No Beard Award nominations for Savannah?

Hello, food friends.

It’s not just awards season for the movies; yesterday, the James Beard Awards announced its big list of semifinalists in the restaurant, chef and beverage categories. The state of Georgia had 10 nominees: nine from metro Atlanta and one from Augusta, chef Todd Schafer of Abel Brown.

While it’s wonderful to see Schafer receive national recognition in an often-overlooked town, I was surprised to see no restaurants from the Savannah area on the list.

I would contend that Savannah has one of the most exciting dining scenes in the Southeast right now. The Hostess City is hot enough that out-of-towners are pouring money into the area, from the team behind the famed cocktail bar Death & Co. opening the high-concept Municipal Grand hotel (complete with multiple bars) to popular Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant the Darling Oyster Bar opening a second location.

Of course, it’s the locals who deserve credit for fueling interest in Savannah dining, like the avant-garde wine bar Late Air and prestigiously pedigreed Brochu’s Family Tradition, not to mention institutions like the Grey and Common Thread.

The Savannah area was likely the biggest loser in the confusing roll-out of the Michelin Guide to the American South, which included Atlanta but not the rest of Georgia. Reading between the lines, the exclusion could be attributed to the way tourism dollars funded the Michelin Guide — not the fault of the restaurants.

The Beard Awards are independent and face no such restrictions. Was there really no one deserving of recognition in Savannah this year? The foundation named eight semifinalists in Charleston; it’s hard to believe that Savannah could be that far behind its fellow port city to the north.