Former Townsend Chef Named a Semifinalist for James Beard Award

Talk about good food coming from Michigan. Myles Anton, a former chef at Birmingham's Townsend Hotel and Rugby Grille, has been nominated for a 2013 James Beard Award.

Referred to as the "Oscars" of the food world by the Huffington Post, the James Beard Foundation annually recognizes chefs and restaurants across the country for excellence. Semifinalists were selected from more than 44,000 online entries in 20 categories.

Anton is currently the executive chef at Traverse City's Trattoria Stella but before that, he worked his way up to sous chef at the Townsend Hotel under head chef Louai Sharkas in the 1990's, according to Anton's profile on CrushMichigan.com.

From there, he opened D'Amato's in Ann Arbor in 1999 and in 2002, opened Bunker's Wharf in Maine. In 2004, he moved back to Michigan (Anton is originally from the Detroit area) and opened Trattoria Stella, which features a locally-based menu that changes daily.

Finalists for the 2013 James Beard Awards will be announced March 18, with the winners recognized at a special ceremony in New York City on May 6.

Categories for the award are broken down by roles in a restaurant — from outstanding bar service to outstanding restauranteur — to regional favorites. Anton is nominated in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category.

Other Michigan chiefs nominated for a 2013 James Beard Award are Luciano Del Signore, the chef at Southfield's Bacco Ristorante and Matthew Miller of Grand Rapids' Reserve.