Kudos to our Local Beard Foundation Awards Contenders

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, March 23rd, 2009

The finalists for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards are now official, and we’ve got a host of hometown talents vying for the coveted food industry prizes.

Restaurant Eve toque Cathal Armstrong,

(Photo: Jonathan Timmes)

Rasika chef Vikram Sunderam and Peter Pastan (2Amys/Obelisk) [*my apologies to Pastan for leaving him off the original post*] are all in the hunt for the Best Chef – Mid-Atlantic mantle.

Chef Johnny Monis got a nod in the Rising Star category.

(Photo: Jamie McCarthy/wireimage.com)

The now bi-coastal José Andrés could theoretically score a Beard Foundation hat trick if he were to take the top honors in the web/radio, best new restaurant and outstanding chef categories.

(Photo: Bernardo Peréz)

Meanwhile, Washington Post dining critic Tom Sietsema racked up two nominations (newspaper features about restaurants and/or chefs, restaurant reviews) while the WaPo food section is in the mix for best newspaper food section (stellar work, Mr. Yonan!).

As for other media, several cookbooks/food tomes that we’ve recommended in our print edition are gunning for more widespread prestige (as if that were even possible), including: Cooking Up a Storm (American cooking category), Fat (single subject category) and Milk (reference and scholarship category).

You can view the full slate of 2009 nominees here.

To see the winners get their due live, you’ll have to break out your fancy duds and make your way up to enwhycee for the May 4 Awards Gala. The Beard Foundation is offering $50 discount for all ticket orders placed before April 4.

If you’ve never been, the event is quite an eye-opener. At least it was last year.

–Warren Rojas

Tags: 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards, Cathal Armstrong, Cooking Up a Storm, Fat, food, Gut Check, hospitality industry, Jaleo, Joe Yonan, Johnny Monis, José Andrés, Komi, Media, milk, Northern Virginia Magazine, Rasika, Restaurant Eve, restaurants, Tom Sietsema, Vikram Sunderam, Warren Rojas, Washington Post