Buffalo's History with the James Beard Awards
Before this year, a Buffalo Chef/Restaurant had never been a finalist for a James Beard Award
Last week the James Beard Foundation announced their finalists for their 2024 awards and for the first time, there’s some Buffalo representation.
Waxlight Bar a Vin was named a finalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program (they were semi-finalists last year) and Chef/Owner Ryan Fernandez of Southern Junction was named a finalist for Emerging Chef. Buffalo area Chefs have been nominated in the past as semi-finalists (see below) but this is the first time any Buffalo restaurant/chef has made it to the finalist round. Winners will be announced in Chicago on June 10th at the Lyric Opera.
This is a big deal. This type of national attention will help bring in more food tourism and hopefully bring a spotlight to our area so that other deserving Chefs/Restaurants will also get noticed. Don’t believe me? Andrew Galarneau also agrees.
The Nominees.
Waxlight Bar a Vin opened their doors on Chandler Street in November 2019, months before a global pandemic completely changed everything in the restaurant industry. Opened as a five way partnership between industry veterans, the restaurant was launched with a menu focused on shareable small plates with an excellent selection of spirits, cocktails and wine. Their beverage program is driven by two incredibly talented individuals, Jess Forster and Tony Rials (both pictured above). Jess is a Certified Sommelier on the path to Advanced and has built a wine program at Waxlight that can go toe to toe with anyone. Tony Rials is an incredibly talented bartender who brings a creative culinary approach to his cocktails that separates his drinks from anywhere else.
Southern Junction has been on the rise for several years now. Starting out as a takeout window/catering operation on Chandler Street (in the same building as Waxlight) and now located as full restaurant on Connecticut Street in the former Black Sheep building. Chef Owner Ryan Fernandez and his excellent BBQ that honors traditional Texas BBQ methods while incorporating Indian flavors has lead to media coverage from Buffalo News, Vice and recently CBS Saturday Morning. The restaurant has already been selling out of meat early and was packed prior to this news, I suggest showing up early next time you head there for dinner.
Previous Nominees.
As I said above, previously multiple Buffalo Chefs have been nominated as a finalist for the James Beard Awards and have also had the honor of cooking at the James Beard House in New York City. That’s not counting Anchor Bar, who actually won an award in 2003 for America’s Classics.
Chef Mikę Andrzejewski was nominated three times (2008, 2009 and 2010) as Best Chef Northeast for SeaBar. For a while, Chef Mike A was the closest Buffalo ever got to having a celebrity Chef. He’s appeared on “Beating Bobby Flay”, “Chopped”, regularly represented Buffalo at the annual Super Bowl Taste of the NFL and co-hosted Nickel City Chef for a decade. After closing SeaBar, Mike and his wife Sherri moved down south and he’s currently cooking in Orlando, Florida.
Chef Steve Gedra was nominated once in 2017 as Best Chef Northeast for The Black Sheep, one of the local leaders in the Farm to Table movement. Steve and his wife Ellen had become some of the most well respected Chefs in Buffalo originally through their small Elmwood restaurant Bistro Europa and eventually The Black Sheep. The Black Sheep closed in 2022 and Steve can now be found cooking in kitchen at Saint Neri.
Chef Victor Parra Gonzalez was nominated twice (2018 and 2019) as Best Chef Northeast for Las Puertas. This Mexican born Chef, who was trained in Montreal and found his way to Buffalo has been serving upscale Mexican cuisine using French cooking techniques. His small 30 seat restaurant on Rhode Island has been popular since opening in 2016 and is one of the few Buffalo restaurants to be reviewed by the New York Times.