The James Beard Award semifinalists were announced this week, and a half-dozen chefs and establishments across Connecticut are up for the prestigious culinary award this year.
It’s big news for a state that often feels overlooked in the Northeast food scene. Connecticut has had just one win in its 12 nominations since 2022, following the James Beard Awards’ pandemic pause. David Standridge of The Shipwright's Daughter in Mystic won Best Chef for the region in 2024.
This year, there are four chefs and two restaurants representing the Nutmeg State in the first round of the national awards.
Executive Chef Bolivar Hilario is one of them. The Puebla, Mexico native grew up in Haines City, Florida and has worked in cuisines from Japanese to French to Italian in New York and Connecticut, before landing at Community Table in New Preston in 2023.
“It's kind of cool to see a lot of Connecticut restaurants and a lot of Connecticut chefs now on the list because COVID did a crazy thing of pushing people out of the city, but I think it’s helping the food industry in Connecticut a lot,” Hilario said. “The surrounding cities of New York are now starting to see a big push, or a big growth, on good food and good restaurants around this area.”
Those former NYC chefs now call Connecticut home. And because of that, they compete in a different region. The Northeast includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont — in other words, all of New England.
Hilario may be one of the top chefs in the region now, but he said he never forgets what his parents gave up moving the family to the U.S.
“I was born in Mexico and was brought into the United States by my parents, which I'm thankful for. You know, so much they had to sacrifice,” Hilario said. “And especially, what's going on with the news right now is definitely a very big feeling.”
Hilario said everything he learned about cooking, he learned from watching his mom in the kitchen, though it was “unknowingly” at the time.
“The one thing that I was taught very early on is: Remember where we come from. Because it teaches that we all came from somewhere, especially in the United States. It’s built up of immigrants, whether it's European immigrants or moving from one America, from South America, to here,” Hilario said.
Hilario is up for Best Chef: Northeast alongside David DiStasi of Materia Ristorante in Bantam and Shilimat Tessema of Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant in New Haven. This year, David Standridge of The Shipwright's Daughter, the region’s Best Chef winner in 2024, is in the running for Outstanding Chef nationally.
Another Mystic favorite, The Port of Call, is competing in the Outstanding Wine Program category. Meanwhile, New Haven’s Modern European restaurant, ROLi, is on the list for Best New Restaurant nationwide.
Learn more
The James Beard Foundation will announce its whittled-down nominee list on March 31. Winners will then be announced at the annual ceremony on June 15 in Chicago.
In the meantime, you can find the full list of semi-finalists from across the U.S. here.
