James Beard House

[GordonCooks]

Gordon, that was great! My dinosaur laptop couldn't display the last dessert courses --

I'll just have to look when I stop in our offices.

I just uploaded the revised page that's a little more "grammatically" friendly. You may have caught it mid-stream.

[beans]

Yup, must have been mid-stream as they all loaded up beautifully.

This must have been a tremendous, fantastic experience. Everyone in the last group picture appears to be beaming.

Thanks for sharing it.

[GordonCooks]

Yup, must have been mid-stream as they all loaded up beautifully.

This must have been a tremendous, fantastic experience. Everyone in the last group picture appears to be beaming.

Thanks for sharing it.

If beaming means drunk - yeah, we were.

[beans]

More like beaming with pride, but I'll accept that!

[tan319]

Man, I really enjoyed that!

Thanks so much for sharing

[docsconz]

Nice job. Good to see another upstate restaurant make good!

[hillvalley]

Wow, that must have been an amazing experience. The food looks absolutely beautiful. Congrats!

[Mark Sommelier]

Gordon,

You summed it up really well. It made me remember doing a dinner there years ago. How did you do more than 80 people? The kitchen is so damned small. For those who don't know, everyone has to get the wine donated or bring it to BH. Where did all those beautiful plates come from? Some of them were Bernardaud, weren't they? Does Beard House own those now? The biggest problem there, from talking to the staff, is getting the food hot to people upstairs. Sounds like you had a good time. Congrats.

PS, I went to school outside Rochester. I wasn't aware at the time that there were any good restaurants. Glad to hear things have changed.

[bloviatrix]

Thanks for sharing the experience. The photos look stunning. My mouth is watering.

[tommy]

for those who aren't familiar with weehawken, NJ, the first shot shows the lovely, but mediocre, Chart House out on the water. a fantastic view of the city from that restaurant.

[GordonCooks]

Gordon,

You summed it up really well. It made me remember doing a dinner there years ago. How did you do more than 80 people? The kitchen is so damned small. For those who don't know, everyone has to get the wine donated or bring it to BH. Where did all those beautiful plates come from? Some of them were Bernardaud, weren't they? Does Beard House own those now? The biggest problem there, from talking to the staff, is getting the food hot to people upstairs. Sounds like you had a good time. Congrats.

PS, I went to school outside Rochester. I wasn't aware at the time that there were any good restaurants. Glad to hear things have changed.

The squares were Bernardaud, and I think the rounds were as well. We used all of beard's plates. The wine issue was a little tricky. The original wines we had picked were not used (a problem with the supplier) The original list was Schramsberg Reserve, 2002 Cloudy Bay SV, a Chassagne-Montrachet, Felton Road Block 3 Pinot, and Rosemount Balmoral Syrah. Luckily, another vendor managed to step up with some almost freebies.

[Daniel]

Are there any cant miss events coming up at the beard house? Anyone have any suggestions.

[MichaelB]

the current month schedule is always at Beard Foundation. You may have to wait until next week to see the March schedule.

[Daniel]

Right, i was just wondering peoples opinions.

[mikeycook]

Anyone willing to give us some selected info from their issue of Previews? (I suspect many hold it close to the vest.)

[phaelon56]

Their annual BBQ event this summer wil be catered by the Dinosaur Barbecue. Currently located in Syracuse NY and Rochester, they are slated to open a new spot late Spring up at 131st and 12th Avenue. I'm developing a Q&A session for eGullet that will feature owner John Stage sometime between now and the Beard event.

[Daniel]

I think syracuse and 131st and 12th are about the same distances from my apartment.

[phaelon56]

Parking is unquestionably easier in Syracuse but the restaurantt itself, especially in the bar area, is likely to be far less crowded in NYC. They have live music five or six night each week at the Syracuse location - if you lower the hand holding your drink to your side you typically have to ask your neighbor to move so you can lift the hand back up - it gets that crowded. I passed on a free show by guitarist Muryali Coryell (Larry's son and a virtuoso in his own right)) this past weekend for that exact reason.

There's a but more to do in NYC after dinner - my vote is NYC.

[jeunefilleparis]

Just wondering if anyone went last night,,,,,, Ya roo??

anyone know who won?

Lauren

[jogoode]

See who won here.

Pasternak got best NYC chef and Allison Vines-Rushing, of Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar, won for Rising Star Chef.

[ned]

I had the pleasure of attending both chef's night out on Sunday and the awards ceremony last night. I was standing in for Scott Carsberg at Lampreia in Seattle. There is much that can be said about who could have won and who did end up winning. I'll leave that alone for the moment, except to say that, and forgive me for sounding naive, it seems that the food world, at least as it pertains to the Beard awards, is not without its politics.

At chef's night out, there were a variety of producers flogging their wares. Mostly the usual suspects, except one, a mezcal producer that can be found at mezcal.com. Apparently available at Astor place wines. They were tasting seven or eight extraordinary mezcals and as well as a mixed drink, made from mezcal, creme de mezcal, cilantro, lime juice and probably a couple of other things that I can't remember thanks in no small part to all the mezcal. . . whoo boy. And if the quality of the mezcal isn't enough, the producers (or distributers?) are some sort of incorporated township in Oaxaca. So you can support some hardworking people while buying excellent mezcal.

The following night immediately after the awards guests and nominees were released to a giant hall full of latin-themed food. At the top of my list in there was pig roasted in a caja china. It was served on top of a bean puree and sauced with a shallot, cilantro vinaigrette. Moist, tender, tasty. It makes me wonder where those pigs grew up.

Alas, Scotty didn't win. I think he should have, but I'm just one guy with an opinion.

[Bond Girl]

It is highly political because at the end of the day, the James Beard Organization still needs to promote itself. The affair was crowded, hot and painful. Though everyone from Karen De Masco of Craft to Andrew Carmellini of Cafe Boulud said the Douglas Rodriguez's pig was the best of food there. I have to be partial here and plug the short ribs from my insignificant other's table. Being a vegetarian, I'll just say that I was told by several people that it was the best short ribs they ever tasted. Hey, then again I'm biased.

[ned]

Acch, too bad. I saw those shortribs on a plate or two, went looking for them but was ultimately overwhelmed by the crowds.

[Bond Girl]

Ned , next time you have to clue into the eGullet secret handshake. Did you go to FCI afterward, ot did you end up at Babbo or Craftbar?

[ned]

Secret handshake?

In any case, I missed all the after parties. The previous night was kind of a late one thanks to the chef's night out event. All that tequila (and rum and gin) transitioned to beer and by five in the morning I found myself at the stove putting together breakfast for three: sweetbreads with poached egg and sopressata served on wilted romaine. So when the awards ended and I'd gotten my feed on, been shoved aside by Mario Batali's wife(?) while hailing a cab for my very pregnant wife, I headed for home. Probably missed some fun hunh?