Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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The Columbia’s Richard Gonzmart Earns Outstanding Restaurateur Beard Nomination [There’s MORE?]

Posted Feb 21, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Feb 21, 2012 at 05:16 PM

In what has to be one of the biggest culinary days in Tampa history, The Columbia Restaurant’s president Richard Gonzmart was nominated today in the Outstanding Restaurateur category for the prestigious James Beard awards.

Also nominated for Beard awards Tuesday were Chad Johnson, executive chef at SideBern’s, and Greg Baker, executive chef and co-owner of The Refinery in Tampa. Both were semifinalists in the Best Chef South regional category.

Gonzmart, a fourth-generation family operator of the 107-year-old Columbia, joins heavy hitters in the category, including Stephen Starr of Philadelphia, and New York City restaurateurs Eric and Bruce Bromberg.

“Some people get it right in a couple years,” Gonzmart joked. “It took us a little longer, I guess. We’ve been practicing a long time.”

Among Gonzmart’s many awards (you can read his extensive biography here), he was named Florida’s “Humanitarian of the Year Award” in 2005 by the National Restaurant Association. Earlier this month the Tampa Metro Civitan Club honored Gonzmart with its Citizen of the Year Award. Gonzmart recently won a bid to renovate Tampa’s historic Water Works Building for use as a restaurant along the Hillsborough River.

“What a tremendous honor,” Gonzmart said of the nomination. “It has been my lifelong commitment to bring back the glory we earned in the ‘40s. “

You can read the entire list of the James Beard award nominees in all the categories here.

Outstanding Restaurateur

Edward Aloise and Claudia Rippee, E&C Restaurant Management Corporation, Manchester, N.H. 

Nick Badovinus, Flavor Hook, Dallas

Ashok Bajaj, Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, Washington, D.C.

Tom Baron and Bill Fuller, Big Burrito restaurant Group, Pittsburgh

Roger Berkowitz, Legal Sea Foods, Boston

Frank Bonanno, Bonanno Concepts, Denver

Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg, Blue Ribbon Restaurants, NYC

Richard D’Amico and Larry D’Amico, D’Amico & Partners, Minneapolis

Jason Dady, Jason Dady Restaurants, San Antonio, Texas

Tom Douglas, Tom Douglas Restaurants, Seattle

Sam Fox, Fox Restaurant Concepts, Scottsdale, Ariz.
 
Richard Gonzmart, Columbia Restaurant, Tampa, Fla.

Mike Klank and Eddie Hernandez, Taqueria Del Sol, Atlanta

Donnie Madia, One Off Hospitality, Chicago

Nick Pihakis, Jim ‘n Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Birmingham, Ala.

Piero Selvaggio, Valentino Restaurant Group, Santa Monica, Calif.

Stephen Starr, Starr Restaurants, Philadelphia

Caroline Styne, Lucques/A.O.C./tavern, Los Angeles

Phil Suarez, Suarez Restaurant Group, NYC

Doug Washington, Mitchell Rosenthal, and Steven Rosenthal, Stock & Bones, San Francisco