Dave Faries here, hoping that Chef Jonny Black and his wife Monique don’t mind waiting.
Their restaurant—Chez Noir in Carmel—was named as a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Awards, one of 30 restaurants nationwide to reach the lofty position. But now the couple must go about their daily business for a while. The final nominees will be revealed on April 3. The winner will finally be announced on June 10.
Chez Noir opened to great anticipation in October of 2022. Chef Black had already gained a reputation for fanatical sourcing. So even when he stoops to cook a burger, it stands out as the best you’ve ever tried. But Chez Noir is a marvel. Since opening, the restaurant has been named Best French Restaurant in the Weekly’s annual readers poll (a small honor) and received a Michelin Star (kind of a big deal). And now this.
A James Beard award is on a different scale. Critics for Michelin’s U.S. guides pick and choose the areas they travel. But the folks at James Beard check out restaurants, bars, chefs and bakers in Omaha, St. Louis, Seguin, Texas and Greenville, South Carolina. Among semifinalists for Best New Restaurant are trendsetters in New York and Chicago, but also a taqueria in Central Falls, Rhode Island, a barbecue pit in Lockhart, Texas (albeit the reputed barbecue central) and a place called Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester, Massachusetts that sounds anything but haughty.
Only two other California restaurants made the list. One is Kiln in San Francisco, where Chef John Wesley and his team serve a different tasting menu each night of some 20 courses. The other is Barra Santos in Los Angeles, a cozy-to-say-the-least Portuguese spot run by Mike Santos.
So the competition is many and varied. But it just confirms what we already know: Jonny Black can cook and Chez Noir is really, really good. Waiting is not such a bad thing, under the circumstances.
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