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| Sonja Finn, ower/chef of Dinette in East Liberty |
Two local chefs have been nominated for Food & Wine Magazine's "The People's Best New Chef" award: Sonja Finn, 31, chef/owner of Dinette in East Liberty, and Justin Severino, executive chef of Elements Contemporary Cuisine, Downtown.
Trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., Ms. Finn serves thin-crust pizzas, salads, soups and hearty small plates crafted from largely local ingredients. Ms. Finn, whose experience includes working at San Francisco's legendary Zuni Cafe, was a semi-finalist for the James Beard "Rising Star Chef" in 2009 and 2010. A Pittsburgh native, she began as a prep cook at age 18 for Toni Pais at Baum Vivant.
Chef Severino, 32, a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, trained at the Pennsylvania Culinary School (now Le Cordon Bleu) and previously worked at Eleven in the Strip District. There he got to exercise his butchery and charcuterie chops learned in California, at famed farm-to-table restaurant Manresa as well as at his own charcuterie business, where he used only local meats.
Nominees "are all talented innovators, who have run their kitchens for five or fewer years." The winner of this award will be determined by popular vote. Whereas Food & Wine's editors will continue to select the magazine's Best New Chef Award.
For this award the magazine, "with the help of its trusted sources, chefs and food insiders," compiled a list of 100 nominees, 10 each from 10 regions across the United States.Anyone may vote, but only once for each region. The chef who receives the most votes overall wins. To vote go to eatocracy.com/foodandwine. The People's award will be announced on March 2.
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