Yes, they’ve made a habit of it.

For the seventh time, Colby Garrelts, the executive chef of Kansas City’s Bluestem restaurant, has been named a finalist for the James Beard Award’s best Midwest chef. Garrelts and his wife, Megan, recently opened Rye in the Mission Farms development in Leawood.

The James Beard Foundation announced finalists this week. Garrelts is on the list (again) with St. Louis restaurateur Gerard Craft of Niche. Other Midwestern chefs in the running: Justin Aprahamian of Sanford in Milwaukee and two Minneapolis chefs: Michelle Gayer of Salty Tart and Jack Riebel of Butcher & the Boar. The Midwest category includes restaurants in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, the two Dakotas and Wisconsin.

Kansas City publisher Andrews McMeel has two cookbooks in the running for Beard book awards. And Ben Paynter, a freelance writer based here, is a finalist for a journalism award. His article “The Carp Must Die” for Bloomberg Businessweek is one of three contenders in the category of food politics, policy and the environment.

The Beard award winners will be announced May 3 in New York.