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Manabu Horiuchi of Kata Robata is in the running for Best Chef Southwest of the Beard Awards. Photo: Melissa Phillip
Four Houston chefs and two local establishments have made the cut for the James Beard Restaurant & Chef Awards semifinals. In the running for Best Chef Southwest are Manabu Horiuchi of Kata Robata, Anita Jaisinghani of Indika and Pondicheri, and Hugo Ortega of Hugo's. Chef Grant Gordon of Tony's is a candidate for Rising Star Chef, an award reserved for chefs under 30.
Anvil Bar & Refuge, the domain of cocktail guru Bobby Heugel, was named to the semifinalist slate for Outstanding Bar Program, a national award that is new this year.
Anita Jaisinghani's Pondicheri, her casual Indian "diner," is in the mix for Best New Restaurant, a national category that includes in the semifinal list such restaurants as Grant Achatz's Next in Chicago and Seamus Mullen's Tertulia in New York City.
Chefs and restaurants from across Texas are scattered throughout the semifinalist rosters, the so-called "long lists" of around 20 candidates that will be voted on by Beard's past winners and regional panelists to select five nominees in each category. The winners will be announced May 7 at an awards gala at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Anita Jaisinghani at Pondicheri, a semifinalist for the national Best New Restaurant award from the James Beard Foundation. Photo: Mayra Beltran
Joining the Houston contingent as semifinalists for Best Chef Southwest are Paul Qui of Uchiko in Austin; Teiichi Sakurai of Tei An in Dallas; Bruno Davaillon of The Mansion in Dallas; Bruce Auden of Biga on the Banks in San Antonio; and Maiya Keck of Maiya's in Marfa.
Hugo Ortega of Hugo's is a semifinalist for the Beard Awards' Best Chef Southwest. Photo: Brett Coomer
Chef Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine in Austin joins Grant Gordon on the national slate for Rising Star Chef of the year.
Texas contenders for the national Outstanding Pastry Chef award are Philip Speer of Uchi and Uchiko in Austin, and Julieta Adauto of Orange Peel Pastries in El Paso.
Stephan Pyles of restaurant Stephan Pyles in Dallas is in the running for Outstanding Chef, a prestigious national award reserved for chefs with a long record of excellence and standard-setting.
The Esquire Tavern in San Antonio, a storied establishment newly restored to glory along the Riverwalk, joins Houston's Anvil Bar & Refuge in the semifinal round for Outstanding Bar Program.
On the slate for the national Outstanding Restaurateur award are Dallas's Nick Badovinus of Flavor Hook, the outfit that runs the Neighborhood Services mini-empire; and Jason Dady of San Antonio, whose restaurant group includes such spots as Tre Trattoria, Bin 555 and Two Brothers BBQ Market.
The French Room in Dallas's Adolphus Hotel is in the running for the national-level Outstanding Service award; and Cafe on the Green at the Four Seasons Las Colinas resort made the cut for Outstanding Wine Program.
Why isn't Tilman Fertitta nominated for Outstanding Restauranteur?
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Hugo's is overblown. Don't get me wrong...there are some very good dishes, but award winning? Not in my book. Surprised that Monica Pope from T'afia is not on the list. She concocts some of the most amazing dishes in Houston.
Exactly what I was thinking. I also love the stuff they do at Feast but Monica is really an outstanding representative.
Having eaten at two of Hugo's restaurants several times this year and at T'afia several times since November I note the following. Monica Pope offers an interesting menu and I like her philosophy of using local and fresh ingredients. However, as good as it is, I can't remember what I have eaten there a week later. It is not memorable but well presented. At Backstreet Cafe and especially at Hugo's I can remember everything I have ordered the last 6 or 7 visits because everything is done so well, especially the soups and sauces. The flavor lasts and a week later you are still enjoying the complex flavors and are exciting about your next opportunity to return to Hugo's to try something else. I have NEVER had that at Monica Pope's restaurant even though I go there often.
I expected to see Ronnie Killen of Killen's Steakhouse?
Did anyone else think this was an award for a "best beard" contest?
Subjectivity and Politics rule at these type awards. Don't fret if your fave didn't win, nobody comes out 100% satisfied at these things!
Are you kidding me?!?! Maiya?!?! The restaurant that NO ONE goes to for the food, mainly for thebar. She's notoriously uninventive tasteless joke of a chef. What about Joseph "rocky" Barnette of Miniature Rooster, formerly the Inn At Little Washington, or Tom Rapp's Cochineal, former owner of A Michelin star rest. in NYC? Who did she or her mother pay off? Congrats for losing any credibility you had.
Cochineal...Are you kidding? You must have a taste for crap! I'm sure that even the water that they serve you at the table has chicken stock and two pounds of butter in it! Let's not ignore the fact that, aside from being an excellent cook and a pioneer in Marfa's culinary scene, Maiya is a terrific employer, a fair boss and a cool lady and Tom Rapp is an effin' CREEPY, coughing sycophant who only cares if the wealthy people of Marfa patronize his awful restaurant. Everyone who goes there regularly is a joke. (Plus he basically abuses and humiliates his employees; that is, the males whom he doesn't find attractive). Who did he have to blow to get that Michelin star? F you, Marfa Monitor.
Oh, Marfa Monitor, you obviously have a deep and pure concern for food quality. And, your investigative journalism has led you to see that someone's mother could pay off a professional organization? Or, maybe you are attacking someone for your own, more personal, reasons? It is really difficult to tell.... But maybe you would like this video, which features interviews from your internet commenting peers.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/internet-comments-talk-show...
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