Monk: The Semifinalist Nominations for this year’s edition of the James Beard Awards came out last week, and several barbecue restaurants were nominated in various categories.
Congrats to Robbie Robinson of City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia (aka “West Coalumbia”) for his Best Chef Southeast Nomination. He is the second pitmaster in South Carolina after Rodney Scott to get a semifinalist nomination.
Outside of the southeast, Texas dominated the rest of the semifinalist nominations for barbecue.
In the Outstanding Chef category, David Kirkland and Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin, TX got a nomination. Daniel Vaughn believes this is a first time a pitmaster has been nominated in that category.
Barbs-B-Q in Lockhart got a nomination for Best New Restaurant:
Convenience West in Marfa was nominated for Outstanding Restaurant:
In Best Chef Texas, Geoff Ellis of Mum Foods Smokehouse and Delicatessen in Austin, Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen of Curry Boys BBQ in San Antonio, and Arnulfo Sánchez III of Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Que in Grapevine were all nominated.
In Best Chef Southwest, Tabb Singleton of Phat Tabb’s BBQ in Idabel, OK was also nominated.
Congrats to all of the nominees! Finalist nominees will be announced on Wednesday, April 3, and winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 10 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago