After a two year hiatus, the James Beard awards (aka the culinary Oscars), will return to Chicago’s Lyric Opera House on June 13. It wasn’t just the pandemic that caused the high-profile awards to take a pause. There were a myriad of other factors pertaining to diversity and inclusion—for instance, no Black chefs were included in the last slate of winners. An internal audit led to a rethinking of how the awards are conducted, and who gets to judge them.
Best Chef Mid-Atlantic: Anju’s Angel Barreto, also up for Best Emerging Chef, joins Centrolina and Piccolina chef/owner Amy Brandwein; Ruthie’s All Day proprietorMatt Hill; Albi chef/owner Michael Rafidi; Rooster and Owl chef/owner Yuan Tang; and former Cane chef Peter Prime. Carlos Raba of Baltimore’s Clavel Mezcaleria is also a semi-finalist.