James Beard 2009 nominees: Congrats Chicago!

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The James Beard Foundation (JBF) Awards 2009 nominee list just came out, and, as usual, Chicago did a great job!!!

Congrats to all the restaurants, restauranteurs, and chefs, including:

• Richard Melman, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (Outstanding Restauranteur)
• Paul Kahan, Blackbird (Outstanding Chef)
• L2O (Best New Restaurant)
• Mindy Segal, Mindy's HotChocolate (Outstanding Pastry Chef)
• Bin 36 (Outstanding Wine Service)
• Spiaggia (Outstanding Service)
• Koren Grieveson / Avec, Arun Sampanthavivat / Arun's, and Bruce Sherman / North Pond (Best Chef Great Lakes)

The Publican and their designers were also up for two awards: Outstanding Restaurant Design (Design Bureaux, Inc.) and Outstanding Restaurant Graphics (The JNL Graphic Design). And, of course, a special shout out to Isaac Becker from 112 Eatery in Minneapolis, who is up for Best Chef Midwest. I've eaten there (thanks to Jay) and I'm just sorry the honor didn't come sooner!

Update 5/5/2009: Ouch. Chicago came away with zero wins at the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony... I suppose we can count Best Restaurant Design for The Publican, but I was really hoping for some culinary representation. NBC has a funny, albeit sad, article with the details.

Better luck next year, Chicago!