2018 was a huge year with 20 local semifinalists in the running. Spanning several categories. … or California, but local chefs have continually been recognized by the Beard Awards with growing momentum. Some noteworthy wins include Seattle’s John Sundstrom of Lark, who won Best Chef Northwest in 2007, beating out four other greater-Seattle chefs including Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez of Harvest Vine and Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita. Lark has since moved to its new location on Seneca Street in Capitol Hill, but the focus on locally produced ingredients remains. Sundstrom works with local artisans like Penn Cove Shellfish, Theo’s Chocolate and Mt. Townsend Creamery to procure the best of the Pacific Northwest. Three years later, Jerry Traunfeld won the same award for The Herbfarm, a longtime Woodinville establishment known for its fixed nine-course menu and highly decorated dining room. The essential Northwest restaurant reinforces their farm-to-table manifesto with a menu that reflects the seasons and predinner farm tour to meet the pigs. In 2016, Renee Erickson won Best Chef: Northwest for her restaurant The Whale Wins. Known in town for her bright, airy spaces often filled with crusty bread with butter, house made pickles and seafood, she is a force. Now with six popular food brands around the city, Erickson even expanded to the donut business with her brand General Porpoise. This was her first win but not her last nomination. 2018 was a huge year with 20 local semifinalists in the running. Spanning several categories, nominees included Evan Andres of Columbia City Bakery for the Outstanding Baker award, Matsuko Soma of Kamonegi for Best Chef: Northwest and Erickson of Bateau for Outstanding Chef. The knockout, though, was Edouardo Jordan, who brought home the title of Best New Restaurant for JuneBaby and Best Chef: Northwest for Salare. Jordan is the first African-American to win the award for Best New Restaurant. This came after Pete 16 MenuSeattle.com
Wells of the New York Times gave JuneBaby a commendatory 3-star review, honoring the significance of the food Jordan is making that represents not only his Southern upbringing but also “traces that story back to where it meets the country’s.” As if it weren’t challenging enough to get in for JuneBaby’s Sunday fried-chicken dinner, the mountain of accolades and write-ups have added to the frenzy. Some recommend hitting up JuneBaby’s moonshine hour (3-5 p.m.) as a strategy to be comfortably perched at a coveted table when the plates of fried chicken make their way out to the dining room at 5 p.m. The dinner includes pieces of buttermilk fried chicken, a seasonal side and a flaky biscuit. Not to be overlooked, Jordan’s other restaurant, Salare, earned him the title of Best Chef: Northwest. Located in the quiet neighborhood of Ravenna, the kitchen puts out gloriously vibrant dishes of seasonal fare. Like JuneBaby, the deep respect for ingredients is clear. The menu tastefully oscillates between influences from America’s South, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean Islands. Though the menu changes often, homemade pasta is constant. It may include risotto with lobster mushrooms, fennel confit and creme fraiche or spaghetti with merguez sausage, chickpeas, preserved lemon and the Egyptian condiment, dukkah. After a grand 2018, the flourishing food scene in greater Seattle should only continue to blossom. The competition is fierce, and the standards for service, taste and ambiance are high, with a growing attention to social responsibility. Folks at the helm of this undeniable pleasure of dining out deserve continual praise. Preparations for the 2019 James Beard Awards in Chicago are already taking shape. The judging panel will include Seattle’s own Providence Cicero of The Seattle Times. Be on the lookout for the semi-finalists announcement in February.