20 D.C. Chefs And Restaurants Make James Beard Semifinals List

Columbia Room is up for outstanding bar program.

Like Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list last year, the James Beard Awards chose to bestow a great volume of honors on the District: 20 chefs, restaurants, and bars made it to the semifinals list of the foundation’s prestigious awards.

Newbies Ellē and Spoken English (both recognized as one of Bon Appetit’s top 50 new restaurants last year) are up for best new restaurant in the country, a list that includes 30 freshman spots.

Meanwhile, some repeat nominees show up on this year’s list: Both of D.C.’s entries for outstanding chef, Vikram Sunderam of Rasika and Fabio Trabocchi of Fiola, were nominated in the same category last year (and Trabocchi was also on the list in 2017). Jaleo, up for outstanding restaurant, is a frequent resident of the James Beard semifinals list, having appeared in that category each year since 2014. Columbia Room, up for outstanding bar program, also has a history of being represented here, even in the days when it was hidden behind the old Passenger location.

The James Beards have a history of showering the District with praise at this stage—we scored 19 nods in 2018 and 2017—but that doesn’t always translate to a ton of victors in the end. Last year, only Dabney chef Jeremiah Langhorne took home a prize, for best Mid-Atlantic chef. In 2017, Bread Furst’s Mark Furstenberg was the city’s sole winner in the outstanding baker category.

These semifinalists will be narrowed to a shortlist on March 27, and the winners will be fêted at a gala on May 6.

Here’s the full list of D.C.’s nominees:

Best new restaurant:

Outstanding bar program