Photographs of the 2019 James Beard Awards in Chicago, MN. All images by Eliesa Johnson and Melissa Hesse of The Restaurant Project® 2019
The James Beard Awards are validating what our neighborhood already knew to be true: Lucia is truly outstanding.
In 2023, the restaurant was a finalist in the Outstanding Restaurant category, and today it was announced Chef David Uygur is an Outstanding Chef finalist.
Uygur is one of five finalists for the nationwide award. He is up against chefs from Portland, Oregon, Washington D.C., Wilmington, North Carolina and Mystic, Connecticut.
Lucia has received half a dozen James Beard nods since opening in 2010, but the restaurant yet to win it all. Lucia’s omission from the James Beard winner’s circle underscores the fact that Dallas currently stands as the losingest city in the James Beard pursuit.
Last summer, D Magazine’s found that since Dallas’ last James Beard win in 1994, Dallas has had 98 semifinalists for various awards that did not win compared to San Antonio’s 35 and Fort Worth’s four.
While we are biased towards a Lucia win, two other Dallas restaurants were also named finalists. East Dallas’s Gemma is a finalist for Outstanding Hospitality, and Petra and the Beast made the Best Chef: Texas list.
The final awards will be announced June 10.
