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Winner, winner, birria dinner: Tucson-area Chef listed as James Beard Award semifinalist

Chef and Owner of Amelia's Mexican Kitchen is the lone Tucson Chef on the 20-person list
Amelia's Mexican Kitchen
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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Jose Contreras has always dreamed of having his own restaurant, but he says he never imagined something like this.

Contreras woke up Jan. 22 to a call telling him he was on the semifinalist list for the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southwest.
"I was crying," he said, recounting the moment he heard of his nomination.

"I told Veronica my wife 'how come?' and 'unbelievable.' My feelings [are] honored, humbled. I looked at James Beard, and it was true. My name was there."

He owns Amelia's Mexican Kitchen, a barely three-year-old restaurant with two locations in Pima County.

Though he's been in the restaurant industry for nearly two decades, learning to cook from scratch from some of the best chefs in Mexico, Contreras says the chef who made the greatest impact was his grandmother, Amelia.

His goal with his restaurants is to share his grandmother's cooking with Tucson. He said he's gotten "close but not the same."

Still, customers keep coming for the pan-Mexican flavors.

"A lot of people come from outside of Tucson," Contreras said. "We have people from Canada, Washington, Colorado, New York, Chicago, China... It's incredible."

Melese Michael and his wife Jess drove nearly two hours from Scottsdale to eat at Amelia's Mexican Kitchen.

"The first time we came to Amelia's was in February of last year," Michael said. "I was blown away by the atmosphere at first and the smell."

They got the same order as last time, adding Chicken soup and getting extra dishes to take home.

When they heard about the award, Michael said he "wasn't surprised."

The James Beard Award Nominees will be announced April 2 and the winners will be announced June 16 in Chicago, but Contreras says he's honored to even make the list.

"We're going to be in the books for life on James Beard, just with the semifinals," he said. "I'm glad that I'm there. It's going to be amazing for Tucson if we get it."