This morning the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists in the 2013 Restaurant and Chef Awards, and once again Cleveland is well represented.
Michael Symon for Outstanding Chef
Jonathon Sawyer for Best Chef: Great Lakes
Zack Bruell for Best Chef: Great Lakes
Matt Danko for Outstanding Pastry Chef
“This is great news,” Symon said after seeing the announcement. “It’s always exciting. And it’s great awareness for the city. We have four chefs on the list.”
Danko, who only switched from savory foods to pasty a year ago, was floored by the mention.
“I just found out an hour ago on the couch,” he said. “I’m shocked: it doesn’t feel real. So much has happened over the last couple years, it’s incredible.”
The next round of cuts occurs on Monday, March 18 when the finalists will be announced. Fingers crossed.
This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2013.
Burgers, beers and bakery….
We rock!
Scene doesn’t provide a link. If you go find the full list of semifinalists on your own you see that virtually every city is represented. For a reality check, Minneapolis has 14 semifinalists, Indianapolis has 5, Chicago 23.
Cleveland’s 4 semifinalists represent just 3 restaurants. No surprise that two of them — Lola and Greenhouse Tavern — are also the restaurants that receive the most media hype, which suggests very little research into Cleveland restaurants went into selecting Cleveland’s token semifinalists.
Strangely, Michael Symon is up for Outstanding Chef but not Best Chef: Great Lakes (not that he deserved either). But they had to include Symon on there, didn’t they? He’s on TV every day and can help the careers of others in the industry. But he seems like a bit of a whore to me. He sells his over-priced burgers in Dan Gilbert’s predatory casino monopoly, and now he’s hawking Lay’s potato chips for Pepsico.
I realize the local media is obsessed with covering these celebrity chefs who open their restaurants at taxpayer subsidized spots like East 4th, or inside taxpayer built sports facilities where they don’t have to pay property taxes. Celebrity chefs are getting a bit tiring to hear about.
@robert888…Good points…But it does draw positive attention to Cleveland that for years was only noted for a river so polluted that it could be crossed on foot just walking across the debris and the fact it was always on fire, these days we can be a lot more proud to wear clothing that says Cleveland in other cities and not get snickered at…
And more to the point that people from all over now make Cleveland a tourist destination…
who’da thot??
But I get your points…I really do…
I’m glad we had 4 make it to the semifinals, though with the food scene that Cleveland has, I’m surprised more chefs didn’t make the cut. Go Cleveland GO!