James Beard Foundation Announces 2018 Restaurant And Chef Award Semifinalists
Awards season is in full swing, with the Oscars weeks away. In the restaurant world, the James Beard Foundation Awards just announced the semi-finalists.
The Food Oscars
Every year, the Foundation recognizes culinary talent across the U.S. with a glitzy awards ceremony, widely considered to be the Oscars of the food world. The announcement of this year's semi-finalists will kick off awards season in the sector proper.
Of the nominees in the list, 28 Chicago restaurants, chefs, and beverage pros made the cut, while there was a solid showing from Bay Area representatives. What's notable about the 2018 nominations, in particular, is the composition of the semi-finalists.
The Best Chef West category, which covers California, Hawaii, and Nevada, sees nine chefs nominated. Of those nine, six are female chefs. This is in vast contrast to last year, where only three out of the 10 nominees were women.
The inclusion of more female chefs on the list of semifinalists is very timely, considering the ongoing and very public discussion about better representation across various industries. This could even be considered the food industry's response to the Time's Up movement.
Top-ranking officials seemed cognizant of diversifying nominees while tackling ongoing issues of culture and sexism.
"If you have concerns about a chef, restaurateur or beverage professional, or about the culture around a restaurant or restaurant group, leave the person or business out of your nominations," read a message to judges, sent last month by the committee in charge of the nominations.
Broadening Their Horizons
The past few years have seen the Restaurant and Chef Awards committee taking steps to broaden the scope of nominations across the board to include more cuisines, more women, and more business operators of color.
Among this year's nominees for the Best Chef West is 2017 Chronicle Rising Star Chef Reem Assil, whose nod comes less than a year after she opened her namesake bakery, Reem's California, in Oakland.
She joins fellow newcomer Rachel Aronow, the new chef at the Alembic in San Francisco, who also popped up in the Best New Chef semifinals previously. Likewise, Diana Davila's Mi Tocaya Antojería received two nods, while Jennifer Jones Enyart, of Dos Urban Cantina, is up for outstanding pastry chef thanks to her life-changing chocolate cake.
Elsewhere, HaiSous, the ambitious Pilsen restaurant from couple Thai and Danielle Dang, is also nominated. Their inclusion on the list is particularly encouraging, considering their previous restaurant, the well-regarded Embeya, closed prematurely following accusations of misappropriating funds made against co-owner Attila Gyulai. Gyulai was charged with wire fraud by the FBI just last week, after initially fleeing the country when the allegations first became public.
From the list, the Foundation will choose finalists, and they will make the announcement on March 14. The awards ceremony will take place on May 7 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
