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Showing results for tags 'Tom Sietsema'.
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Today's Chat
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Does anyone have the faintest idea what he's doing with this list? Surely he doesn't mean Ten Best, or even his Ten Favorites. At first I thought it was something like his top 10 most exciting openings of 2018, but nope, not that either. I'm a bit confused, not that it much matters. As for their merits, the only one from ##3-10 at which I had a great meal this year was Spoken English, FWIW. (My most recent meal at Hitmitsu was good, not great, and not quite worth the $$. But I've been wowed there in the past.) I haven't been to Three Blacksmiths or Centrolina. -
It's that time again! The 2016 Semifinalist list (long-list) for the James Beard Awards has been released.
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I want to congratulate my comrades, friends, and yes, our fellow DR members Tom Sietsema and Todd Kliman for both winning James Beard Awards for writing two evenings ago. Tom won a long-overdue award for his ongoing Washington Post serial "America's Best Food Cities," and Todd won the MFK Distinguished Writing Award for his article "Pork Life," published in Lucky Peach. Although equally happy for both, I'm particularly happy for Tom because of all the work he's put in for the James Beard Society over the years - it's very gratifying to see him take home the equipment after coming so close for so long. And yet, when Todd was on the stage, I'm quite certain he knew that his recently departed mother was up there with him - he's had a difficult year in coping with personal loss. Just as I will never be worth ten million dollars, I'm genuinely happy for my friends who are, assuming that's what they want. I've accepted that I will never win a James Beard Award or be recognized for my work during my lifetime, but I'm still genuinely happy that both Tom and Todd were, and hope they win more in the years to come, truly. We should all congratulate them - they both have helped to put Washington, DC on the nation's food map, and these awards are the pinnacle of recognition that a food writer can achieve - the equivalent of winning an Oscar for someone working in Hollywood films. What *I* want to know is: Where did you two celebrate? Kind regards, Don-
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- James Beard Awards
- 2016
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In case people missed it, Metro Weekly did a great interview with Tom Sietsema this past week that's a must-read. I was a bit daunted by this revelation: "I spend over 40 hours a week in a restaurant. I eat out an average of 13 meals a week." And this: "When I'm working on the Fall Dining Guide, I go to about 100 restaurants starting in May and June for publication in October, so I'm thinking fall. I'm not eating watermelon and rhubarb and soft-shell crabs. I'm looking for haunches of meat and heavier things knowing that this is going to appear in print in October." In all, it left me respecting what he does--and what it takes to do it--even more, even if I don't always agree with his tastes or assessment.
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Mildly surprised this wasn't already posted here. I really enjoyed Tom's piece in today's food section simply because I think he took on a topic others generally don't. I'm personally not a fan of the big chain restaurants and never go to them because I think they're - usually unhealthy - usually not very tasty, interesting or thoughtful in terms of menu and cuisine - introduce other societal problems ranging from environment and labor to economy and health That said, I absolutely agree with Tom's thesis: there is much that the better independent restaurants we tend to celebrate here can learn from the likes of Cheesecake Factory, Outback Steakhouse, Applebees and the others. And, one final point, I've always thought the good/bad restaurant debate when applied to lower cost, "value" eateries like Applebees is a trojan horse. There are obviously many "good" independent lower cost spots as well--many of them ethnic and we're fortunate to have so many good options here.A Anyway, I'm interested to learn what others here thought of the article. Carves out a bit of new ground in food journalism imho.
