Boulder Restaurant Up For Prestigious James Beard Award

DENVER (CBS4) - The James Beard Foundation has released the list of semifinalists for its annual restaurant and chef awards, and a Boulder restaurant plus three chefs from the Denver-Boulder area are in the running.

Frasca Food & Wine is a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant. The Boulder restaurant is up against 19 other restaurants from across the country, including Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York.

In the "Best Chef: Southwest" category the following three Colorado chefs are in the running:

- Steven Redzikowski of Acorn (Denver)
- Alex Seidel of Mercantile (Denver)
- Erik Skokan of Black Cat (Boulder)

Mercantile is located in Union Station and is a full service restaurant that also has pastries, charcuterie and a full service bar.

"Anytime of day you can go there and have whatever your heart desires," 5280 Magazine spokeswoman Carrie Horn told CBS4 last fall during an interview about the magazine's latest "Best Restaurants" issue.

Acorn is located in the RiNo neighborhood and Black Cat is located just off the Pearl Street Mall.

The finalists will be announced on March 15 and the awards ceremony will be held in Chicago on May 1.

A James Beard Award is generally viewed as the most sought after award for a chef in America. The foundation describes its mission as "to celebrate, nurture, and honor America's diverse culinary heritage through programs that educate and inspire."