Awards News

5 Dallas chefs and restaurants make list of James Beard Award finalists

Chef Reyna Duong was nominated for Best Chef: Texas.

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An unprecedented five chefs and restaurants from Dallas and one from Fort Worth are in the running for a prize from the James Beard Foundation, which has selected finalists for its annual Restaurant and Chef Awards.

The awards recognize chefs and other culinary professionals in a wide range of categories, ranging from Outstanding Chef to Best New Restaurant. These finalists emerged from a pool of semifinalists announced in January.

Candidates from Dallas-Fort Worth who are in the running for national awards include:

Best New Restaurant: Lucia Dallas
Outstanding Bakery: Kuluntu Bakery, Dallas
Outstanding Bakery: La Casita Bakeshop, Dallas
Best New Restaurant: Restaurant Beatrice, Dallas
Best New Restaurant: Don Artemio Mexican Heritage, Fort Worth

In addition to the DFW nominees, three other Texan restaurants and chefs are in the running for national awards:

Best New Restaurant: Tatemó, Houston
Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program: Nancy’s Hustle, Houston
Outstanding Bar: Las Ramblas, Brownsville

Texas also gets its own regional award in the category of Best Chef: Texas. The finalists are:

Reyna Duong, Sandwich Hag, Dallas
Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen, Houston
Emiliano Marentes, Elemi, El Paso
John Russ, Clementine, San Antonio
Ernest Servantes and David Kirkland, Burnt Bean Co., Seguin

Notably, all of this year’s finalists for both the national categories and Best Chef: Texas are new. None received nominations in 2022.

Last year, Texans did well in the awards, with Houston cocktail bar Julep winning Outstanding Bar Program, Austin chef Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria) winning Emerging Chef, and Austin chef Iliana de la Vega (El Naranjo) winning the first ever Best Chef: Texas.

In addition, two Texans won media awards — Austin chef Jesse Griffiths (Dai Due) for his cookbook, The Hog Book: A Chef’s Guide to Hunting, Butchering and Cooking Wild Pigs and Texas Monthly taco editor Jose Ralat for his Tex-Mexplainer columns.

The Foundation will reveal its Restaurant and Chef Award winners at an awards ceremony on Monday, June 5 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Media Award winners will be announced on June 3.

James Beard Award awards bests chefs news-you-can-eat

Wine Bar News

Unique wine bar will open in former Fireside Pies in northeast Dallas

Water's Edge

Water's Edge Winery

There's a convivial new concept coming to northeast Dallas: Called Waters Edge Winery, it's a winery and cafe from California, opening at the Creekside Village shopping center at 6750 Abrams Rd., where it will take over the space that was previously home to Fireside Pies.

According to a spokesperson for the concept, it will open in early 2025.

Waters Edge was founded by husband-and-wife Ken and Angela Lineberger as a combination urban winery franchise with accompanying bistro. Wines are crafted from grape juice purchased from around the world and bottled at each location, then sold by the glass or the bottle.

Their portfolio includes more than 50 wines, with grapes culled from regions like California, France, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and Spain, in all your basic varietals: pinot noir, merlot, pinot grigio, chardonnay, cabernet, plus a selection of sangria wines in flavors such as peach apricot white sangria and raspberry peach red sangria.

The concept combines those elements of a traditional winery with a wine bar concept, offering a bistro-style menu with appetizers, flatbreads, sandwiches, salads, and desserts.

The menu runs heavy on shareable items such as boards and flatbreads, plus appetizers such as black truffle burrata, smoked Gouda arancini with sun-dried tomato pesto, crispy potato skins with Raclette cheese & samba sauce, a mini baguette with flavored butters, and cheesy Southwest corn dip with and tortilla chips.

There are bowls, panini and flatbreads such as pepperoni, steak & mushroom, and intriguing options such as the French onion with roasted garlic spread, caramelized onions, and Swiss Cheese — like a French onion soup on a pizza. Entrees include cheese tortelini and short ribs with mashed potatoes.

They also do custom bottle labeling as personalized gifts, private tasting areas for groups, a wine club and more.

They currently have 11 locations including one that opened in Houston in 2020. Dallas is one of three lined up to open in 2025.

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