James Beard Foundation
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The James Beard Foundation has announced its final nominees for this year’s awards, and while we had nine Dallas chefs and restaurants on the semifinalist lists, the city had not a single showing among the final nominations.
This comes after what was arguably a banner year for the city, with Bon Appétit naming us restaurant city of the year and our own Khao Noodle Shop being named the No. 2 new restaurant in the country.
The foundation released an article Friday explaining why leaders are moving forward now, despite that strange status of restaurants all over the country caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Monday’s announcement was supposed to be a ceremony in Philadelphia in March to kick off the 30th year of the awards. Instead, the announcement came over live video via Twitter Monday.
Obviously, the event wouldn’t happen, and they delayed the announcement of nominees, which were taken from the semifinalists released in February.
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From the May 1 article:
“It was clear that those whose work in 2019 led them to be selected as a semifinalist-and perhaps ultimately a nominee or a winner-deserved the recognition they earned. Those we consulted felt the Awards could also offer a glimmer of hope to an industry looking for light in a very dark time. We decided to proceed with a virtual ceremony, announcing the nominees on May 4, the date originally intended for our 30th anniversary ceremony and celebration in Chicago.”
As for finding out who will actually get the James Beard Awards this year, we’ll have to continue to wait.
“What comes next-the announcement of the winners-is still a work in progress. The situation across the industry remains dire. The Beard Foundation itself is not immune from the effects of the pandemic, having shuttered the James Beard House and made the difficult decision to implement two waves of staff furloughs. Like the restaurant industry, the media industry has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and yet their reporting has never been more valuable.”
The James Beard’s restaurant and chef awards will be announced Sept. 25.
