2014 James Beard Award Finalists Announced

Barbara Lynch is a 2014 James Beard Award finalist in the category of Outstanding Restauranteur.

The finalists for the 2014 James Beard Awards were announced this morning at the Publican in Chicago, and there were plenty of familiar Boston-area names that are in the running for the culinary world’s biggest prize.

Barbara Lynch of the Barbara Lynch Gruppo (Menton, No. 9 Park, The Butcher Shop, B&G Oysters, Drink) is a finalist in the category for Outstanding Restaurateur. Her competition includes Cindy Pawlcyn (Mustards Grill and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in California’s Napa Valley), Donnie Madia (Blackbird in Chicago), Phil Suarez (Wd-50 in New York), and Caroline Styne in Los Angeles.

For Best Chef Northeast, Coppa’s Jamie Bissonette and Joanne Chang-Myers from Myers + Chang are on the short list of finalists. They’ll face off against Barry Maiden from Hungry Mother in Cambridge, Michael Leviton from Lumière in Newton, and Matthew Jennings from Farmstead Inc. in Providence.

Unfortunately, this means that Asta and Ribelle, semi-finalists in the category of Best New Restaurant, didn’t make the final cut. The Hawthorne was edged out in the Outstanding Bar Program category by the likes of Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon and Chicago’s The Violet Hour. Other snubs include Oleana’s Maura Kilpatrick for Outstanding Pastry Chef, Oleana’s Ana Sortun for Outstanding Chef, and Hamersley’s Bistro for Outstanding Restaurant.

The winners for the 2014 awards will be revealed on May 7 at the annual Beard Awards gala in New York City.