James Beard Awards nominees are out, with a handful of Dallas top picks on the list

The 2015 James Beard Awards nominees just came out a minute ago, and mixed in with the usual heavy hitters (Stephan Pyles, Andrew Carmellini, Sean Brock), there’s some batshit crazy stuff. Aaron Franklin is a good guy and all, but a nominee for Best Chef Southwest? Charlene Badman at FnB in Scottsdale? Nick Pihakis at Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham for Outstanding Restaurateur…for his chain of (now) mediocre bbq restaurants?

Well, crazy loves crazy, so here are the Best Chef: Southwest category nominees, plus a link to the entire list here. (They’re called Semi Finalists because the preliminary list is everybody in the world who is nominated.) Finalists will be announced on March 24. (Stephan Pyles was nominated for Outstanding Chef (national) and for his San Salvaje restaurant.)

And props to James Tidwell, beverage director at the Four Seasons Las Colinas, for his semifinalist shoutout in the wine/beer/mead/bubbles/bottled water category.

Best Chef: Southwest

Charleen Badman, FnB, Scottsdale, AZ
Kevin Binkley, Binkley’s, Cave Creek, AZ
Bowman Brown, Forage, Salt Lake City
David Bull, Congress, Austin
Andrew Cooper, Terra at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Omar Flores, Casa Rubia, Dallas
Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue, Austin
Terrence Gallivan and Seth Siegel-Gardner, The Pass, Houston
Bryce Gilmore, Barley Swine, Austin
Jennifer James, Jennifer James 101, Albuquerque, NM
Matt McCallister, FT33, Dallas
Hugo Ortega, Hugo’s, Houston
Jonathan Perno, La Merienda at Los Poblanos, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM
Steven Redzikowski, Oak, Boulder, CO
Martín Rios, Restaurant Martín, Santa Fe, NM
Dana Rodriguez, Work & Class, Denver
Alex Seidel, Fruition, Denver
John Tesar, Knife, Dallas
David Uygur, Lucia, Dallas
Justin Yu, Oxheart, Houston