James Beard chef and restaurant awards

Yesterday the James Beard Foundation announced the winners of its chef and restaurant awards. Previously they announced the nominees and semi-finalists, with many contenders from across the United States competing in various regional and national categories like Best Chef Midwest or Outstanding Restaurateur.

You might recognize some of the chefs and restaurateurs who have written successful cookbooks, like Michael Solomonov of restaurant Zahav in Philadelphia, who was named 2017’s Outstanding Chef and Corey Lee of Benu in San Francisco. This year’s Outstanding Restaurant is Topolobampo, located in Chicago and helmed by veteran chef and author Rick Bayless.

Other winners already in the EYB Library include Marco Canora, Best Chef: New York City who has written several books; Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton, Best Chef Northwest winners and authors of Around the Fire: Recipes for Inspired Grilling and Seasonal Feasting from Ox Restaurant; Hugo Ortega, who wrote Hugo Ortega’s Street Food of Mexico, and Steven Satterfield, author of Root to Leaf: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons. 

The 2017 Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America inductees include Evan Kleiman, Suzanne Goin, Roger Berkowitz, Michael Nischan, and Rajat Parr. Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC took home the Lifetime Achievement Award. One name to be on the lookout for is this year’s Rising Star Chef of the Year, Zachary Engel of Shaya in New Orleans. Engel was also named in Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 spotlight in 2017, so it is not a stretch to imagine a book deal floating his way soon.