{"id":252598,"date":"2026-04-30T15:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/252598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:51:07","slug":"local-tampa-chef-named-as-a-james-beard-award-finalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/252598\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Tampa Chef Named as a James Beard Award Finalist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time in many years, a Tampa Chef has been named a finalist for a James Beard Award! You may have dined at his restaurant before, but if you haven&#8217;t, you&#8217;ll definitely want to dine there for a delicious date night!<\/p>\n<p>James Beard Award Finalist Bryce Bonsack for Best Chef: South<\/p>\n<p>Executive Chef and Owner of Rocca, Bryce Bonsack, has been named as a finalist for one of the highest honors in the food and hospitality industry in America, specifically noting his significant contributions within the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n<p>Chef Bonsack brought his culinary expertise to the Tampa Bay area, winning a Michelin star in 2023 and 2024 for his restaurant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roccatampa.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.roccatampa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rocca<\/a>. We had the chance to experience Chef Bonsack&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/tampabaydatenightguide.com\/rocca-michelin-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">expertise in full force at Rocca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trust us when we say that this nomination is very well deserved. Standing as one of Tampa&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/tampabaydatenightguide.com\/tampa-restaurants-michelin-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Michelin Star<\/a>-awarded restaurants, Rocca is easily considered one of the best of the best in the Tampa Bay Area, featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/tampabaydatenightguide.com\/italian-inspired-date-night-in-tampa-bay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Italian cuisine<\/a> with a modern flair.<\/p>\n<p><img data-lazyloaded=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Crudo-starter.jpg\" alt=\"Rocca's Crudo Starter created by Executive Chef, owner, and James Beard Award Finalist Bryce Bonsack.\" class=\"wp-image-31686\"  data-\/>Rocca&#8217;s delicious and light Crudo Starter \u2014 Image by Hailea Boykin<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve never heard of the James Beard Awards, here&#8217;s a look into what&#8217;s considered the \u201cOscars of food.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What is the James Beard Awards?<\/p>\n<p>James Beard was an American chef, cookbook author, and television personality. Since 1990, the award has been the highest honor in the American food and hospitality industry.<\/p>\n<p>Presented annually by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/awards\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/awards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">James Beard Award Foundation<\/a>, the awards recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts.<\/p>\n<p>What is the criterion for winning?<\/p>\n<p>Winners are selected through an intense process that includes industry professionals, journalists, and past winners. Judges evaluate candidates by:<\/p>\n<p>Culinary skill and techniqueInnovation and impact on dining cultureIntegrity and alignment in the values of the foundationLeadership and contribution to the industryConsistency with good quality food<\/p>\n<p>There are over 25 different categories that chefs from all around the country are able to enter, and we&#8217;re wishing Chef Bonsack the best of luck in his running for Best Chef: South!<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in many years, a Tampa Chef has been named a finalist for a James&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-252598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}