Five D.C. restaurants and chefs made the cut for the finalists of the James Beard Awards, the organization announced on Wednesday.
The James Beard Awards are like the Oscars of dining, highlighting everything from cookbooks to food reviews to the best bars, restaurants and chefs.
Last month, 19 D.C.-area restaurants and chefs were named semifinalists.
Now, here are the five local finalists:
Rising Star Chef of the Year
Kwame Onwuachi, Kith and Kin (The Wharf)
Outstanding Restaurant
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Jaleo (Multiple Locations)
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
Amy Brandwein, Centrolina (Penn Quarter)
Tom Cunanan, Bad Saint (Columbia Heights)
Outstanding Pastry Chef
Pichet Ong, Brothers and Sisters (Adams Morgan)
Additionally, Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse was named one of five winners of the 2019 James Beard Foundation America’s Classics awards.
Patrick O’Connell, the chef and owner of The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, will be honored with James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Washington Post snagged two finalist nominations for their food coverage. Maura Judkis, a reporter at the Post, is nominated for her short form personal essay about how Doritos is developing "lady-friendly" chips because of the product's loud crunch. For the innovative storytelling award, a group of Post staffers published a digital project about how food trucks work.
For a full list of all the nominees, check here. The food and beverage winners will be announced in Chicago May 6, and the media winners will be announced in New York on April 26.
CORRECTION (April 7, 2019, 3:04 p.m.): A previous image on this story misidentified Chef Kwame Onwuachi of Kith and Kin.
