Voting for the 2015 Eater Awards, our sixth annual celebration of all that's made the restaurant world run in the past 12 months, rolls on. We've already narrowed down finalists for Atlanta's Restaurant of the Year, and next up is Chef of the Year. The nominees:
Christopher Grossman
Grossman has been running the kitchen at Atlas, a finalist for Restaurant of the Year, since it opened in January. His interpretation of fine dining cuisine has received rave reviews from professional critics and diners alike, and it may signal the return of the traditional, upscale dining trend in Atlanta.
Joe Schafer
After Anne Quatrano's Abattoir closed in Westside Provisions District, Schafer stayed on location to launch the kitchen at Little Bacch, which earned a Restaurant of the Year nomination for its modern continental cuisine. Before he departed for Chicago, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution critic John Kessler said Schafer's food "says something about the art of dining I had not heard before."
Zeb Stevenson
Stevenson left Parish to take over the kitchen at Watershed on Peachtree in January, and he's brought the restaurant back to life. The critical consensus is Stevenson is taking the classic upscale Southern restaurant into a new era — but don't worry, he isn't tinkering with Edna Lewis' fried chicken recipe.
Jarrett Stieber
Stieber leads the somewhat "anti-establishment" branch of the Atlanta restaurant scene. His regular Eat Me Speak Me pop-up, found each weekend at Gato in Candler Park, continues to gain popularity, and his monthly Eat Me Yakitori dinners have been a hit over the last year.
Landon Thompson
Thanks to his work running the kitchen at Westside's Cooks & Soldiers, another Restaurant of the Year finalist, Thompson earned a semifinalist nod for the 2015 Rising Star James Beard Award. Thompson's Basque cuisine has quickly planted Cooks & Soldiers as the Castellucci Hospitality Group's best restaurant.
Polls are open for 24 hours, so cast your vote for this year's best chef below. Eater writers and editors will confer and choose a winner from the top three vote-getters.
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