LINCOLN PARK — Two new Lincoln Park restaurants are in the running for a prestigious James Beard Award, it was announced Wednesday.
Intro, 2300 N. Lincoln Park West, and the Blanchard, 1935 N. Lincoln Park West, were the only two Chicago restaurants that were named semifinalists in the "Best New Restaurant" category. The James Beard Awards are commonly referred to as the Oscars of the food world.
"It's thrilling," said Jason Paskewitz, owner and chef at the Blanchard, a modern French restaurant.
"This neighborhood has a reputation for not having too many good restaurants. All the big boys are Downtown," he said. "I love the neighborhood. I plan on staying here for a long time."
Paskewitz won the Jean Banchet Award for "Best New Restaurant" this year.
"It's been an exciting couple of months," he said.
Run by Lettuce Entertain You, Intro opened in February 2015 with an innovative "chef-in-residence" program, meaning it routinely brought in new chefs. Last month, that concept came to an end when the restaurant named Stephen Gillanders as its permanent executive chef. The restaurant serves upscale American food.
"We are very excited that as a neighborhood restaurant, we are in such great company amongst such a strong list of Chicago restaurants. Congratulations to all the semifinalists and we look forward to the nominee announcement next month," Gillanders said in a prepared statement.
The James Beard Foundation will announce its final list of nominees on March 15.
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