For Best Chefs America
The James Beard Foundation released the winners for their 2016 awards. Most of the chefs on the list are members of Best Chefs America; once again proving that chefs know best.
Best Chef: Great Lakes
Curtis Duffy, Grace, Chicago
Grace's tasting menu comes in two styles: flora (for vegetarians) and fauna. Curtis Duffy has led this modern American restaurant in Chicago to earning three Michelin stars, a five star rating from Forbes, and five diamonds from AAA. In the documentary "For Grace", Duffy reveals what it takes to execute the high caliber dining experience that earned him the title of Best Chef in the Great Lakes.
Best Chef: Midwest
Paul Berglund, The Bachelor Farmer, Minneapolis
Paul Berglund of the funky two story warehouse restaurant, The Bachelor Farmer, took home the title of Best Chef of the Midwest. His seasonal, Nordic-inspired fare features foraged perennials and many other local ingredients, some of which are grown on the restaurant's rooftop farm.
Best Chef: New York City
Jonathan Waxman, Barbuto
This Italian restaurant in Manhattan serves lunch, dinner, and brunch, antipasti, pizza, and pasta in many shapes, fine cheese, and a rendition of pollo al forno that has earned Waxman outstanding critical acclaim. Barbuto calls its food gutsy, fun, and seasonally spontaneous. Head to the West Village to taste Waxman’s cuisine or buy his books, A Great American Cook and Italian My Way, to make his recipes at home.
Best Chef: Northwest
Renee Erickson, The Whale Wins, Seattle
Renee Erickson is famous for utilizing the bounty of the Puget Sound with exemplary taste and technique. The Whale Wins is her latest restaurant that showcases European cuisine cooked in a woodfire oven. The menu is divided into pantry items, small plates, main plates, and sweets. Erickson's menu changes daily to feature the best ingredients local purveyors have to offer.
Best Chef: South
Justin Devillier, La Petite Grocery, New Orleans
La Petite Grocery opened in 2004 in a building that used to house a grocery store over a century ago. Devillier cooks top notch creole food with lighter ingredients, always executed with fine dining techniques. His blue crab beignets are to die for. The brunch at La Petite Gourmet is also touted as one of the best in the city.
Best Chef: Southeast
Tandy Wilson, City House, Nashville
Best Chef Tandy Wilson makes Italian pizzas, homemade pastas, meatballs, and lamb sausage that people across the country make pilgrimages to Nashville just to taste. Wilson is acknowledged for blending flavorful Italian food with Southern staples. City House is a must-stop in the fashionable Germantown borough of Nashville for anyone looking for outstanding margarita pizza and tapas-sized plates.
Best Chef: West
Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo, Animal, Los Angeles
Find Animal by the number 435 (the restaurant's street address). There's no other sign. The restaurant's white walls provide a blank canvas to showcase the fun flavors of Shook and Dotolo's cooking. Loyal customers recommend coming with a group and ordering as many dishes as possible. Animal is famous for its use of organ meat and other animal parts that honor "nose to tail" philosophies: foie gras, veal tongue, pig head, pig tongue, marrow, sweetbreads, veal brains, chicken liver, and more.
Best Chef: Southwest
Justin Yu, Oxheart, Houston
Justin Yu, the Beard winner for Best Chef of the Southwest, and his restaurant, Oxheart, echo the dietary guidance made popular by Michael Pollan. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. At Oxheart, Yu offers two prix fixe menus a night: a garden menu and a tasting menu. Each option is vegetable-focused and features six or so courses.
Outstanding Chef
Suzanne Goin, Lucques, Los Angeles
Though it's been around for well over a decade, it's always hard to choose what to order from the menu at Lucques. Lucques, opened in 1998, as the first restaurant by Suzanne Goin, the chef behind Hungry Cat, A.O.C., and The Larder at Burton Way. Customers enjoy her clean preparations of California produce, the long and leisurely pace of service, and of course, the three course Sunday Supper for a mere $45. To be honored as 'outstanding chef' at her landmark restaurant marks a full circle moment.
Outstanding Baker
Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery+Cafe, Boston
The popularity of Flour Bakery+Cafe is evident. Chang's prolific bakery has spread throughout Boston (and Cambridge) with four locations. At Flour, you can buy bread by the slice or the loaf. You can dine on healthful salads and sandwiches, hot drinks, breakfast scones, and a vast array of other savory and sweet treats. Chang's confectionary also pumps out homemade cakes in an array of sizes, cookies, pies, and tarts. When it comes to pastry, she's put everything under one roof.
Outstanding Restaurant
Alinea, Grant Achatz, Chicago
On the first of this year, the menu and interior design of Alinea went through a massive renovation to stay true to Achatz's modernist vision. The chef is always moving food into the future. It's surprising that Alinea received the Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant since it's been closed all year. Alinea re-opened May 20. Every foodie is antsy to see what's unveiled.
Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America
Marcus Samuelsson, Chef and Restaurateur, NYC
Marcus Samuelsson’s arsenal of 11 restaurants are located in New York City, Europe, the Caribbean, Los Angeles, and beyond. The Ethiopian chef uses flavors from around the world to create comforting food at his restaurants, which include Streetbird Rotisserie, American Table Cafe & Bar, and many more. Samuelsson was awarded the title for Rising Star Chef in 2009 by the Beard Foundation. This 2016 nod as “Who’s Who” marks the rapid growth of Samuelsson’s concepts across the globe since he opened Red Rooster Harlem in 2010.
The 2016 JBF Lifetime Achievement Award
Leah Chase, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, New Orleans
Leah Chase is known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine. Her flagship restaurant, Dooky Chase, opened in 1941, and to this day remains family-owned and operated. Dooky Chase is one of the first restaurants in New Orleans where both blacks and whites dined shoulder to shoulder before the city was integrated. This JBF Lifetime Achievement Award is one of the many accolades given to Chase, a cook who has prepared meals for presidents and famous musicians, yet stays committed to making food (with love) that is accessible to all.
Book of the Year
Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook
(Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
It seems like this book was placed on the shelves of every in the know restaurant as soon as it got published. Solomonov’s bestselling cookbook is named after his restaurant Zahav, that brought impeccably executed modern Israeli cuisine to Philadelphia. Flip through the pages to find “a world of Israeli cooking,” tutorials on what’s kosher, a handful of hummus recipes, and guides to harissa and tahini. Cook soup, meat over a fire, with rice, milk, and honey; Solomonov and Cook will show you how to create your very own Israeli feast.
