Early this morning, the James Beard Foundation released its 2018 nominees for the country's most prestigious culinary honors, a group narrowed down from last month's list of semifinalists.

The upshot: It's a great day to be Edouardo Jordan. His restaurant JuneBaby is up for the national Best New Restaurant honor. The chef also pops up in the Best Chef: Northwest category, along with the ever-deserving Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi; they're up against three accomplished chefs from Portland. Jordan closed both his restaurants this week for some maintenance and down time. Which was a savvy move, since he should probably spend most of today drinking champagne.

The morning's other excitement: Canlis appears in the hypercompetitive Outstanding Restaurant category; the restaurant won its first-ever Beard last year in the Outstanding Wine Program category.

Here's the full list of nominees, and all of the Best Chef: Northwest contenders are listed below. The awards happen Monday, May 7 in Chicago.

Best Chef: Northwest

Edouardo Jordan, Salare

Katy Millard, Coquine, Portland

Bonnie Morales, Kachka, Portland

Justin Woodward, Castagna, Portland

Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, Joule

Oh! And congrats to Rachel Belle, whose podcast, Your Last Meal, is also nominated in the media category. Locally written tome Modernist Bread is (rightfully) up for best cookbook in the Restaurant and Professional category.