2008 James Beard Awards Winners

The winners of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards announced Sunday night, June 8th, include:

Restaurants and Chefs, National

Outstanding Restaurateur: Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, New York

Outstanding Chef: Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago

Outstanding Restaurant: Gramercy Tavern, New York (Danny Meyer)

Outstanding New Restaurant: Central Michel Richard, Washington (Michel Richard)

Rising Star Chef: Gavin Kaysen, Cafe Boulud, New York

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine Bakery, San Francisco

Outstanding Wine Service: Eleven Madison Park, New York

Oustanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Terry Theise, Terry Theise Estate Selections, Silver Spring, Md.

Outstanding Service: Terra, St. Helena, Calif.

Chefs - Regional

Best Chef: Great Lakes - Carrie Nahabedian, Naha, Chicago

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic - Eric Ziebold, CityZen, Washington, DC

Best Chef: Midwest - Adam Siegel, Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro, Milwaukee

Best Chef: New York - David Chang, Momofuku Ssam Bar, New York

Best Chef: Northeast - Patrick Connolly, Radius, Boston

Best Chef: Northwest - Holly Smith, Cafe Juanita, Kirkland, Wash.

Best Chef: Southwest - Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, Colo.

Best Chef: South - Michelle Bernstein, Michy’s, Miami

Best Chef: Southeast - Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston, S.C.

Best Chef: Pacific - Craig Stoll, Delfina, San Francisco

Books

Cookbook of the Year - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “The River Cottage Meat Book”

Cookbook Hall of Fame - Paula Wolfert, “Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco”

Asian Cooking - Niloufer Ichaporia King, “My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking”

Baking and Dessert - Peter Reinhart, “Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor”

Cooking from a Professional Point of View - The French Culinary Institute with Judith Choate, “The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine”

Entertaining - Trish Magwood, “Dish Entertains”

Americana - Jean Anderson, “A Love Affair with Southern Cooking”

General - James Peterson, “Cooking”

Healthy Focus - Jean Harvey-Berino with Joyce Hendley and the editors of EatingWell magazine, “The EatingWell Diet”

International - Anne Willan, “The Country Cooking of France”

Reference - Rowan Jacobsen, “A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America”

Single Subject - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “The River Cottage Meat Book”

Wine and Spirits - David Wondrich, “Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar”

Writing on Food - Barbara Kingsolver, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”

Photography - Photographer: France Ruffenach, “The Country Cooking of France” by Anne Willan

Also ….

Television Food Segment, National or Local: The Victory Garden, PBS

Television Food Special: Top Chef Holiday Special, Bravo

Television Food Show, National or Local: Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, American Public Television

Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant, or Nutrition: Epicurious.com, Tanya Steel

Multimedia Writing on Food: Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer, nymag.com, “Grub Street”

Vegas Restaurants: Celeb Chef Mecca Raking in the Bucks (But Not Beards)

S. Irene Virbila, Restaurant Critic for the LA Times, just did a really nice piece where she reviewed the state of restaurants in Vegas (patrons paying lots of money everywhere) and reviews the new star restaurants, particularly those at “thee” new casino in town, that are causing a lot of fuss.

Beginning with “At $160 for two, it’s easily the most expensive steak I’ve ever eaten, if not the most expensive piece of aged meat in the country.” to how “in a private dining room floating above a state-of-the-art kitchen, six businessmen spend a minimum of $350 each to work their way through the tasting menu at Restaurant Charlie” the article goes on to say:

Though everybody may be pinching pennies at home, Las Vegas seems untouched by the prevailing winds of economic downturn, operating by its own rules and logic. The economy may be contracting elsewhere, but here the casinos are still building. And building [….]

[Where people can] indulge in an opulent multi-course meal from a French chef with three Michelin stars — actually, there are three three-star chefs here — what could possibly be next? Less flash, less gimmickry — and less invention. This time around, menus are more traditional, the design sometimes so conservative you can’t believe you’re in Vegas. They’re luring in crowds with no more than good food, high comfort and great service. And for that, they’re charging enough to give even high rollers indigestion.

The review goes on to highlight the new restaurants at the Palazzo: Mario Batali’s and Joe Bastianich’s Carnevino, Wolfgang Puck’s Cut — whose opening night grabbed even our attention — Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant Charlie, Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 and — not in a casino and so far off the beaten path as to be difficult to find — maverick chef Louis Osteen’s eaterie called Louis’s Las Vegas.

While they’re having busy restaurants full of foodies tossing the money their way, they’re not — Robin Leach chastises — getting the respect they deserve from this year’s James Beard Awards. Or at least not as much as Leach thinks they should be getting specifically for their Vegas-centered restaurants:

It’s hard to believe but totally true that in the newest list of nominees in 52 different categories for the James Beard Foundation Awards not one Vegas celebrity chef or resort restaurant gets a tip of the toque for food!

Cooling down briefly he says: “In interests of fairness I will point out that some East Coast and West Coast ‘name’ chefs who have restaurants here were recognized for their ‘outstanding talents’ ranging from best cookbook, to best TV show to best new restaurant—but none of their Vegas based operations won any praise whatsoever.”

But then, making some good points, he says back:

So where were our superstars: Michael Mina, Paul Bartolotta, Bradley Ogden, Martin Heirling, David Robins, Julian Serrano, Barry Dakake, Andre Rochat, Alex Stratta, Michael Jordan, Kerry Simon, Steve Martorano — let alone the big VIP names of Joel Robuchon, Guy Savoy, Daniel Boulud, Charlie Palmer, Charlie Trotter, Emeril Lagasse, Thomas Keller, Nobu Matsuhisa, David Burke? I apologize if I’ve omitted any of my chef friends but the smoke is steaming out of my ears and I’m thumping my keyboard way too hard!

Robin’s heated tirade ends with “We are ahead in every respect of so many eateries in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. It’s totally unfair and a case purely of effete New York City foodie snobbism” — and a call for a boycott of the Beards ceremony.

Remind me never to get Mr. Leach annoyed. And I mean that!

Chefs and Foodies Slim Down, Run Races, While Cooking and Eating Well

Item: One particular T-shirt I own says: “Never trust a skinny chef.” I’d be wearing it now as I write this, but it’s in the hamper … with some dried barbecue sauce on it.

Item: Two weeks ago Tom Colicchio was so upset he nearly barked at Aussie contestant Mark on a Top Chef episode for having the temerity to cut down the fat on the duck entree Tom was eating.

Item: Dan Barber cooks Braised Pork Belly for FCI founder Dorothy Hamilton on Chef’s Story and they’re both in heaven.

Come on! Pork belly, fat back, duck, foie gras …. Serioiusly, I am fully expecting some time in the very near future, some where, some celebrity chef is going to stick five pounds of seared whale blubber atop toasted brioche, slap a $200 price tag on it, and foodies will be so clamoring for the sandwich that the whole thing will land smack on the cover of Time magazine as the “new black” du jour. (Sigh)

Don’t you know, you tastebud hedonists, you’re killing yourselves? Trust me, I’ve got a 20-pound spare tire on me that really needs to go, and a sweet tooth with roots so deep I feel them every time I comb my hair …. but, geez, even I know that much of the stuff you chef guys make and eat is actually going to kill you a lot faster than even the Average Joe and Jane at home who might be over indulging themselves on fast food and processed foods. And that’s saying something!

So where is all this going then? Why … to the “Fat Pack”. And to the wonderful article a couple weeks ago by Kim Serverson in the NY Times.

If 1960s Las Vegas had its Rat Pack and 1980s cinema its Brat Pack, early 21st century food has its Fat Pack. [….] The journalists, bloggers, chefs and others who make up the Fat Pack combine an epicure’s appreciation for skillful cooking with a glutton’s bottomless-pit approach. Cramming more than three meals into a day, once the last resort of a food critic on deadline, has become a way of life. If the meals center on meat, so much the better.

While forswearing any kind of normal diet, as that would get in the road of the food they all love so much, they

find themselves trying to forge a new kind of diet, one that rejects the conventional strategy of denial and avoidance and embraces the pleasure of really, really good food. In other words, Fat Pack Lite.

Here comes the two big “wows” … First, even Mario Batali thinks maybe its time to make a slight change. The second is talking about a chef or a restauratuer and using “marathon” in the same breathe.

No one has to tell that to Joseph Bastianich, who owns several restaurants with the chef Mario Batali. People who haven’t seen him for a while barely recognize his newly lean body, a mere 215 pounds on his 6-foot-2-inch frame. He’s in training for the New York City marathon, and he offers two simple tricks: run a lot and try not to eat after 6 p.m.

It’s rubbing off on Mr. Batali, the High Priest of the Fat Pack. “I exercise, I eat and I am a fully existing person in society,” he said. “But would I like to be 40 pounds less? Am I am sorry I’m not in better shape? Yes.”

So he is going to follow in his partner’s shoes. “Believe me, by the end of this year I hope to lose 40 pounds the same way he has, by portion control and exercising two or three hours a day,” Mr. Batali said. “You can’t eat a large portion of a pig and lose weight.”

Mario losing weight? Joe doing the NY Marathon? Wait, there’s more … From a recent Access Hollywood interview with Gordon Ramsay:

I went up across Malibu, up to Ventura yesterday, 30 miles on my bike. I was a fat chef once, 10 years ago. I don’t think it’s a good advert for any restaurant, a fat chef, and secondly, who wants to eat a dessert when the chef’s a fat pig. More importantly, I’ve got my first Iron Man (Hawaii based triathlon) coming up this year … I’ve got the Paris Marathon … and the London Marathon.

Chefs scaling down! Restaurateurs running races! Now I’m wondering … if my T-shirt still fits me, should I actually wear it?

2008 Beard Award Finalists Named

Earlier this month we ran a partial list of the Semi-Finalists Announced for 2008 James Beard Awards. Well, a few days ago the giant list got paired down for the last time and the Finalists have now been announced.

If you’re unfamiliar with the great length of awards from the Beard Foundation, you’ll get a better understanding of it when you actually glance at their page. For instance, categories are not just for Restaurants and Chefs, they also include: Book Awards, Journalism, Broadcast Media, Design and Graphics, Humanitarian Award, Lifetime Achievement Award and America’s Classics.

So here are our highlights on some of the awards we think matter most, or at least that you would be interested in hearing about:

Outstanding Restaurateur Award: Joe Bastianich/Mario Batali, Tom Douglas, Richard Melman, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Outstanding Chef Award: Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago; José Andrés, minibar by josé andrés, Washington, DC; Dan Barber, Blue Hill, NYC; Suzanne Goin, Lucques, Los Angeles; Frank Stitt, Highlands Bar & Grill, Birmingham, AL.

Outstanding Restaurant Award: Boulevard, San Francisco; Campanile, Los Angeles; Gramercy Tavern, NYC; Jean Georges, NYC; The Slanted Door, San Francisco.

Best New Restaurant: Anthos, NYC; Central Michel Richard, Washington, DC; Fearing’s at the Ritz Carlton, Dallas; Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles; Osteria, Philadelphia.

Rising Star Chef of the Year Award: Nate Appleman, A 16, San Francisco; Sean Brock, McCrady’s, Charleston, SC; Gavin Kaysen, Café Boulud, NYC; Johnny Monis, Komi, Washington, DC; Matt Molina, Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles; Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon, Portland, OR.

In other awards …. among Television Food Show, National or Local were selected: The Best Recipes in the World with Mark Bittman, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie and Top Chef Season 3.

Websites of merit were: Chow.com, Epicurious.com and Starchefs.com

The Book Awards as expected, some of them jived with the ones on the IACP list announced last week where as other books are only on the one list or the other. Feel free to compare for yourself.

Among those Cookbooks which stood out as being on both lists (note this is not an all-encompassing group but a partial) were: Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking by Masaharu Morimoto; Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor by Peter Reinhart; Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich; Love Affair with Southern Cooking: recipes and recollections by Jean Anderson; Rosa’s New Mexican Table; Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook by Jacques Pepin; Cooking by James Peterson; and, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman.

And for all of the rest of the awards and finalists on the long list, visit the Beard Awards here. The Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on June 8, 2008. Likewise, the Cookbook of the Year and Cookbook Hall of Fame will be announced at that time as well.