The Triangle did about as well as you can at last year's James Beard Awards, when Durham chef Ricky Moore won best chef of the Southeast for his Saltbox Seafood Joint.

• This year, it will have two more chances to bring home honors from the Oscars of the American food scene.

Driving the news: Semifinalists for the 2023 James Beard Awards were announced yesterday.

• Preeti Waas, chef of North Raleigh's Cheeni Indian Food Emporium, is nominated for best chef: Southeast.
• And Durham cocktail bar Kingfisher is up for outstanding bar.

Why it matters: At a tough time for the entire restaurant industry, the nominations show that the Triangle's food scene garners national respect for what it produces.

Flashback: The Triangle has a good track history at the James Beard Awards.

• Prior to Moore's win in 2022, Raleigh's Ashley Christensen won best chef: Southeast in 2014, Chapel Hill's Andrea Reusing in 2011 and Ben Barker in 2000 for his work at the now-closed Durham restaurant Magnolia Grill.
• In 2019, Christensen also won the overall outstanding chef.

Zoom out: 11 restaurants were nominated across North Carolina for awards, including Greg Collier of Charlotte's Leah & Louise for Outstanding Chef.

What's next: Finalists will be announced March 29. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony in Chicago on June 5.

Read more about North Carolina's nominees

A longtime vegan eatery and a new food concept are coming to Gateway Plaza, a recently renovated shopping center near downtown Raleigh.

Driving the news: Fiction Kitchen, one of the area's premier vegan restaurants, said yesterday it will move from its location in downtown Raleigh to Gateway Plaza later this year.

It will be joined by a collaboration between three of the Triangle's most creative restaurants: Raleigh's Centro and Locals Seafood and Durham's Ex-Voto.

• Called Mala Pata, the restaurant will center around the use of fresh masa — a dough made from corn — in Latin American dishes.
• Mala Pata will be accompanied by a sidebar and market called Peyote, which will serve late-night to-go drinks and some food in a shared alleyway.

Flashback: Loden Properties, one of the most active developers in the city, began redeveloping the aging Gateway Plaza in 2018. The shopping center is located just off Capital Boulevard at 2409 Crabtree Blvd.

• Since then, the shopping center has landed several restaurants and a Raleigh Founded coworking space.

What we're watching: Construction begins on both restaurants this month. Look out for openings in the summer.

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👁️ CLEAR, a company that uses fingerprints and eye ball scans to verify identities, is now operated at RDU. Travelers that create a profile with the company can bypass TSA's ID check. (News & Observer 🔒)

• 💭 Zach's thought bubble: I can never look at these machines without thinking of the movie "Minority Report."

🍽️ Heights House Hotel, a boutique hotel in Raleigh's Boylan Heights neighborhood, has launched a Supper Club that will provide four-course meals on a monthly basis. (Triangle Business Journal🔒)

🚌 WUNC has a helpful breakdown of how Durham Public Schools' boundary realignments will affect elementary school students in the city. (WUNC)

💻 IBM has cut 3,900 jobs, joining other large tech firms in downsizing. The layoffs amount to 1.5% of its total workforce, which includes a large presence in Research Triangle Park. (Reuters)

Editor's note: This newsletter has been corrected to reflect that CLEAR — which now operates at RDU — allows users to bypass TSA's ID check, not the entire security process.

North Carolina became ground zero in a new chapter of the abortion rights fight yesterday.

Driving the news: A UNC Health doctor sued North Carolina over a law that restricts the use of abortion pills, arguing that its limitations run counter to federal law.

• The lawsuit asks for the courts to block North Carolina's laws around the drug, mifepristone.
• A similar lawsuit was filed in West Virginia yesterday.

Why it matters: North Carolina's case is one of the first challenges to abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision last year.

• The case is expected to be watched closely by abortion opponents and advocates alike, as North Carolina has the least restrictive abortion laws in the Southeast.

State of play: UNC OB-GYN Amy Bryant's lawsuit argues that the state should follow Food and Drug Administration guidelines that the drug can be prescribed in person or through telehealth and dispensed by a health care provider or at retail pharmacies so that patients can take the medication where they wish.

• North Carolina currently requires patients to obtain the drug from a doctor at a certified surgical facility following a 72-hour wait.

State Attorney General Josh Stein, who is named as a defendant, told news outlets through a spokesperson he is reviewing the lawsuit.

• Stein, who supports abortion rights, previously recused himself from defending the state's blocked 20-week abortion ban after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• Republican lawmakers have repeatedly criticized Stein, saying his job is to defend the state's laws.

Go deeper: Pair of lawsuits kick off state-federal battle over abortion pills (Politico)

🔥 Hot and fresh local job listings.

1. Senior Director of Media Relations at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2. Senior Grant Systems Manager at American Cancer Society.
3. Senior Sales Representative, East Region at Ingredion.

Greenville native Tommy Paul became the first American to reach an Australian Open semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2009.

• He'll take on tennis great Novak Djokovic at 3:30am Eastern for a chance to make the finals.

Go deeper with the New York Times: Tommy Paul and American tennis are having a moment

Pedestrian traffic in downtown Raleigh leveled off in the last quarter of the year.

Why it matters: Pedestrian counts have been eyed closely since the start of the pandemic, as remote work caused an exodus of daily workers from many of downtown's largest offices. Every downtown district, besides Glenwood South, is still below pre-pandemic levels of traffic.

Driving the news: A daily average of 10,372 people were counted on downtown streets, about the same as that period in 2021, according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

• DRA uses six counters across downtown to track pedestrian traffic.
• Food and beverage sales, however, were back to 2019 levels, DRA reported.

Read the report