Alki restaurant Il Nido up for national James Beard Foundation Award

(2019 WSB photo)

Il Nido, Chef Mike Easton‘s mega-popular restaurant at the historic-landmark Alki Homestead, is up for one of the food world’s most prestigious awards. The James Beard Foundation announced its 2020 Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists this morning and Il Nido is on the list of 30 nationwide up for Best New Restaurant – the only one from Seattle. Il Nido opened last May. See the full list of semifinalists here. The nominees are announced March 25th, and the awards will be presented May 4th in Chicago. West Seattle has had three Beard Foundation semifinalists in the past decade – Mark Fuller (of what was then Spring Hill and is now Ma’Ono) in 2010, photographer Christopher Boffoli in 2012, Bakery Nouveau founder William Leaman in 2013.

HS February 26, 2020 (11:56 am)

What an honor to be nominated! Congratulations!!

foodiesgalore February 26, 2020 (12:41 pm)

it’s pretty impressive that we have had THREE james beard foundation semifinalists on our tiny peninsula and now il nido, too! shows how much we love our food and how much we can access exceptional food without even having to cross a bride :)

cjboffoli February 26, 2020 (2:06 pm)

Hat tip for the shout out Tracy. Forgive my pedantry but I was actually a finalist, not just a semi-finalist. It was great fun attending the awards dinner in NYC that year along with a slew of other Seattle finalists, including Maureen O’Hagan, Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet. And let’s not forget another West Seattle James Beard award winner, Chef Scott Carsberg, who grew up in South Admiral and won not only a James Beard award (in 2006) for Best Chef Northwest but also maintained a Michelin star while working at Villa Mozart in Italy,

ImNotSparticus February 27, 2020 (8:23 am)

Now it would be awesome if it became possible to even get reservations.

Kelly February 27, 2020 (9:43 am)

The trick to getting reservations is to log on at midnight 30 days in advance when they open.It’s fantastic, btw ;)
- WSB February 27, 2020 (10:36 am)
  
  Actually it seems to have loosened up a bit. I was going to write this with the line “the restaurant is still booked up a month in advance” but then I checked the reservation calendar and there were some openings. Good luck!
JS February 27, 2020 (9:58 am)

I finally just got a reservation. I feel silly to have jumped through all the hoops, but I’m hoping my efforts will be vindicated. (The award nom is a good sign.) For those who don’t know, booking a table at Il Nido requires getting on the Resy site a month in advance and waiting until midnight, when the next date’s tables are released. (So tonight at midnight you will be able to grab a reservation for Saturday, March 28.) Just know that if you wait until 12:02 or whatever your chances will be greatly diminished, particularly at the more desirable times. I’ve noticed that last-minute tables do become available from time to time, particularly midweek, and that it can be easier to be successful if you’re reserving for, say, four people instead of two. So good luck!