FOOD & WINE ANNOUNCES THAT VOTING HAS BEGUN FOR THE PEOPLE’S BEST NEW CHEF 2012

Starting today, FOOD & WINE invites the dining public to select The People’s Best New Chef℠, a program now in its second year. The award, an extension of the FOOD & WINE Best New Chefs program, honors talented up-and-coming innovators who have run their own kitchens for five years or fewer. Among the Gulf Coast nominees is chef Simon Stojanovic, who currently helms the kitchen at Miami Beach’s Altamare, a seafood-focused farm-to-table restaurant.

According to the Miami Herald food critic and FOOD & WINE contributor, Victoria Pesce Elliot, Altamare offers the “best selection of seafood, service and setting in Miami Beach.”

The dining public will determine The People’s Best New Chef℠ winner via online vote on http://www.foodandwine.com/peoples-best-new-chef, beginning today and continuing through Sunday, March 11, 2012. The field of 100 nominees includes 10 chefs in each of 10 regions across America. The chefs with the most votes in each of the regions will be named finalists. Of those 10 finalists, the one with the most votes overall will be named The People’s Best New Chef. The finalists and the winner will be revealed on March 12; the winner will also be featured in July 2012 issue of FOOD & WINE, the same issue that profiles the annual Best New Chefs. (Note: Nominees for The People’s Best New Chef award remain eligible for a Best New Chef award.)

“After last year’s successful debut, we’re thrilled to again give the dining public a chance to help their favorite chef become The People’s Best New Chef,” says FOOD & WINE Editor-in-Chief Dana Cowin.

To learn more about the Gulf Coast chefs eligible for The People’s Best New Chef award, go to http://www.foodandwine.com/peoples-best-new-chef/gulf-coast or follow the conversation on Twitter using #peoplesbnc.

About FOOD & WINE:

FOOD & WINE® is the modern, stylish, trend-spotting, talent-seeking epicurean brand. Created by American Express Publishing, the luxury-lifestyle authority, FOOD & WINE includes a monthly magazine with a circulation of 925,000, a books division and foodandwine.com, with updates on Twitter (@fandw) and Facebook.