A belated congratulations to chefs Josh Galliano of Monarch and Kevin Willmann of Farmhaus for being nominated for Food and Wine's "The People's Best New Chef 2011" award. Evan Benn broke the story yesterday in the P-D.
When F&B's voting site went live a few hours ago, we were surprised to see the smiling face of another local chef as well: Anthony Devoti of Five Bistro (at left) is a finalist as well, raising the tally to three local chefs in the Midwest region (see link to the complete list of 10 here).
In the February "Best Burger/Jerry Berger" issue, SLM called out the grass-fed burger at Five as the best burger in town (and the disciples of the venerable Church of Burger concurred). There's a video of the making of that burger here. Devoti also makes other burgers as well, both from fresh ground lamb and from a mix of ground brisket and short rib. Suffice to say, get thee to Five for a burger soon, but note they're available only at lunchtime, and Five is open for lunch only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Before you make those plans, though, be sure to vote for your favorite chefs here. And keep in mind the request of the F&W editors: only consider chefs at restaurants where you've actually dined. That's good advice...base your vote on your experience. Yes, this is a popularity contest, but we should strive to make it one based on merit, not knee-jerk voting.
Anthony Devoti photo by Greg Rannells
