The finalists for the James Beard Foundation Awards were announced this morning in Chicago. St. Louis had a number of chefs (and a restaurant) in the semifinals, and so far we're not completely empty-handed. Gerard Craft of Niche and Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe are finalists for Best Chef: Midwest.
See also: Lewis, Nashan, Galliano Among 2014 James Beard Foundation Award Semifinalists
Craft was a finalist last year, and Nashan was a semifinalist, but this is the first time two St. Louis chefs have been up for the award. Other local seminfinalists for Best Chef: Midwest were Josh Galliano of The Libertine, Ben Poremba of Elaia and Kevin Willmann of Farmhaus.
Unfortunately, Rick Lewis of Quincy Street Bistro did not make the finals for Rising Star Chef and Taste wasn't included for Best Bar Program.
The awards ceremony for chefs is May 5 in New York City. We'll be livetweeting, of course! Check out the full list of nominees here.
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