AJC Staff

A pair of Atlantans were named among the finalists for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards — the country’s most recognized program honoring food and beverage professionals working as chefs, authors, journalists and designers. 

Cookbook author and renowned food scientist Shirley O. Corriher (left) is a finalist for a Book Award in the “Baking” category for her new work, “Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking” (Scribner; $40). (I cooked from the book, and AJC writer Jim Auchmutey wrote a lovely profile of Corriher.) 
In the all-important Restaurant Awards, Linton Hopkins, chef at Restaurant Eugene, is again up for Best Chef: Southeast. He faces off against Hugh Acheson at Five and Ten in Athens; Mike Lata of Fig Restaurant in Charleston, SC; Bob Waggoner of Charleston Grill in Charleston; and Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, NC.

Other Southerners of note are up for these awards:

• Sean Brock of McCrady’s Restaurant in Charleston is nominated for Rising Star Chef, a national award.
• Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, AL, is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant, a national award for chef/owner Frank Stitt.
• Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN, is nominated for Outstanding Wine Service, a national award. 
• John T. Edge, the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, MS, will be inducted into the Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, an honorary award. 

You can read the full list here. The winners will be announced on May 3 and May 4 in New York.