NEW YORK Jonathon Sawyer, executive chef of The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, trounced the other semifinalists for the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef award, at least according to a poll conducted on Nation's Restaurant News' blog Food Writer's Diary.
Sawyer received 43 percent of the votes from among the 26 semifinalists announced by the Beard Foundation last week.
Read more about the poll, including complete results, on the Food Writer's Diary.
The poll has no bearing on the actual results of the Beard awards, finalists of which will be announced March 22 following a round of voting by food writers and previous award winners from across the country.
The winners will be revealed May 3, following a second round of voting by the same group.
Chef-restaurateurs Lidia Bastianich and Wolfgang Puck and TV Food Network star Alton Brown are scheduled to host this year's James Beard Foundation Awards May 3 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York.
Television food personalities Kelly Choi and Andrew Zimmern will host the foundation's Media & Book awards dinner the night before at Espace, also in New York.
The foundation said this year's theme for the awards will be "The Legacy Continues."
About 400 people cast their votes for the 17 James Beard Foundation chef and restaurant awards, according to Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro.
The Food Writer's Diary poll was open to all readers of the blog, which includes chefs, restaurateurs and food writers as well as amateur food enthusiasts. A total of 85 people participated in the poll, 37 of whom voted for Sawyer.
Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta came in second, with 12 votes, followed by Sonja Finn of Dinette in Pittsburgh with nine votes, Sue Zemanick of Gautreau's in New Orleans with five, and Timothy Hollingsworth of The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., with four.
The James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef award is open to chefs aged 30 and younger. Previous winners include Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, Andrew Carmellini of Locanda Verde, Grant Achatz of Alinea, Chris Lee of Aureole, David Chang of Momofuku, Gavin Kaysen of Cafe Boulud and, most recently, Nate Appleman of the soon-to-open Pulino's
All of those restaurants are in New York, except for Alinea, which is in Chicago.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].