James Beard Awards nominees 2009

Outstanding Chef: Tom Colicchio

In case you've begun to think that the Craft honcho does nothing more than host cooking shows and shill for diet sodas (love the Diet Coke ad, BTW, Tom), the highly regarded chef roared back into the kitchen last fall with Tom: Tuesday Dinner and reminded us why he remains one of the city's most highly regarded chefs. This biweekly tasting salon allowed him to stretch those culinary muscles, while providing much-needed fodder for the the Cult of Colicchio.

Doesn't hurt, too, that the chef's expanding porftolio of restaurants now spans both coasts, plus outposts in Dallas, Atlanta, Vegas and Foxwoods.