The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA/LA) recently announced the list of finalists for the 2009 Restaurant Design Awards (RDAs). AIA/LA extended the reach of their contest for the first time since the RDAs inception in 2005, now accepting projects from any US-based firm for consideration. This year, the list of finalists includes restaurants, cafés and nightclubs from California, Texas, Colorado, Brazil and China (Where is New York!!?). The winners will be announced at the 5th Annual Restaurant Design Awards Ceremony at Mobius LA, hosted during the Dwell on Design conference on Friday, June 26.

Here are the finalists (seems a bit California-centric though, don’t ya think?)

RESTAURANT FINALISTS
AK Restaurant + Bar | architect: PADesign | designer: Dn/A (Venice, CA)
Bottega Louie | designer: view design studi0 (Los Angeles, CA)
Chaya Downtown | architect & designer: Poon Design Inc. (Los Angeles, CA)
Drago Centro | designer: Felderman Keatinge + Associates (Los Angeles, CA)
Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck | architect: McCall Design Group | designer: EDG Interior
Architecture + Design (Dallas, TX)
Gingko Bacchus Restaurant | designer: Graft (Chengdu, China)
Houston’s Restaurant | architect & designer: Frederick Fisher & Partners (Denver, CO)
KAA Restaurant Studio | architect & designer: Studio Arthur Casas NY (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
La Condesa | architect: Michael Hsu Design Office | designer: Joel Mozersky (Austin, TX)
Luau | architect: Kelly Architects | designer: Loree Rodkin (Beverly Hills, CA)
Rivera Restaurant | architect: Osvaldo Maiozzi | designer: Sotto Studios (Los Angeles, CA)

CAFÉ/BAR FINALISTS
Huckleberry | architect & designer: Montalba Architects, Inc. (Santa Monica, CA)
Kara’s Cupcakes | architect & designer: Montalba Architects, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
the Lab Gastropub | architect & designer: AC Martin AC Martin (Los Angeles, CA)

LOUNGE/NIGHTCLUB FINALISTS
The Conga Room | architect & designer: Belzberg Architects (Los Angeles, CA)
Yoshi’s San Francisco | architect & designer: Morimoto Matano Kang Architects (San Francisco, CA)

Well, you now know where to go for a beautiful meal when you’re in California next!

-bryan