This morning, the James Beard Award Foundation announced the 2019 list of Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalist nominees, and there are a whole bunch of Minneapolis-St. Paul names on it. Here's the 2019 list of Twin Cities folks in full:

Best New Restaurant

Popol Vuh, Minneapolis

Outstanding Pastry Chef

Diane Moua, Spoon and Stable, Minneapolis

Outstanding Restaurant

Restaurant Alma, Minneapolis

Outstanding Restaurateur

Brenda Langton and Timothy Kane, Spoonriver, Minneapolis

Outstanding Wine Program

The Bachelor Farmer, Minneapolis

Rising Star Chef of the Year

Rikki Giambruno, Hyacinth, St. Paul

Best Chef: Midwest

Thomas Boemer, In Bloom, Minneapolis

Steven Brown, Tilia, Minneapolis

Daniel del Prado, Martina, Minneapolis

Ann Kim, Young Joni, Minneapolis

Christina Nguyen, Hai Hai, Minneapolis

Karyn Tomlinson, Corner Table, Minneapolis

Jamie Malone, Grand Cafe, Minneapolis

You can find all of 2019's semifinalists from around the country here; finalists will be announced on March 27.

There's a lot of overlap with last year's list of local JBA semifinalists, which included Grand Cafe (Best New Restaurant) and 112 Eatery (Outstanding Service), along with Salty Tart's Michelle Gayer for Outstanding Baker, Alex Roberts at Restaurant Alma for Outstanding Chef, and Diane Moua (then Yang) at Spoon and Stable for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

The 2018 Best Chef: Midwest semifinalist round also included Thomas Boemer, Corner Table; Steven Brown, Tilia; Gavin Kaysen, Spoon and Stable; Ann Kim, Young Joni; Jamie Malone, Grand Cafe; and Christina Nguyen, Hai Hai.

But only one local chef—Gavin Kaysen—took home an award in 2018. (Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley won in the awards' "media" section for their co-authored cookbook: The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen.)

We'll also add a that there are a lot of CP favorites on here! Read our recent reviews of relative newbies like Hyacinth, Popol Vuh, Martina, and Hai Hai, or dig through our full list of restaurant reviews here.