Chef Leviton ’88 Nominated for ‘Academy Award of Cooking’

Chef and business owner Michael Leviton ’88 of Lumiere Restaurant, in Newton, Mass., was nominated for James Beard Best Chef Northeast, which includes the New England states and New York region.

The awards will be presented on May 3, in New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall, with previous award winners Alton Brown, Lidia Bastianich and Wolfgang Puck hosting. Nominations for the Beard awards, considered the Academy Awards of cooking, is open to the public. Culinary professionals and food journalists then use secret ballots to determine the winners.

Leviton is not the product of any culinary school. Instead, he has trained in Paris, France as well as San Francisco, Calif. and has focused on making his French bistro fare organic, local and sustainable. In his 11 years at Lumiere, he has won awards from Food and Wine and Bon Appetit magazine.

“I don’t cook for awards,” Leviton told the Boston Globe. “I just try and make sure that people enjoy our food, because that is what will make them come back.”

More information is online in these articles:

Boston Herald – http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/food/view/20100323beard_foundation_announces_best_chef_northeast_nominees –
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2010/03/award_shines_light_on_chef_at.html

Boston Globe