Detroit Pastry Chef Wins 2022 James Beard Award

DETROIT — A chef in Detroit picked up a prestigious culinary honor as a winner in the James Beard Foundation’s 2022 Restaurant and Chef Awards, presented Monday at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Chef Warda Bouguettaya of Midtown's Warda Patisserie won the Outstanding Pastry Chef at the award ceremony. As she accepted her award, she thanked her Detroit team and talked about cooking with her mother in her native Algeria prior to opening her cafe in Detroit.

Warda Pâtisserie sells cheesecake, tortas and coffee drinks. The standalone cafe in Midtown Detroit at 70 W. Alexandrine.

The awards are regarded as the Oscars of the culinary industry.

The industry remains in a recovery phase after lost business during the pandemic and "still needs support," James Beard Foundation CEO Clare Reichenbach said at the ceremony, according to a news release.

The awards honor not only individual winners but also "our entire industry — and the incredible resilience, fortitude, talent, and leadership so many have shown over the past two years," Reichenbach said.

The awards had been on a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. During that time, the awards program "underwent a full audit of its policies and procedures, continuing the work to remove bias, increase transparency and accessibility, and make the program more aligned with the Foundation’s mission and values."