Chef Jose Andres nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Chef Jose Andres, who has three Las Vegas restaurants and developed the food and beverage menu for the esports arena at Luxor, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, The Washington Post reported Monday. The Post said the Norwegian Nobel Committee discourages nominations being made public, but that it was confirmed by Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), who made the nomination.

Andres declined comment Tuesday. With his ThinkFoodGroup and World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit he founded after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Andres also has supported relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Florida, North Carolina, Guatemala and, most recently, in California following the devastating wildfires. At the 2014 Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas, he created a pop-up restaurant that ran on clean-cooking solutions, including solar, for use in developing countries.

The Nobel committee doesn’t release the names of nominees, which can be suggested only by the committee itself or the current members of a national assembly, the Post said. The awards will be announced in October.

Andres’ local restaurants are Jaleo and China Poblano at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Bazaar Meat at SLS Las Vegas.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.