Chef Clive Barnes of Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant in San Leandro, California, was recently nominated as a Nightline People’s Platelist Finalist. San Leandro is the city south of Oakland, and across the Bay from San Francisco.

The ABC network mainstay, Nightline, gets the public to nominate their favorite chefs from across the country, and then the public chooses again once the finalists are announced. Over 1,000 people wrote in to nominate a local chef and 20 finalists were announced on Aug. 2.

Originally from Jamaica, Chef Clive, as a graduate of both his grandmother’s kitchen and the New York Food and Hotel Management School, has had a 20 year cooking career. He started Sweet Fingers restaurant first in Sacramento, and then moved it to San Leandro. Specialties include jerk chicken, oxtails, and curry goat. My personal favorites are the brown stew chicken, the veggie patties, and the home-brewed ginger beer. It’s got a kick like nothing else!

In this video, Chef Clive makes his case by expressing the importance of healthy, natural foods, and his love of cooking. We see him put together some brown stew fish:

Clive Barnes Platelist Finalist

To cast your vote in the ABC Nightline Platelist Contest, click here. Voting ends on Sept. 26, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. ET and is limited to one vote per individual IP address. The finalist receiving the most votes online will be declared the winner of the contest, which will be announced live on the broadcast during the week of Sept. 27, 2010. The winning chef will be the topic of a full Platelist segment, taped and produced by Nightline that will run on the national broadcast on ABC.

For more information about Sweet Fingers restaurant, visit www.sweetfingersrestaurant.com