Three Fil Am Chefs are James Beard Awards Semi-Finalists

Three Filipino American chefs have made the list of semifinalists for The James Beard Foundation’s 2019 Restaurant and Chef Awards, sometimes called the “Oscars” of the food world, reports Inquirer.

For the third year in a row, Tom Cunanan of Bad Saint is once again nominated for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Cunanan co-owns the restaurant with Genevieve Villamora and Nick Pimentel and collectively, they came up with the menu that captivated both diners and food critics alike. Bad Saint is named after St. Malo, Louisiana, where the first Filipinos settled in the United States.

Sheldon Simeon’s new restaurant in Hawai’i called Lineage, is up for Best New Restaurant. Lineage’s menu is a nod to Simeon’s Filipino heritage as well as his growing up years in Hawai’i, according to Asian Journal.

Margarita Lorenzana Manzke and her husband, Walter, run Republique, a French restaurant in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles that the couple opened in December 2013. Manzke earned a place in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category.

The winners will be announced on March 27 and the James Beard Awards Gala will happen on May 6 in Chicago, according to the foundation’s website.

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