Bachelor Farmer, Heartland chefs land James Beard nominations

Updated: 10 p.m. | Posted: 12:41 p.m.

The James Beard Foundation on Tuesday announced this year's nominees for its restaurant and chef awards. Two Minnesotans made the final cut in the Best Chef: Midwest category — Paul Berglund of The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis and Lenny Russo of Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market in St. Paul.

Last month, 12 Minnesotans were announced as semifinalists in three categories.

The James Beard Awards are among the most prestigious in the food world. They recognize the best in food — from restaurants to cookbooks to writing and programming — across North America.

The awards gala will take place May 2.

Minnesotans are also nominated in categories honoring food journalists, hosts and video tutorials.

Andrew Zimmern scored two nominations, one as Outstanding Personality/Host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods" and another in the Food Blog category.

Chef and author Raghavan Iyer was nominated in the Video Webcast, Fixed Location and/or Instructional category for "Indian Curries: The Basics & Beyond."

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl of Mpls.St. Paul Magazine — a frequent MPR News Appetites contributor — was nominated in the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award.

Also, a locally made documentary featuring Minneapolis resident Allan Law, who hands out sandwiches nightly to the homeless, landed a nomination in the Documentaries category. "The Starfish Throwers" was part of the lineup at the 2014 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, taking home awards for Audience Choice: Best Feature Documentary and Best Minnesota-Made Feature Documentary.

Winners in the James Beard Foundation Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards will be announced April 26.