First there's the great news, then there's the bad news.

The great news is that Cheryl Maffei and Jonathan Stevens, owners of Hungry Ghost Bakery in that little brick building with the giant wood-fired oven at 62 State St., are 2011 James Beard semi-finalist for pastry chefs. (www.hungryghostbread.com)

The semifinalists (which can be viewed at http://www.jamesbeard.org/files/2011_semifinalists.pdf) were selected from a whopping 28,000 on-line nominations.

According to the James Beard Foundation, a 550-judge panel will narrow each list down to five finalists in each category. (Sign me up for that job!)

Those final nominees will be announced at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland on March 21 and simultaneously live via the Foundation's Twitter page, @beardfoundation.

The final James Beard Award winners will then be announced at the James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception, taking place on Monday, May 9, 2011 in New York at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.

Hungry Ghost opened in April 2004 after a grass-roots style fund-raising effort by Stevens and Maffei who sold "bread futures" to raise money to start the business.

Hungry Ghost doesn't just make bread. It now features a wide selection of cookies, scones and other pastries.

On its Website, Hungry Ghost notes that it specializes in "old-world artisan breads made from organically grown grains, leavened with sourdough starters, shaped by hand in small batches in a wood-fired oven.''

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The bad news is that it appears that Circa restaurant at 57 Center St. is closed. Its Website has the word "CLOSED" emblazoned at the top of its page. The restaurant's phone voice mail says it cannot take any more messages and an e-mail to one of the owners did not get a response.

A potential diner wrote to the Daily Hampshire Gazette complaining that a reservation had been made for a Valentine's Day dinner at Circa to use up a $100 gift certificate. They arrived to find the restaurant shuttered with only a sign saying it was closed on the door.

Circa was purchased in 2007 by Jeremy D. Whitcomb from former owners Liz Ferro and Dane Boryto.

In a January 2011 newspaper article, Whitcomb's wife and co-owner Hope Handfield said their 40-seat restaurant was booked well in advance for two of three New Year's Eve seatings at $65 per person.

"We're doing great," she said. "In 2008 there were a few months that were a little slow, but not anything that was causing us to worry. We're lucky. In this area we're not feeling the recession as much as some cities are. The community is very loyal."

Circa, which pledged to have a "farm-to-table" philosophy, is a great loss to the community if it remains closed.