The James Beard Foundation Award nominees were announced Tuesday morning in Chicago and surprisingly no Maine chefs or restaurants rose to the top. New York City, Boston and Chicago, the city of broad shoulders or the “third coast” as Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in his opening remarks, took the cake.
Though seven Maine chefs, restaurants and brewers became semifinalists in February, none made the cut. Maine had contenders for Best Chef Northeast, Outstanding Restaurant of the Year, Rising Star and Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional. Maine cookbook author Kathy Gunst was nominated for her work on NPR’s “Here and Now.”
The list of nominees is available at jamesbeard.org . Winners of the so-called “food Oscars” will be announced in May in New York City.
