Detroit's Paramita Sound named among 2024 USA TODAY Bars of the Year

This week, Paramita Sound was named among the 2024 USA TODAY Bars of the Year. The list of 27 bars from across the country was curated by USA TODAY Network food writers, and includes a range of humble dives to high-end cocktail bars.

For its minimalist, local-first bar program and the intentional way the space cultivates community through music, Paramita Sound is Detroit's Bar of the Year.

“We consider ourselves an access point for people to hopefully to fall deeper in love with music — or, to fall deeper in love with this community that has swaddled us and held us up," said Paramita founder Andrey Douthard. "It's a truly reciprocal relationship that exists at Paramita. That's what I want people to feel and it's nice to hear people say that back.”

What makes Paramita Sound stand out?

A decade ago, Paramita Sound opened as a record shop operating out of a humble, once-abandoned historic home in Detroit’s West Village. The Black-owned wine bar and record shop has since matured in a downtown Detroit space that, in the ’80s, was once a hub for local musicians. Today, Paramita holds onto its musical roots welcoming today’s generation of music enthusiasts to dance to the tunes of live DJs while sipping on Michigan wines, beer and simple mixed drinks.

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Here, sweaty bodies pack into the quaint, 650-square-foot space and dance among walls lined in a range of new records and one large photograph of that old home with the chipped-paint façade where the business got its start. A rotation of seasoned and up-and-coming, nationally acclaimed and local DJs, producers and musicians grace the space, spinning an eclectic range of Detroit house music, techno, rap, hip-hop and R&B weekly.

Paramita Sound is a place where the beverages are simple — there’s an array of beers, all under $10 and a small menu of Michigan wines. There’s an even smaller selection of “Two Steps,” or spirits paired with a mixer because, "that's what you would do at your house," Douthard said in contrast to craft cocktails that, in some scenarios, might feel pretentious. "That's what you would do at the barbecue."

These Two Steps nod to the Caribbean with drinks such as Wray and Nephew white overproof rum stirred up with a splash of Ting, a fizzy Jamaican grapefruit soda; or sorrel, a crimson Jamaican hibiscus drink made by a local friend of the bar infused with tequila.

The simplicity and casual nature of the bar program has allowed Douthard to focus primarily on the venue’s ability to build and unite communities.

“When we started in 2014, the idea of opening this record shop initially was justifying a more universal language to connect with people,” he said. “The goal of what we do at Paramita is to maintain generational connections and so starting as a record shop was us trying to bring people together in the most honest way because my love and my place in this city has always been through the music community.”

Imbibers of any age and any cultural demographic connect over drinks and beats at Paramita. It’s a go-to for discovering unheard talent and the unofficial afterparty venue for many of the city’s biggest events.

“I take a lot of care in programming and regularly choose not to program against or in care of other important events that happen around the city when they aren’t adjacent to my space or when people in our community are doing relevant work other places in the city,” Douthard said.   

On any given night, you can find guests spilling into the streets of downtown Detroit, continuing to make connections with other bar-goers with cheeks flushed from a night of drinks and feet blistered from a a dizzying few rounds of the Detroit Hustle.

Details: 1517 Broadway St., Detroit; paramita.xyz