Dothan chef named a semi-finalist for coveted culinary arts award

Richard Everett

12 March 2024 at 0:06 pm·1-min read

DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) — A “Top Chef” winner and restauranter from Dothan could win the 2024 James Beard Awards.

Kelsey Bernard Clark, owner and operator of Dothan’s destination eatery KBC, has been named a semi-finalist in the Best Chef South category for the 2024 James Beard Awards.

She is against heavyweights in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and even Puerto Rico.

Often referred to as the “Oscars of the food world,” the James Beard Award was established in 1990 and named after the iconic chef, cookbook author, and pioneering TV personality.

Finalists will be announced on April 3, and the winners in each category will be named during a June 10 gala in Chicago.

Clark began her journey in the epicurean world at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where she applied her dining skills at restaurants such as Cafe’ Boulud and Dovetail.

She returned home in 2012 and started a Dothan-based catering business. She later opened her restaurant, KBC.

Clark garnered national success in 2019 when she surpassed other contestants to win the “Top Chef” title on the Bravo series. She was hailed as a “hometown hero” on her return to Dothan.

The Wiregrass chef published her first cookbook, “Southern Grit,” in 2021, and it quickly sold out of local and regional bookstores.

Her second cookbook, “Southern Get Togethers,” is expected to hit shelves this September.

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