Beard Awards - Mid-Atlantic Region

[vengroff]

Congratulations to Jose Andres of Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Cafe Atlantico for being this year's winner of the James Beard Foundation's American Express Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award. Three of the four other nominees, Ann Cashion, Todd Gray, and Peter Pastan are DC-based.

Let's give Jose and the rest of the DC contingent a big hand!

[vengroff]

I forgot to mention that Fabio Trabocchi of Maestro lost out to a very desrving Grant Achatz (chefg here on eGullet) in the Rising Star category. Obviously we need to get Fabio in here for a Q&A to boost his exposure for next year.

So, what does everyone think of the cooking of our local nominees and winner?

[Fat Guy]

One thing that's odd about the "best chef" awards is that they're not awarded to the same chef every year. They also don't seem to be based on comparative dining by the judges. Are they purely political?

[Really Nice!]

One thing that's odd about the "best chef" awards is that they're not awarded to the same chef every year. They also don't seem to be based on comparative dining by the judges. Are they purely political?

Even more weird is the same chefs aren't even nominated every year. Just look at who's missing from this year's list, Keller, Trotter, Waters, Boulud...

I'd have to agree that it's political. I think that once you win, you've set the bar for which you will be measured in the future. It doesn't matter what's going on around you or what the competition is doing, you have to far surpass the effort and imagination that got you that first award.

[mikeczyz]

is it possible to win the same award more than once?

mike

[Fat Guy]

Yes, but there's a certain waiting period after you win -- three or four years maybe? In other words, the best chef can only win a couple of times per decade. In all other years, the award intentionally goes to not-the-best chef.

[Really Nice!]

Five years.

From the policies page:

(FYI... Best chef award was established in 1990)

Please note, categories are subject to change. A chef who wins in a particular category is not eligible to win that same award for five years. However, he or she is eligible for awards in other categories.

Administration: The Restaurant Awards are administered by a volunteer committee of 17 leading food editors and restaurant critics representing the United States.

Balloting: Anyone can recommend a candidate for a Chef and Restaurant Award. The Foundation usually receives 1,500 submissions in September, which are tabulated by an accounting firm and reviewed by the Awards Committee to develop the Nominating Ballot. Up to 20 candidates are placed in each award category on the Nominating Ballot, which is distributed in January to over 300 judges throughout the U.S. The results of the Nominating Ballot produce five final nominees in each award category. Nominees are announced in March. A chef may not be nominated in more than one chef or restaurant category. The final ballot listing the five finalists for each award is distributed to the judges again. The highest score in each category determines the award winner. In the event of a tie, there are two award winners.

Judges: The body of judges comprises all past Chef and Restaurant Award winners, the Restaurant Awards Committee, leading regional restaurant critics, food and wine editors, and culinary educators.

Interestingly, Martha Stewart won for Martha Stewart Living TV.

[jhlurie]

One thing that's odd about the "best chef" awards is that they're not awarded to the same chef every year.

Are they purely political?

Ha, one could ask the same about the Internet Journalism award.

[frogprince]

a query for jaleo-ists who have been going since the (relative) beginning: has the menu changed drastically in these 10 years? it may sound silly but i wonder how much of jose andres' beard award reflects some of ann cashion's genius at jaleo.

however, if the menu has totally been revamped since ann cashion left then this question/statement becomes rather irrelevant. if not however...just a thought i had.

i should like to make it clear that im not taking the piss out of jose andres; i have the utmost respect for him and his restaurants as they are well and truly phenomenal.

cheers

[Steve Klc]

Though Zaytinya did not win Best New Restaurant, it was great for DC that a DC restaurant was nominated up against the entire national scene. And the Post sure did look prescient running that nice huge Judith Weinraub story on Jose just last week. Let's also not forget two other Washingtonians did win a Beard this year: Phyllis Richman for a Gourmet magazine piece and Post writer Candy Sagon won in the "Newspaper Feature Writing with Recipes" category for her "9 x 13 In Praise of the Perfect Pan" story. I've missed Candy and hope she writes more, and Phyllis is doing the best work of her career. Quite an achievement.

As far as the awards--I think it's important to note that Journalism is handled differently--in terms of process, makeup of the judging panels, etc--than the Chef and Restaurant awards. And depending on how the composition of the awards panels shifts and changes, and who serves locally, it's pretty easy to accept that some chefs and restaurants are viewed more positively or negatively as certain critics or editors or writers serve.

Very interesting question frogprince re: Jose/Cashion but not on its face a silly one--there's one professional critic around town who writes for the Washingtonian, Robert Shoffner, who doesn't seem to "get" Jose the way other professionals get Jose. (Not unusual with the inherent tension between critic and chef and critic against critic in the same marketplace.) He's inferred much the same thing about the Cashion-Jaleo connection. I don't know the answer to your question because I was not a Jaleoist then and cannot compare the flan then, say, to the flan now. (I like Jaleoist A LOT, by the way, but I'm much more a Joseist.)

However, one might approach it from several avenues. Here are my suspicions, as I've never asked Jose this and don't know Ann Cashion, so I'm not in the best position to comment on what constitutes her genius. But, I use genius very, very sparingly when it comes to food and people who think about food. I'd suspect there isn't a single recipe in the current Jaleo book that hasn't been changed by Jose or created by Jose. Not a single dish, even of the longstanding ones, that isn't cooked differently or sourced differently or made differently due to some quirk or realization or technique or idea or some cost-cutting measure of Jose. Just because chorizo sausage and mashed potatoes may still be on the menu 10 years later doesn't mean it is Ann Cashion's dish. The guy in the back mixing up the sausage mix and stuffing it into the little casings isn't necessarily following the same script even if that dish is still in its "old" form.

Then there are all the little dishes that just scream Jose once you get to know him--like the tomato and watermelon on skewers, the crema catalana a la moderna--that come from his unique inspiration as a result of Ferran Adria and the way he sees food--the way he uses those little gel sacs of tomato seeds which every other chef throws out or fails to appreciate. But there's something even more significant to consider here.

Post-Cashion the kitchen has been remodelled and Jose has gotten that small kitchen to do incredible volume with no loss of quality if not greater quality over the years--if you knew the numbers it would blow your mind given their size, given the numbers they did back in Cashion's day when that part of town was a dump. Food costs and profitability and consistency--that's part of Jose's mark as it is with other successful, profitable chef-partners, say like a Mario Batali in NYC. There's a bottom-line aspect to this business that the "geniuses" can't lose sight of. That's where some real under-appreciated cheffing savvy and judgement also comes into play--how can I tailor recipes and production and presentation to do volume AND not suffer a loss in quality. That's all Jose because they rock now number-wise and have retained a very moderate price-point in an era when moderate-priced restaurants are disappearing--you have high and low and no middle.

I doubt any of the chefs running the restaurant on a day to day basis--the guys like head chef Rodolfo Guzman and his sous like Oscar and Elmer--worked under Ann and even if they did they certainly weren't shaped and yelled at and made better chefs by anyone but Jose, teaching them how to cook the squid or pulpo just so--quickly--on the plancha--or slowly for a long time--with no in between--to get tender squid rather than tough squid. That kind of thing. Jose takes these guys (and gals) inspires great loyalty from them and moves them from dishwashers to the line--and they stay with him for years and years, longer than I've seen anywhere.

This might seem a somewhat deeper appreciation of a chef or restaurant--but you don't win Beard chef or restaurant awards without assembling a team which shares your vision and works harmoniously day in and day out--and it doesn't actually have much to do with "menu" per se. That's the direction and driving force of personality, the ability to communicate commitment, vision, instill a sense of mission and offer customer service--all of which, again, is ongoing and dynamic--and not something static like an opening menu concept. This spreads from Jose (and his other partners) down to the GM, to the great wine selections, to the service staff, most of which stay within the restaurant family. To give you an idea--two years ago my wife and I got married in Jaleo--this was long before Jose asked me to join his culinary team--and virtually all of the managers, assistant managers and servers from that event are STILL with the group somehow: Christopher Vasquez is now GM at Zaytinya, Maria Chicas is now GM of Bethesda-Jaleo and many of the servers who did my wedding reception are still happy, still thriving and respected on the floor at Jaleo.

To a certain extent, all the chefs nominated this year and in years past are trying to do this. This is also why it's pretty easy for a savvy foodie to sense a decline in a chef or restaurateur--to sense when a chef starts to mail it in, to rest on his laurels, because all of this takes so much work to prevent a decline, to avoid that tipping point toward something precipitous, something dulled. You have to be in the restaurants every day, you have to care, you don't see your spouse as much, and you have to keep the people around you caring so they don't see their families and still make wise decisions without you. That's what Jose does so well across 4 very significant and profitable restaurants--with another two coming later this year and then there's that magical 28 seat restaurant--or was it a mythical four seat restaurant?--that he's still planning and dreaming about down the road. (We can only hope to see that level of his genius realized.) So, Jose won this Beard award but really, he'd be the first to say he shares that award with a lot of other people. And my sense is that he hasn't revealed but 25% of his real depth, his reservoir of ideas and creativity. You saw some of it realized at Cafe Atlantico starting back in 1998-99 and is still present there, but to date, his very best stuff, his transcendant stuff which really grabs other pros and knowledgeable foodies, comes out for special dinners and special events around the world.

I hope he decides we're worth revealing all of that to.

Edited May 7, 2003 by Steve Klc (log)

[vengroff]

On the Cashion/Andres question, it would seem impossible that Jose has not played around with the menu since Ann was around at Jaleo. Just about every chef's cooking changes over time, and Jose certainly has the reputation for constantly trying to innovate.

On the other hand, nobody in the restaurant business works in a vacuum. Chefs are influenced by their mentors, their collegues, and their competitors. As brilliant as Jose is, there can't be any doubt that he watches and learns from others, whether it's Adria, Cashion, his grandmother, or his own line cooks.

Cashion's nomination this year suggests that she is still doing very good work. I've been meaning to try her food for a while. Maybe now, when Jose's places are likely to be even more crowded than usual after his win, is the right time.

[hjshorter]

I have eaten at Jaleo many times, starting about a month after they opened, and can attest to the fact that the food has evolved somewhat.

Cashion's nomination this year suggests that she is still doing very good work.  I've been meaning to try her food for a while.  Maybe now, when Jose's places are likely to be even more crowded than usual after his win, is the right time.

Do try it. I haven't been to Cashion's Eat Place in a couple of years but it's obviously still very, very good.

[pastramionrye]

the beard awards in my opinion are about politics...and getting yourself and your name out there...

while there is abviously very deserving winners and nominees...i cant fathom todd gray being a perenial best chef nominee...i have eaten his food several times...and watched him cook several times. he is knowledgable, and a relentless self-promoter...but best chef mid-atlantic material, i think not.

guys like frank ruta and fabio should be nominated before todd gray.

[alice]

Vengroff,

Thank you very much for your sentiment regarding the James Beard Rising Star nomination. Grant Achatz highly deserved the recognition and the award for what he is trying to do with his Avangard cuisine that will certainly have a big impact for years to come in American fine dining. Regarding myself, it was already an honor to be simply nominated.

FT