Chef Chad White named 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist

By Chey Scott

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Chef Chad White named 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist

Young Kwak photo

Chef Chad White has been named a James Beard Award Best Chef semifinalist for a second time.

No one wants to speak too soon, but perhaps one highly promising indication of the light at the end of a long, pandemic tunnel is the return of the James Beard Awards.

One of the highest honors in the culinary industry, the James Beard Awards celebrate and recognize talent, creativity, leadership and more in American food culture. They've been called "the Oscars of the food world."

Among the dozens of 2022 semifinalists announced today is one of Spokane's own, chef Chad White of Zona Blanca ceviche bar and TT's Old Iron Brewery & Barbecue. White is named alongside 19 other semifinalists for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific, covering Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. This is the second time White has been named a Best Chef semifinalist for the Beard Awards — he also made the list in 2020.

The nonprofit James Beard Foundation has recognized other past and present culinary visionaries of the Inland Northwest as semifinalists, including Jeremy Hansen (former chef-owner of Santé; 2015), Adam Hegsted (Eat Good Group; 2016), Laurent Zirotti (former chef-owner of Fleur de Sel; 2017) and Anna Vogel (Italia Trattoria; 2018). The Inland Northwest has yet, however, to see any of these semifinalists take the overall title of "Best Chef Northwest."

Winners are to be announced at an in-person ceremony in Chicago on June 13. The Restaurant and Chef Awards were first presented in 1991, and took a 2021 hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. See a complete list of the 2022 semifinalists across the U.S. on the Beard Foundation's website.