James Beard Award nominees 2008

NYC's best battle it out for the culinary world's top honors

NYC got some big shout-outs for this year’s James Beard Award nominations, which include 22 Gotham chefs and restaurants duking it out in 11 categories.

Hopefuls run the gamut from upstarts (Café Boulud’s Gavin Kaysen, pictured at left) to no-brainers (bonjour, Monsieur Vongerichten), with lone NYC entries in two closely watched categories: Anthos (Best New Restaurant) and Blue Hill’s Dan Barber (Outstanding Chef).

Winners in the restaurant categories will be announced on June 8 at Avery Fisher Hall. We’re salivating already. — Alexis L. Loinaz

For the full list of nominees, check out jbfawards.com.

(Additional reporting by Matt Rodbard)