For the second time in as many years, we have the great honor of being a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for Outstanding Restaurant. Having opened our doors in 2014, we’re quite grateful to still be receiving such accolades as we enter our second decade.
Eater Detroit has a nice roundup of all the Detroit semi-finalists for this year, and of course, the James Beard website has a complete list of all the nominees.
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.