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Hark! James Beard Award Nominations

After much speculation, the 2007 nominees for the James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the restaurant world, are in. Adam Platt, Rob Patronite, Robin Raisfeld, and Grub Street all filled out Beard brackets (or at least revealed whom we’d like to see win) on Friday. Here’s how the academy’s coming down.

Rising Star Chef
As expected, David Chang was nominated and is, it says here, a stone-cold lock for the award. But Daniel Humm, slipping in under the age wire, was also nominated for his brilliant work at Eleven Madison Park. The other nominees are all from out of town: Nate Appleman of San Francisco’s A16, Graham Elliot Bowles of Avenues in Chicago, and Patrick Connolly of Radius in Boston.

Best New Restaurant
Shocker: Three months ago Ssäm Bar was selling Asian burritos; now they’re nominated for Best New Restaurant, along with L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Guy Savoy in Vegas, Cochon in New Orleans, L.A.’s Cut, and (another pleasant surprise for New York) A Voce.

Best Chef New York
The nominees for the big one skew young. Wylie Dufresne of wd-50, picked by all four New York writers, did indeed make the list. The other finalists: Terrance Brennan of Picholine (a Platt pick), Gabriel Kreuther of the Modern, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla, and David Waltuck of Chanterelle.

Earlier: Time to Fill Out Our James Beard Brackets [Grub Street]

Hark! James Beard Award Nominations