Ann Arbor chef Alex Young is a James Beard Foundation Award finalist
Chef Alex Young at the Zingerman's Roadhouse dining counter. This is his fourth consecutive year as James Beard award finalist.
Photo courtesy of Zingerman's
Dubbed "the Oscars of the food world" by Time Magazine, the James Beard Foundation Awards are handed out each spring at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. This year's event is scheduled to take place on Monday, May 3. Awards are handed out to best chefs by region, as well as categories for restauranteur, rising star chef, pastry chef, new restaurant, outstanding service and overall outstanding chef.
Of the five finalists in the Best Chef, Great Lakes category, Chef Young is the only chef from Michigan. In fact, he's the only chef in the final five who isn't representing a Chicago restaurant. Also nominated are Michael Carlson from Schwa Restaurant, Koren Grieveson from avec restaurant, Arun Sampanthavivat of Arun's Thai Restaurant, and Bruce Sherman from North Pond.
"It's very exciting to be nominated alongside such esteemed Chicago chefs," says Chef Young, calling from the very busy Roadhouse kitchen. "The Chicago Sun-Times seems to think their city has a lock on this, but we'll see! I'll be in New York in May, representing Ann Arbor!"
Jessica Webster oversees Food & Drink coverage for the Community Team at AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at JessicaWebster@AnnArbor.com.
Comments
Jennifer Shikes Haines
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 : 7:43 a.m.
I'm so delighted to read this! Chef Alex is innovative, community-minded and brilliant and so deserves this recognition!
Adam Jaskiewicz
Wed, Mar 24, 2010 : 11:58 a.m.
Most of the big-name Chicago restaurants are out of my price-range. I think avec (and the Roadhouse) is probably at the reasonable end of the restaurants mentioned in the article price-wise. Schwa is reservation-only and doesn't have a menu posted. North Pond has some very tasty-sounding $35 entrees, and Arun's doesn't have prices listed for their tasting menu. Paul Kahan, Grieveson's boss, worked under Rick Bayless for a while before he started Blackbird. I got a chance to eat lunch at Bayless' Frontera Grill at the tail end of Restaurant Week this year, and it was great.
Adam Jaskiewicz
Wed, Mar 24, 2010 : 10:40 a.m.
Good for him! I don't get out to the Roadhouse much, but I've enjoyed every meal I've had there. He's got some stiff competition; I've heard great things about avec (not Avec; the 'a' isn't capitalized) and Kahan's other restaurants. I think he just opened another one up last year or so.