Colby Garrelts is a James Beard finalist

The James Beard Foundation Award Finalists were announced yesterday at Frontera Grill in Chicago, and one Kansas City chef made the list. Colby Garrelts is one of the five finalists in the category “Best Chef: Midwest.” Three of the other finalists are from Minneapolis, and one is from St. Louis.

Garrelts, along with his wife, Megan, own Bluestem in Westport. He had been a semifinalist in the category for the past three years. Unfortunately, Michael Smith, who was among stiff competition in the semifinals for the “Outstanding Chef” award, did not make the list of finalists — which included Diet Coke-shilling Tom Colicchio and Jose Andres.

Also, a congratulations to our sister paper on the other side of Interstate 70. The Riverfront Times was nominated in the “Newspaper Feature Without Recipes” category for an article on the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative.

The winners will be announced May 4 in New York. It’s good timing because May 4 falls on a Monday, and that’s the only day of the week Bluestem is not open.