Boiler Room's Tim Nicholson up for Best Midwest Chef
You'll see a plaque celebrating head chef Tim Nicholson when you walk into the Boiler Room on 11th and Jackon. He was a 2019 semifinalist for the James Beard Award. Now, for the first time, he's one of five finalists. "I had a message from one of my good friends and it said, dude, you're a finalist! I was like, no way," Nicholson said. His passion for culinary arts began when he took a food class in high school. It was something he and his friends did as a joke, but it led to a serious career. He worked as a fish fry chef while studying culinary arts at Metro Community College. Then, started at the boiler room as sous chef in 2009. There he met mentors like previous head chef, Paul Kulik. He says it's surreal knowing he's up for best chef in the Midwest.
"The caliber of chefs that your name is next to really kind of puts it into perspective that you know, maybe we are doing something pretty amazing here," Nicholson said. Nicholson and his family celebrated Wednesday night, with champagne and oysters. "This whole past three days has been kind of a whirlwind and a lot to take in and accept. But it's been amazing, so I really just thank everyone," Nicholson said. He'd like to say a special thank you to his wife, family, friends and Boiler Room owner, Vera Mercer. He'll find out if he wins on June 10th, which would make it the first time an Omaha chef has won. For now, he's savoring the moment. "I'm just excited for the future. We'll see what happens in June, but until then we're just going to enjoy it," Nicholson said.
