JBF announces semifinalists for restaurant and chef awards

Today the James Beard Foundation announced its slate of semifinalists for its 2024 Restaurant and Chef Awards. Nominees will be announced on Wednesday, April 3 and winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 10 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (The cookbook award winners will be announced a few days prior to the restaurant and chef awards.)

If you live in the US, chances are you within reasonable driving distance of some semifinalists, especially since the Best Chef awards are broken up by region (Midwest, Mountain, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, California, New York State, Northeast, Northwest and Pacific, Southeast, South, Southwest, and Texas). The list also provides great incentive when making your travel plans, although now that the secret’s out, expect longer wait times for reservations. I have been itching to visit Marc Heu Paris, a bakery in St. Paul, whose namesake pastry chef has now been nominated for Outstanding Pastry Chef (nationwide). I better hurry before the lines get too long!

The Restaurant and Chef Awards are one of five distinct awards programs of the JBF (of course, we report heavily on the cookbook and food writing awards). There are some changes to this year’s Restaurant and Chef Awards, with the addition of a new Award for Outstanding Bakery. You can see the entire list of semifinalists on the James Beard Foundation’s website.