Chef Michael Solomonov Is James Beard Finalist (And Movie Star)

James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Solomonov has formed a partnership with the Israel Ministry of Tourism ‘to champion Israel’s extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape.’ Image by Courtesy of ‘In Search of Israeli Cuisine’
In yet another sign that an Israeli-food renaissance is taking place in the U.S., the James Beard Foundation yesterday named Israeli-born Zahav chef Michael Solomonov a finalist in the Outstanding Chef category, a top national honor of the prestigious annual culinary awards.
The winners will be named in a ceremony on May 1, at a gala hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson of ‘Modern Family’ at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Solomonov is already a Beard Award recipient: In 2011 he won Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
Meanwhile, the chef will be in New York next week, celebrating the New York City theatrical release of “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” the documentary by filmmaker Roger Sherman in which Solomonov acts as culinary guide throughout Israel, visiting restaurants, home cooks and food and wine producers.
The movie opens March 24 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Angelica Film Center.
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Books The White House Seder started in a Pennsylvania basement — its legacy lives on
-
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
-
Fast Forward Yarden Bibas says ‘I am here because of Trump’ and pleads with him to stop the Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.