John Yelinek
Ladder 4 Wine Bar | Detroit, MI
July 2025
When John Yelinek realized that freelance work wasn’t paying the bills, he started to pick up prep shifts at local restaurants while studying for his degree in audio engineering. Yelinek had grown up around avid home cooks and in a family that loved to gather around a good meal, but it wasn’t until after graduating from college that he decided to pursue a career in the kitchen full-time. He joined the team at Roast in 2015 as a line cook, where he learned to fabricate meat, break down fish, and process all kinds of ingredients. After leaving to help open some other restaurants around town, Yelinek returned to Roast in 2018 as the executive sous chef. During his time at the restaurant, he studied and tasted wines with the restaurant’s general manager and wine director, developing his own knowledge and passion for wine along the way. Yelinek and his friend and mentor, Chef Sean Marshall, also launched a pop-up called Pariah, where they dug into global flavors and techniques while flexing their creative muscles through a multi-course tasting menu format.
In 2020, Yelinek left Roast and joined the opening team at Shelby in Downtown Detroit. After a year—and some time spent consulting—he was approached by his neighbor, James Cadariu, who needed some help opening a new spot, Ladder 4 Wine Bar. Yelinek agreed to give him a hand and soon found himself pouring wine three nights a week while learning even more about grape varietals, wine regions, and producers. Eventually, they decided that the bar needed a food program with just as much intrigue as the wine list. So, Yelinek dove back into the kitchen, developing a menu that is meant to feel like a dinner party with European-leaning, wine-friendly dishes that celebrate local produce. Now, at the firehouse-turned-wine bar, he is overseeing the food menu and wine list and pushing his small team to think outside the box. Yelinek is also cultivating a garden across the street with his wife, Charlotte, that supplies unconventional, and otherwise inaccessible, produce for the kitchen.
