib $21.99; 12oz prime rib $29.99; 16oz bone-in KC strip $29.99; 7oz filet mignon $39.99. Add Kentucky bourbon sauce, Cajun spice or Boursin for $1.99, or mushrooms and onions for $2.99. Brann’s notes that prices vary by location.

Read the guide to the best steakhouses in Michigan.