Lantern's chef Andrea Reusing wins Best Chef of the Southeast

Chef Andrea Reusing of Chapel Hill's Lantern Restaurant was named the Best Chef of the Southeast Monday night at the James Beard Foundation's annual awards gala.

Reusing, 42, is only the third chef in North Carolina to win a James Beard award. From the stage Monday, she thanked her husband, Mac McCaughan, a singer and guitarist in the rock band Superchunk and co-founder of Merge Records, based in Durham Chapel Hill. And she joked about her decision to wear high heeled shoes: "You can tell I'm surprised to win by my shoe choice - not the most practical for climbing [to the] stage."

Reusing appeared on the Triangle's culinary scene in 1999 when she became the chef at the now closed Enoteca Vin in Raleigh. She was known for her seasonal cuisine and use of ingredients from local farmers. In 2002, she and her brother Brendan Reusing opened Lantern, which focused on using local ingredients to produce Asian-influenced dishes. In 2006, the new defunct Gourmet magazine named Lantern as one of the top 50 restaurants in the country. In 2009, Greg Cox, restaurant critic for The News & Observer, named Lantern as the Triangle's restaurant of the year.

Reusing also just published her first cookbook: "Cooking in the Moment." 

The state's two other James Beard award winners are the husband-wife chef owners of Magnolia Grill in Durham: Ben and Karen Barker.

James Beard was a cookbook author, cooking instructor and food writer known for his championing of America's regional cuisine. After his death in 1985, friends founded the foundation in his name to honor chefs, restaurants, wine professionals, cookbook authors and food journalists. The annual awards are often described as the Oscars of the food world.