Chefs and restaurants, farmers and food artisans, professionals in wine, beer and spirits, specialty food markets and legends in all things culinary in New Jersey have been named finalists for the 2018 Garden State Culinary Arts Awards (GSCAA).

The awards will be presented by The Garden State Culinary Arts Foundation in a ceremony and reception to be held April 29th at Bell Works in Holmdel.

The independent juried culinary awards program is the only one of its kind in New Jersey to honor achievement and excellence in a variety of culinary arts enterprises in the Garden State. During the past year, the nine-member GSCA Awards Committee and a statewide body of some 150 judges mined New Jersey for candidates for consideration for the awards.

After winnowing down the names in each category to 10 nominees, the committee and judges voted in a first round of independently tabulated balloting. The top three vote-getters in each category have been deemed finalists.

The only area finalist was Robbie Felice of Viaggio in Wayne as “Rising Star Chef”, a category for those under 30. To see the full list of finalists, you can visit the Facebook page (Visit Page) for the awards as they don’t have a website.