James Beard Award Semifinalists Announced; Lost Lake, Publican & More Are Repped
By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 15, 2017 6:37PM
via Oriole
It's James Beard Award time again, everyone! The Beards are the biggest awards in the food world and every year we get excited to see what Chicago chefs and restaurants make the list. This year, Chicago is pretty well represented in the semifinalists lists, though we'd have liked even more.
This is just the first round of the James Beard process. On March 15, the finalists get announced, and then the real winners will be announced on May 1 at a huge gala awards ceremony (which is now held in Chicago!).
A few old standards and a few newcomers have made the lists for the big national awards. In the Best New Restaurant category, Oriole, Smyth and Roister are up for wins. Greg Wade of Publican Quality Bread got a well-deserved nomination as Best Baker, and Lost Lake got a nod for Outstanding Bar Program (though with only one nomination out of 20, we think Chicago got a little robbed here).
Tony Mantuano and Carrie Nahabedian were nominated for Outstanding Chef, and Aya Fukai and Meg Galus for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Only one Chicago restaurant is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant, and it's Rick Bayless's Topolobampo. Boka and North Pond are nominated for Outstanding Service, and Sepia for Outstanding Wine Program. Finally, Jenner Tomaska from Next was nominated for Rising Star Chef.
In the Best Chef: Great Lakes category, Chicago totally dominated, which confirms the point that the category shouldn't include Chicago chefs. Here's the whole list:
Jake Bickelhaupt, 42 Grams
Abraham Conlon, Fat Rice
Paul Fehribach, Big Jones
Phillip Foss, EL Ideas
Sarah Grueneberg, Monteverde
Gene Kato, Sumi Robata Bar
Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark, Parachute
Edward Kim, Ruxbin
Ryan McCaskey, Acadia
Iliana Regan, Elizabeth
Noah Sandoval, Oriole
Lee Wolen, Boka
Erling Wu-Bower, Nico Osteria