Newcomers Mark James Beard Awards Semifinalists List
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 19, 2014 5:30PM
The James Beard Foundation announced their full list of semifinalists for their 2014 awards Wednesday morning and, while we tend to pay more attention to the finalists list that will be announced in a few weeks, the Chicago semifinalists is a sign that the city's restaurant and dining community continues to grow in breadth and depth.
Among the notable nominees are Three Floyds Brewing in the "Outstanding Wine, Spirits or Beer Professional" category. It's a well-deserved nomination for the Munster brewery as it continues a weeklong celebration of Chicago craft beer and shows how deeply ingrained beer has become in dining over the past decade on both a local and national level.
Carrie Nahabedian is a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef. Previous winners in that category have included Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz and Paul Kahan. Kahan's business partner Donnie Madia is once again a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur.
The "Best Chef, Great Lakes" category sees some returning faces like Dave Beran of Next, Vie's Paul Virant, Curtis Duffy of Grace and Sepia's underrated Andrew Zimmerman joined by new nominees such as Fat Rice's Adrienne Lo and Abraham Conlon, Iliana Regan of Elizabeth, Erling Wu-Bower of Nico Osteria, Nightwood's Jason Vincent and El Ideas' Phillip Foss. The finalist list for this category will be a Murderers' Row of cooking talent.
Nico Osteria and Brindille earned nods for Best New Restaurant. The finalists will be announced March 18 and the winners will be announced at this year's awards ceremony May 5 in New York City.
Best new restaurant
Nico Osteria
Brindille
Outstanding bar program
The Violet Hour
Outstanding chef
Carrie Nahabedian (Naha)
Outstanding pastry chef
Dana Cree (Blackbird)
Outstanding restaurant
Spiaggia
Outstanding restaurateur
Donnie Madia (One Off Hospitality Group)
Outstanding service
L2O
Topolobampo
Outstanding wine program
Sepia
Outstanding wine, spirits or beer professional
Mike Floyd, Nick Floyd, Simon Floyd (Three Floyds Brewing, Munster, Ind.)
Rising star chef of the year
Jimmy Bannos Jr. (The Purple Pig)
Matthew Kirkley (L2O)
David Posey (Blackbird)
Best chef, Great Lakes
David Beran (Next)
Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Lo (Fat Rice)
Curtis Duffy (Grace)
Paul Fehribach (Big Jones)
Phillip Foss (EL Ideas)
Ryan McCaskey (Acadia)
Iliana Regan (Elizabeth)
Jason Vincent (Nightwood)
Paul Virant (Vie)
Erling Wu-Bower (Nico Osteria)
Andrew Zimmerman (Sepia)