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Innovative chef tops Beard awards

Rick Bayless is honored for the third time as the James Beard Foundation, which promotes culinary excellence, hands out its prizes.

NEW YORK - Rick Bayless, a chef credited with changing the profile of Mexican food in the United States, has received one of the top James Beard Foundation awards. His 20-year-old Chicago restaurant, Frontera Grill, has been named Outstanding Restaurant for 2007.

It was his third James Beard award, considered to be among the most important in the food world. Winners were selected by a committee of their peers, and announced at a gala dinner last week at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.

Bayless and his wife, Deann, opened Frontera Grill in 1987, the same year he wrote Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking From The Heart of Mexico. The restaurant was designed to highlight contemporary regional Mexican cooking, with seasonal ingredients, rich moles and complex dishes - a contrast to the Tex-Mex style of nachos-and-tacos most Americans thought of as Mexican cooking at the time.

Taking another of the foundation's major awards, Outstanding Chef, was Michel Richard, owner of Michel Richard Citronelle in Washington, D.C.

He opened Citronelle in Washington in 1994, his fourth Citronelle in the United States. The restaurant, which emphasizes playful presentation as much as flavor, includes a glass-enclosed exhibition kitchen.

Other major winners:

- Outstanding Restaurateur: Thomas Keller, the French Laundry, Yountville, Calif.

- Best New Restaurant: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Joel Robuchon, New York.

- Cookbook of the Year: The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, Matt Lee and Ted Lee.

- Cookbook Hall of Fame: Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.

- Best Newspaper Food Section: San Francisco Chronicle.

- Best Chef, Southeast: Scott Peacock, Watershed, Decatur, Ga.

- Television Food Show: Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, hosted by Ruth Reichl, PBS.

Named for the influential American chef, the James Beard Foundation promotes culinary excellence across the United States with awards, scholarships and dining events. More than 60 foundation awards, including several to the media, were handed out this year.

For a complete list of winners, go to www.jamesbeard.org.

[Last modified May 15, 2007, 02:21:47]