Enjoyed a lovely Sunday brunch with a special guest apparance by Chef Karl Benko and his lovely wife, Carrie. His news? He'll be the featured chef for a James Beard dinner, August 11 at NYC's James Beard House. More to come with details. (We hear there's an apparance on the TODAY show scheduled as well.) Hear hear!
As most have heard by now, Chicago's own Grant Achatz of Alinea was named outstanding chef at Sunday night's James Beard Awards ceremony in NYC. Most reports have covered outstanding restaurants and new chefs. Here are a few races that I've been following:
*Outstanding Pastry Chef: Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine Bakery in SF.
*Congratulations to Fritz Maytag, legendary brewer and owner of Anchor Brewing Company. He'll be the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achivement Award winner.
More from me this afternoon when I've had some time to dig into the list and offer up some commentary. The full list is here. In the meantime, here's the news of you wanted to know. Do not ask me what I think about seeing Zingerman's Roadhouse on that list.
BEST CHEF: GREAT LAKES (IL, IN, MI, OH)
Graham Elliot Bowles, Avenues, Chicago
Carrie Nahabedian, Naha, Chicago
Bruce Sherman, North Pond, Chicago
Michael Symon, Lola, Cleveland
Alex Young, Zingerman's Roadhouse, Ann Arbor, MI
Waiting word from NYC this morning as the James Beard Foundation announces the finalists for the 2008 awards. Judges vote on the long list of semifinalists narrowing it down to only five in each category. Additionally, they can only vote for chefs and restaurants where they've actually eaten, a practice that makes it tough for Indiana chefs. We are in the some region as Chicago. Winners are announced at a gala ceremony on June 8, 2008.
iFARM Collective pulls the plug: That didn't take very long. Looks like things weren't well thought out regarding the summer timing for opening a collective fresh produce "store". (I'm still not sure how a stand is better than the farmers market if it will run concurrent with in the summer except that it might be open more often but with a limited selection.) Additionally, rumors are buzzing downtown about the disaster that is the City Market renovation. With delays, some vendors are having financial issues and may not be able to re-open.
India Garden Downtown Closes: Sadly, India Garden has lost their lease on their downtown Illinois street location and is now closed. (Indianapolis Monthly's The Dish says the space was leased out from under them by an incoming unnamed national chain willing to spend twice the money.) Suddenly 200 business people a day won't know where to have lunch. Gone will be the funky aromas that permeated the parking garage at Market Tower. On the other hand, I won't have to worry about arriving at a Columbia Club lunch smelling like I just came from an Indian banquet. They're hoping to reopen downtown in the new few months.
Wolfgang Puck: Media Whore: Quick alert the media. Wolfgang Puck has jumped on the organic PR bandwagon, this time by removing all animals and animal products raised in confined or crated environments. While he'll be replacing chickens, eggs, beef, and pork with sustainable varieties, he's removed crated veal and foie gras from his menu. My issue? The media frenzy over a bullshit decision and the appearance that yet another chef has given in to hounding by animal rights activists. Additionally, it's yet to be clarified but I suspect when it notes "at all his Wolfgang Puck restaurants", he means a select few of his high end outposts and not the mass number of fast causal eateries and Puck's catering and restaurant operations. (Maybe someone from Puck's here in town can clarify?)
I don't suspect it will make the media when his accountants tell him how much it's going to cost to move to non-commercial animal sourcing company-wide. Otherwise, it's always good press to cut your two highest food cost and probably least popular items -- veal and foie gras. What chef wouldn't love to make a PR win from a ban of his most expensive ingredients? More from Kate at Accidental Hedonist and the voice of reason, Bob del Grosso, guesting at Ruhlman's blog.
Are you a Flexitarian? Christine Barbour is. In her latest, lovely post, one of our favorite bloggers tells all about her vegetarian ways, how she *cheated*, and why she doesn't feel bad about it! Maybe we need to chip in and get her a set of these.
James Beard and IACP Nominees Announced: Nominees for awards from the James Beard Foundation and the IACP were announced last week. Notables? In the single subject category, Braise by Daniel Boulud was recognized. And in books on food, nominees included the wonderful Heat by Bill Buford, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and The United States of Arugula by David Kamp. For food writing awards, Lettie Teague, Eric Felton, and John T. Edge garnered nominations along with a host of other writers represented major newspapers and the main food and wine mags. And blogger Tyler Colman garnered a nomination for Dr. Vino's Wine Blog. Winners will be announced May 7.
The Mystery of the Waffle House Solved: And in case you ever wondered how your waitress at The Waffle House encodes and decodes the complicated ordering system (based on placing condiments on the plate), Slashfood has the grill cook's cheat sheet. Will that be pork chop or country ham? Well, it all depends on whether your mustard is face up or face down, ifyouknowwhatImean. No really. Mustard face down is country ham.
