Here Are Brooklyn’s James Beard Award Finalists
Image: Houstonia
Last month, we shared the list of Brooklyn-based semifinalists for this year’s prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards with the added promise that we’d issue an update when finalists were announced. Well, that day has finally arrived.
Today, the JBF released the extremely narrowed down list of finalists for 2014 and though Manhattan remains a dominant force, Brooklyn managed to hang on in a few categories.
First off, Maison Premiere (winner of our own award for Best Southern Cocktails) is still very much in the running for Outstanding Bar Program, facing off against Manhattan’s Bar at the NoMad Hotel. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver and Brooklyn-based spirits educator/cocktail historian David Wondrich are neck-and-neck for the Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional award.
Oh, and there’s a wee bit of irony: GQ writer Alan Richman is a finalist for the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review award and one of his nominated articles is about The Elm, which unfortunately didn’t make it to the final round for Best New Restaurant. Here’s hoping they’ll be finalists in the Outstanding Restaurant category next year.
Winners will be announced on May 5 and we’ll definitely let you know which Brooklynites bring home the gold.
Follow Nikita Richardson on Twitter @nikitarbk
