The 2019 James Beard Awards: The Recap

Don't call it the Oscars of the food world. It's much cooler.

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Well, that was fun. This was the year I decided to answer all those press calls to come to Chicago and cover the James Beards Awards. The fact that we had hometown representation for a national award and three stellar women nominated for Best Chef made it a no-brainer. Also, food and drink and Chicago.

Quick recap of Sunday, May 5

10:30am After getting into Chicago, I reported to Mott St. for brunch with my kids who live in Lincoln Park. That tiny spot delivered the best congee for the flight-weary. Then, I sought out Eliesa Johnson and Melissa Hesse, who would be official JBFA photogs for the 5th year in a row. They were at Antique Taco in Wicker Park. We patioed. Hard.

5:30pm Then it was off to the James Beard Leadership Awards, where Sean Sherman of The Sioux Chef was honored as one of the top change leaders in the country working to better our food systems. Pretty heady stuff. That I traded MN hockey stories with tablemates Rich Maggiotto CEO of ChefsFeed and Fred Seegal, JBF Board Chair and good friend with Rahm Emanuel, was just icing. 

9:28 Most of that party picked up and headed to the big Chef's Night Off event at Theater on the Lake. It was massive and sprawling and packed with all sorts: chefs, media, sponsors, tall people, girls who looked liked they forgot pants, bartenders, all sorts. We hit some snack tables, drank a ton of San Pellegrino and rosé, but really it was hard to talk and harder to find your people. On our way out we did run into Jamie Malone and her crew, who had been at Joe's eating stone crab earlier. No sign of the other ladies. 

Monday, May 6

5:30pm Racing to the Lyric Opera house for the awards, because my Uber whiffed. My press credentials didn't really include red carpet access, but when you know photographers ... Eliesa snapped the Grand Cafe crew before I wormed my way to the front: sassified Niki Francioli, Jamie Malone, and Nikki Klocker.

5:45 The gorgeous humans of the food world are stacking up outside of the theater. In the midst, we spot nominees Christina Nguyen and Ann Kim with their handsome +1's. Glowing, just glowing.

5:50 I decide to head up to the press room where I will be able to watch the show on screens or from balcony theater seats. You guys: there's cheese there. And cocktails! Gin and reporting, a habit I can get totally behind. 

6:15 The show started late, Jesse Tyler Ferguson is the host and he's doing well! "The Oscars are really the James Beard Awards of the movie world." The press room is filling up, Kat Kinsman is there for Food & Wine and I just love her. I sorta stalk her while she stalks others: it's so meta.

6:23 Winners leave the stage, and then filter up through the press room where people attack them with love. It was fun to watch the excitement for chef Kwame Onwuachi who won Rising Star of the Year. 

6:45 Not ALL the New York media people in the press room are awesome. Some of them, in fact, suck. There's clearly a few who don't care about any of the awards any more than voicing their loud opinions about the winners. To other journos, who have their own thoughts to report, thanks. I decide that maybe the theater seats would be a better camp. Plus, I picked the wrong shoes. 

7:10 Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel clearly has senioritis, "Fast food does NOT belong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

7:17 Humanitarian of the Year goes to a great organization called The Giving Kitchen, which supports food service workers in times of trauma. I am enthralled and taking notes between tears. They've raised $2.5 million to help servers and chefs and bussers through cancer, family loss, hard times. Now they are offering suicide prevention training for free to every restaurant in the country that wants it. Just, wow. As Ann Kim will later tell me at 1am, "Food people are just the best people."

7:19 Suddenly, Peter Sagal of NPR is at the podium talking about regions, which are anywhere but coasts. How people on the coasts think of these regions as a foggy network of chemtrails with a vague idea that there are people underneath them. How it's assumed that when people of these regions become successful that they will then move to a coast: but maybe they don't want to or need to. That they are stars nonetheless. I like all of this. 

7:21 And then BOOM we are announcing Best Chef Midwest! And my phone is at 33% and panic sets in that I won't be able to record all the things if all the things happen that I want to happen. 

7:22 And then they do. Best Chef Midwest goes to Ann Kim and she give the best speech of the night: Fuck Fear. There's more than this snippet, about how she gave up an unlucrative career in acting, to be a cook (this gets a huge laugh). How we can not be what we can not see. And how as a Korean immigrant, she mopped and cleaned and said yes to possibilities. I can't tell you how many random humans told me all night long how much they loved her speech.

7:25 As I run out of the balcony theater seating, it's just magic that in the hallway is both Sean Sherman and Eliesa so I get to yell ANN WON! And a few actual humans knew what I meant. In the press room, waiting for Ann to show up, it's all a-buzz about this plucky actress turned pizza savant and her unbridled joy. I can't smile bigger, but I'm obviously trying. 

7:27 She walks in the room and I run to hug her because HOW CAN I NOT? She's still just shaking. Amazing. "Swear to god, I thought I had more time, so I went to the bathroom, those damn Spanx! And then when I got back to my seat I realized that I had dropped my speech!! I looked at Con and he said, you've got it on your phone, you're fine. But then I forgot to thank Con!" While I'm pretty sure her husband Conrad Leifur knows she feels gratitude for him, we record a quick video addendum to her speech so she can say the words. 

7:30 While everyone gets a piece of Ann, I tell her I'll hold her nomination card and her phone. For the 30 minutes she's gone being interviewed and photographed, that phone is blowing a hole in my pocket. 

8:00 It's all about the posting now for me.

8:15 Melissa and Eliesa are running around like crazy, they have to shoot the VIP dinner that's happening during the ceremony and also try to capture "moments." There's an insane shot list to cover and with ancient elevators and marble stairs, that whole running thing is not a metaphor. They chose their shoes wisely.

8:50: Watching the rest of the awards, I start to feel bad for the other winners as they file into the press room because everyone's attentions are lagging. Pretty soon I get a text from Eliesa:

8:55 The lobby is already beginning to swirl with people who are also done with the awards. Just a few beautiful women who have sneaked food from the stations setting up, probably PR people who have checked their boxes and can finally eat. On two levels of the opera house, restaurants from all over the country have been invited to offer a bite from their repertoire. There are locals, like Fat Rice, and then OH LOOK: Justin Sutherland and his merry band of helpers, Don Gonzales and JD Fratzke. As I ran into them, Peter Sagal comes over to sneak a look, and tells us, “I used to live in Minnesota for a while, what’s the name of that cute place in Pepin?” Well, Harbor View of course. Then he and JD wax all ex-urban about the Hot Fish Shop in Winona and the St. James Hotel (where Sagal got married). #MNconnection

9:05 Then the whole theater unleashes its tuxedoed and hungry and the place is mobbed. Moving between sips and bites, I run into Bob MacDonald, Dad to Todd MacDonald of Red Rabbit and JBF voter, who says, “Ann Kim’s speech was the best one I’ve heard in 61 years!” Yes! Let's go eat some barramundi over there!

10:15 Spotting Andrew Zimmern in the crowd, I try to make my way toward him. But turning a corner, I run SMACK into Tom Colicchio. Like literally shoved him, whoops. Bygones. Moving on to Zimmern, who presented earlier, we talk about how far the Beards have come with the new organization and voting standards, and how we could use the Giving Kitchen model in the North. Text self to remind self to text Zimmern to text connect me with those organizers. Check. Hey is that a puffed tempeh cracker over there?

10:29 Slowly but surely, everyone flows to the main level, and slowly out the door. There are the afterparties to contend with. Some are more exclusive, like the one John T. Edge is throwing that Sean and Dana are invited too, and there are ticketed events like the Bartender Fight Club happening in Fulton Market. But mostly, we are all headed to the Girl & the Goat.

11:28 By the way, this street smells like chocolate. Standing in line for Stephanie Izard's iconic eatery, we spot the Jamie + Nik2 crew ahead of us. Suddenly, Kevin Boehm of the Boka Restaurant Group and freshly minted JBFA winner for Outstanding Restauranteur, sweeps down the line just exuding happy hospitality from his wide open arms (literally no bigger smile than his at this moment) to guide everyone in. He's like the Godfather on his daughter's wedding day. The place is wall to wall formal-wearing food partiers. We secure places at the bar. I promptly order shots of whiskey for all our noms. Apparently, it's all on the house. 

11:46 Host Jesse Tyler Ferguson is right behind me, so I convince Ann and Christina to fake a selfie so I can snap his work at cracking up chef Elizabeth Faulkner. We are so crafty after whiskey.

11:47 There's an ice luge, there's a dance floor which the Justin set is tearing up. 

11:59 A rumor that there is a bucket of slippers at the front door, for all the women who want to ditch their shoes, is proven true by Ann who then loses three inches of height, but gains at least one more hour of party-able time.

12:09am The lady of the house walks by, and I respect her so much and she is so beset with admirers, I decide to only semi-stalk her. 

12:34 We realize that more food would be needed to keep going. Some of us set off to Roister, but find it closed (hello, Monday night at what a.m.?) So we get in a car and head to Big Star for tacos. In the car with Steve Hoffman, a local writer and newly anointed JBF winner himself, we do what comes naturally for Steve: talk taxes. 

12:55 Big Star is overflowing into its lovely patio, though, now it's raining. And my phone is at 9%. Sally forth for tacos! Drafting behind Steve, who is wearing his medal, is the move here. People part the way for him, shuttle us to a better spot, it's Greased Lightning. 

1:05 People just keep handing us tacos so we just keep taking them and sticking them in our faces. Somehow there's a tray of margaritas and a tray of Old Fashioneds, so we find some rail space and just people watch. 

1:26 I did need to find a plug for a hot second. As I walked around the whole joint looking for outlets, it occurs to me to hit up the DJ for a bit of surge strip. I plug in, charge while posting, and when I go to unplug I scrape this woman's shoe by accident. Yep, Gail Simmons. So that's two Top Chef judges I physically accost in mere hours of each other. I am so on point. 

1:55 I miss Ali.

2:01 It might be time to go, we are tuckered and both Eliesa and I have work to do, and Melissa is gassed. We bag it, though for some reason I still really want pizza. 

2:06 Wisely without pizza, the final shot of the night is Eliesa editing photos into the wee hours. As the only female photographers officially shooting for the JBFA, they kicked a whole lotta ass. There should be an award for that. My award is received if you've read this far and giggled at least once. Winners don't sleep often, but we sleep hard.

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