| NEWS 10.07.09 3:44 PM |
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Wine & Food Festival's Second Outing to Include Zac Posen, Frank Bruni, and Big Events With Food Network Stars
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 | The packed Burger Bash event at last year's New York City Wine & Food Festival
Photo: Jessica Torossian for BizBash |
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The second New York City Wine & Food Festival opens tomorrow, and this year the massive outing dreamed up by Lee Brian Schrager is bigger and more diverse. Aside from the bevy of local chefs—Daniel Boulud, Andrew Carmellini, Scott Conant, Tom Colicchio, and David Chang among them—hosting dinners, panels, and demonstrations, the four-day food-focused series will also include a number of new events and the participation of fashion designer Zac Posen, former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, and former President Bill Clinton.
To accommodate more culinary talent from title sponsor the Food Network, the festival's producers added two big parties to the weekend program. On Thursday night, Tyler Florence joins the folks from Thrillist at the Standard hotel for a bacon and blues-themed shindig, Paula Deen will host a Southern-style food showcase Saturday evening at Hill Country, and Giada De Laurentiis will highlight her Italian roots with a Sunday night gathering dubbed Meatball Madness. Rachael Ray, who also hosts one of the festival's biggest attractions—the Friday-night Burger Bash at Brooklyn's Tobacco Warehouse—will introduce the first Weight Watchers-sponsored Fun and Fit in the City with Clinton and Dr. Mehmet Oz at the Harlem Children's Zone on Saturday morning.
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Southern Wine & Spirits, New York City Wine & Food Festival, Food Network, Food & Wine Magazine, Travel & Leisure magazine, Food Bank of New York, Share Our Strength, James Beard Foundation |
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| TED KRUCKEL 07.28.09 12:49 PM |
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Wacky Watermill Center Still Draws Dress-to-Impressers
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 | The Watermill Center has all sorts of education and community programs, many involving children.
Photo: Alice and Chris for BizBash |
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The gardens and grounds surrounding the Watermill Center were positively crawling with photographers, camera crews, and commentators during the cocktails preceding the annual summer benefit held on Saturday. But unlike most other Hamptons gangbangs, they weren't all packed together, clamoring for Kelly Ripa’s attention. In fact, while I asked Rufus Wainwright about his second annual concert here ("Last Song of Summer" with Norah Jones on August 29), I sensed photogs whizzing behind me, unawares.
That’s because there were tons of crazy and (mostly) interesting art performances and installations to shoot. This year’s theme, “Inferno,” was especially fruitful, yielding:
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Watermill Center, James Beard Foundation |
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| EVENT REPORT 05.05.09 4:04 PM |
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James Beard Awards Honor Women With Hot Pink Decor, Female Chefs
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 | The Beard Awards' gala reception
Photo: Roger Dong for BizBash |
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The James Beard Foundation returned to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall Monday night for its annual award ceremony and chef-filled gala reception. Widely considered one of the most prestigious honors in the food business, the event drew about 1,700 people to watch the award show and sample a smorgasbord of food at the reception afterward. In spite of—or perhaps in response to—the lagging economy and struggling restaurant industry, organizers didn't tone down the glamour of previous years, and went with punchy pink decor in tribute to women in food, this year's theme. The event featured an all-female roster of 23 chefs in the grand tasting, as well as women mixologists, wine makers, cheese makers, and other food producers, for a total of 60 stations.
Foundation president Susan Ungaro said the theme was chosen to celebrate the number of female food professionals who have won Beard awards—350 over the past 19 years—and because of the timing of the soon-to-be-released movie Julie & Julia, in which Meryl Streep plays Julia Child, a friend of James Beard and a founding member of the organization. "[The movie] offered us another opportunity to celebrate one of the great women chefs in history and her link to James Beard," said Ungaro. Sony pictures created a special trailer of the movie that played during the awards, which were co-hosted by Stanley Tucci (who plays Child's husband, Paul, in the movie), Cat Cora, and Emeril Lagasse.
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James Beard Awards, James Beard Foundation, Stella Artois, Rums of Puerto Rico, Julia Child, Julie & Julia, Plymouth Gin |
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| NEWS 10.16.08 12:35 PM |
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James Beard Foundation Introduces Award for Blogs
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Although the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards are more than six months away, the national nonprofit announced its call-for-entries yesterday along with some changes to the program. The most notable change is the addition of a category for blogs as part of the section for journalism.
Despite widespread criticism of blogging over the recent years—chef Mario Batali's rant last summer about the medium being a "bit of shoddy journalism" is a prime example—it seems that the food organization is ready and willing to recognize this new form of commentary. In fact, this year Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer won the Multimedia Writing on Food award for New York magazine's Grub Street blog.
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James Beard Foundation, James Beard Awards |
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| EVENT REPORT 06.10.08 9:14 AM |
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Chefs Serve Up Local Ingredients at Beard Awards
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Kim Cattrall and artisanal cheese makers might seem like an odd combination, but both shared the spotlight at the 21st annual James Beard Foundation awards, held Sunday night at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. This year’s theme was "Artisanal America," emphasizing small farms and specialty food producers from across the country—“the chefs behind the great chefs,” as foundation president Susan Ungaro said. Cattrall, doing her best Samantha Jones act in a slinky gold dress, co-hosted the awards with Bobby Flay, which were followed by a gala reception featuring chef-run tasting stations.
Cattrall aside, the food, as always, was the main draw. Ungaro worked with David Bowen of Bowen & Company and co-chairs Dan Barber of Blue Hill and Odessa Piper, formerly of Madison, Wisconsin’s L’Etoile, to select 32 chefs from around the country whose restaurants emphasize sustainable cuisine. In planning their dishes for the post-ceremony reception, each chef was asked to incorporate at least one ingredient from one of their favorite local farmers or artisanal food purveyors. “[Beard] believed you got the true flavor of a place by meeting the local farmers, cheese makers, bread bakers, and butchers. We believe our theme is just another way to celebrate his legacy and the very active and passionate artisanal movement being embraced by America's greatest chefs,” Ungaro said.
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James Beard Foundation, Bobby Flay, Kim Cattrall, Delta Airlines, Lexus |
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| NEWS 04.18.08 3:43 PM |
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Bobby Flay Joins Kim Cattrall to Host James Beard Awards
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 | A Bobby Flay collector's item from last year's awards
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Word came Thursday that the hosting duties of this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards would not just fall on actress Kim Cattrall. Celebrity chef and multiple James Beard Award winner Bobby Flay will now share her job as M.C. at the June 8 ceremony. The two take the reigns from past hosts who’ve included Al Roker, Cokie Roberts, and Hannah Storm.
“Through the years we’ve had a lot of journalists and food personalities host the awards,” James Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro told us. “It’s a long show. It runs about three hours, so all along we wanted to give it to two people to share this year. Adding that back and forth will help break it up and add to the energy.”
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James Beard Foundation, Kim Cattrall, Bobby Flay |
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| NEWS 03.25.08 3:57 PM |
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Beard Foundation Announces 2008 Nominees
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 | Martha Stewart at the 2007 award gala
Photo: Andre Maier |
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Yesterday morning, the James Beard Foundation announced this year’s award nominees at a ceremony held at the James Beard House.
Nominations for Outstanding Restaurant include Gramercy Tavern and Jean Georges in New York and Campanile in Los Angeles. In the running for Best New Restaurant is Anthos in New York, Central Michel Richard in Washington, and Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Chef nominees include Dan Barber for New York's Blue Hill, Grant Achatz for Alinea in Chicago, José Andrés for Washington's Minibar, and Suzanne Goin for Lucques in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Restaurateur nominees include Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali for Babbo in New York, Jean-Georges Vongerichten for Jean-Georges Management L.L.C. in New York, Richard Melman for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises in Chicago, and Wolfgang Puck for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group in Beverly Hills.
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James Beard Foundation |
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