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Betting on Beard

Our secret panel of industry insiders predicts this year’s James Beard winners

By Jacqui Gal

Special to Metromix
June 2, 2008

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'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