The James Beard Awards Ceremony 2022 takes place this weekend. Any thoughts? Have you been to any of the nominees? www.jamesbeard.org
Four of five California. Haven’t yet managed to get a reservation at Nari during a Covid lull.
Do judges and committee members eat at every spot?
While the 20 semifinalists may not be visited by every judge and committee member, the final five chefs’ restaurants will be tasted by at least one judge or committee member; probably both, and usually more than once. Faison has eaten at all the restaurants belonging to the Colorado finalists this year …
2022 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
Columns and Newsletters
Tex-Mexplainer: “Nixtamalization Is the 3,500-Year-Old Secret to Great Tortillas”; “Live a Little and Try Crunching on Chapulines, or Roasted Grasshoppers”; “Forget Everything You Think You Know About Mole” by Jose Ralat, Texas Monthly
Dining and Travel
“Right Around the Corner” Francis Lam, Conde Nast Traveler
Feature Reporting
“Inside the Secretive, Semi-Illicit, High Stakes World of WhatsApp Mango Importing” by Ahmed Ali Akbar, Eater
Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication
Foodways
“Eating in Xi’an, Where Wheat and Lamb Speak to China’s Varied Palate” by Ligaya Mishan for T Magazine
Health and Wellness
“Cultivating Better Health” by Michael Behar, Eating Well
Home Cooking
“The Way of Clay” by Mary Frances Heck
Innovative Storytelling
“A Feast for Lost Souls” by Annelise Jolley and Zahara Gómez Lucini for the Atavist Magazine
Investigative Reporting
“NYC Food Delivery Workers Band to Demand Better Treatment. Will New York Listen to Los Deliveristas Unidos?”; “Food Delivery Workers Toiling Through Historic Flooding Call Skimpy Wages and Tips ‘A Cruel Joke’”; “New York City Passes Landmark New Protections for Food Delivery Workers” by Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Josefa Velasquez for The City NYC
Personal Essay — Long Form
“It’s Time to Decolonize Wine” by Miguel de Leon for Punch
Personal Essay — Short Form
“The Dangers of Bartending While Asian,” by Kaylee Hammonds for Food and Wine
Profile
“Patsy Young — American Brewer, Fugitive From Slavery” by Theresa McCulla for Good Beer Hunting
Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award
“‘Too Much to Lose.’ Why a Miami Man Moved into a Backyard Tent During Coronavirus Crisis”; “Salt Bae’s Restaurant Called Cops on Customer who Wouldn’t Pay for Gold-Wrapped Steaks”; “How to Eat Like a Local in Miami: A Local’s Guide to Dining in the 305” by Carlos Frias, Miami Herald
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award
“The Bay Area is Having a Love Affair with Smashburgers. This is the One You’ll Want to Eat Again and Again”; “Impossible’s New Vegan Nuggets Taste Better than McNuggets. Sadly, that’s not Saying Much”; “S.F. Restaurant’s $72 Fried Rice Was a Runaway Hit. It Was Also the Chef’s Nightmare,” Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle
MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
“Right Around the Corner,” Francis Lam for Conde Nast Traveler
(I added the links I could find - some are behind paywalls and others appear to be correct but titles have been changed.)
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None of the three articles that won Soleil Ho the restaurant review award is a restaurant review. Though they’re all surely better than any of her reviews.
The crab fried rice at Lily had the aesthetics of a jewelry display: radiant bubbles of golden trout and white sturgeon caviar, unctuous uni (sea urchin roe) from Hokkaido, Japan, and the meat from three types of crab were arranged on a bed of expertly fried jasmine rice. Bite-size morsels of grilled A4 Miyazaki Wagyu sirloin topped it, along with rock shrimp and the deep-tangerine of jidori egg yolks. Black truffle trimmings bolstered an XO sauce drizzle. … “We called it the #1 douchebag fried rice.”
paging @Number1Douchebag
I’d be curious to know more about this. Does it means LA-based journalists weren’t allowed to attend even as media? Or that no members of the LA media were nominated?
“The city was even shut out of the JBFA media awards for writers and broadcasters over the weekend.”
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bladdison, ben mims, and mona holmes were nominated and lost.
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It means none of the previously announced writing and media awards went to nominees from LA.
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my review of owamni (best new restaurant in the country, as per the beard foundation) won me many, many new friends on a twin cities facebook food group earlier this year…i expect those people are even more impressed with me today.
tldr if you didn’t click: six of us went and ate the entire menu and really did not like it. in fact, it was the worst restaurant meal (of any kind) i’ve had in a while. that we paid $125/head really rubbed the salt in.
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