Rhubarb chef John Fleer nominated for ‘Best Chef in the Southeast’ award

Chef John Fleer of Rhubarb. Photo by Max Cooper

Over breakfast at the Beard House in Greenwich Village, James Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro announced the final nominees for the 25th annual James Beard awards.

Among the list of names was Asheville’s own John Fleer, chef at Rhubarb, downtown’s upscale farm-to-table eatery. In 1999, the foundation named Fleer one of its “Rising Stars of the 21st Century.” This is Fleer’s fourth time being nominated for “Best Chef of the Southeast,” but he hasn’t taken home the gold — yet.

Fleer advanced to the semifinals of the category in February with two other Asheville contenders: Meherwan Irani of Chai Pani and Katie Button of Cúrate and Nightbell. But in the end, there could only be one.

The nominations, announced Tuesday, March 24, spanned five different awards programs through the foundation — book awards, broadcast media awards, journalism awards, outstanding restaurant design awards and restaurant and chef awards — covering 59 categories.

The Rhubarb chef takes on five other contenders in the Southeast for the 2015 awards’ final round: Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Steven Satterfield of Miller Union in Atlanta, Jason Stanhope of FIG in Charleston, both Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman from Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in Memphis, and Tandy Wilson from City House in Nashville.

The winners of these awards will be held in the highest of culinary esteem, as they were chosen from a pool of roughly 35,000 applicants from across the country. The winners will be announced on May 4 at the James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception, taking place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and hosted by Food Network chef Alton Brown.

For more information about the awards and other nominees, click here.

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Hayley Benton
Current freelance journalist and artist. Former culture/entertainment reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times and former news reporter at Mountain Xpress. Also a coffee drinker, bad photographer, teller of stupid jokes and maker-upper of words. I can be reached at hayleyebenton [at] gmail.com. Follow me @HayleyTweeet

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.