Locals make good

The James Beard Awards organization has announced the chefs and restaurants that made the semifinals, with finalists to be announced March 23. If you want to pull for your favorites, here are the locals in contention for the prestigious awards:

* Best restaurateur: Frank Bonanno (Mizuna, Luca D'Italia and Osteria Marco, Denver)

* Outstanding Pastry Chef: Yasmin Lozada-Hissom (Duo, Denver)

* Best Chef, Southwest: Mark Fischer (Restaurant Six89, Carbondale); Ryan Hardy (Montagna at the Little Nell, Aspen); Kelly Liken (Kelly Liken, Vail); Alex Seidel (Fruition Restaurant, Denver)

Thursday is National Pistachio Day . . .

We miss the days when we'd have red all over our fingers from cracking pistachios, but we still love them. Turns out the nuts not only are good crackin', they're crackin' good for you.

A 1-ounce serving has more dietary fiber than a nectarine or a cup of prune juice.

Give a mouse a cookie

And give a co-worker a Cakester. The 100-calorie pack of Oreo Mini-Cakesters disappeared in one bite, the Golden Oreo Mini Cakester in two. That's the last we saw of them, alas - the Cakesters, that is. New to the grocery shelves, $3.19 per box of five 100- calorie packs (three minicakes each).

Hosea in top chef finale

Hosea Rosenberg, executive chef at Boulder's Jax Fish House, will bring it on for the final time at 8 p.m. (repeated at 9 p.m.) tonight on Bravo's Top Chef. After months of Wednesday night culinary drama, Rosenberg will compete against remaining contestants Stefan and Carla on the finale of Top Chef: New York.

You can meet Rosenberg and his fellow Boulder contestant Melissa Harrison (already eliminated) at The West End Tavern, 926 Pearl St., Boulder, at 7 tonight, before sitting down to watch the big event.

Up, up and away

Where else but Las Vegas? In a big, showy publicity stunt to celebrate the Vegas dining scene, 20 celebrity chefs and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman gathered 180 feet above The Strip for a champagne toast. Cat Cora, Paul Bartolotta, Hubert Keller, Michael Mina, Rick Moonen, Francois Payard, Alex Stratta and other name chefs were seated at the "Table in the Sky," where they toasted Bon Appetit's third annual Vegas Uncork'd event, set for May 7-10.

They like the mash

With St. Patrick's Day approaching, everyone will be thinking shamrocks and potatoes. Don't know much about the popularity of shamrocks. But potatoes? That's another story. Of 1,000 people surveyed in a new study, 21 percent of those who eat potatoes have them three times a week; 3 percent have them every day. Even if we eat a lot of french fries, mashed was the preferred way to eat them.

Source: The Idaho Potato Commission Survey conducted by Kelton Research of adults, 18 and older