Chicago restaurant, chefs among James Beard award winners

A couple of familiar faces on the Chicago dining scene were recognized at the 2012 James Beard Foundation awards ceremony in New York earlier this week.

Next, a unique restaurant concept by chef Grant Achatz (a former James Beard winner) and partner Nick Kokonus took the culinary group's Best New Restaurant honor. Mindy Segal, of Mindy's Hot Chocolate, won for Outstanding Pastry Chef and Bruce Sherman of North Pond won chef of the year for the Great Lakes region.

Some of the other award winners are:

<b>Outstanding chef: </b>Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in New York

<b>Outstanding restaurant: </b>Boulevard in San Francisco

<b>Outstanding restaurateur: </b>Tom Douglas of Tom Douglas Restaurants in Seattle

<b>Outstanding service: </b>La Grenouille in New York

<b>Outstanding wine and spirits professional: </b>Paul Grieco of Terroir in New York

<b>Outstanding wine program: </b>No. 9 Park in Boston

<b>Outstanding bar program: </b>PDT in New York

<b>Rising star chef of the year: </b>Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar in New York

<b>James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award: </b>Wolfgang Puck

<b>James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year: </b>Charlie Trotter

<b>James Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America Inductees: </b>Grant Achatz, chef and author, Chicago; Mark Bittman, journalist and author, New York; Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief at Food and Wine magazine, New York; Emily Luchetti, pastry chef and author, San Francisco; and Marvin Shanken, publisher, New York.

For a complete list of winners, go to jamesbeard.org.