Postponed from March 25, the James Beard Foundation has finally announced the finalists for its annual awards.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has left millions unemployed, has devastated the hospitality industry, and the Twitter livestream announcing this year's nominees recognized the crisis. “Today we acknowledge the accomplishments of all of the people behind these restaurants, and the need for us all to fight for this industry that employs 16 million people and is a vital part of American culture,” the foundation tweeted.
Award categories not only included Restaurant and Chef Awards nominees, but also Media Awards nominees (Books, Broadcast, and Journalism), Design Awards nominees, and Leadership Awards honorees as well. The Humanitarian of the Year award, Lifetime Achievement award, and America’s Classics recipients were all previously announced. This year’s nominees include Kwame Onwuachi, Daniela Soto-Innes, Cassidee Dabney, Missy Robbins, Marc Vetri, David Chang, Roy Choi, Natasha Pickowicz, Jessica Koslow, Junghyun Park, and many, many more—Food & Wine’s own Ray Isle is also nominated, as is Besha Rodell for the World’s Best Restaurants package from Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure.
The winners for the Media Awards will be announced via press release Wednesday, May 27 in lieu of a physical ceremony. The Restaurant and Chef Awards winners will be announced Friday, September 25 from Chicago, also broadcast live via Twitter.
Read on for the full list, courtesy of the James Beard Foundation.
A restaurant opened in the prior calendar year that already demonstrates excellence in cuisine and hospitality, and that is likely to make a significant impact in years to come.
A pastry chef or baker who demonstrates exceptional skill, integrity, and character in the preparation of desserts, pastries, or breads served in a retail bakery. Eligible candidates must have been working as a pastry chef or baker for the past five years.
A restaurant or bar that demonstrates exceptional care and skill in the selection, preparation, and serving of cocktails, spirits, and/or beer.
A chef who sets high culinary standards and who has served as a positive example for other food professionals. Eligible candidates must have been working as a chef for the past five years.
A restaurant in operation for five or more years that demonstrates consistency and exceptional thoughtfulness in hospitality and service.
A pastry chef or baker who demonstrates exceptional skill, integrity, and character in the preparation of desserts, pastries, or breads served in a restaurant. Must have been working as a pastry chef or baker for the past five years.
A restaurant that demonstrates consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, service, and operations. Eligible candidates must have been in business 10 or more consecutive years.
A restaurateur who demonstrates creativity in entrepreneurship and integrity in restaurant operations. Eligible candidates must have been in the restaurant business for at least 10 years and they must not have been nominated for a James Beard Foundation chef award in the past five years.
A restaurant or bar that demonstrates excellence in wine service through a carefully considered wine list and a well-informed approach to helping customers choose and drink wine.
A beer, wine, or spirits producer who demonstrates consistency and exceptional skill in his or her craft.
A chef age 30 or younger, born on or after January 1 in the year occurring thirty years prior to the award year in which such chef is to be considered for the award (e.g., January 1, 1976 for candidates to be considered in awards year 2006), who displays exceptional talent, character, and leadership ability, and who is likely to make a significant impact in years to come.
Chefs who set high culinary standards and also demonstrate integrity and admirable leadership skills in their respective regions. A nominee may be from any kind of dining establishment but must have been working as a chef for at least five years, with the three most recent years spent in the region.
Owners: Elihue Washington Jr. and Maria Washington
Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth
Owners: Al Zehnder, Susan Zehnder, and Martha Zehnder Shelton
Owners: Arthur Pappas, Chris Pappas, and Eric Zink
Owners: Mila Apostol and Joy Apostol
Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que
For cookbooks and other non-fiction food- or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2019. Winners, including the Book of the Year Award and the Cookbook Hall of Fame inductee will be announced on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
Books with recipes focused on the cooking or foodways of regions or communities in the United States.
Cook Like a Local: Flavors That Can Change How You Cook and See the World
Chris Shepherd and Kaitlyn Goalen
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking
South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations
Books with recipes focused on breads, pastries, desserts, and other treats.
Dappled: Baking Recipes for Fruit Lovers
Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making
Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman
Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes
Books focused on recipes for how to make beverages.
Last Call: Bartenders on Their Final Drink and the Wisdom and Rituals of Closing Time
The Martini Cocktail: A Meditation on the World's Greatest Drink, with Recipes
Beverage-focused books and guides that either don’t contain recipes or that may have minimal recipes but aren’t recipe-centric.
The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks: Sake, Shochu, Japanese Whisky, Beer, Wine, Cocktails and Other Beverages
Stephen Lyman and Chris Bunting
Red & White: An Unquenchable Thirst for Wine
World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition
Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson
Books with recipes that address a broad scope of cooking, not just a single topic, technique or region.
All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice
(W. W. Norton & Company)
Milk Street: The New Rules: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Where Cooking Begins: Uncomplicated Recipes to Make You a Great Cook
Books with recipes related to health and nutrition, or that address specific health issues, such as allergies or diabetes.
The Beauty Chef Gut Guide: With 90+ Delicious Recipes and Weekly Meal Plans
Cannelle et Vanille: Nourishing, Gluten-Free Recipes for Every Meal and Mood
Gluten-Free Baking at Home: 102 Foolproof Recipes for Delicious Breads, Cakes, Cookies, and More
Books with recipes focused on food and cooking traditions of countries or regions outside of the United States.
Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes – Through Darkness and Light
Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa
(W. W. Norton & Company)
American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta
Le Corbuffet: Edible Art and Design Classics
Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico
Includes manuals, guides, encyclopedias, and books that present research related to food or foodways.
Gandhi’s Search for the Perfect Diet: Eating with the World in Mind
A South You Never Ate: Savoring Flavors and Stories from the Eastern Shore of Virginia
(The University of North Carolina Press)
The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration
Books written by a culinary professional or restaurant chef with recipes that may include advanced cooking techniques, use specialty ingredients, and require professional equipment. This includes culinary arts textbooks.
Dishoom: From Bombay with Love
Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Naved Nasir
Eleven Madison Park: The Next Chapter, Revised and Unlimited Edition
The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think
Books with recipes focused on a single or category of ingredients, a dish, or a method of cooking – such as lobster, seafood, grains, pasta, burgers, or canning. Exceptions: baking and desserts books, vegetable-focused books, health and special diets books, restaurant and professional books, and beverage books should be entered in those respective categories.
From the Oven to the Table: Simple Dishes That Look After Themselves
Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy's Best Home Cooks
Sour: The Magical Element That Will Transform Your Cooking
Books that feature recipes for how to prepare and serve vegetables and plant-based ingredients. Books may be vegetarian, vegan, or vegetable-focused with minimal reference to meats.
Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables
Vegetables Illustrated: An Inspiring Guide with 700+ Kitchen-Tested Recipes
Editors at America's Test Kitchen
(America's Test Kitchen)
Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar
Narrative nonfiction books, including memoirs, culinary tourism, investigative journalism, food advocacy, and critical analysis of food and foodways for a general audience.
Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer
Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir
Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein
Women on Food: Charlotte Druckman and 115 Writers, Chefs, Critics, Television Stars, and Eaters
For radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, webcasts, and documentaries appearing in 2019. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
The Food Programme – The Search for Esiah's Seeds
Airs on: BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
It Burns: The Scandal-Plagued Race to Breed the World’s Hottest Chili
The Sporkful – When White People Say Plantation
Airs on: iTunes, Sporkful, Spotify, and Stitcher
California Foodways – The Curious Second Life of a Prather Ranch Cow: Biomedical Research; Trans Man Finds – and Creates – Refuge in His Family's Small-Town Cafe; Legalizing Cannabis Impacts Food, Farming in Humboldt
Airs on: KQED, California Foodways, iTunes, Google Play, Radio Public, SoundCloud, and Stitcher
Food Actually – Junk Food Actually
Gravy – Mahalia Jackson’s Glori-Fried Chicken
Airs on: southernfoodways.org and iTunes
Airs on: Premiered at SXSW in March 2019
That's My Jazz
Chef Studio: The Crumby Bits – Cricket Macarons
Grace Young – Wok Therapist
Airs on: GraceYoung.com and YouTube
Ready Jet Cook - How to Make Pad Thai with Jet Tila
Airs on: FoodNetwork.com and YouTube
Eat, Drink, Share, Puerto Rico Food – El Burén de Lula
Handmade – How Knives Are Made for New York's Best Restaurants; How a Ceramics Master Makes Plates for Michelin-Starred Restaurants
Airs on: Eater and YouTube
In Real Life – Why Eating This Fish Could Save Coral Reefs
Airs on: YouTube and AJ+
Broken Bread with Roy Choi
Airs on: Tastemade and KCET
Good Eats: The Return – American Classic: Chicken Parm
Lidia's Kitchen – Trattoria Favorites
Pati's Mexican Table – A Local's Tour of Culiacán
Airs on: WETA; distributed nationally by American Public Television
Chef's Table – Asma Khan
Las Crónicas del Taco (Taco Chronicles) – Canasta
Street Food – Bangkok, Thailand
Adam Bricker, Chloe Weaver, and Will Basanta
Alexander D. Paul, Matthew Chavez, and Shane Reed
The Taste of Place – Wild Rice
Jesse Roesler and Kevin Russell
Fork the System – Moro Food of Muslim Mindanao: This is Filipino, Too
Reporters: Joi Lee and HyoJin Park
Airs on: Al Jazeera English Digital, YouTube, and Facebook
In Real Life– Why This $300 Clam Is so Important to Native Americans and China
Airs on: YouTube and AJ+
Rotten – The Avocado War
Reporters: Christine Haughney, Erin Cauchi, and Gretchen Goetz
For articles published in English in 2019. Winners, including the Emerging Voice Award, will be announced on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
What She’s Having: “Popeyes’ Fried Chicken Sandwich: A Delicious Distraction, a Cultural Lesson”; “Every Season Is Soup Season”; “Why a Somali Nook in East Boston Is One of the Country’s Best New Restaurants”
Power Rankings: “The Official Fast Food French Fry Power Rankings”; “The Official Spicy Snack Power Rankings”; “The Official Domestic Beer Power Rankings”
Rooted in Place: “In Service”; “Hair, Food, and Hustle”; “The Best That We've Got”
“Le Colonial Is an Orientalist Specter”; “The Ultimate Chaat Truck Crawl”; “The Fantasy — and Reality — of Dining at Chez Panisse”
“NYC’s Buzziest New Sushi Parlors Are Transcendent, If You Can Handle the Bros”; “Wall Street’s Underground Russian Spa Is a Dining Destination for the Soul”; “Estiatorio Milos Is One of the Last Big Restaurant Scams in New York”
“Peter Luger Used to Sizzle. Now It Sputters.”; “The 20 Most Delicious Things at Mercado Little Spain”; “Benno, Proudly Out of Step With the Age”
“In Pursuit of the Perfect Pizza”
“Interview With the Vampiro”
“These Are the World's Best Restaurants: North America, South America, Africa and Middle East”
Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine
America's farmers in crisis during Trump's trade wars: “Left Behind: Farmers Fight to Save Their Land in Rural Minnesota as Trade War Intensifies”; "’I'm Gonna Lose Everything’: A Farm Family Struggles to Recover after Rising Debt Pushes a Husband to Suicide"; “In Trump Country, a Season of Need on Family Farms”
“The Great Land Robbery”
“Value Meal”
“An Indigenous Community in Mexico Finds Its Voice — and Strength — in Wild Mushrooms”
“On Hawaii, the Fight for Taro’s Revival”
T: The New York Times Style Magazine
“A Real Hot Mess: How Grits Got Weaponized Against Cheating Men”
“The AGEs Puzzle: How We Cook Food Is Killing Us. Scientists in SC Know Why.”; “9 Easy Ways to Eat Fewer AGEs: A Stress-Free Guide”
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
“How Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat”; “Meet the Silicon Valley Investor Who Wants Washington to Figure Out What You Should Eat”
Catherine Boudreau and Helena Bottemiller Evich
“Protein Nation”
“6 Holiday Cookies That Will Win You the Cookie Swap”
Hilary Cadigan and Rick Martinez
“Fry Time”
“In Praise of Schmaltz”
“Best New Restaurants 2019”
Kevin Alexander, Nicole A. Taylor, and Adriana Velez
“Food and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”
Gary He, Matt Buchanan, and Meghan McCarron
“Made in America”
Tim Carman and Shelly Tan
“How USDA Distorted Data to Conceal Decades of Discrimination Against Black Farmers”
Nathan Rosenberg and Bryce Wilson Stucki
“‘The Man Who Attacked Me Works in Your Kitchen’: Victim of Serial Groper Took Justice into Her Own Hands”
Amy Brittain and Maura Judkis
“The Young Hands That Feed Us”
Karen Coates and Valeria Fernández
“Forget Democratic Votes. Which Presidential Hopeful Will Eat 16 Iconic SC Foods First?”; “A James Island Meat-and-Two Secretly Switched to Carolina Gold Rice. Here’s What Happened.”; “In Prisons Across South Carolina, It’s Not a Birthday Without Cake Made by a Fellow Inmate”
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
“In Search of Hot Beef”; “Chef Jack Riebel Is in the Fight of His Life”; “Harry Singh on the Perfect Roti, Trinidad, and Life in the Kitchen”
“In a Wheelchair and Hungry”; “Where to Eat Regionally Inspired Mexican Food in New York City”; “How Sichuan Became NYC’s Dominant Chinese Cuisine”
“A Mind to Stay Here”
“My Mother's Catfish Stew”
“An Undeserved Gift”
“The Dysfunction of Food”
“Love, Peace, and Taco Grease: How I Left My Abusive Husband and Found Guy Fieri”
“Seeking Jewish Identity at the Sabra Hummus Factory”
“For 20 Years, happy hour has seen us through work — and life”
“How the Starbucks Macchiato Ruined My Indie Coffee Shop Experiences”
“In Memoriam of Hominy Grill, the Restaurant That Defined Charleston”
“First Course”
“The Fruit Saver”
“The Provocations of Chef Tunde Wey”
“How Climate Change Impacts Wine”
“May I Help You With That Wine List?”
“Seltzer Is Over. Mineral Water Is Forever.”
For the best restaurant design or renovation in North America since January 1, 2017.
Project: HALL by o.d.o
Firms: Spoonbill Watering Hole and Restaurant, Flywheel Co. and Vermillion Architects, LLC
Project: Spoonbill Watering Hole and Restaurant, Lafayette, LA
For the best restaurant design or renovation in North America since January 1, 2017.
Project: Swan & Bar Bevy, Miami
Firms: Klein Agency and ORA
Eligible establishments include places where prepared food and/or beverages are served for consumption on premises (except in the case of food trucks or takeout counters) but not for markets, farm stands, food shops or groceries where ingredients are sold for preparation elsewhere. This category, added in 2019, recognizes that the nature of restaurants is changing, and food is sold and consumed in a variety of environments that do not necessarily qualify as traditional full-service restaurants.
Project: Carissa’s the Bakery, East Hampton, NY
Firms: Stonehill Taylor, MCR/Morse Development and Aaron Sciandra
Firms: Studio Dewberry and Workstead
Project: Citrus Club, Charleston, SC