We’re gonna be honest here. We’ve been masquerading as The Beard Foundation all year. How else can we explain the recently released list of finalists that include Phoodie Person Of The Year Jose Garces as Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic, and Zahav’s Mike Solomonov a finalist for the Rising Star Award, who just happens to helm our Restaurant of the Year.

And even though the man pretended we didn’t exist when he appeared on Top Chef, we will give the Philly nod to Emperor Starr, who is a finalist for Restaurateur Of The Year, and our favorite critic Craig LaBan, who made his game of Guy Incognito into a career. The Beards like his shit, too. Philly has been wearing food pride for the past few years, and were ready for the rest of the world to know this is the place to be.

The Liberty Bell brought Ride The Ducks and a bunch of carriage drivers that lie to suburbanite families. We’re really hoping that Beer Week 2009 and a clutch of Beard Awards brings Foodie Tourism to Philly in a big way to balance out the fanny packs and MomJeans. So eat as much Zahav and Chifa as you can right now, because it might not be so easy to get a seat in a month or two. Congrats everyone. Without you, we wouldn’t be here.

Previously: Phoodie’s Guide To The Philly Noms For The 2009 James Beard Awards