5 James Beard semifinalists in Asheville: What that means and how you can try the food

ASHEVILLE - Several local chefs have been nominated for the Oscars of the food world.

The James Beard Foundation's Restaurant and Chef Awards recognize talent in restaurants, bars and in the food-writing industry. Awards include Outstanding Bar Program, Outstanding Baker and Rising Star Chef.

The 2020 semifinalists were announced Feb. 26.

There's another round of winnowing to come, with the final restaurant and chef nominees, as well as the nominations for media and restaurant design awards, to be announced in Philadelphia on March 25.

On May 4, the winners will be announced at the 2020 James Beard Awards Gala at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Here's what else you need to know:

Cultura is a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant

Cultura, which adjoins the Funkatorium, is a collaboration between Wicked Weed; Table and All Day Darling owner Jacob Sessoms; and a talented kitchen crew, including executive chef Eric Morris, formerly of Katie Button's Nightbell.

Expect a delicate menu of vegetable-forward small plates, which stand in stark contrast to absurdly large platters of meats and vegetables called "feasts." 

Sessoms, who was a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast in 2010, noted five semifinalists is a lot for a small city.  

"We cleaned up," he said. "Asheville cleaned up. It's awesome."

►More: Wicked Weed's new Cultura restaurant: What to know before you go

Sessoms said the camaraderie among those in the local food scene is its own reward.

"What is so encouraging about working in this town, and so rewarding, is that we're really all in it together," he said.

Sessoms said Cultura's nomination helps validate where he's directed his attention: being the idea man, while leaving his kitchens to his staff. "People who are far smarter and talented than I am," he said. 

Sessoms said Morris, in particular, is one to watch. 

“It is an absolute honor to be represented among such an amazing group of restaurants," said Walt Dickinson, Wicked Weed co-owner in a statement. "Cultura is a great example of dreaming big and working tirelessly towards a spectacular achievement." 

Dickinson called working with Morris and Sessoms and the rest of the staff "one of the most rewarding creative journeys I’ve been on with Wicked Weed Brewing."

He thanked the entire Cultura team, adding, "Cultura is just getting started, and I’m so excited to see what the next chapter will bring.” 

Meherwan Irani is a semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast

Irani is the force behind the Chai Pani, which opened on Battery Park Avenue in 2009, adding to Asheville a fresh take on Indian cuisine.

Irani isn't the type to sit idle, and his energy has translated into two locations of Chai Pani, a growing collection of Botiwalla eateries, the Spicewalla spice factory, plus Buxton Hall Barbecue in Asheville, the latter an outlier in Irani's portfolio.

This is the fifth time Irani has been nominated for Best Chef Southeast, a fact Irani called "surreal."

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"The first thing I do is frantically scan to see who else in Asheville got nominated, and this time I was bursting with pride," he said. "This town should be so proud."

Irani has a magnanimous spirit and a drive to create change. "CBS This Morning" credited him with changing the perception of Indian cuisine in the United States. 

Time magazine placed Irani on its list of 31 People Who Are Changing the South. 

Irani, with other Southern chefs of Indian origin, created the Brown in the South Supper Series to help showcase that changing face and challenge a pervasive notion of the region as a monolith of biscuits, gravy and intolerance.

Katie Button is a semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast

Button is the chef behind Cúrate and Button's Bagels, and has been a fixture on the Asheville restaurant scene since she and her family opened her renowned tapas restaurant in 2011. 

Button is also a force of nature, and with her husband Felix Meana, has helped pull national attention to Asheville's still-growing food scene. 

Food & Wine magazine listed Cúrate on its "40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years," a veritable who's who of the U.S. culinary landscape.

►More:Asheville's Katie Button featured on World's Best Chefs

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Button has cooked for a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser in Washington, D.C., and joined a James Beard Foundation Boot Camp for Policy and Change.

She's a founding board member of Chow Chow, Asheville's newest culinary festival. 

Though her master's degree is in biomedical engineering, Button decided to turn her talents to food, and worked for renowned Spanish chefs José Andrés. Andrés sometimes takes trips to Asheville in continued support of Button, Meana and their projects. 

Button was a semifinalist for the James Beard's Rising Star Chef award, an honor for chefs under 30, in 2012-14 and a finalist in 2014. She was a finalist for Best Chef Southeast the past two years.

"I'm thankful to be in the running among so many of my peers, especially here in Asheville," Button said.

"Between Ashleigh for Rising Star, Cultura for Best New Restaurant, John for Outstanding Chef and Meherwan, it's amazing to see these Ashevillians recognized for all of their hard work and talent," she said.

Ashleigh Shanti is a semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year

Shanti has been a darling of glossy food magazines as of late, but she's kept her wits and mission about her with a single-minded focus: to help shed light on the rich African American history of the surrounding neighborhood, and to honor the often uncredited black hands that helped form Southern food. 

"For me, it's important to make sure we stay on the path with that goal and that mission, while feeding all these guests coming from wherever in the country," Shanti told the Citizen Times last year. "The mission is still No. 1 in my mind."

►More:Esquire: Benne on Eagle on of top U.S. restaurants

►More:Behind the line: 12 questions with Benne on Eagle chef Ashleigh Shanti

A former culinary assistant to Chef & the Farmer co-owner Vivian Howard, Shanti is both a chef and a certified sommelier.

Shanti has traveled around the country, working at some of the best restaurants in the world, including Minibar, José Andrés's vaunted D.C. restaurant, where it costs $275 per person to dine.

She staged at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York, co-owned by visionary chef Dan Barber. 

She also taught fermentation classes at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans and has a deep knowledge of the craft.

This is the first James Beard nomination for Shanti. 

John Fleer is a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef 

The Outstanding Chef award honors chefs whose careers have set national industry standards, and who have served as an inspiration to other food professionals. 

John Fleer, the chef-owner behind Rhubarb, The Rhu and Benne on Eagle, fits the bill.

Fleer honored Appalachia in a deep way at Blackberry Farm, a Tennessee hotel restaurant he helmed for nearly 15 years.

He was one of the first chefs to use Allan Benton's country ham and Sunburst Trout, working hard to bring those ingredients and producers into the spotlight. 

They are now commonplace ingredients in regionally focused restaurants. 

With Benne on Eagle, where Rising Star nominee Shanti serves as chef de cuisine, Fleer decided to dig deeper into the roots of southern food, in no small part influenced by African American culture.

Fleer hopes to help further the conversation. 

►More: New chef de cuisine makes mark at Benne on Eagle, new John Fleer restaurant in Asheville

►More: John Fleer opens restaurant on 'The Block' with caveat: It must honor black heritage

"It can start on the plate, at the table and with the people around it," he told the Citizen Times in 2018. "That’s the best strategy."

Hailing Fleer as an “Asheville luminary," Esquire magazine put Benne among some of the nation's best restaurants, including Seven Reasons in D.C. and Wayan in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. 

How are winners determined?

The James Beard Foundation holds an annual online open call for entries beginning in mid-October. The public is invited to participate in this round.

The foundation also solicits nominations from an independent volunteer group of more than 250 panelists.

The panelists are anonymous, and selected with an eye toward regional representation. 

That round of nominations is then reviewed by the foundation's Restaurant and Chef Committee for eligibility and, again, regional representation — you can't have the bulk of nominees concentrated in New York, for example. 

The committee then produces a ballot listing the semifinalists in each of the 21 Restaurant and Chef Award categories. This is where we stand now. 

Very soon thereafter, more than 600 judges from across the country are called upon to determine the final nominees in each category.

The same judges, including leading regional restaurant critics and food writers, food and wine editors, culinary educators and past James Beard Award winners, then vote on nominees to select the winners.

The governing awards committee, board of trustees and staff of the James Beard Foundation do not vote, and the results are kept confidential until the presentation of winners in May. 

Where can I try the food?

Button & Co. Bagels: 32 S Lexington Ave.

Benne on Eagle: 35 Eagle St.

Cultura: 147 Coxe Ave.

Chai Pani: 22 Battery Park Ave.

Cúrate: 13 Biltmore Ave. 

Rhubarb: 7 NW Pack Square

The Rhu: 10 S. Lexington Ave. 

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Mackensy Lunsford is an award-winning staff writer for the Asheville Citizen Times, former professional line cook and one-time restaurant owner.

Reach me:mlunsford@citizentimes.com.

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