Hugo Ortega, Anvil Among Recently Announced James Beard Award Semifinalists 

Last year, Underbelly (1100 Westheimer) chef Chris Shepherd was the big James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Southwest, breaking what CultureMap calls the “city’s 22 year drought” for the category. For 2015, Montrose has yet another shot at bringing home the prestigious culinary award after it was announced Wednesday, February 18, that chef Hugo Ortega of Hugo’s (1600 Westheimer) and Backstreet Cafe (1103 S. Shepherd) is yet again among the semifinalists for the fourth straight year. Also making Montrose proud is the nod to Anvil Bar & Refuge (1424 Westheimer) in the Outstanding Bar Program category and Hugo’s for Outstanding Wine Program.

Good luck to all the semifinalists from Houston including Oxheart’s Justin Yu and The Pass’ Terrence Gallivan and Seth Siegel-Gardner (a restaurant which is less than one block outside the boundaries of Montrose).