Simsbury Chef Tyler Anderson a Semifinalist for the 'Oscars of the Food World'

Ever since he started working for a steak house when he was 16 and growing up in California, Simsbury restaurateur Tyler Anderson, chief chef and owner of Millwright’s restaurant, has dreamed of getting a James Beard Foundation Chef of the Year Award.

“It’s our Oscars,” Anderson said in a recent interview. “It’s an award by your peers.”

This year, for the second time, he’s a semifinalist. Anderson has been named one of 20 semifinalists for the Northeastern division of the James Beard Foundation awards. On Tuesday, the foundation will announce the finalist nominees. Anderson was a semifinalist in a previous James Beard Foundation awards competition.

Anderson, who now lives in town, started Millwright’s almost 2 1/2 years ago, and it now employs 25 to 30 people, depending on the season. Indoors, the restaurant can seat as many as 187 diners in three areas reflecting three different ”dining concepts” — a fine dining area, the more casual tavern and a private dining room.

After starting in the restaurant industry when he was a teenager, Anderson went on to study the culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago and then continued at Cordon Bleu in Paris, getting a degree. But he says, “Most of what I learned was from the kitchens I worked at. I’m a strong believer in that — it’s more about the hands-on.”

What does he like about cooking at restaurants?

“Initially it was a couple of things: The rush of being busy, the instant gratification of preparing a meal, and then knowing a guest is happy with it.

“Not once in my life have I been at worked and looked at my watch,” he said. (That is, Anderson addd, he hasn’t looked at it to see how much longer the work day would be — like any good restaurant chef, he’s always careful to see that the food’s getting prepared fast enough.)

He worked in various restaurants, including the kitchens for a hotel chain, and he began managing kitchens, which was where he got the experience to start, own and manage his own restaurant. After working at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, VT, he grew to love New England, and when he wanted his own business, he decided to locate in the historic building at 77 West St. which had started out as a mill in the 17th century.

The clientele and the proximity to farms and New England’s seafood make operating a restaurant in Simsbury particularly satisfying, Anderson said.

“Simsbury has a demographic who are looking for what we do,” he said. “It’s not healthy food, per se — some of it is, but we cook very fresh, and there’s a demographic here that will support that.”

Food caught off the New England coast is readily available fresh for restaurants in the region, and there are farms in New England and New York state that can supply fresh produce, he said. Millwright’s has partnered with an organic farm to provide most of the restaurant’s produce in-season, and 80 percent of the produce used in the restaurant is from New England or New York, according to the restaurant’s website.

Two other chefs in Connecticut are also on the semifinalist list — Bill Taibe, chef/owner of The Whelk in Westport and Joel Viehland of Community Table in Washington, CT. The Northeastern semifinalists are from New England and the state New York (outside of New York City, which has its own 20 semifinalists).

Anderson knows the other semifinalists from the state. “I think it’s just great that there are three representatives for the James Beard [chefs] award from the state of Connecticut,” he said. “Connecticut has been overlooked for a long time in the world of restaurants. There are some great things happening here, and it’s great to see it acknowledged.”

Photo (contributed): Tyler Anderson, chef/owner of Millwright’s in Simsbury