Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem and chef Evan Hennessy, of Dover, have been named finalists in the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Award Finalists.
It is Super Secret’s third year as a semifinalist, but the first time it’s been named a finalist. Hennessy, co-owner of Stages, was a 2014 semifinalist.
The winners will be named in June.
Super Secret, at 2213 Main St., in Bethlehem, is owned by Kristina Zontini, is one of five businesses nationwide to be named a finalist in the Outstanding Bakery category. The other finalists are Cultured, of Sister Bay, Wisconsin.; Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, of Anchorage, Alaska; Weltons Tiny Bakeshop, of Charleston, South Carolina; and Wild Crumb, of Bozeman, Montana.
The category recognizes “bakers of bread, pastries, or desserts that demonstrate consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality, and operations.”
Super Secret Ice Cream makes its own ice cream using local ingredients from area farms and producers. In 2024, Zontini was named a James Beard semifinalist in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category, which includes makers of any type of dessert covered in the Outstanding Bakery category. Last year as well as this year, the shop was an Outstanding Bakery semifinalist.
Hennessy is a finalist in Best Chef-Northeast category [the Best Chef category is split into 12 regional subcategories.] Other finalists in his category are David DiStasi, Materia Ristorante, Bantam, Connecticut; Thomas Takashi Cooke, Izakaya Minato, Portland, Maine; Paul Trombly, Fancy’s, Burlington, Vermont; and Derek Wagner, Nicks on Broadway, Providence, Rhode Island.