Adam Hegsted of Spokane’s Wandering Table is the only chef from this region in the running for a 2016 James Beard Award.

Semifinalists were announced Wednesday.

Hegsted is a semifinalist in the Best Chef Northwest category. He represents one of 20 chefs in the category.

Seattle and Portland have the most chefs in the category ­– Seattle with seven and Portland with six.

Other chefs come from Boise; Newberg and Bend in Oregon; Red Lodge, Montana; Jackson, Wyoming; and Denali National Park, Alaska. Those locations each have one semifinalist.

Hegsted owns Wandering Table and Yards Bruncheon in Spokane’s Kendall Yards as well as Gilded Unicorn, his latest restaurant, which opened in early December in downtown Spokane. His portfolio of properties also includes Eat Good in Liberty Lake, The Cellar at 317 Sherman in Coeur d’Alene and a catering company called Le Catering Co.

Semifinalists were selected from more than 20,000 online entries for the 21 categories. Finalists will be announced March 15. Winners will be named May 2.

Established in 1990, the prestigious James Beard Awards honor culinary professionals for excellence and achievement. The James Bard Foundation, which gives the awards, was founded in 1986 in honor of the cookbook author and teacher by the same name.

On the Web: www.jamesbeard.org.

For the official news release, click here.