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From the red carpet: Philadelphia's James Beard contenders

Most of the contenders for the 2016 James Beard Awards took to the red carpet outside the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, where they were happy to stop and chat.

It was the night when chefs traded their whites for black tuxes - looking more like front-of-the-house staff than kitchen workers.

Most of the contenders for the 2016 James Beard Awards took to the red carpet outside the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, where they were happy to stop and chat.

In sum, though there were no wins among the Philadelphia contingent, you would hardly know it. The finalists got a night or two out of town for a getaway, and expressed joy at simply being named to the finalists. (When you think of the sheer number of restaurants, being on a short list of five or six competitors must be truly an honor.)

Finalist Rich Landau of Vedge and V Street, in town with his wife and business partner, Kate Jacoby, said they used their day and a half in Chicago to go for a swim in the hotel pool and to walk around town, eating at new restaurants.

Stephen Starr, up for best restaurateur, brought his entire team from the New York and Philadelphia offices - nearly a dozen people - as well as his daughter Sarah.

Greg Vernick had his own entire crew: wife and partner Julie, his parents, their kids, and Julie's parents.

Best-chef finalist Michael Solomonov, who won the 2016 Beard cookbook award last week with business partner Steve Cook, was in Chicago with his wife, Mary.

The team from Fork and High Street on Market - including Eli Kulp (up for best chef, Mid-Atlantic) and Alex Bois (up for rising star chef) - skipped the red carpet. I caught up with Kulp, his wife, Marisa, Bois, and partner Ellen Yin after the ceremony. Pure joy at being in Chicago. And Bois, who is not yet 30, is optimistic that he could be nominated yet again for rising star chef - though he jokingly quibbled with his being in that category.

"Maybe it's rising as in dough," said Bois, the bread specialist at High Street on Market and High Street on Hudson.

Here are videos from the red carpet, which were featured on Facebook in real time. On a mobile, click the Facebook link, which will open the video player in a new tab.)

Stephen Starr

Greg Vernick

Jose Garces

Rich Landau