Few big surprises in today’s Restaurant + Chef Semifinalist announcements for the James Beard Foundation Awards for 2011. Winners will be announced at an event in May — the food and wine industry’s biggest night for collective back-patting.
The Rising Chef category is one of the few that showcases new talent, and Wine Country’s Perry Hoffman of etoile at Domanine Chandon and Aaron London of Ubuntu in Napa both got nods.
Here are some of the other local nominees. Here is a list of all restaurant and chef semifinalists…
Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional
Merry Edwards, Merry Edwards Winery, Sebastopol, CA
Ted Lemon, Littorai Wines, Sebastopol, CA
Outstanding Wine Service
La Toque, Napa, CA, Ken Frank and Scott Tracy
Rising Star Chef of the Year
Perry Hoffman, étoile Restaurant at Domaine Chandon, Yountville, CA
Aaron London, Ubuntu, Napa, CA
Best Chef Pacific
Josef Centeno, Lazy Ox Canteen, Los Angeles
Kevin Chong, Chef Mavro, Honolulu
Michael Cimarusti, Providence, Los Angeles
Josiah Citrin, Mélisse, Santa Monica, CA
Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook, Animal, Los Angeles
Laurence Jossel, Nopa, San Francisco
Loretta Keller, COCO500, San Francisco
Andrew Kirschner, Wilshire, Santa Monica, CA
Chris Kobayashi, Artisan, Paso Robles, CA
Christopher Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena, CA
Mourad Lahlou, Aziza, San Francisco
Corey Lee, Benu, San Francisco
Daniel Patterson, COI, San Francisco
Gayle Pirie and John Clark, Foreign Cinema, San Francisco
Laurent Quenioux, Bistro LQ, Los Angeles
Richard Reddington, Redd, Yountville, CA
Carl Schroeder, Market, Del Mar, CA
John Rivera Sedlar, Rivera, Los Angeles
James Syhabout, Commis, Oakland, CA
Michael Tusk, Quince, San Francisco