This morning, the James Beard Foundation announced the finalists for its 2015 awards. Of the five finalists (well, technically seven, as two of the nominees are pairs of chefs) for Best Chef: Northwest, four are from Washington State, and three of those are from Seattle, including Renee Erickson of the Whale Wins, Blaine Wetzel of Willows Inn on Lummi Island, and Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule. The other finalists, all from Portland, are Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton of Ox and Justin Woodward of Castagna.
Outside of restaurants, other Seattleites were named finalists for media awards:
Allecia Vermillion, food and drink editor at Seattle Met, is one of three finalists in the Wine, Spirits, and Other Beverages category for her article “OMFG It’s the PSL!,” about the history of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte. (While you’re reading Vermillion’s work, you should definitely take the time to read her latest, a well-reported piece on Cody Spafford, and how he went from a promising local chef to a bank robber.)
Local writer (and co-owner of Ballard restaurants Delancey and Essex) Molly Wizenberg is a finalist for the Individual Food Blog award for Orangette, which she started in 2004.
And finally, ChefSteps—a local company whose aim is to demonstrate “modern culinary concepts with beautiful, compelling visuals and shows the whys behind the hows of every recipe and technique”—received two Beard nods for its video webcasts and “visual and technical excellence.”
Congratulations to everyone. Chef and restaurants awards will be handed out May 4, while media winners will be announced April 24. Here’s the complete list of nominees.
