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Beard awards survive scandal in style

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published May 11, 2005

NEW YORK - The best feature of the 2005 James Beard awards were the doubting questions that began before the after-parties and lasted beyond the morning after:

* Did grandly stuffy, old Galatoire's in New Orleans deserve Outstanding Restaurant in the United States over modern classics such as New York's Montrachet and Norman's in Miami?

* Were five New York City restaurants the only ones worth nominating as best new places in the country? Not to mention that four of five nominees for best U.S. chef were from Manhattan. And no Florida chefs were nominated for best in the Southeast?

* And shouldn't someone retire jerseys of the whole Spago team from Beverly Hills?

My answers, as a longtime observer and a Beard Foundation voter, in order:

1. No, being 100 years old earns Galatoire's a salute or a statue, but not this medallion.

2. Sure, New York is a nonstop fountain of new restaurants, but these lopsided numbers reflect the concentration of the food media (and Beard voters) more than culinary skill. San Francisco, Los Angeles and even the red state hinterland have new ideas, too.

The lack of attention to Florida this year is a shame. Maybe Miami has won too much in the past, or it was just bad luck.

3. Yes. After copping outstanding service nationwide and Best Chef: California this year, let's concede that Wolfgang Puck's operation and crew are good. For good.

So what? Second-guessing award winners is Oscar-level frivolity, not as serious as Nobels or as catty as the Tonys (unless you count the cookbook kvetching online).

Yet arguing about food is always part of the fun, and foodies feared they might not have theirs this year. A year ago, the food world was atitter and agosh with Olympian revelations that the Beard Foundation, started in memory of the prominent New York gourmet, had been plundered by its director and a few well-fed volunteers.

It was a scandal in a saucepot for a crowd that loves dish, and there was certainly meat on the soup bone (or rather missing from what should have gone to its scholarship program).

About $1-million was gone, and not as much was given to charity as outsiders expected.

In the 15 years since the first Beard awards were given to cookbooks and chefs, dining has mushroomed into a massive business that is art, craft and entertainment for a nation that forgot how to cook. The Beard House promotions and awards helped create celebrity status for chefs even before the Food Network. Chefs and the cookbook industry want to keep that alive.

So under the scrutiny of the New York attorney general's charity watchdogs, new leaders tried to put the Beard House in order and reinforce its integrity.

Dorothy Cann Hamilton, who founded the French Culinary Institute 20 years ago, has become president; new executive director Edna Morris was plucked from the boardroom of the Darden Group in Orlando, not New York's foodie mafia; a respected food editor, Joe Crea of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, took over the judging and voting.

This year, the awards program stepped back from the attempt at Hollywood glitz of recent years, although a menu of duck, profiteroles and salmon cornets is hardly humble pie.

Though Mario Batali sported pumpkin orange clogs and ex-CNN foodcaster Carolyn O'Neill brought a flouncy apron of ribbons and organdy, this year's program was not taped for television. So the audience was spared last year's telegenic Carmen Miranda act and a kitschy cable drag queen housewife.

Instead, the theme and stage set of the late Julia Child's pegboard of pots and pans invoked the woman who was as beloved as Beard in the resurrection of American cooking. Emcee Charles Gibson cracked wise and often that the awards "had more sponsors than Good Morning America."

So it was reassuring when the winners' names drew the usual grumbles about stuffiness or geographic bias rather than charges of corruption.

The ultimate strength of the Beard program was the support of the chefs, who have risen from unseen kitchen help to TV stars and now impresarios.

This year, the awards added the category of Outstanding Restaurateur for those chefs who direct more than one restaurant. "Something no one would have taken seriously 29 years ago," said winner Danny Meyer, who started New York's Union Square Cafe and others.

And though New York gets the most attention, many U.S. chefs regard the Beard program as the singular honor in their field. It can offer a spotlight for out-of-towners, and they welcome it.

"I don't know who's more excited, me or the baby" said a teary and very pregnant Ana Sortun when she accepted the award as Best Chef: New England for her elegant Turkish cuisine at Oleana in Boston.

Portland's Vitaly Paley, who won Best Chef: Northwest in his third nomination: "I'm mostly excited that Oregon is getting recognized. And having the validation of my peers. It's the only thing like this we have."

- Chris Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or by e-mail at sherman@sptimes.com

2005 James Beard award winners

Outstanding Pastry Chef - Karen DeMasco, Craft, New York

Outstanding Chef of the Year - Mario Batali, Babbo, New York

Best Chef: California - Lee Hefter, Spago, Beverly Hills

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic - Marc Vetri, Vetri, Philadelphia

Best Chef: Southeast - Joel Antunes, Joel, Atlanta

Best Chef: Midwest - Tony Mantuano, Spiaggia, Chicago

Best Chef: New York City - Andrew Carmellini, Cafe Boulud

Rising Star Chef - Christopher Lee, Striped Bass, Philadelphia

Best New Restaurant - Per Se, New York

Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional - Joseph Bastianich, Italian Wine Merchants, New York

Outstanding Wine Service - Veritas, New York

Best Restaurant Design - Avec, Chicago

Best Restaurant Graphics - the Butcher Shop, Boston

KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year - Rick Stein's Complete Seafood by Rick Stein (Ten Speed Press).

Baking and Sweets - A Blessing of Bread: Recipes and Rituals, Memories and Mitzvah by Maggie Glezer (Artisan).

Focus on Health - The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook by Jennifer Nelson, Maureen Callahan and Cheryl Forberg (Oxmoor House).

Food of the Americas - Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina (Ten Speed Press).

General - Weir Cooking in the City by Joanne Weir (Simon & Schuster).

International - Provence Cookbook by Patricia Wells (HarperCollins).

Reference - On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee (Scribner).

Single subject - All About Braising by Molly Stevens (W.W. Norton & Co.).

Vegetarian - Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes From Jewish Communities Around the World by Gil Marks (John Wiley & Sons).

Wine & Spirits - Scotch Whisky by Charles MacLean (Cassell Illustrated).

Writing on Food - Last Chance to Eat by Gina Mallet (W.W. Norton & Co.).

For more information and a full list of award winners, go to www.jamesbeard.org

[Last modified May 10, 2005, 10:48:50]