James Beard Handicapping: Fill Out Your Ballots, Regional Edition

Posted by Ed Levine, May 4, 2007 at 4:00 PM

As promised, here's the list of Beard nominees in the regional categories, along with my picks. As in the first part of this two-parter, you, too, should make your own picks and leave them in the comments section. Whoever has the most winners in this post will also get a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of American Food and Drink.* It's a big mother of a volume that is too heavy and expensive to buy yourself. So it's a perfect prize.

Update: Polls have now closed. We will tally the contest winners' choices as the Beard Award winners are announced.

Best Chef, Pacific (California, Hawaii)
Traci Des Jardins (Jardiniere; San Francisco)
Douglas Keane (Cyrus; Healdsburg, California)
Rolland Passot (La Folie; San Francisco)
Craig Stoll (Delfina; San Francisco)
MIchael Tusk (Quince; San Francisco)

What a San Francisco– and Northern California–heavy list. What happened to all the Southern Californian chefs? I haven't eaten at Quince, though I've heard great things about it. I'm going with Craig Stoll.

Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic
Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve; Alexandria, Virginia)
R. J. Cooper (Vidalia; Washington, D.C.)
Jose Garces (Amada; Philadelphia)
Maricel Presilla (Cucharamama; Hoboken, New Jersey)
Frank Ruta (Palena; Washington, D.C.)

I love Maricel Presilla's cooking, so that's my choice.

Best Chef, Midwest
Colby Garrelts (Bluestem; Kansas City, Missouri)
Tim McKee (La Belle Vie; Minneapolis)
Alex Roberts (Restaurant Alma; Minneapolis)
Adam Siegel (Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro; Milwaukee)
Celina Tio (The American Restaurant; Kansas City, Missouri)

I'm abstaining. I just ate at Restaurant Alma, and it was very good, but the desserts were pretty dreadful. Based on buzz, I'm going with Tim McKee.

Best Chef, Great Lakes
Grant Achatz (Alinea; Chicago)
Carrie Nahabedian (Naha; Chicago)
Bruce Sherman (North Pond; Chicago)
Michael Symon (Lola; Cleveland, Ohio)
Alex Young (Zingerman's Roadhouse; Ann Arbor, Michigan)

If Grant Achatz doesn't win, I will eat my James Beard Awards program. He is beyond a prohibitive, odds-on favorite.

Best Chef, New York City
Terrance Brennan, Picholine
Floyd Cardoz, Tabla
Wylie Dufresne, WD-40
Gabriel Kreuther, The Modern
David Waltuck, Chanterelle

This is an incredibly difficult choice to make. They're all really talented chefs and good cooks. If Wylie wins, it would be a win for the modernists. I'm going with Floyd Cardoz.

Best Chef, Northeast
Rob Evans (Hugo's; Portland, Maine)
Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier (Arrows; Ogunquit, Maine)
Michael Leviton (Lumiere; West Newton, Massachusetts)
Frank McClelland (L'Espalier; Boston)
Marc Orfaly (Pigalle; Boston)

I'm going with Frasier and Gaier from Arrows. Those guys are due.

Best Chef, Southeast
Hugh Acheson (Five & Ten; Athens, Georgia)
Arnaud Berthelier (Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead; Atlanta)
John Fleer (Blackberry Farm; Walland, Tennessee)
Mike Lata (Fig; Charleston, South Carolina)
Scott Peacock (Watershed; Decatur, Georgia)

I'm betting on Scott Peacock, longtime friend and companion of Edna Lewis.

Best Chef, Southwest
David Bull (Driskill Grill; Austin, Texas)
Nobuo Fukuda (Sea Saw; Scottsdale, Arizona)
Sharon Hage (York Street; Dallas)
Monica Pope (Tafia; Houston)
Andrew Weisman (Restaurant Le Reve; San Antonio)

I'm going with Andrew Weisman, but look out for Sharon Hage.

Best Chef, South
(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi)
Michelle Bernstein (Michy's; Miami)
John Currence (City Grocery; Oxford, Mississippi)
Jonathan Eismann (Pacific Time; Miami Beach, Florida)
Chris Hastings (Hot and Hot Fish Club; Birmingham , Alabama)
Donald Link (Herbsaint; New Orleans)

I'd like Donald Link to get this, but I think Michelle Bernstein will end up winning it.

Those are my picks, and I'm sticking to them. Submit your own picks and you might win the prize.

* In the event that the same person wins both the national and the regional list, we will give the second copy of the Oxford American Food Dictionary to the second-place finisher.

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