Modern Beards, 77 Down, Oguma gone, Lucques at 20, and more...

Family Meal - Friday, October 5th, 2018

Hello Friday,

If today’s Family Meal feels a bit scattered, it’s because due to typhoon-based re-routing, I’m now staring down the barrel of over 21 hours door-to-door of international travel with two toddlers. See you tomorrow night, D.C.!

Let’s get to it…

Reflective Beards – On Tuesday, the James Beard Foundation “announced a series of changes to the policies and procedures that govern the annual James Beard Awards. These changes will go into effect in advance of the October 15, 2018, call for entry period for the 2019 Awards. They are a first step intended to increase gender, race, and ethnic representation in the governance and outcomes of the Awards, as well as to increase transparency of the judging process, and to make entry to the Awards more accessible than ever before.”

Of note: “Each of the JBF awards committees has been directed by the Foundation to increase diversity in its ranks to at least represent the U.S. census.” They are also waiving some entrance fees for writers, retiring the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America award, and allowing the general public to nominate individuals for the Leadership Awards.

A step in the right direction, and good for them! Still no newsletter award.

But odd that none of the articles (NYT, WaPo, Eater) summarizing these moves include explanations as to what U.S. Census stats the Beards are using to benchmark diversity. My cursory glance at the main “quick facts” page shows a national team of 100 based on these numbers would be roughly: 77 white people, 13 black people, 6 Asian people, 3 “Two or More Races” people, and 1 Native American person. Shunt those numbers into a team of ten and this doesn’t look particularly ambitious. (NB: “white” on the census apparently includes “entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian.” #meltingpot).

Honest Q for my readers at JBF: What are the actual census lines you’ll be looking at, and how do those translate to your goals?

Speaking of awards – Congrats to the Singapore Tourism Board on presumably being the highest bidder in William Reed Business Ltd.’s sale of hosting rights! William Reed announced Tuesday that the city-state has won the rights to host: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019, Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2019 and 2020, The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021.

The Minimum – In D.C., “The five-month long saga that turned the District's hospitality industry upside down is almost over. [On Tuesday], eight councilmembers voted to repeal Initiative 77, a ballot measure that voters passed 56 percent to 44 percent in June…. Initiative 77 would have phased out the tipped minimum wage in eight increments until it reached $15 in 2025. Starting in 2026, there would no longer have been a tip credit—all workers would have been paid the same minimum wage directly from their employer.” Washington City Paper’s Laura Hayes has the dates and details here, including a second pending vote and some potential compromises, but she says “it would be shocking if Mayor Muriel Bowser didn't sign the repeal.”

Some closures – “The Red Cat, an unpretentious neighborhood restaurant in Chelsea that became a destination, will close at the end of December after nearly 20 years in business. The reason is none of the usual suspects: a big rent hike, slumping traffic or the need for a costly renovation, said the chef, Jimmy Bradley. He has simply decided to quit.” Not retiring, just moving on. Details from Florence Fabricant in an obit of sorts for the NYT.

Over in SF tablehopper reports  “Open since 1994… Andy Debbane and Lucas Gasco’s beloved Spanish stalwart Zarzuela will be closing soon.” Chef Michael Pawlik (Frascati) is taking over the space “with his co-owner and girlfriend Amanda Banks Barker to open Abrazo.” 

And up in wine country, per the Chronicle, “Redd, one of Napa Valley’s pioneering fine dining restaurants, will close after service on Sunday. Chef-owner Richard Reddington attributes the closure to a number of factors, but largely, it’s a personal decision, he said.”

Some sad news – A few weeks ago, Eater NY reported, “Star sushi chef Toshio Oguma has fallen ill and stepped away from Tanoshi Sushi, an UES gem considered one of NYC’s best omakase restaurants.” Last night, his daughter announced on Twitter that the chef passed away yesterday. Obituaries surely forthcoming, but for now, friend and sushi aficionado Tom Kretchmar was quick to put together a thread remembering the chef through his food.

And sorry I missed this, but Eater L.A. reports, “Funeral services were held on Sunday for the influential bar owner Craig Trager. Trager was responsible for launching culture-shifting Hollywood bars, including the now shuttered Daddy’s, Lucky 7, and El Bar. His legacy lives on with LA mainstays like The Well, Parlour Room, The Woods, The Fifth, and NoBar. Trager died on September 23.” He was 58.

The Interview Treatment – “On Tuesday, September 25, chef Suzanne Goin and her business partner, restaurateur/sommelier Carolyne Styne, crossed a milestone together that few in the restaurant industry experience: The LA restaurant they opened together [Lucques] turned 20.” They sat down with Hillary Dixler Canavan to talk two decades in LA dining, and I love that in an article about maintaining a longterm partnership, they literally finish each other’s sentences: “SG: When I was working at Campanile, Nancy Silverton came in one day, and she was like, ‘Oh, I ate at your future restaurant last night.’ Bizarre. We came over here. We walked in. It was a gay bar at the time, but you could see... CS: ...the bones.” Full, fun interview here.

The Media – Per Mission Local: “San Francisco Magazine primed to be gutted, shifted away from news focus.” Ugh.

Video folks: Eater is hiring a producer.

For Design Fans – At first glance in this Eater photo spread, the backrests at I’m Eddie Cano outside D.C. appear to hang from leather straps on the wall, which is kind of cool (and as far as I can tell, recent versions trace back to designer Nam Dang Mitchel? Anyone help me go back further?), but I like that the last two cushions don’t actually have straps. Nothing emphasizes a design element more than teasing a bit of function before revealing only form.

For the Somm – The NYT’s Eric Asimov has a mix of both history of the modern somm and notes on the modern wine career path in a longer form piece this week: “Wine elders showed a way into the restaurant business for a generation of younger sommeliers, and they also demonstrated a way out. [Daniel Johnnes] established an importing business, then began organizing wine events, beginning with La Paulée de New York, which has become a perennially popular Burgundy celebration. He still keeps a hand in restaurants as corporate wine director for the Dinex Group, Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire, but his days pouring wine at tables are largely behind him. [Larry Stone] left restaurants to work as a winery executive. More recently, he started his own winery, Lingua Franca, which produces excellent pinot noirs and chardonnays from the Eola-Amity Hills of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.” A good, mid-career read if you need one…

And last but not least – The End of an Era: It’s been a long goodbye, but Tokyo’s legendary Tsukiji Market is finally moving tomorrow. “After the final day of business on Oct. 6, some 900 vendors at Tsukiji will pack up and move to the new site in Toyosu. The massive relocation of refrigerators and other equipment -- equivalent to 4,700 truckloads -- must be completed within a few days, with the new market opening Oct. 11.  The 40-hectare Toyosu market, almost double the size of the old location, boasts air-conditioned, warehouse-type buildings. But unlike the open-plan Tsukiji where tourists were able to see the famous tuna auctions up close, visitors can only watch the action from behind glass in an upper floor gallery.” Kyodo News has some great photos from the past 83 years at Tsukiji, including an especially poignant shot captioned: “Officials measure radiation levels of a tuna landed at Tsukiji from the Fukuryu Maru No. 5, which was exposed to nuclear fallout from U.S. hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll, March 1954.”

And that’s it for today. If you happen to be in Newark Airport between the hours of 2-5PM tomorrow and would like to either buy me a coffee, or attempt to reason with the three year old craving candy at Hudson News, please get in touch.

I’ll see you here Tuesday for next Family Meal.

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