Staff at two Hampshire County restaurants have made the semifinals for the 2016 James Beard Foundation Awards.
Hungry Ghost Bread's Cheryl Maffei and Jonathan Stevens are semifinalists for the "2016 Outstanding Baker" category and Unmi Abkin, co-owner and chef at Easthampton's Coco/The Cellar Bar, is in the running for the "Best Chef: Northeast" award.
This is the sixth year in a row Hungry Ghost Bread has made an appearance on the nominations list. This is the second year Maffei and Stevens has been nominated for "Outstanding Baker." For four years prior, the pair was named in the "Best Pastry Chef" category.
For Coco/The Cellar Bar's Abkin, 2016 is the first time the chef has been nominated.
"Its' a pretty big honor," Abkin said. "It feels great. I have such an amazing staff here. Everybody is pretty delighted."
"We're doing food that we love to cook, and it feels good that people love it," Abkin continued.
The nominees are the only two Western Massachusetts restaurants on the list. Eighteen Boston-area restaurants made the semifinals. The James Beard Foundation will announce finalists for the awards on Tuesday, March 15. For more information, visit jamesbeard.org.