For the past three years, Tandy Wilson has been impressing diners at his Germantown restaurant with a unique blend of soulful Southern fare and rustic Italian cuisine.

Think stone-fired pizzas topped with belly ham and mozzarella, both made in-house, and turnip greens. His regular customers know just how good it is. Now, he is being recognized far beyond Nashville.

The James Beard Foundation has announced the latest batch of James Beard semifinalists, with only one local chef, Wilson, making the list for best chef in the South.

“I can’t believe they would consider an old redneck from Tennessee,” says Wilson, a graduate of UT-Knoxville with a degree in hotel restaurant administration.

Born and raised in Nashville, this is the third consecutive year Wilson has been a semifinalist. He was nominated in 2010 along with Tyler Brown from Capitol Grille, and in 2009 was in the running alongside Margot McCormack of Margot and Marché. Wilson spent two years as sous chef for Margot before opening City House.

“I hated that some of those cats didn’t get mentioned,” he says of his solo status this year. “I think it is one of those things no one really knows how it works. We are just a bunch of chefs who keep going to work and try to make good food.”

But that’s not the only recognition he is getting right now. He is also in the running as Food & Wine magazine’s The People’s Best New Chef 2011: Southeast. The winner for that competition will be profiled in the July issue of the magazine. He is up against nine other chefs, including Atlanta’s Kevin Gillespie of Top Chef fame.

“It is extremely flattering that they would think about us or that Food & Wine magazine even knows we exist,” he says. “It is actually kind of exciting and a little competition makes it fun.”

And it makes him want to work even harder, not that his cooking is ever lacking.

“I think that is one of those things we have done since day one,” he said. “The food is in constant evolution, even if it is the same food product that we use. Like the Springer Mountain chicken that we serve. Roasting a half chicken is a simple thing, but it also requires perfect cooking. We still try to figure out how to make it better on a day-to-day basis.”

It’s that attention to detail that keep customers coming back for more, and even converting them to a product they may not have been too interested in before.

“I had eaten beets before, but I never had them in salad until I went to City House,” says Jane Andrews, the executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates and fan of the restaurant. “It was done so beautifully, it just really made a huge impression on me.”

And it is a mutual love between chef and diner.

“I think Nashville has been so kind to us and so amazing to us,” Wilson says. “To be honest, I had high expectations of Nashville being here with us and taking good care of us. I love this city with all my heart but if you haven’t been here come check us out. If you like what we do, we would love to feed you.”