James Beard Awards Finalists Announced With Just Two Minneapolis Chefs On the List

The James Beard Foundation Awards are known as the Oscars of Food, and today we learned that two Minnesota chefs will move on as finalists.

The list of semifinalists, which included 13 Minnesotans, was whittled down to just two Twin Cities chefs in the category of Best Chef: Midwest - Steven Brown of Tilia and Saint Genevieve and Surly’s Brewer’s Table’s Jorge Guzman.

This is Guzman’s first nomination. The chef runs the entire culinary program at Minneapolis’ mega craft brewery Surly. The building contains a lower level taproom that serves a gastropub-style menu. Upstairs, Guzman oversees the closer-to-fine dining Brewer’s Table which creates intriguing, visually stunning plates of food alongside beer pairings in an unprecedented of its kind chef’s tasting menu.

Steven Brown is widely respected in the Minneapolis food community and for years has labored as one of our most beloved rock star chefs. His cozy Tilia is a Linden Hills neighborhood restaurant with humble cuisine that shines far beyond the area’s borders. There might be the de rigueur meatballs and Brussels sprouts on the menu, seemingly familiar dishes, but the skill with which they are prepared is revolutionary. Brown has been a James Beard Award semi-finalist three years prior, but this is his first year advancing to the final round of the awards.

Andrew Zimmern is up for Outstanding Personality/Host for Andrew Zimmern’s Bucket List, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Zimmern is also a finalist for Video Webcast, Fixed Location and/or Instructional for Andrew Zimmern’s Kitchen - Online Culinary Literacy Courses which airs on andrewzimmern.com. That’s a lot of Zimmerns. Did we mention he will also host the Media Awards portion of the ceremony?

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl from Mpls./St.Paul Magazine is a finalist for Journalism Awards Column Award for her pieces Top Chef is Leaving Mpls. and it's the Most Courageous Story of the Year, A Legend in the Baking and King of the Roast.

Winners will be announced Monday, May 1 at a gala at the Lyric Opera of Chicago while the 2017 Media Awards (formerly known as the Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards) will be held on Tuesday, April 25, at Pier Sixty in New York City.

Check out the full list of James Beard Award nominees for 2017 here.