2005 James Beard Award Nominations and Winners

[artisanbaker]

they are up

http://www.jamesbeard.org/about/press/pr/M...d6bfb2c8b4c4fe7

[jhlurie]

A few super shallow reactions.

1.) Arthur Schwartz must be feeling totally vindicated now.

2.) Robb Walsh better kick Sietsema ass!

[Phatlouie07]

sucks i didn't see johnny luzzini, sam mason, michael laiskonis, jehangir mehta(sry if i spelled the name wrong) on the list. the only male pastry chef i saw was bill yosses.

[Bruce Cole]

For anyone interested in reading the nominated newspaper and internet articles, the links are on my site. Saute Wednesday.

[malcolmjolley]

I, for one, am very pleased with the nominations and not just because it's affording me the following shameless plug.

They happen to include two recent Gremolata contributors. Gina Mallet who's Last Chance to Eat is up for "Writing on Food" and (eGulleter) Natalie MacLean who has two nominations for "Magazine Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer" for 'Waiter, There’s a Flaw in My Wine' in Ottawa City Magazine and "MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award" for 'American Idol' at www.NatalieMacLean.com.

Very pleased, indeed.

[Jim Dixon]

I was looking at some of the nominated articles (thanks for the links, Bruce) and was struck by this

...perhaps the wine was corked, or tainted by 2-4-6 Trichloroanisole (TCA), a bacteria...

It's in the second paragraph of When Corks Attack - They Do It With TCA .

I'm neither a chemist nor wine expert, but I was pretty sure TCA wasn't a bacteria. The name itself screams organic compound. Google took me this wikipedia entry, which includes a diagram of the compound and says

The production of TCA in wine is complex, but most results when naturally-occurring airborne fungi are presented with chlorphenol compounds, which they then convert into chloroanisole.

So TCA is a chemical compound that's a byproduct of fungal activity. It's surprising that an error like this slipped past the nominating committee. Getting facts wrong is one of the quickest ways to lose credibility.

Jim

[bourdain]

Very happy to see Gina Mallet nominated for the excellent and provocative LAST CHANCE TO EAT. And the always fabulous Dara Moskowitz...Harold McGee--well, duh! Man deserves a Pulitzer for that book...Congrats to Robb Walsh................ and of course warmest kudos to Cleveland's Most Notorious Bar Brawler, amateur taxidermist (he's building a dream friend in his cellar from spare parts), synchronized swimmer and glue-sniffer, Michael Ruhlman. The Bouchon book is an amazing accomplishment--particularly considering Ruhlman's daily intake of pysychoactive chemicals. I look forward to Michael's typically drunken, beligerent and confrontational acceptance speech at the awards ceremony. No doubt leading off with "I see Amanda Hesser is here tonight..." before leading into the kind of protracted, ill-considered and career-killing rant for which he's famous.

Don't miss this year's awards kids! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!

[chefzadi]

Do all the chefs who are nominated have to cook (at their own expense) at The Beard House or did they already do that?

Congratulations to everyone. "All Clad Cookware Outstanding Chef Award" the name just made me laugh, I mean no disrepect. I suppose the awards are sort of like the Oscars and presumably it boosts careers.

I'm imaging a book cover or food show like a movie trailer "Nominated 4 times for All Clad Outstanding Chef Award" "2 time winner of the All Clad Cookware Chef Award!"

I look forward to Michael's typically drunken, beligerent and confrontational acceptance speech at the awards ceremony. No doubt leading off with "I see Amanda Hesser is here tonight..." before leading into the kind of protracted, ill-considered and career-killing rant for which he's famous.

I didn't know Michael and I had so much in common. Remember the drunken French monkey in the Eddie Murphy movie?

[Richard Kilgore]

I didn't know Michael and I had so much in common. Remember the drunken French monkey in the Eddie Murphy movie?

Great makeup artist!

[jamiemaw]

I recently had the pleasure of hosting James Chatto to half a week of eating in Vancouver. He was here to promote his new book The Greek for Love—A Memoir of Corfu. He has also authored The Man Who Ate Toronto, a chronicle about how New York-But-Managed-By-The-Swiss slipped the shackles of its meat-and-three-veg past. He is Canada’s most literate and graceful food writer and it was another pleasure to see that his and Lucy Waverman’s A Matter of Taste was nominated for a Beard Award. I hope they win—these awards and about $6 may be redeemed for a cleansing ale at many leading drinking establishments.

[chefzadi]

I didn't know Michael and I had so much in common. Remember the drunken French monkey in the Eddie Murphy movie?

Great makeup artist!

←

It took hours and hours. I did all my own stunts too. I was paid in wine which was fine. (I'll never be the poetic writer that Bourain is)

Back on topic, I just noticed that Jonathon Gold of the LA Weekly was nominated in the Newspaper Restaurant Review or Critique Category. The paper is available all over the city for free. I read his column every week. He does a lot of reviews of "ethnic" eateries which are fun to read. I'm not so sure about his fine dining reviews sometimes. Overall I enjoy his hyperbolic, ranting style of writing. He doesn't have this snooty, high brow "oh I know my haute cuisine and I'm soooo bored" tone.

[jamiemaw]

All awards programs--they that seek to judge--must themselves be judged both by their methodology and their inclusiveness.

Former chairman of the restaurants' section of the Beard Awards John Mariani has some strongly held opinions and shares them here warts and all.

[tan319]

  sucks i didn't see johnny luzzini, sam mason, michael laiskonis, jehangir mehta(sry if i spelled the name wrong) on the list.  the only male pastry chef i saw was bill yosses.

←

I'm with you on that one.

Women chefs may have been woefully under represented in other catagories, pastry chef wasn't one of them.

Pichet Ong could have been in there too.

Re: best newspaper critique or review.

Where was Hesser's "Spice Market" review???

Or was that the year before?

Alan Richmans Vongrichten article for Esquire deserved to be in there, great if gritty article, that one.

Won't it be kind of, say, 'sticky' if he wins and has to give a speech in front of everyone

including JGV himself?

I enjoyed Marianie' take on the awards a bunch too.

[Michael Ruhlman]

and of course warmest kudos to Cleveland's Most Notorious Bar Brawler, amateur taxidermist (he's building a dream friend in his cellar from spare parts), synchronized swimmer and glue-sniffer, Michael Ruhlman. The Bouchon book is an amazing accomplishment--particularly considering Ruhlman's daily intake of pysychoactive chemicals.  I look forward to Michael's typically drunken, beligerent and confrontational acceptance speech at the awards ceremony.  No doubt leading off with "I see Amanda Hesser is here tonight..." before leading into the kind of protracted, ill-considered and career-killing  rant for which he's famous.

Don't miss this year's awards kids! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!

←

you filthy swine, bourdain, i'm not going to dignify those malicious and deluded attacks with a denial. what the hell is your problem. you need to get a job, man.

notice that the beards have completely dissed you again--i'm surprised your star struck egulleters and substantial fan club haven't protested in outrage. Multiple best selling critically acclaimed books, hugely popular television shows--and still, amazingly, even to me, no beard award or even a nomination if I'm not mistaken. Surprising? It's not about the work. It's this attitude of yours and these astonishing attacks on people who can write better than you or don't share your fanatical beliefs in self-indulgence.

The beards were tarnished for me years ago when the french laundry cookbook was shut out--i've been bitter ever since, and deeply suspicious of the people doling out those awards, though it's fun to be included. My advice, tony, is to trade in those black jeans and that silly leather jacket for a proper blue blazer and khakis. Penny loafers wouldn't hurt. the nominations will roll in.

And how the hell did you find out about the synchronized-swimming, you prick.

[marlena spieler]

I am SOOOOOOO interested in the synchronized swimming. meanwhile, i think you should choreograph a swim number based on......how about tony bourdains books/telly series? i'm very proud of my eccentric synchronized swimming pageants but i can't get anyone to either swim them or even watch them. i think its because i sing in them (and my singing makes even the cat howl). i've been partial to broadway musical swims lately, and also food subjects (don't even ask).

seriously, big congrats on beard nomination, have just read and loved soul of a chef, the latter part of the book about Thomas Keller was very touching and real and revealing, of many things. wonderful. haven't seen bouchon yet because i live in the middle of the english countryside and they don't have things like that out here. will get one next time i'm in s.f. ca.

marlena

[grlbtch]

Hey Micheal, will you take me to the awards? since AB will be outside with his ear pressed against the building!! you know he's jealous!!

gimme a call!!

GB

[Michael Ruhlman]

GB!

I would LOVE to take you to the beards. you're the only bright spot about tony there is. I know he has to pay you to hang out with him, and you are incredibly kind to take pity on the creature, so it would be a pleasure and an honor to be in your company.

Best,

Michael

And I like the idea for a synchronized swimming version of KC, Tony's ravaged body in the lead roll.

[CtznCane]

Just what is the criteria for choosing the winner in the "Chef's point of view" category? Is it a function of the most intricate dishes? Is it a popularity vote on who is perceived to be the best chef or the one that uses the most multi-syllable words? Or is the award based on who does the best job of communicatiing his point of view to everyone, including those who are not professional chefs? Because something is simple, does it make it any less tasty?

If the category is the former, then certainly Keller should get the award. If it is the latter I think perhaps John Ash's - Cooking One Onn One might just be the best of the 3 nominated in that category. Maybe I"m just naive in thinking that because someone can communicate in an easy way, provide recipes that at the table provide a memorable feast and that, using words from a Jimmy Buffett song 'it was so simple I could have jitterbugged it plum evaded me' kind of way that it should get the award. Maybe I"m wrong but then again, I thought Spike Lee should have been nominated for 'Do the right thing."

[bourdain]

Ah..... Ruhlman. Without a doubt this year is your year. Like when they finally give Scorcese the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award--after overlooking a lifetime of good works, they'll finally take pity on you--and mitigate their own prior sins of omission.

I dearly hope you do indeed take the grill bitch. She has, I believe, appropriate footwear in mind (Picture Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS) and your khaki-clad ass will surely end up chained to radiator.

I am currently in Chicago, working on my sure-fire next-year's winning submission:

"Mayonnaise Variations:The Next Big Thing?" Oh yeah...I'll be a shoe-in.

[Michael Ruhlman]

chains, radiators and mayo, god you're disgusting.

[CtznCane]

Ah..... Ruhlman. Without a doubt this year is your year. Like when they finally give Scorcese the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award--after overlooking a lifetime of good works, they'll finally take pity on you--and mitigate their own prior sins of omission.

I dearly hope you do indeed take the grill bitch.  She has, I believe, appropriate footwear in mind (Picture Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS) and your khaki-clad ass will surely end up chained to radiator.

I am currently in Chicago, working on my sure-fire next-year's winning submission:

"Mayonnaise Variations:The Next Big Thing?" Oh yeah...I'll be a shoe-in.

←

Only one person to get to do an intro for a book on mayo and that would be Martin Mull.

[chefzadi]

chains, radiators and mayo, god you're disgusting.

←

I'm wondering what your innermost thoughts on Bourdain are. Nevermind somethings are too much even for egullet.

[Michael Ruhlman]

egullet is not ready for the unvarnished truth...I might prove all of bourdains nasty lies true, after all...

[Fat Guy]

Picture Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS

←

That's totally my third-favorite movie of all time.

I hope all the good guys win this year, but I find it extremely difficult to take the Beard Awards seriously in light of the corruption in the organization (not to mention the absurd ways is which many of the awards are chosen). It's going to take more than a couple of band-aids to fix the Beard Foundation, and until it is fixed winning an Award will be the equivalent of winning the World Series during a players' strike; to mix baseball metaphors, they'll have to put an asterisk next to the name of anyone who wins under these circumstances. In the journalism awards categories, where you actually have to apply (and pay!), I'm surprised they even filled up the categories with nominees.

[chefzadi]

I don't think the scandal will hurt the prestige of the awards in the eye of the general public. I also don't think that Journalists will harp on this when writing about the winners. What are they going to say? This person didn't deserve to win because of the scandal? Maybe some backhanded mentions of the scandal? Bourdain no doubt will do a full frontal assault on the scandal (my wife hope's he looks better than Harvey Keitel when he does this, maybe a pair of heels will help. Dangling cigarette is a must). Obviously I am not a Journalist or even much of a writer nor am I part of the "general" culinary public. As for the professionals I am totally out of loop in this circle, but isn't it a bit of a well worn groove? Maybe I'm not phrasing it correctly, but I am thinking of imagery from Dubliners. I don't always understand my tropes correctly either.

Nonetheless it means what it means and I congratulate the nominees sincerely.