March 19, 2015

CIA Alumni at the Beard Awards: A History of Success

James Beard Awards 2015

The James Beard Awards are truly the Oscars of the food world. The prestigious honor covers a wide variety of industry segments—chefs and restaurateurs, cookbook authors and food journalists, restaurant designers and architects, and more. And when it comes time to say “The winner is,” CIA alumni are often the ones taking home the medal.

Since the awards were established in 1990, there have been countless successful CIA grads—such as Grant Achatz ’94, Larry Forgione ’74, Melissa Kelly ’88, Michael Symon ’90, and Roy Yamaguchi ’76, to name just a few—who have won Beard Awards.

Most recently, several of our grads were declared winners at last year’s James Beard Awards, including:

  • Anthony Bourdain ’78, Best Television Program, On Location
  • Andrew Chabot ’02, Outstanding Wine Program for The Barn at Blackberry Farm
  • Francis Lam ’03, Best Profile (Journalism)
  • Stephen Stryjewski ’96, Best New Restaurant for Pêche
  • Sue Zemanick ’01, Best Chef: South

2015 Semifinalists

This year–the 25th anniversary of the James Beard Awards—we salute our 78 alumni who have been chosen as semifinalists. We celebrate their accomplishments and are proud to call them CIA graduates.

Matthew Accarrino ’98
Jeremiah Bacon ’99
Jonathan Benno ’93
Ellen Benson ’08
Stuart Brioza ’98
Jeffrey Buben ’78
Mark Buley ’09
David Bull ’94
Mario Carbone ’00
Andrew Carmellini ’91
Paul Carmichael ’02
Josef Centeno ’98
Andrew Chabot ’02
Lee Chizmar ”01
Michael Cimarusti ’91 (2 categories)
Abraham Conlon ’01
Andrew Cooper ’95
Alex Crabb ’01
Patrick Curran ’08
Gary Danko ’77
Greg Denton ’96
Merick Devine ’09
Marc Djozlija ’88
Cristina Echiverri ’91
Nicholas Elmi ’02
José Enrique ’98
Frank Falcinelli ’86
John Fleer ’91
Omar Flores ’06
Michael Fojtasek ’10
Phillip Foss ’91
Eric Gabrynowicz ’01
Megan Garrelts ’00
Todd Ginsberg ’00
Gregory Gourdet ’00
Gonzalo Gout ’12
Howard Hanna ’03
Eric Heath ’10
Ben Hickerson ’09
Andy Hollyday ’03
Scott Howell ’88
Joseph “JJ” Johnson ’06
Eli Kaimeh ’00
Michelle Karr-Ueoka ’00
Matthew Kelly ’00
Eli Kulp ’05
Andrew Le ’06
Nathan Lockwood ’01
Matt Louis ’01
Michael Mina ’89
Lauren Mitterer ’04
Bonnie Morales ’06
Kevin Nashan ’98
Grae Nonas ’08 (2 categories)
Enrique Olvera ’97
Michael Pagliarini ’00
Rajat Parr ’96
James Petrakis ’01
Julie Petrakis ’02
Alex Raij ’99
Martín Rios ’96
Amanda Rockman ’03
Rachel Saunders ’06
Alon Shaya ’99
Alex Stupak ’00
David Tallent ’02
Christopher Teixeira ’10
James Tidwell ’98
Rich Torrisi ’01
Michael Tusk ’89
Angelo Vangelopoulos ’90
Greg Vernick ’05
Mariana Villegas ’10
Paul Virant ’94
Cindy Wolf ’87 (2 categories)
Jennifer Yee ’12
Justin Yu ’05