Milwaukee chefs Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite remain in the running for an ever-coveted James Beard Award this year, having advanced as finalists for Best Chef Midwest.
The owners of EsterEv in Bay View and Dan Dan in the Third Ward are the only Wisconsin chefs to make the short list of nominees for the 2024 Restaurant and Chef Awards, announced by the James Beard Foundation Wednesday morning. That’s out of a group of 11 chefs and restauranteurs from across the state who were named semifinalists in January.
This is the fifth consecutive year Jacobs and Van Rite have been nominated for a James Beard Award, but they have yet to take home the prize. For this year’s regional Best Chef honor, the duo is up against four other contenders: Ann Ahmed of Khâluna in Minneapolis, Rob Connoley of Bulrush in St. Louis, Christina Nguyen of Hai Hai in Minneapolis and Tim Nicholson of The Boiler Room in Omaha.
The winners will be unveiled at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on June 10 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
This is not the only taste of the national spotlight for Jacobs recently: He is among 15 cheftestants competing on season 21 of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” which takes place in Wisconsin, filmed largely in Milwaukee and Madison. The season premiered March 21, with episodes airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and available to stream on Peacock the next day.
Jacobs, who is the only Wisconsin-based chef competing on “Top Chef” this season, has been open about his struggle with Kennedy’s Disease, a rare and progressive neuromuscular disorder that causes muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body over time.
“I hope this platform allows me to inspire people who are differently abled to pursue their passions, especially in the culinary world where physical constraints can be a big barrier,” he said in a previous statement.
The other Milwaukee-area chefs who landed James Beard semifinalists nominations this year were Gregory León, who was notably nominated for the national honor of Outstanding Chef as the owner of downtown Spanish- and Portuguese-inspired restaurant Amilinda; along with Ross Bachhuber and Samuel Ek of Odd Duck in Walker’s Point and Kyle Knall of Birch on the Lower East Side, who were nominated for Best Chef Midwest.
Outside the Milwaukee region, Best Chef Midwest nominees included Lisa Carlson and Carrie Summer of Chef Shack Bay City in Pierce County and Sean Pharr of Mint Mark in Madison. In addition, Bryce Stevenson of Miijim, an indigenous restaurant in La Pointe, was nominated for Emerging Chef; Syovata Edari of CocoVaa Chocolatier in Madison was nominated for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker; and Pasture and Plenty also in Madison was nominated for Outstanding Hospitality.
