The James Beard Awards are back in Chicago, and after a weekend of honoring food media and industry leaders, the Restaurant and Chef awards are taking place Monday night.
The Chicago Tribune food team will be on the scene, providing live coverage as prominent chefs and restaurateurs from across the country gather at Lyric’s Civic Opera Building for the award ceremony. Follow them on Twitter, and check back here for live updates throughout the night.
Chicago goes into Monday’s Restaurant and Chef awards with one win already locked down. Drinks journalist Emma Janzen and Toby Maloney, head mixologist at The Violet Hour, won a Media Award for “The Bartender’s Manifesto: How to Think, Drink & Create Cocktails Like a Pro,” in the category of beverage books with recipes.
[ New book from The Violet Hour’s Toby Maloney shows you how to make bar’s most legendary cocktails ]
It’s Janzen’s second Beard Award in as many years, as the author won in 2022 for “The Way of the Cocktail,” which she cowrote with Julia Momosé, bar and creative director of Kumiko.
The James Beard Foundation will livestream the awards, set to begin at 5 p.m. You can watch on YouTube, or below:
In January, Smyth, Khmai Cambodian Fine Dining and Wazwan were among 11 Chicagoland restaurants named as semifinalists for the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards.
Of those, five became nominees at the end of March:
Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya Antojeria and Kasama’s Tim Flores and Genie Kwon are up for the Best Chef: Great Lakes regional category. Also up for the award are Detroit’s Omar Anani (Saffron De Twah), Andy Hollyday (Selden Standard) and Sarah Welch (Marrow).
Damarr Brown, chef de cuisine at Virtue, is a nominee in the Emerging Chef category. This continues a great run for Virtue, as Erick Williams, the chef and owner, picked up Best Chef: Great Lakes award last year.
In the Best New Restaurant category, Chicago’s Obelix restaurant will go up against nine other restaurants, including Nolia in Cincinnati and Lupi & Iris in Milwaukee.
Sepia restaurant, which opened in 2007 in the West Loop, is among five nominees for Outstanding Hospitality.
More Tribune coverage of Beard award finalists:
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