Two guests have now alerted us to a small comment in the “acknowledgements” at the close of author Erik Larson’s latest book, “The Demon of Unrest.”

In the closing section, Mr. Larson writes that a conference attendee he was with treated him to “one of the best meals I’ve had anywhere, at Selden Standard in Detroit.”

There was obviously no need to mention us by name, so that was most kind. Our gratitude to him for recognizing us as one of the best meals in Detroit – and to our guests for letting us know. Operating a restaurant and having kids haven’t left us as much leisure time as we’d like, but we’ll have to check out the book.

In the wake of the recent announcement of inclusion on the James Beard semi-finalist list for Outstanding Restaurant, the Metro Times was kind enough to chat with us as we enter our tenth year. They did a nice job encapsulating the many developments in our area of Detroit since Selden Standard opened in 2014.

It’s been quite the media month for us. First, we had the unexpected pleasure to appear on the James Beard Foundation semi-finalist list for Outstanding Restaurant. Then today, we were named on a USA Today list of best restaurants in the US.

As we said in this piece, happy guests are our best reward, but it’s hard not to enjoy some national love for our restaurant. Much of our team has been together several years, and it’s a great testament to their continued professionalism and their quality as people that we garner this kind of attention as we approach a decade of service.

What an unexpected delight, in our 9th year, to be named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant in the United States.

While Chef Andy has been nominated under the Best Chef: Great Lakes category and he has always considered those team awards, this is the first time the Foundation has honored our restaurant in this way. We certainly try to keep our focus on each service, each day, but it’s hard not to take a moment to reflect on some serious national recognition.

We were excited to see that the James Beard Foundation chose to recognize more than a dozen chefs and restaurants in Southeast Michigan.

So congrats to our entire team on the honor — and congratulations, too, to those many other Detroit area chefs and restaurants who garnered JBF nods.

We were delighted to learn earlier today that Chef Andy was nominated as a James Beard Finalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes. He’s been a semi-finalist five times, but this will be his first time headed to Chicago as a finalist alongside fellow Detroit chefs Omar Anani from Saffron De Twah and Sarah Welch from Marrow.

It’s quite an honor for Andy, of course, but all restaurant awards, including the James Beard Foundation awards, are ultimately recognition for the team. There’s a lot that goes into any restaurant, including Selden, and the dozens of folks who are here every day helping make your night special are what makes this type of national praise possible. So congratulations to Andy and our entire team!

The award ceremony will be in June in Chicago with plenty of other great nominees, including several from Chicago with really great restaurants. So indeed, it’s an honor just to be nominated. (But we’ll keep our fingers crossed for Detroit!)

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.

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