StarChefs' "Rising Star" Awards Gala Coming to PDX in 2011

First the Beards, now the... stars. Or something. As the O's Michael Russell confirmed yesterday, online culinary magazine StarChefs will bestow its first-ever Rising Star Awards in Portland later this year. The annual award, which visits four predetermined cities to identify the chefs who best represent "the vanguard of the contemporary American dining scene," will name the Portland-based recipients of six Rising Star chef awards — in addition to a slew of awards in other categories like Rising Star Concept and Rising Star Restaurateur — during a celebratory gala/ceremony scheduled for December 5.

Per the StarChefs website, editor-in-chief Antoinette Bruno and her editorial team usually taste and interview with "between 60-100 chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists and sommeliers" in order to select a city's most promising up-and-comers. And a quick look at Bruno's Twitter account, which has been chronicling her current trip to Portland, hints at who's on that not-so-short list: Thus far, she's stopped in at Bunk Bar, Olympic Provisions, Lincoln, Toro Bravo, St. Jack, Departure, Sunshine Tavern, and Little T American Baker, which has the "best baguette outside of Paris."
· StarChefs Rising Stars [Official site]

Image of Antoinette Bruno by Ken Browar courtesy StarChefs.com