Laurent and Patricia Zirotti are the owners of Fleur de Sel restaurant in the bistro section of the Highlands Day Spa in Post Falls. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

Laurent Zirotti, chef and owner of Fleur de Sel in Post Falls, is the only chef from this region in the running for a 2017 James Beard Award.

Semifinalists were announced Wednesday. Zirotti is a semifinalist in the Best Chef Northwest category. He represents one of 20 chefs in the category. Seattle and Portland have the most chefs in the category – Seattle with seven and Portland with six. Other chefs come from Boise; Red Lodge, Montana; Jackson, Wyoming; and Denali National Park, Alaska. Those locations each have one semifinalist.

Zirotti – along with wife Patricia – own Fleur de Sel, a French bistro set along a golf course, as well as Fleur de Sel Artisan Creperie on the Lower South Hill/Adriana Janovich, SR. More here.