Restaurant Josephine chefs and co-owners Courtney McDonald and Eric Alexander were named semifinalists for a James Beard Award.
AUBURN, Calif. — Two Auburn chefs are named semifinalists for a James Beard Award, the nation’s most prestigious honor in the food industry.
Eric Alexander and Courtney McDonald, a couple who own Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, are nominated in the “Best Chef: California” category. The James Beard Awards are considered the Oscars of the culinary world.
“We were pretty shocked, actually,” Alexander told ABC10. “We had to Google it, because we were like, ‘Oh, it’s real.’”
Alexander and McDonald first opened Restaurant Josephine in June 2021 in the Odd Fellows No. 7 Lodge on Lincoln Way. The brick building near the Old Auburn Historic District was built around 1894, according to the restaurant’s website.
The couple met while attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. They worked together for several years in different kitchens across the East Coast. Alexander and MacDonald ended up settling in the latter’s hometown of Auburn in 2003. Alexander is a native of upstate New York.
The restaurant’s name comes from two people: the couple’s daughter and Alexander‘s great grandmother, who immigrated from Lithuania in the early 1900s.
The restaurant’s logo features the signature of Alexander’s great grandmother from her Ellis Island, New York City immigration papers.
Restaurant Josephine serves a menu that offers a blend of French bistro dishes and Eastern European influences.
“We incorporate parts of Eric’s family heritage with Eastern European inflection on the menu with different ingredients and techniques,” McDonald said.
Alexander and McDonald are the only chefs in the Sacramento region to be named semifinalists. They’re going up against chefs from major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego.
“We’re in great company with all the restaurants that were nominated, and obviously, it’s great to represent the greater Sacramento area,” Alexander said. “Also, up here in Auburn, to represent the small-town restaurants outside of Sacramento as well.”
“I’m just we’re just that we’re super humbled and grateful and excited to be on this nomination list,” McDonald said.
The couple said running a restaurant is a team effort and credited their staff for their hard work.
“We have a great front-of-house staff and kitchen staff that really make everything happen,” Alexander said. “We’re super thankful and appreciative of our staff.”
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