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Who will win at the 2019 James Beard Awards?

Philadelphia has nominees in 5 categories.

Among the Philadelphia-based finalists for 2019 James Beard Awards are Jesse Ito of Royal Izakaya, at left with girlfriend Lauren Johns, whose category is rising-star chef; and Ellen Yin of Fork and High Street on Market, at right with pastry chef and business partner Melissa Weller at Chefs' Night Out, a party in Chicago, on Sunday.
Among the Philadelphia-based finalists for 2019 James Beard Awards are Jesse Ito of Royal Izakaya, at left with girlfriend Lauren Johns, whose category is rising-star chef; and Ellen Yin of Fork and High Street on Market, at right with pastry chef and business partner Melissa Weller at Chefs' Night Out, a party in Chicago, on Sunday.Read moreMichael Klein / Staff

CHICAGO — Just as Hollywood celebrates the movie biz with the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, the restaurant world honors its own with the James Beard Awards.

Monday night, the red carpet is rolled out at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, and a who’s who of food strolls inside.

Philadelphia again has a slate of contenders, including Marc Vetri for chef, Zahav for restaurant, Ellen Yin for restaurateur, Jesse Ito for rising star chef, and Rich Landau and Cristina Martinez for chef/Mid-Atlantic.

Here are the Philadelphians in the mix:

  1. Marc Vetri of Vetri Cucina, who is up for outstanding chef. Vetri, who recently opened a second Vetri Cucina in Las Vegas, was a semifinalist in 2008, 2009. 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016, and a nominee in 2014 and 2015. He won best chef/Mid-Atlantic in 2005, and his 2016 book Mastering Pasta was nominated for a Beard book award. His restaurants have scads of nominations for service.

  2. Zahav, up for outstanding restaurant. The crew led by chefs Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook was nominated in the service category in 2017 and 2018. Pastry chef Camille Cogswell won rising star chef last year and Solomonov won for best chef in 2017. The cookbook Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking won cookbook of the year in 2017.

  3. Ellen Yin (Fork, High Street on Market, and High Street on Hudson) for outstanding restaurateur; this is her second consecutive nomination.

  4. Jesse Ito (Royal Izakaya) for rising-star chef; this is his first nomination.

  5. Rich Landau (Vedge, et al) and Cristina Martinez (South Philly Barbacoa) for best chef/Mid-Atlantic. This is Landau’s fifth consecutive nomination (he also made the semifinals in 2014), and Martinez’s third nomination.

As for buzz: I’m hearing plenty around Zahav, as it’s ridden a wave of Israeli love, thanks to Solomonov’s high profile, and around Martinez, as the Beard voters have put social activism as top of mind. She and husband Ben Miller work for the rights of undocumented immigrants (she is one herself), and she was featured on the Netflix series Ugly Delicious and Chefs’ Table.

I’ll be on the red carpet. See me on Facebook Live about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time