This Cobble Hill Bar Is A James Beard Award Semifinalist

COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN — One of the neighborhood's bars has landed on a list of semifinalists for the James Beard Award, one of the culinary world's most prestigious honors.

Leyenda, a Latin cocktail bar on Smith Street, is on the list of semifinalists for the "Outstanding Bar Program" category.

It isn't the first time the bar and restaurant, owned by the same people as Clover Club across the street, has made it onto a prestigious list. The spot also was featured as one of the World's 100 Best Bars and had its bartender named the Best American Bartender at "Tales of the Cocktail," according to its website.

Leyenda "celebrates the spirits and imbibing traditions of Latin America and beyond in creative and classic cocktails," according to its website, and also features modern takes on Latin dishes.

It was one of eight Brooklyn restaurants or chefs that made it on the semifinalists lists, with others in Red Hook, Williamsburg, Gowanus or Bay Ridge.

The final winners will be announced during a press conference in Houston on Wednesday, March 27. It will be hosted by James Beard Award–winning chef Hugo Ortega at his namesake Mexican restaurant, Hugo's.

The James Beard Foundation solicits entries for the awards in mid-October of each year. They are reviewed by the Restaurant and Chef Committee to determine eligibility and regional representation. More than 600 judges from across the country determine the final nominees, then select the winners. The judges include leading regional restaurant critics, food and wine editors, culinary educators and past James Beard Award winners.

Click here for the complete list of semifinalists.