Somerville Chef, Wine Bar Up For James Beard Awards

SOMERVILLE, MA — A Somerville chef is among this year's semifinalists for Best Chef in the Northeast from the James Beard Foundation.

The foundation shared its list of semifinalists for the 2022 iteration of its prestigious restaurant and chef awards. With two years off, the foundation implemented changes to this round of awards, including lowering the entry fee rate from $150 to $75 and establishing a Code of Ethics as a guideline for entrants, semifinalists, nominees and the voting body.

"We know that seismic changes continue to take place within the food and media industries. The James Beard Foundation's programs exist to serve and bolster people at different points in their careers. The Awards are one of these programs," said Dawn Padmore, VP of Awards. "These initial changes give us an opportunity to honor, recognize, and celebrate the rich diversity of the industry."

Cassie Piuma, chef at Sarma, is a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Northeast. She is a repeat nominee and was last up for the award in 2020. Wine bar Rebel Rebel was named a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program, one of 20 restaurants in the running for the nationwide award.

For more than 30 years, the annual James Beard Awards have provided national acclaim and recognition of restaurants, food and beverage professionals, authors, journalists, broadcast media, and others in the restaurant industry.

The semifinalist announcement is the first step of many before the winners are named. With an open call for recommendations in late 2021, the list is formed from a vote after reviews from a subcommittee.

The voting body then reviews and votes on entries to break the list down to nominees, who will be named on March 16, 2022. Winners will finally be revealed at a ceremony in Chicago on June 13, 2022.

2022 brings back familiar names of semifinalists from years prior but also has some fresh names included on the semifinalist list. For a full list of the 2020 nominees before the awards ceremony was canceled due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.