Austin Nominees Dominate People's Best New Chef Southwest

Well, look at that: out of the 100 chefs nominated for Food & Wine's first ever People's Best New Chef award, four are from Austin. Major congratulations to Andrew Curren of 24 Diner, Bryce Gilmore of Odd Duck Farm to Trailer and Barley Swine, James Holmes of Olivia, and Jesse Griffiths of the Dai Due Supper Club. In fact, out of the ten chefs nominated in our region (that would be Southwest), six are from Texas: Tim Byres of Smoke in Dallas and Top Cheffer Casey Thompson of Brownstone in Fort Worth are also nominated.

Alas, no nominees for Houston in either the Southwest or Gulf Coast regions; odd considering it wasn't too long ago chef Bryan Caswell wrote a passionate essay on Eatocracy (who has partnered with F&W on the award) bemoaning the lack of national press for his city. Pop on over to Eatocracy to vote.

· Food & Wine's The People's Best New Chef: Southwest [Eatocracy]
· The 100 Nominees for Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef [-E-]