Baltimore chefs have been nominated frequently for the James Beard award, but none has taken home one of the coveted culinary awards, which the New York City-based James Beard Foundation has been giving out since 1991.
Today the foundation announced the list of restaurant and chef finalists for its 2015 awards, and Cindy Wolf of Charleston and Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen were among the five finalists for "Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic," one of 10 regional categories.
Both Gjerde and Wolf have made it to the finalist round before: Wolf in 2006, 2008 and 2014, and Gjerde in 2013 and 2014. The James Beard winners will be announced on May 4 at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first time the restaurant awards have been presented outside of New York City.
This year, Gjerde and Wolf will be competing for the award against three Philadelphia-based chefs -- Joe Cicala of Le Virtu, Rich Landau of Vedge and Greg Vernick of Vernick Food & Drink.
Michael Mina, the San-Francisco based chef whose Mina Group operates 24 restaurants nationwide, including Wit & Wisdom, a restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, was named as a finalist for Restaurateur of the Year, a national award.
You can see a full list of nominees here.