The James Beard Foundation celebrates and recognizes outstanding restaurants, chefs, and restauranteurs each year, and they’ve just announced their semi-finalists for their list of prestigious awards!
With categories ranging from hospitality to outstanding chef, the James Beard Awards cover everything that makes restaurants truly shine. This year, the James Beard Foundation recognized several Atlanta restaurants, and we couldn’t be more excited!
Outstanding Chef
First and foremost, Atlanta has a semi-finalist for the extremely prestigious ‘Outstanding Chef’ category. A James Beard ‘Outstanding Chef’ is truly one of the finest chefs in the country. The list includes restaurants from all over the United States, including New York, Las Angeles, and Las Vegas. Atlanta’s very own Chef Atsushi Hayakawa, of Hayakawa, a traditional Japanese Sushiya, has been selected as a semi-finalist for the James Beard ‘Outstanding Chef’ award.
Check out everything you need to know about Chef Atsushi Hayakawa in our article here!
Best Chef in the Southeast
For the ‘Best Chef in the Southeast’ category, Atlanta actually has four amazing semi-finalists, more than any other city in the Southeast! We’re excited for all four of them and hoping to take home the ‘Best Chef in the Southeast’ title this summer!
The Atlanta semi-finalists are:
- Chef Arnaldo Castillo from Tio Lucho’s
- Chef Erika Council from Bomb Biscuits
- Chefs Rod Lassiter and Parnass Savang from Talat Market
- Chef Duane Nutter from Southern National
Read all about Chef Erika Council here!
Read all about Chef Duane Nutter here!
Outstanding Hospitality
Atlanta also has a semi-finalist in the category of ‘Outstanding Hospitality’ which isn’t a surprise since we’ve got that southern hospitality on lock! Cooks & Soldiers is a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award for ‘Outstanding Hospitality.’
Best of luck to all our semi-finalists! We can’t wait to see who brings home the awards!