As I always say (even in non-applicable situations!), let the AJC Food & More blog do the culling of Atlanta area chefs and restuaranteurs and then just pick out the ones with a Decatur relationship!  Here they are for 2013…

Outstanding restaurateur:

• Ford Fry
• Mike Klank and Eddie Hernandez, Taqueria del Sol

Best Chef Southeast:

• Billy Allin, Cakes & Ale

The James Beard Award nominations were just announced last night and both Cakes and Ale’s Billy Allin and Cynthia Wong were nominated for awards. Allin was nominated for Best Chef: Southeast and Wong was nominated for Oustanding Pastry Chef.  (Allin is also up for a “People’s Best New Chef: Southeast Award by Food & Wine.  You can vote for him online HERE)

Additionally, the local chain Taqueria del Sol was nominated in the “Outstanding Restaurateur” category.

The AJC’s John Kessler posted the Atlanta-area finalists for this year’s James Beard awards and two work their magic right here in Decatur!

One you can certainly guess without any prompting.  The other?  Well, whatcha got?

See the answers after the jump…or see the full list of Atlanta semifinalists over on John’s blog.  (Hint: the Atlanta nominee for Best New Restaurant helped Leon’s get its feet wet in the gastropub world) Read the rest of this entry »