Two Charlotte-area chefs have just been named semi-finalists in what many consider to be the Academy Awards of the food industry – The James Beard Awards.
Joe Kindred, head chef of Kindred Restaurant in Davidson, NC, and Paul Verica, head chef of Heritage Food and Drink in Waxhaw, NC just beat out tens of thousands of other restaurants in the Southeast to land in the top 20 best chef’s in the Southeast category (including all of Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia).
On March 15, the top 5 finalists will be declared out of each category, and the winners will be announced on April 25.
The 2017 James Beard Awards will take place on Monday, May 1, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and will feature appearances by many of the top celebrity chefs in the nation:
Several other top restaurants from the around the Carolinas have been nominated this year as well, including in the Outstanding Chef category (Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner in Raleigh; Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill, and Mike Lata of FIG in Charleston), and in the Rising Star Chef of the Year category (Gabe Barker, Pizzeria Mercato, Carrboro; and Shuai Wang, Short Grain, Charleston).