4 Greenwich Village Eateries Named James Beard Semifinalists

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — The James Beard Award is considered among the top domestic awards an American restaurant can receive, and four Greenwich Village eateries and chefs were just named among the semifinalists for the 2022 honors.

The James Beard Awards on Wednesday announced the 2022 restaurant and chef semifinalists, along with the news that the finalist ceremony will take place June 13 in Chicago.

The awards are returning after a two-year hiatus that included a reckoning with the coronavirus pandemic's effect on restaurants and the complete omission of any Black chefs among the winners in 23 categories in 2019.

Here are the semifinalists from Greenwich Village:

Outstanding Bar Program

Llama San: 359 6th Avenue

The modern Japanese and Peruvian restaurant was already known as a great place to get a drink, and this confirms it.

The Greenwich Village spot is going up against 19 other restaurants from across the country.

Outstanding Chef

Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli at Don Angie: 103 Greenwich Avenue

Outstanding chef is considered one of the top individual honors given out by the James Beard Awards and the West Village Italian spot has two chefs in the running.

Don Angie is no stranger to awards, as it was also recently named one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire and received a Michelin star.

Rito and Tacinelli both grew up with strong Italian influences and after different stops along the culinary journey, opened the cozy modern Italian American restaurant together in the Village.

Best Chef

Einat Admony at Balaboosta: 611 Hudson Street

The best chef award is broken down by region, with New York State having its own category.

Admony is up for the New York award for her work at the Israeli restaurant in the Village.

"Chef Einat Admony opened Balaboosta to share her vivacious personal food, full of sun-drenched inspiration from Israel and her family’s Persian and Yemenite background," reads a section on the restaurant's website.

The restaurant serves up stuffed cabbage, beef short ribs, whipped feta andmore.

Ayesha Nurdjaja at Shuka: 38 MacDougal Street

The Greenwich Village has two restaurants with chefs nominated for the James Beard Award.

Nurdjaja is up for her work at the Mediterranean MacDougal Street restaurant.

Nurdjaja grew up in Brooklyn with an Indonesian father and an Italian mother.

She eventually went to culinary school and worked her way up the eams at Bar Artisanal and Michelin-starred Picholine.

She helped open Shuka in 2017, which offers flavors found throughout Italy, Morocco and Tunisia.

You can check out all the James Beard Award semifinalists — here.

This article originally appeared on the West Village Patch