Charlotte was once again left off the list of nominees for the 2020 James Beard Awards. Chefs Joe Kindred and Greg Collier, both named semifinalists in the Best Chef: Southeast category, did not advance to the next round of nominations. The verbiage for the awards can cause some confusion, as the long list of chefs in each category is called the semifinalist round, and five in each category advance to be called nominees.

The competition is the premiere recognition for restaurants and chefs in the United States. The nominees, the finalists for the awards, were announced via a Twitter livestream on Monday afternoon.

Kindred, who owns Kindred Restaurant with his wife Katy, earned his fifth semifinalist recognition for Best Chef: Southeast this year.

Collier earned his first James Beard Award recognition when he was the consulting chef at now-closed Uptown restaurant Loft & Cellar. We wouldn’t be surprised to see his new restaurant, Leah & Louise, be named a semifinalist in the 2021 awards. Collier and his wife, Subrina, also own the Uptown Yolk.

Chef Gene Kato, who had a brief stint as executive chef of Upstream but returned to Chicago, was named as a nominee in the Great Lakes region.

The nominees were originally meant to be announced at an event on March 25. Instead, the winners will be announced in late September. We explained the James Beard Award process last year, and why it’s especially difficult for a young city like Charlotte to bring an award home. —Kristen Wile

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