Beard Redistricting, APL's CV, F&W moves, BA Hot 10, and more...

Family Meal - Wednesday, September 18th, 2019

Hello Wednesday,

And greetings from sunny Beirut. Had dinner last night with a local economist who was not feeling very positive about the near future here (“Will we be an Argentina or a Greece?”). Told him I was surprised to see so much optimism in people opening up bars and repairing restaurants in some neighborhoods. Paraphrased response: “That’s not optimism. It’s pessimism. All we can do is drink. And the drinks are getting cheaper.”

Reader, we drank arak.

Let’s get to it…

Awards Season – The James Beard Awards have made some changes. California, Texas, and NY State are now individual regions unto themselves, with the latter absorbing NYC and ending that city’s longstanding solo status. Per the press release, those big moves necessitated some sliding puzzle shifts: “The ‘West’ and ‘Northwest’ categories will be partially combined into a new ‘Northwest & Pacific’ category which will now consist of Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. The remaining states from the former ‘Northwest’ category will join Colorado in the newly minted ‘Mountain’ category, which will consist fully of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. The Southwest, having lost Texas and Colorado to the new redistricting, will now consist of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Nevada, the latter which joins from its previous ‘West’ status. The remaining ‘Northeast’ category remains the same minus New York, and now consists fully of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.”

Great Lakes, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, South, and Southeast remain unchanged. Got it? Good. Kim Severson had the scoop and a more readable rundown in the NYT if you need one. Key point: “The group will now give out awards in 12 regions instead of 10, allowing it to add 40 new restaurants, bars and chefs to a lengthy list of semifinalists that has already topped 400.”

Reactions from the peanut gallery so far: Pete Wells channeled Oprah (“You get a Beard Award. And you get a Beard Award. And you get a Beard Award.”), Dave Chang channeled Yoda (“Make voting transparent is the change they need to make.”), Houston Chronicle critic Alison Cook said the new Texas region is her longtime dream come true, and all of Los Angeles smiled politely and moved on (one assumes).

P.S. JBF chief strategy officer Mitchell Davis is hosting a Reddit AMA today at 12:30 on the East Coast if you want to… ask him anything. Favorite quote from Davis’ blog post explaining the awards changes (italics mine): “We have come to value the concept of food regionality… But regionality means different things in different places.” It sure does.

Awards Season Too – 50 Best has set a date. The list will be announced June 2nd in Antwerp. (Note to editors: I’m told I am allowed back.)

Awards Season Three – The 2019 Michelin Guide to Singapore was announced yesterday. Helpful summary in the press release: “2 restaurants with three stars: Les Amis, Odette. 5 restaurants with two stars: Saint Pierre, Shisen Hanten, Shoukouwa, Waku Ghin, Zén. 37 restaurants with one star.” Full list included at link.

The Lists – After their little home cooking longlist snafu, Bon Appétit (in the form of Julia Kramer and Amiel Stanek) released the Hot 10 this week. In descending order starting with #1 (Restaurant of the Year): Konbi (LA), Khao Noodle Shop (Dallas), Longoven (Richmond), Ochre Bakery (Detroit), The Elysian Bar (New Orleans), Kopitiam (NYC), Tailor (Nashville), Le Comptoir du Vin (Baltimore), Matt’s BBQ Tacos (Portland, OR), and The Wolf’s Tailor (Denver). Congrats, all! (And congrats to the food media content phenomenon of “The Move” which just keeps topping itself in self-parody. From the Hot 10: “The Move: Make a reservation. Wear something nice.”)

The Résumé – Headline in Eater: “Barbecue Star Adam Perry Lang Confirms That He Once Worked for Jeffrey Epstein.” After Lang’s name popped up in Epstein’s pilot’s 2000-2001 flight logs, the chef told Eater, “Almost 20 years ago, as a young chef I was hired to work for Jeffrey Epstein… My role was limited to meal preparation. I was unaware of the depraved behavior and have great sympathy and admiration for the brave women who have come forward.” Details of his time with Epstein, as gleaned from the logs, are via Greg Morabito here.

It is absolutely fair to ask if an employee who spent a decent amount of time in the private planes and homes of a criminal (in this case, allegedly in the presence of victims) was aware of the criminal activity — among other questions — but one quibble with this article: Feels like it tries to make a thing out of Lang not revealing this before. “The chef briefly alluded to his private cheffing days in 2000 and 2001, telling Daniel Vaughn, cryptically, ‘I catered to one individual.’” There is nothing cryptic about a private chef not talking publicly about their clients. NDA-ic, maybe.

The Berkley Side – In CA, “Should Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto abandon its decades-old moniker? That’s the goal of Nick Cho and Trish Rothgeb, who recently opened Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in the neighborhood. Their fledgling movement received a big push from Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, who supports changing the name of the Gourmet Ghetto. ‘I have never liked it from the very beginning, either word,’ Waters told [The SF Chronicle’s Mallory Moench and Justin Phillips]… She said she doesn’t even like neighborhood names. ‘It feels exclusive somehow rather than open,’ she said, adding she always thought of the area as just ‘friends who cared about food.’” So she does like neighborhood names.

The Media – Khushbu Shah has moved from Thrillist to Food & Wine, where she’ll lead restaurant coverage as an editor. The move got a full write-up in the NYT, where Amelia Nierenberg notes: “She is coming to the magazine, founded in 1978, during a time of transition. Once headquartered in New York, Food & Wine moved its base of operations to Birmingham, Ala., in 2017. When her Brooklyn lease runs out in the spring, Ms. Shah will move to Los Angeles to open a bureau there. ‘It’s important that restaurant coverage expand,’ Ms. Shah said. ‘The best way to do that is to get out of New York City.’” Phew. Finally a spotlight on LA! So sick and tired of hearing about Birmingham.

And last but not least: The Auction – Per Jonah Engel Bromwich in the NYT, “A collection of belongings left behind by Anthony Bourdain… will be sold in an online auction in October. Sixty percent of the proceeds of the auction will go to Mr. Bourdain’s [wife and daughter]. The remainder will be donated to a new scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America created in Mr. Bourdain’s name that will allow recipients to spend a semester abroad or to study international topics.” Highlights on the auction site (with some low-ball prices?) include: A Peter Lovig Nielsen teak flip-top desk (Est: $800–$1,200); a custom Bob Kramer steel and meteorite chef’s knife (Est: $4,000–$6,000); a chrome duck press from the Paris episode of The Layover (Est: $200–$300); an original typed manuscript or early draft for A Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain (Est: $700–$1,000); and a Simpsons script for The Food Wife episode, with signed inscriptions to Bourdain (Est.: $800-$1200).

And that’s it for today. I’m off for one last fatteh before the flight home tonight.

Buy me that desk, and I’ll see you here Friday for next Family Meal.

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