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2014 James Beard Awards


DonRocks

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Jaleo?  Really?  Also, interesting to see that Sushi Nakazawa (NYC) didn't make the New Restaurant cut.

I'm a bit disappointed that no area chefs made the Outstanding Chef candidates this time around, although several are in the running for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.  Maybe 2013 really was that un-buzzy a year, other than Rose's Luxury...

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Picking a winner from the semifinalist list is like picking the winner of the NCAA tournament once it gets down to the Sweet 16, right? Very difficult.

Would you be foolish enough to bet money, at even odds, on a winner when there are 20 contestants vying for a single award?

I would.

I'll bet $20 (donated to the charity of the winner's choice) that Blue Hill wins the award for Outstanding Service.

The first person who accepts, gets the wager.

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Area restaurant semifinaliists for the James Beard Award for 2014 are Rose's Luxury and Rogue 24.  Tony Chittum and Cathal Armstrong are among area chefs.  More informaton from the Going Out Guide here.

AND...! Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC is on the list for outstanding pastry chef. She is a '99 graduate of Lee High School in Springfield, VA, and was the speaker at my son's graduation from Lee last June...!

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Jaleo?  Really?  Also, interesting to see that Sushi Nakazawa (NYC) didn't make the New Restaurant cut.

I'm a bit disappointed that no area chefs made the Outstanding Chef candidates this time around, although several are in the running for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.  Maybe 2013 really was that un-buzzy a year, other than Rose's Luxury...

Interestingly, a pertinent nominee to Washingtonians is Damian Heath.

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I'll bet $20 (donated to the charity of the winner's choice) that Blue Hill wins the award for Outstanding Service.

The first person who accepts, gets the wager.

The service for Blue Hill at the Stone Barns and in the Village was pretty good.

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I'll bet $20 (donated to the charity of the winner's choice) that Blue Hill wins the award for Outstanding Service.

The first person who accepts, gets the wager.

Don, curious about why you predict this. Assuming this nomination refers to the NYC location and not the Barns. We had dinner at Blue Hill in NYC 2 years ago and, while we thoroughly enjoyed our experience there, I can't quite see why the service would be worthy of this award.

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Don, curious about why you predict this. Assuming this nomination refers to the NYC location and not the Barns. We had dinner at Blue Hill in NYC 2 years ago and, while we thoroughly enjoyed our experience there, I can't quite see why the service would be worthy of this award.

Each Beard Award winner gets a vote in subsequent years.

NYC has its own category for Best Chef - by definition, there *must* be at least one new Beard judge each year from NYC. Also, judges can *only* vote on restaurants that they've been to.

In this category, Outstanding Service, only 1 restaurant out of 20 nominated is from NY. I'm making this bet strictly on a combination of mathematical bias and cronyism - who are all the previous NYC winners going to vote for? Once you get to the final balloting, there is no corruption, but the final balloting is, by definition, skewed *heavily* in favor of NYC - and becoming more so with each passing year. I predict that Blue Hill will either a ) not make the final cut, or b ) win.

If there's any doubt about this, refer to 2012's winner of Best Chef - Mid-Atlantic ... the only chef from the NYC area who made the final cut: Maricel Presilla from Cucharamama.

Cucharamama!

I would venture to say that nearly every NYC judge has been there (it's near the train station), and that relatively few have been to Restaurant Eve.

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I'm tickled to see Archie's Waeside in Le Mars, Iowa, garner yet another semifinal nomination for Best Wine Service. Judging from what they list online, the wines are nothing special, so they must have an impressive reserve list they aren't showing. As for the restaurant itself, it's a somewhat decrepit Midwest supper club (I'm being generous, at least considering the section where we were seated) that serves sensational steaks with utterly routine sides. Le Mars itself is a town of around 10,000 people about 20 miles from Sioux City, known as the "Ice Cream Capital of the World," as its the home of Wells Blue Bunny ice cream. I bet others have odd or interesting stories about some of the other more obscure places listed.

And, for what it's worth, I also note that Portland, Oregon, so often listed as a food destination, gets very little love in the national awards.

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Each Beard Award winner gets a vote in subsequent years.

NYC has its own category for Best Chef - by definition, there *must* be at least one new Beard judge each year from NYC. Also, judges can *only* vote on restaurants that they've been to.

In this category, Outstanding Service, only 1 restaurant out of 20 nominated is from NY. I'm making this bet strictly on a combination of mathematical bias and cronyism - who are all the previous NYC winners going to vote for? Once you get to the final balloting, there is no corruption, but the final balloting is, by definition, skewed *heavily* in favor of NYC - and becoming more so with each passing year. I predict that Blue Hill will either a ) not make the final cut, or b ) win.

If there's any doubt about this, refer to 2012's winner of Best Chef - Mid-Atlantic ... the only chef from the NYC area who made the final cut: Maricel Presilla from Cucharamama.

Cucharamama!

I would venture to say that nearly every NYC judge has been there (it's near the train station), and that relatively few have been to Restaurant Eve.

We drove to Hoboken and went to Cuchuarama ordering far more than most human beings would order.  It was an excellent neighborhood restaurant that, for "neighborhood" restaurants didn't approach Red Hen or Rose's Luxury or Alba.  But it was across the river from midtown Manhattan.  On the same trip we stopped off at Vetri in Philly.

I wouldn't even begin to suggest that both of these should be in the same sentence.

But each chef won a Beard Mid Atlantic award.

And each chef is now a semi finalist for the national Beard Award.

I only ask that a few more New Yorkers, once they cross the river, drive to Philly instead of Hoboken.  I also wonder how many of the New York voters actually had a meal at a restaurant nominated for the Mid Atlantic.  I understand that Cucharamama once hosted a Beard dinner...

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Jaleo?  Really?  Also, interesting to see that Sushi Nakazawa (NYC) didn't make the New Restaurant cut.

I'm a bit disappointed that no area chefs made the Outstanding Chef candidates this time around, although several are in the running for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.  Maybe 2013 really was that un-buzzy a year, other than Rose's Luxury...

No surprise to me that Nakazawa wasn't nominated. Sushi Yasuda was never listed either and it was historically considered *the best* sushi in New York, if not the East Coast. Not even a long-listed nomination for Kajitsu or Torishin (which has a Michelin Star). or for any amazing, traditional Chinese restaurant anywhere. Rasika might be the most "ethnic"-based restaurant to get nominated in the Mid-Atlantic category but they are far from traditional.

I've always found this odd about the Beard Awards....

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