Via NYMag and Eater, the list of nominees for nominees for [sic] the 2008 James Beard Awards has arrived. This PDF, containing a list of categories and names, is what’s distributed to the mysterious and feared Beard judges. They will narrow it down to an actual list of nominees sometime this spring. So as to save you time, here are all the (potential) Chicago nominees:
Outstanding Restaurateur:
• Richard Melman, “Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, including Everest, TRU, Shaw’s Crab House, and Brasserie Jo, Chicago, IL. Eiffel Tower, Las Vegas, NV.”
Best Chef - Great Lakes:
• Martila Noguier, one sixtyblue
• Graham Elliot Bowles, Avenues (for the time being, anyway!)
• Suzy Crofton, Crofton on Wells
• Kendal Duque, Sepia
• Carrie Nahabedian, Naha
• Bruce Sherman, North Pond
• Guiseppe Tentori, Boka
(for good measure, Paul Virant of Vie and Michael Maddux of Le Titi De Paris are also on the list)
Outstanding Pastry Chef:
Mindy Segal, Hot Chocolate
Outstanding Chef:
• Grant Achatz, Alinea
• Jean Joho, Everest
n.b. candidates in this category “must have been working as a chef for the past five years.”
Outstanding Restaurant:
n.b. restaurants in this category “must have been in operation 10 or more consecutive years.”
Outstanding Service:
• Spiaggia
Outstanding Wine Service:
• Bin 36
Best New Restaurant :
• Sepia
Congratulations to everyone who’s been nominated to be nominated! For a list of last year’s nominees (the whittled-down list, not the long list like this one), check out this ancient post from when we were still using the first person singular! You’ll note that many of these aforementioned restaurants were tapped in both years, for better or worse.
James Beard 2008 Nominees [Eater]
2008 Entry Forms [James Beard]
