Chef
Andy Hollyday
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Detroit, Michigan, United States
i. Biography
His work starts in a small family restaurant in Toledo and moves into formal training at the Culinary Institute of America, a path that gives the cooking both practical footing and structural discipline. From there, Andy Hollyday’s kitchen resume runs through L’Essentiel in Chambery, France; Tribute in Farmington; and Oliveto in Oakland, CA, each stop adding a different register to his technique. He later became Executive Chef at Michael Symon’s Roast in Detroit, before taking on the role he holds today as partner & Executive Chef of Selden Standard. The throughline is a cook formed by hands-on beginnings, sharpened by school, and tested across kitchens that asked for precision, adaptability, and pace.
The Path
Formal training at Culinary Institute of America gave Andy Hollyday a base before the work became fully accountable to service, timing, and repetition. The first kitchen on the record is a small family restaurant in Toledo, where the demands would have been practical and immediate. From there, the work moved across distinct settings: L’Essentiel in Chambery, France, where the standards of French kitchen discipline would have set the tone; Tribute in Farmington, where consistency and control matter; and Oliveto in Oakland, CA, another step that widened the range of his kitchen language. The move to Executive Chef at Michael Symon’s Roast marked a shift in responsibility. At that level, the job is not only about executing plates but about carrying the pace and expectations of a restaurant at scale. Today, Andy is partner & Executive Chef of Selden Standard, a title that combines ownership and kitchen authority. Read together, the sequence shows a chef built through successive environments rather than a single defining house: school, family restaurant, international kitchen, contemporary dining, and then leadership in Detroit.
The Work Today
At Selden Standard in Detroit, Andy Hollyday works as partner & Executive Chef, which places him inside both the business and the daily mechanics of the kitchen. The role asks for more than menu control; it asks for judgment that holds across service, staffing, and standards. His background in different cities and formats gives the restaurant a broad base, but the food stays readable and direct. The stated approach is rustic and casual, with quality, creativity, and fun kept in view. The work points toward food that is approachable but thought through, where ease comes from control rather than shortcut. Quality keeps the cooking exact, creativity prevents repetition, and fun keeps the room from becoming stiff. It is a style that depends on craft showing through without forcing attention.
Career - partner & Executive Chef — Selden Standard, Detroit, MI - cooking at a small family restaurant — small family restaurant, Toledo - cooked at — L’Essentiel, Chambery, France - cooked at — Tribute, Farmington - cooked at — Oliveto, Oakland, CA - Executive Chef — Michael Symon’s Roast Education: Culinary Institute of America
Signature
Andy's signature dishes include Vegetable Carpaccio: Shaved Vegetables, Caper, Lemon, Parmesan, Sweet Corn Casonsei: Lobster, Chile, Basil, Beef Tartare: Grilled Bread, Tomato Sauce, Olives, Herbs, Halloumi, Cantaloupe, Mint, Espelette, and charred octopus. Taken together, the list shows a kitchen working across freshness, richness, acid, heat, and char. The plates are built to move between sharp and soft, bright and savory, with enough clarity in the naming to suggest the compositions without over-explaining them.
Acclaim
Andy Hollyday has received James Beard Foundation, Best Chef: Great Lakes nominee (2023). Andy’s honors include Best Chef: Great Lakes nominee (2023), Best Chef (2012), and Best Chef: Great Lakes semifinalist. The recognition spans time rather than a single peak, which is often the better measure in this field: repeated notice, sustained relevance, and work that continues to register with peers and institutions alike.
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