Food & Wine Announces 'People's Best New Chef' Nominees

From left: Robert Sisca of Bistro du Midi, Joseph Margate of Clink, William Kovel of Catalyst.

This morning, Food & Wine magazine announced the nominees for their second-annual “People’s Best New Chef”  awards, a voted-upon companion to the magazine’s annual, big-deal Best New Chef awards. Last year, Toro and Coppa toque Jamie Bissonnette came out on top of the 100 nominated chefs (broken down into 10 regional sections of 10) to win the national prize, which brought a large amount of visibility to the chef’s talents. In this year’s New England category, there’s three nominated chefs from the Boston/Cambridge area:  Joseph Margate (Clink), Robert Sisca (Bistro du Midi), and William Kovel (Catalyst).

While Margate and Sisca got nods last year as well, this year marks the first nomination for Kovel, whose Cambridge restaurant, Catalyst, is reaching it’s six-month mark. “I’m amazed, I remember reading Food & Wine as a kid and opening it up and seeing the Best Chefs,” Kovel says. “Just to be on the radar is awesome.” Of course, he’s hoping for a Boston-based chef to win it all again this year. “I think that it’s a testament to the cooking we are doing in Boston and Cambridge and this whole area,” he says.  You can show your support for the local chefs by voting here; you have from now until March 11.

Who will you vote for? Are there any chefs you think were left out? Let us know in the comments.