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Indiana loses a 2024 James Beard award winner. Why the chef says he was fired

By Hudson Brooklyn
Indiana loses a 2024 James Beard award winner. Why the chef says he was fired

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Indiana loses one of its youngest James Beard-approved chefs.

Sal Fernandez, who ran the culinary operations at Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar in Greencastle, was fired last week, he told IndyStar.

He said the restaurant owner objected to his social media and his involvement in a provocative body art venture.

“Basically, I got fired because of my social media,” he told IndyStar. “It’s a shock because I never imagined that social media would be the reason an artist would get fired.”

Fernandez was a semifinalist at the 2024 James Beard Foundation Awards, considered the Oscars of the culinary world.

He and Thomas Melvin of Vida in Indianapolis were the only two nominees from Indiana in the Best Chef category in the Great Lakes Region category.

Fernandez also collaborates with the Black Tape Project, which was curated by a Miami-based photographer and features nude models wearing pieces of duct tape attached to look like skimpy swimwear. The Black Tape Project includes traveling shows and has around 900,000 followers on Instagram.

Why did the James Beard certified chef say he was fired?

Last spring, he began posting street interviews with women on Instagram in which they discussed aspects of dating. Fernandez said he started recording street conversations to build confidence, get to know people and work on his on-camera presence after losing about 100 pounds.

However, the owner expressed concern about his social media presence about a month ago, he said.

“She mentioned a little bit that she didn’t like me doing interviews and stuff like that on Instagram, but never to the point where I would be fired if I continued to work with the Black Tape Project or do anything else. ”

IndyStar has reached out to owner Joyce Green for comment.

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This Indiana restaurant hosted two James Beard dinners

Fernandez, who cooks for Black Tape Project events, is currently in Europe working on a show and is expected to leave Indiana permanently in mid-October, he said.

He said he was unsure about his next move.

“Part of me wants to go to Florida and chase a Michelin star,” he said.

Fernandez’s mission was to raise Indiana’s culinary profile. Under his leadership, Bridges is the only restaurant in the state to host two dinners benefiting the James Beard Foundation.

Fernandez, who grew up in California and is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, had come to Greencastle to run the kitchen at Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar, which was opened in 2017 by philanthropist couple Judson and Joyce Green.

Fernandez also led the development of the bakery and bistro concept BreadWorks by Bridges, conceived by longtime Disney executive Judson Green, who died a month before its opening in 2020. BreadWorks opened a second location in Midtown in 2022 and uses its commercial kitchen to produce bread for universities and other restaurants, as well as products for grocery retailers.

Fernandez collaborated with pioneering Indy chef Greg Hardesty for a James Beard dinner event at Bridges in 2018.

In 2023, Bridges hosted one of the approximately 30 Friends of James Beard fundraisers held that year. A few months later, he was announced as one of 20 semifinalist chefs in the region.

Since 2008, only 13 chefs have made the list while working in Indiana.

“Getting the nomination and then having it come twice were highlights of my career,” Fernandez said. “A foundation of this caliber comes to such a small town where food was not a factor; I think that’s great. This will probably never happen again.”

Top Restaurants in Indiana: No Hoosier chefs made it to the James Beard finals this year, but the state has several recognized spots

James Beard Recognized Chefs in Indiana

Indiana has had several chefs in the running for Best Chefs for the Great Lakes Region in the past:

  • Sal Fernandez from Bridges Wine Bar, Greencastle (2024)
  • Thomas Melvin from Vida, Indianapolis (2022, 2024)
  • Abbi Merriss, formerly Bluebeard, Indianapolis (2016–2020, 2023)
  • Samir Mohammad, from 9th Street Bistro, Noblesville (2023)
  • Steven Oakley, from Oakleys Bistro, Indianapolis (2008, 2011, 2018, 2019)
  • Jonathan Brooks, from Milktooth, Indianapolis (2016, 2017)
  • Sean Richardson of The Golden, Fort Wayne (2017)
  • Aaron Butts of The Golden, Fort Wayne (2017); and Joseph Decuis, Roanoke (2011)
  • Micah Frank, from Black Market (2015)
  • Daniel Orr, from FARMbloomington, Bloomington (2015)
  • David Tallent (Executive Chef at Indiana University), formerly of Restaurant Tallent, Bloomington (2008-2015)
  • Regina Mehlallick, of R Bistro, (2010–2014)
  • Neal Brown, from The Libertine Liquor Bar, (2013, 2014)

Alan Sternberg was a semifinalist for the Rising Star Chef of the Year award in 2016 and 2018. Meanwhile, Beholder was a semi-finalist for Outstanding Wine Program in 2020 and Love Handle was a semi-finalist for Outstanding Hospitality in the same year; and Bluebeard was a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2013. Sternberg is now executive chef at Bluebeard.

Mike, Nick and Simon Floyd of Three Floyds Brewing, Munster, were semi-finalists in the Outstanding Wine, Spirits or Beer Professional category from 2013 to 2015.

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at [email protected] or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com: @cherylvjackson.

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