The James Beard Foundation announced its food award winners at a ceremony in Chicago last night, and none of D.C.’s nominated chefs or restaurants made the list.

Seven local chefs and restaurants were named finalists this year, which is considered a great honor in itself. But it’s been 10 years since D.C.’s restaurant scene has been completely shut out from the awards — a snub that at the time led some to ask, “Why does the James Beard Foundation dislike D.C?” (The conclusion, most chefs told Washingtonian in 2012, wasn’t that the foundation disliked D.C., but that the process is political and complicated — and that the food world was obsessed with New York.)

Ashok Bajaj, the restaurateur behind Rasika and Bindaas, was in the running for the Outstanding Restaurateur. While he’s been a semifinalist many times, this was his first year being named a finalist. Peter Chang received a nod for Outstanding Chef, while Angel Barreto (Anju) and Amy Brandwein (Centrolina) were up for awards in the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category.

Barreto was also up for an Emerging Chef award, which replaced the Rising Star Chef award. Finalists in the restaurant categories included barmini by José Andrés, and Oyster Oyster and Maydan, both in Shaw.

Even as no local finalists won, D.C. chefs were already celebrating in the lead-up to the event. Chef Danny Lee posted to Instagram ahead of the ceremony: “Regardless of what happens in a few hours, I’m immensely proud of Angel and how he has grown not just as a Chef but as a person and a leader. No award can really pay respect to what he’s accomplished these past three years at @anjufrc, and I’ll continue to cheer him on after tonight and on.”

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There was other local representation to be proud of this year. Former Kith & Kin chef and author Kwame Onwuachi (a former Rising Star award recipient) and pastry chef Paola Velez (formerly of Maydan, Compass Rose, and Kith & Kin) emceed the event. And at the foundation’s media awards, handed out over the weekend, WAMU’s podcast Dish City won in the Audio Programming category for its episode, “How American Chinese Food Became Delivery Food.” Theresa McCulla, a D.C.-based writer and the Smithsonian’s beer history curator, won an award for her Good Beer Hunting profile of Patsy Young, a brewer and fugitive from slavery.

The award show came back this year after a two-year break due to COVID-19, time that allowed the foundation to reassess its selection process after no Black chefs were named for 2020’s awards, and harassment allegations hung over some of the winners.

This story has been updated with additional information about the media award winners. Previously, Theresa McCulla was omitted from this post.