The James Beard Foundation announced its annual award nominees for media, journalism, chefs and restaurants today and Atlanta restaurants were recognized in two national beverage categories. Miller Union was a finalist for Outstanding Wine Program, while Kimball House was nominated for Outstanding Bar Program.
The Beard Foundation originally planned to announce the nominees in Philadelphia and stream the ceremony online, but they moved to be online-only due to concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. The organization explained that, after consulting with chefs, restaurateurs and other hospitality professionals, the finalists selected for their work in 2019 deserved to be recognized despite the ongoing toll of COVID-19.
The Beard Foundation began the live broadcast with news that the media and journalism awards would be announced via press release on May 27. The chef and restaurant awards ceremony have been postponed until September 25, when they will be broadcast live from Chicago.
The first chef with an Atlanta connection to be named a nominee, however, is not a restaurateur. Alton Brown grabbed multiple nominations for Outstanding Television Program, in Studio or Fixed Location, for Good Eats: the Return, and Outstanding Personality/ Host.
<< RELATED: Alton Brown’s ‘Good Eats: The Return’ in production for Food Network
<< RELATED: Watch Alton Brown's live chat with Dad's Garage's Lucky Yates from May 1
One of the AJC’s own staff reporters received two nominations. Rosalind Bentley was nominated for Best Column and for the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for her work with Gravy, the Southern Foodways Alliance’s periodical. Also nominated in the latter category was John T. Edge, the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a program mentor for the nonfiction narrative MFA program at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He was recognized for his work with Oxford American.
Other media nominees with Atlanta connections include Hilary Cadigan, associate editor at Bon Appetit and a former food editor of Creative Loafing, nominated in the Home Cooking category; Besha Rodell, a former restaurant critic for Creative Loafing, was nominated for Dining and Travel writing in Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine; and the Atlanta-based outlet Bitter Southerner was nominated for Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication.
Chef Anne Quatrano had a busy day, announcing in the afternoon that her restaurants Star Provisions and Bacchanalia would reopen this week for takeout service, then stepping into her role as a James Beard Foundation board member to announce nominees in several categories. Quatrano shared the regional nominees for Best Chef, but local chefs were shut out.
Atlanta’s luck changed in the beverage category as Kimball House was name a finalist for Outstanding Bar Program and Miller Union for Outstanding Wine Program - both national-level awards.
However, Atlanta chefs Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin’ Barbecue, Meherwan Irani of Chai Pani and Botiwalla, Jiyeon Lee and Cody Taylor of Heirloom Market BBQ and Leonard Lewis of Bones were shut out in the Best Chef: Southeast category. In addition, local names Chris Wilkinson of Root Baking Co., Claudia Martinez of Tiny Lou’s, Maricela Vega of 8ARM, Steve Palmer of the Indigo Road and fine-dining restaurant Lazy Betty are no longer in the running for national awards in the Best Baker, Best Pastry Chef, Rising Star Best Restaurateur and Best New Restaurant categories, respectively.
RELATED:
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
