We're down to the wire for CultureMap Dallas' 2024 Tastemaker Awards, our annual awards event honoring the best in Dallas food and drink.

We've nominated restaurant industry stars for awards in 10 categories, spotlighted in a special editorial series: celebrating candidates for Rising Star Chef, Pastry Chef, Neighborhood Restaurant, Patios, Wine Program, Bars, Bartender, and Restaurant of the Year, as voted by our panel of esteemed judges. There is also our Best New Restaurants category, the only one where the winner gets decided not by judges but instead by readers.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 16 at the Fashion Industry Gallery, where we'll toast the nominees while indulging in bites and sips. Tickets are on sale now.

This entry covers the Chef of the Year: These are the established names, at the top of their field, owning their own restaurants or overseeing the kitchens at top restaurants around Dallas.

Here are our nominees for Chef of the Year:

Andrea Shackelford, Harvest at the Masonic
Shackelford built her early career around the farm-to-table movement, working with notable chefs such as Tom Colicchio, Kevin Maxey, Jeff Harris, Tim Bevins, and Graham Dodds before joining forces with McKinney wunderkind Rick Wells at his Wells Hospitality Group (Rick’s Chophouse) in 2012. Both fierce advocates of sustainability, they recently opened Harvest at the Masonic, re-purposing the former Masonic Lodge, a landmark building on the square in McKinney.

Arnulfo Trey Sánchez, Vaqueros TX BBQ
The colorful Sanchez has more than 36 years of barbeque experience, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Taste of Texas, The Cooking Channel’s Man Fire Food, and Man’s Greatest Food. He was also a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard Awards. In 2018, he launched Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q, a food truck that sets up shop at Hop & Sting Brewing Co., and will open a stand-alone restaurant in Allen at Watters Creek Village in summer '24.

Braden and Yasmin Wages, Malai Kitchen
Braden and Yasmin Wages met while studying at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, then honed their skills working at the Hillstone Restaurant Group before launching their own concept, Malai Kitchen, specializing in Southeast Asian cuisine, in 2011. They've traveled Vietnam and Thailand to expand their knowledge of the regional ingredients, flavors, techniques, trends, and customs, and have garnered notoriety for their commitment to excellent food, hospitality, and an innovative in-house beer program.

Chad Dolezal & Jason Smith, Cenzo’s Pizza & Deli
Cenzo's is the Oak Cliff restaurant-deli in a vintage Magnolia service station that's been transformed into a fun, irreverent, but excellent pizza palace by chef team Chad Dolezal and Jason Smith, with sandwiches, pizzas, appetizers like antipasto and garlic bread, and a lunch deal with salad and a slice. These are chefs applying their significant skills to give the neighborhood what it wants, be that a burrata salad with grapefruit, arugula, and almonds; or a chicken parm sandwich served on Thursdays only.

Franchesca Nor, Dive Coastal Cuisine
Nor is a thoughtful restaurateur who makes great fresh food — spring pea soup with crab, killer sandwiches, grilled stuffed avocado with shrimp & corn — as well as serving her market in Snider Plaza attentively. She's also is heavily into sustainable endeavors such as her an innovative new farming concept, DiveDWN, designed to provide locally-grown crops, plus serve as a hub for education, cultivation, and conservation.

James Rowland, Carver Park
Well-regarded veteran chef (Beau Nash, Bistro Nous Greenville Avenue Bar & Grill) is changing the game in the office cantina world with his chef-driven cafes tucked inside North Dallas office buildings. Rowland and his partner Fana Yohannes have been turning out fresh sandwiches, pastas, soups, and hearty vegetarian dishes at Carver Park (which was nominated for a Tastemaker Award in 2022), and Carver Park LBJ. Office workers and lunch dates alike can enjoy dishes like meat loaf with mashed potatoes or a chicken poblano quesadilla.

John Tesar, Knife Italian
Colorful chef gets attention for his unfiltered, outspoken personality, overshadowing his culinary prowess. But he's a skilled, creative chef who elevated the burger with his now-closed Arts District restaurant The Commissary and jolted Dallas' moribund steak scene with his acclaimed Knife steakhouses in Dallas and Plano. He has restaurants now in other cities, so he's not in Dallas as often, but he's making waves locally with Knife Italian, his new Italian restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas.

Jonah Friedmann, Margaret's
Returning Tastemaker Award nominee (from 2022 as chef at the Commons Club at Virgin Hotels Dallas) is now wowing them at the JW Marriott Dallas Arts District, at three inhouse restaurants including Margaret's on the 11th floor. Chicago native attended the Culinary Institute of America and also obtained a bachelor's in hospitality from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He's worked at major hotels such as the Gaylord Texan, Sheraton Dallas, and Hotel Vin in Grapevine, which he helped open in 2020.

Noah Hester, Hamm's Meat & Market
Texas chef earned fame for his appearance on E! Entertainment's The Bradshaw Bunch, following the adventures of former quarterback Terry Bradshaw and his family; Hester's wife Lacey is Bradshaw's daughter. But Hester has earned his own set of accolades for his culinary skills. He and Lacey own the historic Hamm’s Meat + Market where, along with the butcher operation, they are turning out gourmet sandwiches and hosting amazing chef dinners.

RJ Yoakum, Georgie
Yoakum joined the team at Georgie, the Travis Walk restaurant that was formerly a platform for Australian celeb chef Curtis Stone, in January 2023 with a packed resume: The French Laundry in Napa, Angler in San Francisco, travels in Europe, and study at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. He's the current Dallas foodies' darling, with carefully composed dishes like snapper with pea and Meyer lemon panade, shiso pesto, and preserved pepper boullion.