Vote for Denver’s Chef of the Year

On Monday, November 16, Eater Denver will present the 2015 Eater Awards, our sixth annual celebration of all that's made the restaurant world run — and run wild — in the past year or so. Winners will be selected on both the local and national levels in five major categories, and the voting begins right now. Up now: Chef of the Year.

Here's a primer on the nominees. Lon Symensma made his mark on Denver beginning in 2010 when he opened ChoLon. The former executive chef at New York City's Buddakan, Symensma followed up with Cho77, and is planning a new venture in Stapleton. Steve Redzikowski, whose culinary pedigree includes Le Cirque, Cyrus, and the Little Nell, is the culinary force behind two highly lauded restaurants: Acorn and Oak at Fourteenth. His latest project, Brider, will open in early December. Troy Guard, who once cooked with fusion legend Roy Yamaguchi in Hawaii, now runs nine restaurants in Denver, including his flagship TAG and the popular Guard & Grace. Guard plans to open six more restaurant before the end of 2016. Hosea Rosenberg, who celebrates one year of his restaurant Blackbelly Market next week, once won Bravo's Top Chef competition. Now, he farms, continues to run one of booming catering operation, and is ramping up to open a very serious butcher shop. Lastly, Bradford Heap, known for Colterra in Niwot and Salt in Boulder, recently added Wild Standard to his growing restaurant group. Heap is an avid advocate for non-GMO and has banned all GMO products from his restaurants.

Grid View

Here's how the voting works: The Eater editorial staff has named nominees in Denver for each of five major categories. Eater readers will vote on one category per day through Friday, November 6, narrowing the nominees to three finalists in each category. From those three finalists, the Eater editorial team will select a winner. Ready to play your part? This poll will be open for 24 hours; voting irregularities will be strictly policed.

The poll for Restaurant of the Year is now closed. Here are the voting results.