'Ratatouille' food critic Anton Ego (not our real interviewee*)
Looking more and more like the Oscars every
year, the James Beard Foundation’s culinary awards hit NYC on June 8. Hosted by
Kim Cattrall and celebrity chef Bobby Flay, this year’s soiree will be held
(for the first time) at Lincoln
Center’s swanky Avery
Fisher Hall.
To prep for the big night, we checked in with three of New York’s top industry
insiders—an A-list restaurant publicist, a critic and a chef—for their
predictions on how our local nominees will fare.
*Photos are for illustration puposes only. Our
interviewees are waaaaaaay nicer than Hollywood portrays their
counterparts on screen.
The
Critic
This
prolific food journalist has contributed both feature stories and reviews to
many of the city's top publications and also runs a popular dining blog.
In the Outstanding Restaurateur category,
dynamic duo Joe Bastianich/Mario Batali face team Jean-Georges
Vongerichten/Phil Suarez and three non-New Yorkers: Tom Douglas, Richard Melman
and Wolfang Puck. Not only did our critic say flat-out that the national
competitors have “a lot to learn” from our NYC restaurateurs, but also that
there isn’t a U.S.
city that matches the challenge of running a restaurant here.
“We have the most high-maintenance, educated
diners and the toughest critics in the country coming through the doors every
night,” The Critic says. “I do not mean any disrespect to Wolfgang Puck, but
they don’t operate restaurants in New
York City for a reason, and it is because they just
can’t take the heat.” The Critic’s pick? “I would go with Mario and Joe.”
For Outstanding Chef, The Critic tipped Chicago’s Grant Achatz
(Alinea) to win over our Dan Barber (Blue Hill), despite his being an
“outstanding chef, outstanding citizen” and a “crusader for sustainability”.
The fact that Achatz was recovering from cancer this year will weigh in his favor,
The Critic predicts. And besides, the food at Alinea is more “dynamic” than at
Barber’s Blue Hill.
When it comes to La Grenouille’s
Outstanding Service nod, our pundit exclaims, “Are you kidding? Who eats there
anymore?” Nobody does service in this town like Danny Meyer, as far as The
Critic is concerned.
And for Best Chef New York
City, the smart money is on David Chang, nominated for Momofuku Ssam Bar. “This
would be like the Olympic marathon of awards for him this year,” The Critic says.
But if it was up to our pundit to choose from the nominees—Michael Anthony
(Gramercy Tavern), Terrance Brennan (Picholine), Wylie Dufresne (wd-50) and
Gabriel Kreuther (The Modern)—it would be Dufresne. “Wylie put his heart and
soul into wd-50,” notes The Critic. “He’s been at it a long time and he
deserves the love.”
ON TO THE PUBLICIST—>
Photo: courtesy of Disney/Pixar
