DETROIT – A Detroit bakery is getting national recognition with the prestigious James Beard Award. Sister Pie has been open for business on Detroit’s east side for the past five years. Like in a few years past, they’ve been nominated for the national award again.
“James Beard ... it’s a foundation that does all sorts of things in the culinary industry, and every year the foundation has an award ceremony,” said Sister Pie owner Lisa Ludwinski.
It was just announced Wednesday that Sister Pie is a semifinalist again this year, along with several Detroit restaurants and chefs.
“It’s great to see Detroit kind of being nationally recognized for the culinary work that’s being done here, because we’re not just making good food, we’re really invested in our community and doing ways of business that can support kind of a triple bottom line,” Ludwinski said.
It was business as usual Thursday as Sister Pie made the semifinals for the fourth time. Last year, the Detroit bakery made it to the finals. Their secret?
“I guess not thinking about getting nominated for an award,” Ludwinski said. “We’re just trying to be true to who we are.”
Sister Pie is known its unique flavors, such as the apple butter and cream cheese muffin, the buckwheat chocolate chip cookie and the peanut butter and paprika cookie. These are flavors that change with the seasons in Michigan.
“For example, right now we have a beet pie, and that’s because Michigan beets are in storage right now, because we don’t have lots of fresh stuff in Michigan in the middle of February, so we can use beets that were grown earlier that were keeping in storage," Ludwinski said
While they continue to whip up unique flavors of their baked goods, Ludwinski is enjoying this moment.
“I feel excited,” she said. “I feel invigorated to keep doing what we’re doing and I think that’s -- you spend day-in and day-out running your business and doing things that make your business run, and to have recognition like this -- it feels like a nice little added bonus.”
Click here to see the other local restaurants and chefs that made the semifinals.