Burn It All Down: The James Beard Foundation Snubs Dallas (Again)

Every year, the James Beard Foundation recognizes chefs across the country for culinary excellence, and today the organization whittled down the semi-final competitors to the finalists for this year’s awards. Unfortunately, Dallas isn’t home to any of them.

In the semi-final round, Dallas made a killer showing in the categories for chefs and beverage professionals, with five nods, including Chefs Matt McCallister, Misti Norris, Omar Flores, David Uygur, and Teiichi Sakurai, and Four Seasons Las Colinas sommelier James Tidwell.

This year seemed like a particularly strong opportunity for Dallas chefs to (finally) get a little recognition. Matt McCallister is currently running two restaurants (one five star, the other four star) in Dallas, Chef Misti Norris is creating all kinds of crazy-interesting plates and fermenting countless delicious things at Small Brewpub, and everyone knows that Chef Teiichi Sakurai is the best damn sushi chef in Texas. If you'll remember back to last year, a similar scenario played out.

Texas otherwise had a strong showing in the Best Chef - Southwest category this year, with chefs from Houston, Austin, and San Antonio all receiving nods. Perhaps it just wasn’t Dallas’ year, but you’ll have to forgive everyone for feeling a little salty at the snub.