Bay Area Shut Out of Food & Wine's 2015 Best New Chefs Stakes

Yesterday, Food & Wine announced the recipients of their annual Best New Chefs award, an accomplished, worthy group that was completely devoid of Bay Area representatives. This is not the first time that our talent-saturated region has been left off the list, though it's been a good ten years since a snub of this magnitude. (Last year's hometown winner was Matt Accarrino of SPQR.)

But the Bay Area still has contenders in the running for Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef awards, designated by region and now open for public voting. California boasts so much culinary talent that it merits a region unto itself (as does New York), while areas like the Midwest are forced to cast a much wider net. Ten chefs are chosen to represent each region; the regional winners will go on to compete for the title of People's Best New Chef and a feature in the Best New Chefs issue of the magazine.

Here are the People's Best New Chef candidates for the Bay Area:

• Nicolas Delaroque, Nico
• Yoni Levy, Alta CA
• Evan & Sarah Rich, Rich Table
  
• Ari Weiswasser, Glen Ellen Star

Want to see a local make the list? Head over to Food & Wine and vote for your favorite.