Beard Predictions: Best Chef New York City

Tonight, some of the country's best chefs and restaurant professionals will gather at Lincoln Center for the James Beard Awards, our for better or worse version of the Oscars. There will be red carpet walks, a press room full of champers, Padma in a gown somewhere, and a lot of anxious nominated chefs waiting to hear their names called. To lead up to the event tonight, we're running some preliminary polls for the categories in which New Yorkers figure heavily, asking readers who should win.

April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, The John Dory Oyster Bar, and The Breslin join veterans of this list, Prune's Gabrielle Hamilton, wd~50's Wylie Dufresne, Michael White of the Michael White Empire Inc., and the Susan Lucci of the restaurant world, Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, who has been nominated for this award for the 29th time.