Liveblogging the Beard Awards
As I tap this out on my Treo phone, I'm in the audience at the James Beard Awards at New York City's Lincoln Center. I'll be liveblogging the awards tonight, keeping you up-to-the-minute on who's won what and giving you some additional information when I can—depending on how speedy I am with the tiny keyboard.
7:10 p.m.
Rising Star Chef: David Chang is going to win. I know it. Chang just won. He thanked the team.
Hannah Storm is too perky by half. She knows how to make love to a teleprompter. The first of the American Classics are coming up.
7:13 p.m.
America's Classics: Primanti Brothers love the fries on sandwich, and they won. Can't argue with this choice.
7:19 p.m
Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional: Rooting for Dale Degroff. Paul Draper from Ridge Vineyards wins. Wine service is next.
Wine Service: Mark Slater of Michel Richard Citronelle wins.
7:31 p.m.
Bobby Flay is inducted into Who's Who.
Dorie Greenspan, too.
And Michael Pollan.
7:38 p.m.
Best Chef Northeast: Frank McClelland, of Boston's L'Eespalier. (Frank has been nominated 10 times.)
7:40 p.m.
Best Chef, Southeast: Scott Peacock takes the prize. He makes amazing fried chicken!
7:43 p.m.
Best Chef, Midatlantic: R. J. Cooper III, of D.C.'s Vidalia. (I've never had a great meal there.)
7:44 p.m.
Best Chef, South: Donald Link wins. I love Cochon.
7:48 p.m.
America's Classics: The Brookville Hotel in Abilene, Kansas, is being honored. SE's managing editor, Adam Kuban, would dig this, as he grew up in Kansas.
7:50 p.m.
Best Chef, Pacific: Traci des Jardins of San Francisco's Jardinère. I love her taqueria. She wins after 7 previous nominations.
7:52 p.m.
Best Chef, Northwest: John Sundstrom, of Lark, in Seattle. He worked for Seattle legend Tom Douglas for a long time.
7:54 p.m.
Best Chef, Southwest: Nobuo Fukuda of See Saw, Scottsdale, Arizona.
7:58 p.m.
America's Classics: Doe's Eat Place of Greenville, Miss., is honored. It's Bill Clinton's favorite. At least before his heart surgery.
8:01 p.m.
Best Chef, Great Lakes: The odds-on fave in this category wins — Grant Achatz of Chicago's Alinea.
8:03 p.m.
Best Chef, Midwest: Celina Tio of Kansas City, Missouri's American Restaurant. Another one that Adam's probably happy to see.
8:05 p.m.
Best Chef, New York City: David Waltuck of Chanterelle. An old-school pick here.
8:17 p.m.
Humanitarian of the Year: Art Smith
8:21 p.m.
Cookbook Hall of Fame: The Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen.
8:26 p.m.
Books, Cooking from a Professional POV: Grand Livre de Cuisine: Alain Ducasse's Desserts and Pastries, by A.D. and Frédéric Robert
8:27 p.m.
Books, Wine & Spirits: Romancing the Vine, Alan Tardi. He used to be a chef at Follonico in NYC but quit to become a writer. Looks like it paid off.
8:30 p.m.
Books, Baking & Desserts: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours
8:31 p.m.
Books, Healthy Focus: Lorna Sass, Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
8:33 p.m.
America's Classics: Pickwick, of Duluth, Minnesota, is honored.
8:37 p.m.
Books, Food of the Americas: Matt Lee & Ted Lee, The Lee Bros. Cookbook
8:40 p.m.
Books, Reference: Marion Nestle, What to Eat
8:41 p.m.
Books, General Cookbook: Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day, by Roy Finamore, a former cookbook editor.
8:43 p.m.
Books, International: The Soul of a New Cuisine, by Marcus Samuelsson.
8:47 p.m.
America's Classics: Weaver D's is honored. It was made famous, in a way, by R.E.M. The title Automatic for the People is taken from one of owner Dexter Weaver's trademark phrases at the restaurant.
8:50 p.m.
Books, Asian: Cradle of Flavor, by James Oseland, editor of Saveur magazine, who has made that publication all the better since taking the reins there.
8:53 p.m.
Books, Photography: Michael Mina; Karl Petzke, photographer.
8:54 p.m.
Books, Single Subject: The Essence of Chocolate,by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg.
9 p.m.
Books, Writing on Food: The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan.
Books, Entertaining: The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining, Cheryl & Bill Jameson
9:02 p.m.
Books, Cookbook of the Year: The Lee Bros. Cookbook, Matt Lee & Ted Lee.
9:04 p.m.
In Memoriam: R. W. Apple Jr., Ernest Gallo, David Halberstam, Sharon Tyler Herbst.
9:06 p.m.
Restaurant Design: Xing, NYC.
Restaurant Graphics: Buddakhan, NYC.
9:08 p.m.
America's Classics: Aunt Carrie's of Narragansett, Rhode Island, is honored.
9:15 p.m.
Restaurant Service: Tru; Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, and Richard Melman. Tru is located in Chicago.
9:20 p.m.
Pastry Chef: Michael Laskonis, of Le Bernardin, in New York City.
9:22 p.m.
Lifetime Achievement: Barbara Kafka
9:32 p.m.
Best New Restaurant: L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
9:38 p.m.
Restaurateur: Thomas Keller; The French Laundry, Bouchon Bakery, Per Se
9:42 p.m.
Outstanding Restaurant: Frontera Grill, Chicago, Rick & Deanna Bayless.
9:50 p.m.
Outstanding Chef: Michel Richard of Michel Richard Citronelle, Washington, D.C.
OK: That's all, folks. I am now going into digit rehab for all my fingers.
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7 Comments:
It was fun reading this last night *as it happened*. Thanks for the effort, and best wishes for your digit rehab.
I'd like to hear from people reading whether there were any surprises in these awards given? Or were they mostly what was expected?
Karen Resta at 8:36AM on 05/08/07
The Lee brothers were adorable. Hannah Storm was SO perky I wanted to slap her.
John Sundstrom was also the chef at Earth & Ocean (after Douglas, before Lark), as was Maria Hines, one of the other nominees.
Best celeb sighting: Salman Rushdie.
Cathy at 9:39AM on 05/08/07
Oh, I should mention that Ed looked very handsome in his tux. ;-}
Cathy at 9:40AM on 05/08/07
hope to see more coverage of the big night. what was for dinner, etc.
but i have something to say that may not be related but i couldn't help but think as i was reading your posting- and that is, we have this channel called the food network. however, they prefer to live in a vacuum and refuse to pay attention to anything going in the real world. a mention of the james beard award may have been nice- i guess none of their people will ever win anything,so why bother.
went on their website to send them a piece of my mind. surprise, surprise...no way of contacting the idiot site.
anyone else feel the way i do?
gk at 9:45AM on 05/08/07
This was great! I kept "tuning in" all night!!!
Deb07 at 9:59AM on 05/08/07
GK: Bobby Flay got a Who's Who, and he's Food Network, but point taken. As the channel moves further away from actual cooking and more toward competition-type shows and unbag-and-plate shows, it's not surprising at all that it didn't give any nod to the Beard Awards. After all, a large portion of the Food Network audience couldn't care less.
Adam Kuban at 10:30AM on 05/08/07
Thanks for doing this, Ed. A linkfew thoughts here.
The Gurgling Cod at 11:24AM on 05/09/07