NEW YORK, NY (May 5, 2009) – Winners were announced last night for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious recognition program honoring professionals in the food and beverage industries. During a ceremony hosted by Cat Cora, Emeril Lagasse and Stanley Tucci at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, awards in 38 categories were presented, including Restaurant and Chef, Book, Design and Graphics, and special achievement awards. Industry leaders from across the country attended this year’s highly-anticipated festivities, which celebrated “Women in Food” and included a post-show Gala Reception featuring some of the nation’s top female chefs, sommeliers, mixologists and artisanal producers, led by Gala Chair Lidia Matticchio Bastianich. The annual Journalism and Broadcast Media Awards were presented at the invitation-only Media Awards Dinner on Sunday, May 3, 2009 at the Hudson Theatre in midtown Manhattan. A complete list of winners is included at the end of this release.
Highlights from this year’s list of winners include:
Outstanding Restaurant: Jean Georges (Chef/Owner: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Owner: Phil Suarez, New York, NY)
Outstanding Chef: Dan Barber (Blue Hill, New York, NY)
Rising Star Chef: Nate Appleman (A16, San Francisco, CA)
Best New Restaurant: Momofuku Ko (Chef/Owners: David Chang and Peter Serpico, New York, NY)
Cookbook of the Year: Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes (Author: Jennifer McLagan, Publisher: Ten Speed Press, Editor: Clancy Drake)
In addition, special achievement award honorees included:
Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America: David Burke (Chef, Entrepreneur, New York, NY); John T. Edge (Journalist, Director, Southern Foodways Alliance, Oxford, MS); Betty Fussell (Author, Culinary Historian, New York, NY); Dorothy Cann Hamilton (Founder, The French Culinary Institute, New York, NY); Clark Wolf (Clark Wolf Company, New York, NY)
America’s Classics: Arnold’s Country Kitchen (Owners: Jack and Rose Arnold, Nashville, TN); Breitbach’s Country Dining (Owner: Mike Breitbach, Sherrill, IA); Mustache Bill’s Diner (Owner: Bill Smith, Barnegat Light, NJ); Totonno’s (Owner: Lawrence Ciminieri, Brooklyn, NY); Yank Sing (Owner: Vera Chan-Waller, San Francisco, CA)
Humanitarian of the Year: Feeding America
Lifetime Achievement Award: Ella Brennan (Partner: Commander’s Palace Family of Restaurants)