Awards season for restaurants kicked off today with the release of the annual list of James Beard Foundation Awards semifinalists. In what seems par for the course, the Bay Area had a solid showing, with 28 nominations.

The most notable aspect of this year’s nominations list concerns the demographics of the Best Chef West category, which covers California, Hawaii and Nevada. Out of the nine Bay Area chefs nominated, six are women, compared to last year, when the Bay Area contingent was 10 strong but only three women were included.