James Beard Awards announce 2022 food semifinalists. And many from NC are nominated.
After a two-year hiatus, the James Beard Foundation announced its semifinalist list Wednesday morning for its coveted restaurant industry awards.
The list features a swath of North Carolina’s culinary landscape, from seafood shacks to cocktail bars to world-class pizza.
North Carolina chefs compete in the Southeast region, which also includes Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Among the locals on the James Beard long list are Raleigh chefs Oscar Diaz of The Cortez, Sunny Gerhart of St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar and Cheetie Kumar of Garland. Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham and Aaron Vandemark of Panciuto in Hillsborough are also semifinalists.
Beyond the Triangle, the Best Chef: Southeast list also includes Asheville’s Katie Button of Curate, Greg Collier of Leah & Louise in Charlotte and Winston-Salem’s Peyton Smith of Mission Pizza Napoletana and Stephanie Tyson of Sweet Potatoes.
North Carolina chefs and restaurants are also up for multiple national James Beard Awards. Durham cocktail bar Alley Twenty Six is a semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program.
Alley Twenty Six opened nearly a decade ago, bringing the craft cocktail bar trend to Durham, but this is its first time getting James Beard attention. Owner Shannon Healy said the semifinalist nomination helped validate the bar’s commitment to painstakingly-made drinks.
“I’ve got a lot of people here trying to do good things, and it’s nice to be able to share that with your team,” Healy said. “I know what we do is a pain, there are easier ways to do everything we do. So it’s nice to have that noticed and demonstrate that we’re not just doing this for ourselves.”
Triangle chefs Kumar, Diaz, Moore and Vandemark have been semifinalists before, but this is the first time for Gerhart, whose Raleigh seafood restaurant was closed for months last year due to a kitchen fire.
Gerhart said he texted his mother a screenshot of his name on the James Beard list, hoping she might worry a little less about how much he works.
“I’m still processing it, I was surprised,” said Gerhart, adding that if he had a vote, it would be for Cheetie Kumar. “This wasn’t something that was on my radar..... I mean I think we’re a James Beard-worthy restaurant, but it’s my baby. Everyone thinks their kid’s the cutest.”
Asheville’s Chai Pani is a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant in the country, one of the top James Beard awards. Cleophus Hethington of Asheville’s Benne on Eagle is a semifinalist for Emerging Chef, an award naming the best young chef in the country. Two North Carolina restaurants are up for Best New Restaurant, Machete in Greensboro and Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken in Asheville.
The pandemic has upended the country’s restaurant industry, and with that, the industry’s top awards. The James Beard Foundation suspended its awards in 2020 and performed an audit aimed at making the awards more diverse and transparent.
In 2020, Raleigh’s Cheetie Kumar was a James Beard finalist for the first time, following three years as a semifinalist.
“All we had to think about was excellence and staying busy enough to stay open,” Kumar said. “Now everything is turned upside down. It feels kind of like a weird bubble.”
Kumar said restaurants, particularly independent ones like Garland, are still in the midst of a crisis brought on by the pandemic. She’s hopeful the list can offer hope to those on it and a bit of brightness for the industry.
“I’m really happy to be on the list and share the space with so many exciting people,” Kumar said. “I hope this helps everybody that’s on the list. This industry has had nothing to celebrate in a really long time.”
Multiple James Beard Awards have found their way to the Triangle over the years, starting with Ben and Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham, who won Best Chef: Southeast and Outstanding Pastry Chef. Andrea Reusing of Lantern and Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner have also won Best Chef: Southeast, and in 2019 Christensen took home the award for Outstanding Chef in the country.
The 2022 lists of 20 semifinalists will be narrowed to five nominees, to be announced on March 16. The winners will be crowned June 13 during a gala in Chicago.
Best Chef: Southeast
▪ Katie Button, Cúrate, Asheville
▪ Greg Collier, Leah & Louise, Charlotte
▪ Oscar Diaz, The Cortez, Raleigh
▪ Sunny Gerhart, St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar, Raleigh
▪ Cheetie Kumar, Garland, Raleigh
▪ Ricky Moore, SALTBOX Seafood Joint, Durham
▪ Peyton Smith, Mission Pizza Napoletana, Winston-Salem
▪ Stephanie Tyson, Sweet Potatoes, Winston-Salem
▪ Aaron Vandemark, Panciuto, Hillsborough
Outstanding Restaurant
▪ Chai Pani, Asheville
Emerging Chef
▪ Cleophus Hethington, Benne on Eagle, Asheville
Outstanding Bar Program
▪ Alley Twenty Six, Durham
Best New Restaurant
▪ Machete, Greensboro, NC
▪ Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken, Asheville
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 12:50 PM with the headline "James Beard Awards announce 2022 food semifinalists. And many from NC are nominated.."
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect date for when finalists will be announced. They will be announced on March 16.
