The readers of Hour Detroit have again voted us Best Restaurant, Wayne County. (As well as best so-called farm-to-table restaurant.) It’s an honor we were delighted to receive in the past, and especially in light of the challenges our industry has faced over the last two years, we’re most appreciative to have so many people’s respect and trust. We’ll do our best to continue to earn that as we march toward our eighth birthday this fall.

It so happens that Time magazine also named Detroit one of their “greatest places in the world” for 2022, and we garnered a mention in their recap of our city’s food scene.

We’re proud to work with a great team who continues to welcome our guests warmly and put forth delicious food and drink. While we try never to focus on awards or media mentions, it’s nonetheless gratifying to see their hard work recognized both locally and nationally. As always, thanks for the support!

On one hand, the throes of a global pandemic is a strange time to focus on awards.

On the other, what better time to celebrate happy moments? And we’ve got a big one to share: Pastry Chef Lena Sareini has just been featured in the Food & Wine annual Best New Chefs issue alongside some other great national talent.

From article: ‘I know a lot of times when people go out for dessert, it’s just an indulgence,” she says. Some might take just one or two bites before being overwhelmed with sugar. “I want to see empty plates come back.” To do this, Sareini, the pastry chef at Detroit’s Selden Standard, works savory elements—often unexpected ones—into each of her recipes.

If you’d like to take up Lena’s clean plate challenge, you can make (and eat) her Labneh Panna Cotta.

Anyhow, it’s hard for us to think of Lena as “new” since she’ll have been a part of our family for five years at the end of May, but it’s not hard for us to think of her as the best because, well, she is. Congrats to a great pastry chef and an even better person on another well-earned honor. Cheers (from six feet away) to Lena!

The 2020 James Beard Foundation semi-finalists were announced today. A heartfelt congratulations to our beloved Chef Andy Hollyday and Pastry Chef Lena Sareini on their respective Best Chef Great Lakes and Rising Star nods!

And of course, congrats to all our other friends in southeast Michigan for another impressive showing: Sister Pie, Mabel Gray, Marrow, The Sugar House, ima, Miss Kim, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Saffron de Twah, and the Eid family. It’s an honor and a delight to a part of this evolving food and dining scene with you all.

We were fortunate, not to mention honored, to get some mentions in the national media alongside a number of our friends over the past week.

The Wall Street Journal’s Off Duty section came to town for a whirlwind weekend through Detroit and mentioned us as part of their ideal itinerary. Always a treat to be recognized, but it’s both fun and gratifying to be mentioned alongside other great restaurants and some of our favorite things to do. The “long weekend” format made it a tight list despite the diverse set of things the author recommended, and it’s nice to still find ourselves on some of these now that we’re almost five years old. You’ll need a subscription to give it a read.

A few days later, Forbes published a similar roundup that’s a more traditional rundown of a lot of restaurants in the greater downtown area. Again, it’s hard to argue with many of their recommendations, and the list is accessible to the public.

Anyhow, definitely some nice attention for a number of restaurants and attractions in town.

Among the many “ranking” websites out there, none is so hyper-focused on food as Opinionated About Dining (OAD). Each year, the site publishes lists of restaurants that have been reviewed by its users, but the users’ votes carry more weight if the user is an experienced diner who has been to top restaurants throughout the world.

Lo and behold, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves sitting on the list of top North American Gourmet Casual restaurants, putting us in the company of Osteria Mozza, AOC, Walrus & Carpenter, Woodberry Kitchen, and other top restaurants around the continent that we love. A genuine honor to be in the same conversation.

See the full list at the OAD website.

We’re delighted to announce that Selden Standard pastry chef Lena Sareini was named a semi-finalist for the prestigious James Beard Rising Star award, given to those under 30 making waves in the culinary world.

And recently, The Washington Post did a travel piece on dining in Detroit, and we’re featured alongside Dime Store and our dear friends at Supino. Naturally, they finished off their meal with Lena’s chocolate halawa (below).

Writing that “Selden Standard has become the most notable casual high-end restaurant in the city,” Hour Detroit magazine has just named us 2016 Restaurant of the Year. It’s a tremendous honor – and the capstone to a very exciting week during which Chef Andy was also named a semi-finalist for the 2016 James Beard awards.

The Hour article makes mention of our staff, referring to the “choreography” between the front of house and the kitchen. That’s really where any success we’ve had over the past year begins: It’s a talented, dedicated group of 75 individuals who enjoy their work, and we’re so thankful that they’ve chosen to be a part of this team. We’re grateful, too, for our friends and guests who have supported us and challenged us to be better.

This is the second year in a row now that we’ve had the great fortune to receive an award of this kind, and we’ll keep working hard toward offering high quality food, drink, and service. Cheers!

We were thrilled to see this morning that Chef Andy has been named a James Beard semi-finalist as Best Chef: Great Lakes. He joins a few other great Michigan chefs receiving accolades from the Beard Foundation: Chef Nick at Forest for the same award; Chef Garrett Lipar at Marais for Rising Star; and Mabel Gray, headed by good friend James Rigato, for Best New Restaurant. This is the second year in a row that Andy has received this honor.

Swiss-based Mirus magazine visited Midtown last year, pointing their cameras at the businesses, artists, and leaders that make up the community. Selden Standard was lucky enough to be a part of their thorough examination of our neighborhood. The magazine’s staff assembled 100 pages of beautiful photography and compelling stories about many of the people and places here.

Mirus Magazine, Issue 04 – Midtown, Detroit

If you care to visit the earlier issues, there are some pretty interesting pieces on other cities as well. Definitely worth a read.

We’ve had the good fortune to be a part of a recent spate of national articles highlighting, among other things, the Detroit food scene. If you’re interested, give them a read:

• The New York Times came to town to eat and explore with Detroit-born chefs and restaurateurs Eli and Max Sussman.
• Bill Addison, restaurant editor for Eater National, came to metro Detroit and dined at a number of the newer spots in town.
• The Boston Globe penned a travel piece about the city, praising some restaurants, a creative culture, and the people the author met.

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