Seven Rising Star Chefs named for Wine & Dine Festival
Seven chefs have won this year’s Rising Star Chefs competition, and will be featured at a Grand Tasting event in January’s Albany Wine & Dine for the Arts 2024 Albany Chefs’ Food & Wine Festival, according to a Thursday announcement.
Online nominations for the Rising Star Chefs, a contest sponsored by by timesunion.com and Table Hopping, started in October, and pared down to 10 finalists in November. Judges from the Food & Wine Festival board of directors made the final selection. While the competition’s original plan was to select six winners, seven were picked from that list of finalists “after the judges’ scores and an all-timehigh voter turnout resulted in a tie,” according to the Thursday release. Those winners are:
• Peter Darves-bornoz, Josie’s Table
• Noah Frese, The Roosevelt Room
• Joe Friedel, Lou’s BBQ
• Tyikea Mclean, Daley’s on Yates
• Michelle Montini, Nicole’s Restaurant
• Michael Plewinski,
Dotty 677 Prime
• Stacy Tecler, Stacy’s Scratch Kitchen
“This had to be one of the toughest competitions yet,” said Marcus Q. Pryor, board president of the Albany Chefs’ Food & Wine Festival, in Thursday’s statement. “With overwhelming public support and outstanding tasting menus prepared by each incredibly talented chef, selecting our winners was no easy task. While we couldn’t select everyone, we can’t stress enough how amazing each of our finalists are.”
To qualify for the original nominations, they had to meet at least two criteria from a list that included being a first-time executive chef or executive sous chef, being the chef or chef-owner of a restaurant open less than two years and demonstrating commitment to community service, culinary creativity and locally sourced ingredients.
This is the first time since 2019 that the campaign to promote up-andcoming chefs has been part of the annual January event.
The 2024 Albany Chefs’ Food & Wine Festival will take place from Thursday, Jan. 25 through Saturday, Jan. 27. The Grand Tasting events featuring the chefs will take place Friday and Saturday of the festival, in the Times Union Table Hopping Rising Star Chef Pavilion. For full details on the Rising Star Chefs and more information about the three-day-long festival, visit albanywinefest.com.