PRESS RELEASE – 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville and The Hive restaurant are proud to announce that executive chef Matthew McClure has been nominated for the FOOD & WINE® The People’s Best New Chef® award. The award, an extension of the FOOD & WINE Best New Chefs award, spotlights innovators who have run their own kitchens for five years or fewer. The People’s Best New Chef winner will be determined via online voting on foodandwine.com/the-peoples-bnc beginning today and continuing through 5pm EDT on Wednesday, April 8.
The 100 nominees for The People’s Best New Chef include 10 chefs in 10 regions across the US. The chef with the most votes in each region will be named a finalist; the finalist with the most votes overall will be named The People’s Best New Chef. The People’s Best New Chef finalists and winner will be revealed on April 9 online at foodandwine.com; the winner will also be featured in the July 2015 issue of FOOD & WINE magazine.
McClure was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. After studying at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, he settled in Boston working at a number of restaurants including No. 9 Park under the direction of Barbara Lynch. After years in Boston, Matt was eager to get back to his home state to reconnect with the ingredients and foodways of his childhood. He returned to Little Rock where he worked under Lee Richardson at Ashley’s at the Capital Hotel. In 2012, he was selected to open The Hive located at 21c Museum Hotel. Matt’s cooking is reflective of both the history and geography of Arkansas as well as new immigrant communities and their influence on the culinary landscape. His longstanding and outspoken commitment to support local farmers and purveyors has cemented his position as a notable champion for Arkansas’s burgeoning culinary renaissance. Matt was a Semifinalist for the 2014 and 2015 James Beard Foundation Best Chef: South award. He is also an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.
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