Traditionally, smaller cities and less atypical chefs rarely make the Beard Foundation's short list for their annual restaurant awards. This year, that seems to have abated a bit.
Bern's Steak House has made the grade for Outstanding Restaurant — a national award that includes mostly established, big name restaurants. But they also picked Zack Gross of Z Grille as one of twenty people on the shortlist for Best Chef: South Region. A beard judge must have sampled his Dr. Pepper ribs or Butterfinger egg roll.
Sarasota also has a name on the list — Derek Barnes of Derek's Culinary Casual. It's a well-deserved honor for a chef who's blazed a trail towards more innovating cooking in the area for years.
Congrats to all of them.
Check out the entire list after the break:
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2009.