Meet Kansas City’s 2018 James Beard Award semifinalists

Drumroll, please.

Today the James Beard Foundation announced the 2018 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists — and five KC-area chefs, restaurants, bakers and bars made the cut.

Michael Corvino of Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room in the Crossroads is up for Best Chef: Midwest, and Megan Garrelts of Rye, which has locations in Leawood and the Country Club Plaza, is in the running for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

Bluestem, the Westport fine dining restaurant that Garrelts co-owns with husband Colby, is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Restaurant category, and Manifesto, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in the Crossroads, is up for Outstanding Bar Program.

Lawrence also has a James Beard Award semifinalist: Taylor Petrehn of 1900 Barker, a neighborhood bakery and coffee shop, has been nominated for Outstanding Baker.

This is the second year in a row that Garrelts, Manifesto and Petrehn have been named semifinalists in the James Beard Awards, which are among the highest honors in the culinary world.

It’s the third time that Bluestem has made the short list for Outstanding Restaurant. Owner Colby Garrelts won Best Chef: Midwest in 2013.

This is the first James Beard Award nod for Michael Corvino, who opened Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room at 1830 Walnut St. less than a year ago. Four months later, the restaurant was honored with a AAA Four Diamond Award, which is given to just two percent of 30,000 restaurants reviewed each year by anonymous trained reviewers.

Finalists will be revealed on March 14, and winners will be announced May 7 at the James Beard Awards Gala in Chicago.

This story was originally published February 15, 2018 at 12:52 PM.