James Beard Awards: Did Palm Beach County chefs make the finalist cut?

Liz Balmaseda, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read
Meet the Palm Beach County semifinalists for a James Beard Award for "Best Chef" in the South, from left: Rick Mace, Cindy Bearman, Pushkar Marathe, Lojo Washington and Jeremy Bearman.
Meet the Palm Beach County semifinalists for a James Beard Award for "Best Chef" in the South, from left: Rick Mace, Cindy Bearman, Pushkar Marathe, Lojo Washington and Jeremy Bearman.

The finalists for the coveted James Beard Awards for chefs and restaurants were revealed Wednesday, and only two of them are in Florida:

Miami baker Zak Stern is a finalist in the “Outstanding Bakery” category for his Zak the Baker shop in Wynwood. Orlando chef/restaurateur Henry Moso of Kabooki Sushi is a finalist in the “Best Chef: South” category.

It was in the “Best Chef: South” category that five Palm Beach County chefs earned semifinalist slots in January. It was the first time the county led the way, semifinalist-wise, in that category.

Those local semifinalists include Pushkar Marathe of Stage Kitchen and Ela Curry Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens, Rick Mace of Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach, Jeremy and Cindy Bearman of Lantana’s Oceano Kitchen and Lojo Washington of Queen of Sheeba Ethiopian restaurant in West Palm Beach.

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Chefs Rick Mace (right) and Pushkar Marathe collaborate on a dish during the James Beard Award semifinals lunch at Stage Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens on March 6.
Chefs Rick Mace (right) and Pushkar Marathe collaborate on a dish during the James Beard Award semifinals lunch at Stage Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens on March 6.

The preliminary awards buzz brought the five local chefs together in Palm Beach Gardens for a sold-out, five-course, semifinalists’ lunch at Marathe’s Stage Kitchen on March 6. Diners could view the five cooking together in the restaurant’s open kitchen, helping to complete one another’s plates.

The dishes showed the breadth of the county’s emerging dining scene: a Nantucket bay scallop crudo by Jeremy Bearman, a traditional Ethiopian kitfo (beef tartare) by Washington, smoked cobia wings in tamarind glaze by Mace, Duroc pork collar with jerk spices by Marathe and a chocolate-banana-walnut cake by Cindy Bearman that popped with tahini crunch and malted ganache.

Read more about Palm Beach County's five semifinalists.

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The nonprofit James Beard Foundation, which organizes the prestigious awards that are dubbed the “Oscars of Food”, announced the finalists via Instagram stories. Winners in the restaurant and chef categories will be announced June 5.

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Editor's note: Some Gannett staffers have served as part of the James Beard Awards voting body.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: James Beard Award finalists: Did Palm Beach County chefs make the cut?