#jbfa #Chicago pic.twitter.com/Ywrx6Oo73a

— Frank Stitt (@FrankStitt) May 4, 2015

CHICAGO — Birmingham’s Highlands Bar & Grill on Monday came up just short in the “Outstanding Restaurant” category at the James Beard Foundation Awards, commonly referred to as “The Oscars of Food.”

2015 marks the seventh consecutive year that Highlands was a finalist for the prestigious award, which was won by Blue Hill at Stone Barns of Pocantico Hills, NY.

“Covering all aspects of the industry — from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more — the Beard Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America,” the James Beard Foundation explains on their website.

Birmingham’s culinary scene has had an incredible three-decade run that started with the opening of Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar & Grill in 1982.

The New York Times perfectly summed up the Highlands’ “Southern cuisine married to French technique” in a profile that appeared in the Times’ Sunday edition in October of 2013:

The Highlands is one of a very few American restaurants that has managed to age with no discernible loss of quality in service, food or atmosphere. If you are from Birmingham and under 50, the Highlands has been the city’s best restaurant for your entire adult life.

Prognosticators had predicted 2015 could be the year the Highlands crew brought home the hardware, as the awards were held in Chicago, rather than New York, where the other four finalists were from.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be — at least not quite yet.

.@FrankStitt is an Alabama treasure. Congrats on another year of incredible food and thanks for making our state proud. #jbfa

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) May 5, 2015