James Beard Foundation Names 10 Houston Area Chefs Among Semifinalists
Chefs of Houston favorites like Phat Eatery, Lucille’s, Blood Bros. BBQ, and Himalaya are among the nominees
The James Beard Foundation, a national non-profit culinary arts organization, has announced the semifinalists for its annual restaurant and chef awards, and Texas had a big showing, with a total of 13 nominees from the Houston area alone.
Among the national categories, Lucille’s executive chef Chris Williams — also the founder of Lucille’s Hospitality group — was nominated for the Outstanding Restaurateur category, and Ruben Ortega, of Downtown’s Oaxaca establishment Xochi, was nominated as a semifinalist for the Outstanding Pastry Chef award.
For the best chef: Texas category, seven local chefs were nominated, including Phat Eatery’s Alex Au-Yeung; Bludorn chef Aaron Bludorn; Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen; Christine Ha and Tony J. Nguyen of Vietnamese restaurant Xin Chào; pitmaster Quy Hoang of Bellaire’s Blood Bros. BBQ; Himalaya Restaurant’s head chef Kaiser Lashkari; and Felipe Riccio of Midtown’s reservation-only March.
The Houston area’s other major national nominations include:
- San Leon’s Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House for Best New Restaurant.
- Montrose’s Mexican restaurant Hugo’s in Houston was nominated for Outstanding Hospitality.
- Cocktail bar Julep was nominated for the Outstanding Bar Program.
Finalists will be announced on March 16 in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a ceremony held on June 13 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The James Beard media awards will be released on April 27 in New York.
