Four Seattle Chefs Up For F&W Best New Chef

Four Seattle chefs are in the running for Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef award, the new-ish online competition that divvies up chefs by region and invites readers to vote on their favorite candidate. Brian McCracken & Dana Tough (Spur), Blaine Wetzel(Willows Inn), Cormac Mahoney(Madison Park Conservatory), and Shaun McCrain(The Bookbindery) are the local chefs nominated in the Northwest and Pacific category.

Just last month, Baruch Ellsworth(Canlis) was nominated for best pastry chef.

Fans of the nominees can cast their vote here and also read up on fun facts about each chef — including the fact that Mahoney considers Matt Dillon "my favorite ex-girlfriend." Voting continues until March 11, and the overall national winner will be featured in the magazine alongside the 10 editorially selected Best New Chef winners.

· People's Best New Chef, Northwest and Pacific [F&W]
· F&W Announces 2012 People's Best New Chefs Nominees [Eater National]