Today the finalists for the James Beard Awards, the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America, are being announced in Portland, Oregon — the semifinalists were announced back in February — and Team Eater PDX is on the scene at the Oregon Culinary Institute for your live-blogging pleasure. And away we go!
11:25am Crowd of who's who in culinary Portland mingling at the OCI pre-noms. Spotted: Past nominees Cathy Whims, Vitaly Paley, and 2010 Eater Award winner Matt Lightner.
11:27am Someone just handed me a glass of champagne.
11:31am James Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro takes the podium.
11:34am OCI president announces that today's luncheon, prepared by culinary institute students, featuring the winning dishes of an Iron Chef-like "smackdown." Black truffle and parm souffle coming up.
11:38am Ungaro announces brand-new Beard sponsor: Groupon. Really?
11:40am Nominations time! VP Mitchell Davis takes the podium.
11:41am Journalism award nominees: Food section, general interest: GQ, SF Chronicle, Washington Post. Food-related Feature: Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly), Dan Koeppel (Saveur), Corby Kummer (Theatlantic.com). Food-related Columns/Commentary: Tim Carman (Washington City Paper), Tom Philpott (Grist.org), Lettie Teague (WSJ)
11:43am ... Personal Essay: Rick Bragg (Gourmet Live), Daniel Duane (Food & Wine), Tom Junod (Esquire), Health and Nutrition: Joe Fassler (Theatlantic.com), Rachael Moeller Gorman (EatingWell), Peter Jaret (Runner’s World)
11:44am Profile: Barry Estabrook (NYT Mag), Brian Halweil (Edible Manhattan), Benjamin Wallace (New York). Wine and Spirits: Jon Bonné (Saveur), Jon Fine (Food & Wine), Alan Richman (GQ). Multimedia Food Feature: Michael Gebert/Julia Thiel (The Chicago Reader), Katherine Shilcutt (Houston Press), Andrew Zimmern (Msn.com).
11:45am Okay @RuthBourdain was just nominated in the humor category. Awesome.
11:46am Group Food Blog: City of Ate, The Epi-Log, Grub Street New York
11:47am Individual Food Blog: Politics of the Plate, Poor Man’s Feast, Red Cook.
11:49am Broadcast nominations up. Top Chef (season 7), Ace of Cakes, Avec Eric, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. TV food personality: Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes). Television Segment: 60 Min: “Chef José Andrés,” CBS News Sunday Morning: Martha Teichner, CBS News Sunday Morning: “Worth a Shot." Television Special/Documentary: Emeril Green: Emeril’s Culinary Adventure: Vermont, Milk War, The Four Coursemen.
11:51am Ozersky gets a nom! For Video Webcast. Other noms: Video Webcast: Food. Curated., Ozersky.TV, GrapeRadio. Audio Webcast/Radio: CBC Ideas: “Pasta: The Long & Short of It,” The Canadian Table, Anthony Bourdain/Eric Ripert: Turn & Burn
11:53am Cookbook noms up: The Frankies Spuntino Manual, Kim Boyce, and the NOMA cookbook all get nods.
11:55am Cookbooks, by category: International: Cook Italy, Oaxaca al Gusto, Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge. Baking and Dessert: Good to the Grain, My Sweet Mexico, Sarabeth’s Bakery. American Cooking: The Food, Folklore, & Art of Lowcountry Cooking, The Frankies Spuntino Manual, Pig.
11:58am OMG more cookbooks. Cooking Prof Point of View: Michael Chiarello’s Bottega, The Modern Café, Noma. Healthy Focus: Clean Start, The Simple Art of EatingWell Cookbook, The Very Best Recipes for Health.
11:59am Eater afterparty gets a shoutout from the podium!
11:59am Outstanding restaurant design: Bar Agricole, SF; Quickfire Pizza, LA; Toast, CA.
12:00pm Outstanding restaurant graphics: L'Artusi, NYC; National Bar and Dining Rooms, NYC; The Publican, Chicago.
12:02pm Wine and spirits noms! I need one of each right now. So. Many. Names. Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional: Sam Calagione, Merry Edwards, Paul Grieco, Rajat Parr, Julian P. Van Winkle, III. Outstanding Wine Service: A16, Blackberry Farm, Frasca Food and Wine, Picasso at Bellagio, The Modern.
12:04pm Who’s Who Inductees: Jonathan Gold, Farmer Lee Jones, Charles Phan, Frank Stitt, Nick Valenti.
12:06pm BEST CHEF NW: Andy Ricker, Ethan Stowell, Cathy Whims, Matt Dillon, Chris Israel. HUGE round of applause for Whims, in the house.
12:07pm BEST CHEF PACIFIC: Michael Cimarusti, Christopher Kostow, Daniel Patterson, Richard Reddington, Michael Tusk
12:08pm BEST CHEF SW: Bruce Auden, Bryan Caswell, Saipin Chutima, Tyson Cole, Ryan Hardy. BEST CHEF SOUTH: Zach Bell, John Harris, Christopher Hastings, Tory McPhail, Stephen Stryjewski
12:10pm BEST CHEF SOUTHEAST: Hugh Acheson, Craig Deihl, John Fleer, Linton Hopkins, Edward Lee, Andrea Reusing
12:08pm BEST CHEF NYC: Michael Anthony, April Bloomfield, Wylie Dufresne, Gabrielle Hamilton, Michael White
12:10pm BEST CHEF NE: Tim Cushman, Krista Kern Desjarlais, Gerry Hayden, Matt Jennings, Tony Maws, Eric Warnstedt, BEST CHEF MID-ATLANTIC Cathal Armstrong, Johnny Monis, Peter Pastan, Maricel Presilla, Michael Solomonov
12:12pm RISING STAR: Aaron London, Thomas McNaughton, Gabriel Rucker, Christina Tosi, Sue Zemanick.
12:13pm Outstanding Pastry Chef: Joanne Chang, Patrick Fahy, Dahlia Narvaez, Angela Pinkerto, Mindy Segal
12:14pm OUTSTANDING RESTAURANT: Blue Hill, NYC; Boulevard, SF; Eleven Madison Park, NYC; Highlands Bar & Grill, Alabama; Vetri, Philly.
12:14pm Best New Restaurant: ABC Kitchen, Benu, Girl & the Goat, Menton, Torrisi Italian Specialties
12:14pm OUTSTANDING CHEF: Jose Andres, Gary Denko, Suzanne Goin, Paul Kahan, Charles Phan
12:16pm Ceremony officially over. That was officially the most stressful thing I've ever done. Playing catch-up. More noms TK...
12:17pm Outstanding Service: Canlis, Emeril’s, La Grenouille, Per Se, Topolobampo
12:18pm Outstanding Restaurateur: Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg, Tom Douglas, Pat Kuleto, Richard Melman, Phil Suarez
12:20pm Toasts all around.
12:22pm Playing catch-up: BEST CHEF MIDWEST: Justin Aprahamian, Isaac Becker, Colby Garrelts, Tory Miller, Lenny Russo. BEST CHEF GREAT LAKES: Michael Carlson, Curtis Duffy, Bruce Sherman, Paul Virant, Alex Young
12:24pm All right, folks, someone just placed a plate of food in front of me. Time for lunch. Thanks for playing!
— Erin DeJesus
Here's the final list of nominees:
· 2011 Cookbook, Media, and Journalism Awards Finalists [-E-]
· 2011 Chef and Restaurant Awards Finalists [-E-]
Loading comments...