Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune restaurant in New York City spoke for many of the 2,000 audience members at last week’s lavish James Beard Awards ceremony when she accepted the award for Best Chef New York City. The feisty Hamilton declared: “I’m proud to be part of my industry. We don’t spill oil on shorelines. We don’t steal people’s money. We do honest work,” Hamilton said to roars of applause.
Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, pictured here, was the scene of the 21st annual James Beard Foundatiion Awards, the Oscars of the food world. Super-chefs such as Jose Andres, Guy Savoy, Emeril Lagasse and Daniel Boulud, mingled with winemakers, restaurateurs, journalists, Food Network personalities and even a pair of well-dressed pigs making the rounds with their handler from Whistlepig Straight Rye Whiskey.
The black-tied audience hooted and hollered for their favorite winners, many of whom shared attention-grabbing stories in their acceptance speeches.
Tony Maws, chef of Craigie on Main in Cambridge Mass., and winner of the 2011 Best Chef Northeast award, talked about how he opened the original Craigie Street Bistrot in a basement on a tiny residential street near Harvard Square. “I had one cook and one dishwasher, and the dishwasher told me one night that he was quitting. I asked when, and he said ‘right now.’ He was on the next train.”
Maws teared up as he recounted how his mother showed up next day to do the dishwashing, and he thanked her for the countless times she has bailed him since opening day in 2002. The restaurant was renamed Craigie on Main when it moved 2 ½ years ago to a more “urban” section of Cambridge.
Maws’ win was a particularly satisfying one for me. I first visited Craigie Street Bistrot in 2002 when our son was in college in the area. Back then, Maws’ menu was a pretty traditional French affair with coarse pates, smooth rillettes, coq au vin and confit. I loved the simplicity and authenticity of the food and the low-key atmosphere and attitude, and we visited several times.
But last year, on my first visit to the new Craigie on Main, I was blown away by the elevated level of sophistication of the operation, both in terms of décor – there’s a quiet sense of style and sophistication – and food. Some of the original Gallic standbys are still there – viva the frisee salad and paté campagne. But, in addition, there’s now a robust pasta with suckling pig confit; elegant daikon milk-poached loup de mer with rock shrimp, bok choy and horseradish; my favorite “Vermont Organic Veal two Ways: Bacon-Wrapped Loin and Slow-Roasted Short Rib” with red beets and crispy red quinoa; and the supremely satisfying Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream with salted chocolate sauce and a bacon pecan crust. Menus, both a la carte and tasting, are seasonal and change frequently.
Maws, who was doing farm-to-table and snout-to-tail cooking long before it was trendy, continued his fairly lengthy but captivating acceptance speech. “It’s a lot of hard work. We don’t stop. And (turning out outstanding food) isn’t going to stop,” Maws went on. “We work our asses off and anytime someone applauds I think it’s fantastic, but it’s not why we do it. I'll be back on the line tomorrow night….our goal is always the same, to make people happy."
Lastly, Maws graciously acknowledged the other finalists in his category who included Tim Cushman of o ya in Boston and Matt Jennings of La Laiterie in Providence, RI, saying “There are no losers here tonight.”
Other award winners included Belinda Chang of The Modern for Outstanding Wine Service; Gabriel Rucker of Portland Oregon’s Le Pigeon for Rising Star Chef (given to a chef age 30 or younger); Outstanding Chef Jose Andres; Best Chef Pacific Michael Tusk of Quince, San Francisco; and Per Se, New York City, for Outstanding Service.
After the glitzy three-hour program, guests circulated among 40-plus stations featuring food and drink by a star-studded cast of chefs and winemakers. In keeping with this year’s theme “Melting Pot,” it was a smorgesbord of “artichoke & black truffle soup with toasted brioche” from Guy Savoy; lobster carpaccio with sea urchin and osetra caviar from Luciano Pellegrini of Valentino, Las Vegas; a way-out bahn mi sandwich with pork belly, kumquats, pistachios and lardons from Octavio Becerra of palate food + wine in Glendale, CA., and these luscious "Steamed Thai Pumpkin Rice Cakes with Shallots" by Chef Andy Ricker of Pok Pok, Portland, OR. (Photo by StarChefs.)
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