News Fri Feb 13 2009

James Beard Award Semi-Finalists Announced

The James Beard Foundation has announced the semi-finalists for its namesake awards, and Chicago is well represented. Here are the local nominees:

Outstanding Restaurateur: Rich Melman of Lettuce Entertain You

Outstanding Chef: Jean Joho of Everest, Paul Kahan of Blackbird

Outstanding Restaurant: Everest and Blackbird

Best New Restaurant: L2O

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Jimmy MacMillan of Avenues, Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate

Outstanding Wine Service: Avenues and Bin 36

Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional: Anthony Terlato of Terlato Wine Group

Outstanding Service: Spiaggia, Courtright's Restaurant in Willow Springs

Best Chef, Great Lakes: Suzy Crofton of Crofton on Wells, Christophe David of NoMI, Curtis Duffy of Avenues, Kendal Duque of Sepia, Koren Grieveson of Avec, Michael Maddox of Le Titi De Paris, Martial Noguier of Cafe Des Architectes, Arun Sampanthavivat of Arun's, Bruce Sherman of North Pond, Giuseppe Tentori of Boka, and Paul Virant of Vie

No local chefs made the cut for Rising Star Chef of the Year, but otherwise a rep in every possible category. The finalists will be announced on March 23, and the awards ceremony takes place May 4 in NYC. See the full list of semi-finalists here [PDF].

— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)