The James Beard Awards semi-finalist list came out today, and three Charlotte chefs made the long list.

Greg Collier and Joe Kindred are both nominated in the Best Chef: Southeast category. Collier, as executive chef of Loft & Cellar, is a first-time nominee; Kindred (of Kindred Restaurant) was also nominated in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Paul Verica’s The Stanley was nominated in the Best New Restaurant category, a national category.

Collier first started grabbing Charlotte’s attention with his incredible breakfast out of The Yolk in Rock Hill, which he owns and runs with his wife, Subrina. Read why we love The Yolk, now in 7th Street Public Market, so much here. He took over the kitchen at Uptown’s Loft & Cellar after Nicolas Daniels’ departure, and also is a founding member of Soul Food Sessions, a dinner series hoping to bring more visibility to minority chefs.

Kindred — one-half of another husband-and-wife duo with his wife, Katy — opened Kindred in his hometown of Davidson after working as executive chef at Rooster’s in 2015. The restaurant helped draw national attention to the area, earning coveted positions on lists in publications such as Food & Wine and Eater.

Paul Verica was nominated for Best Chef: Southeast while at his former restaurant, Heritage. He closed Heritage and opened The Stanley in the Elizabeth neighborhood last year, serving a similar style of innovative, ingredient-driven cuisine in a more sophisticated space.

Steve Palmer, owner of Charleston-based Indigo Road, was nominated in the category of Outstanding Restaurateur. Indigo Road owns local concepts O-Ku, Sukoshi, and Oak Steakhouse.

The list will be narrowed down in March to the awards finalists before the winners are named in May. Charlotte has never had a winner in a James Beard Award culinary category. See the full list from the James Beard Foundation here. —Kristen Wile

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