2019 James Beard Foundation Award Winners Announced

2019 James Beard Foundation Award Winners Announced

2019 James Beard Foundation Award Winners AnnouncedNew York, NY  (Restaurant News Release)  Winners were announced Monday, May 6, 2019, at the James Beard Awards at Lyric Opera of Chicago. During a ceremony emceed by Emmy-nominated actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, awards were presented in the Restaurant and Chef and Restaurant Design categories, as well as several special achievement awards, including Lifetime Achievement, Design Icon, America’s Classics, and Humanitarian of the Year.

Industry leaders from across the country attended the highly anticipated annual ceremony where the theme was “Good Food For GoodTM”, a mantra synonymous with the James Beard Foundation’s mission.  In keeping with the theme, gala reception chefs from across the country included past James Beard Award winners and many who are involved in the Foundation’s signature impact-oriented initiatives, from Smart Catch to Women’s Leadership Programs to the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change. Their thoughtful and delicious dishes fed the nearly 2,000 attendees at the evening’s Awards gala. VIP guests were treated to a multi-course dinner and experience in the mezzanine boxes during the Awards show prepared by chefs from the esteemed Union Square Hospitality Group.

A complete list of award winners can be found here, as well as at jamesbeard.org/awards.

2019 James Beard Foundation Award Winners

2019 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurant Design Awards

  • 75 Seats and Under

Firm: Studio Writers
Project: Atomix, NYC

  • 76 Seats and Over

Firm: Parts and Labor Design
Project: Pacific Standard Time, Chicago

Other Eating and Drinking Places 

Firm: Schwartz and Architecture (S^A)
Project: El Pípila, San Francisco

Design Icon

Canlis
Seattle

2019 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards

Best New Restaurant

Frenchette
NYC

Outstanding Baker 

Greg Wade
Publican Quality Bread
Chicago

Outstanding Bar Program

Bar Agricole
San Francisco

Outstanding Chef (Presented by All-Clad Metalcrafters)

Ashley Christensen
Poole’s Diner
Raleigh, NC

Outstanding Pastry Chef (Presented by Lavazza)

Kelly Fields
Willa Jean
New Orleans

Outstanding Restaurant (Presented by S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water)

Zahav
Philadelphia

Outstanding Restaurateur (Presented by Magellan Corporation)

Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz
Boka Restaurant Group (Boka, Girl & the Goat, Momotaro, and others)
Chicago

Outstanding Service

Frasca Food and Wine
Boulder, CO

Outstanding Wine Program (Presented by Robert Mondavi Winery)

Benu
San Francisco

Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Producer

Rob Tod
Allagash Brewing Company
Portland, ME

Rising Star Chef of the Year (Presented by S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water)

Kwame Onwuachi
Kith and Kin
Washington, D.C.

Best Chefs in America (Presented by Capital One®)

Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)

Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark
Parachute
Chicago

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (D.C., DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)

Tom Cunanan
Bad Saint
Washington, D.C.

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

Ann Kim
Young Joni
Minneapolis

Best Chef: New York City (Five Boroughs)

Jody Williams and Rita Sodi
Via Carota

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY State, RI, VT)

Tony Messina
Uni
Boston

Best Chef: Northwest (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY)

Brady Williams
Canlis
Seattle

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, FL, LA, MS)

Vishwesh Bhatt
Snackbar
Oxford, MS

Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Mashama Bailey
The Grey
Savannah, GA

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, CO, NM, OK, TX, UT)

Charleen Badman
FnB
Scottsdale, AZ

Best Chef: West (CA, HI, NV)

Michael Cimarusti
Providence
Los Angeles

2019 James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Honorees (Presented by American Airlines)

Pho 79
Garden Grove, CA
Owners: Tho Tran and Lieu Tran

Jim’s Steak & Spaghetti House
Huntington, WV
Owners: Jimmie Tweel Carder, Larry Tweel, and Ron Tweel

A&A Bake & Double Roti Shop
Brooklyn, NY
Owner: Noel and Geeta Brown

Sehnert’s Bakery & Bieroc Café
McCook, NE
Owners: Matt and Shelly Sehnert

Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse
Washington, D.C.
Owner: Paul Katinas

2019 James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year

The Giving Kitchen
Non-profit organization providing emergency assistance to food service workers through financial support and a network of community resources

2019 James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award

Patrick O’Connell
Five-time James Beard Award winner, 3-star Michelin chef, author, and owner of The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA

The 2019 James Beard Awards are proudly hosted by Choose Chicago and the Illinois Restaurant Association and presented in association with Chicago O’Hare and Midway International Airports and Magellan Corporation, as well as the following partners: Premier Sponsors: All-Clad Metalcrafters, American Airlines, Capital One®, HMSHost, Lavazza, S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water; Supporting Sponsors: Hyatt, National Restaurant Association™, Robert Mondavi Winery, Skuna Bay Salmon, TABASCO® Sauce, Valrhona, White Claw® Hard Seltzer, Windstar Cruises; Gala Reception Sponsors: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Ecolab, Front of the House®, Kendall College, with additional support from Chefwear, Loacker and VerTerra Dinnerware. Intersport is the Official Broadcast Partner of the 2019 James Beard Awards.

Established in 1990, the James Beard Awards recognize culinary professionals for excellence and achievement in their fields and further the Foundation’s mission to celebrate, nurture, and honor chefs and other leaders making America’s food culture more delicious, diverse, and sustainable for everyone. Each award category has an individual committee made up of industry professionals who volunteer their time to oversee the policies, procedures, and selection of judges for their respective Awards programs. All James Beard Award winners receive a certificate and a medallion engraved with the James Beard Foundation Awards insignia.

About the James Beard Foundation

The James Beard Foundation’s mission is to promote good food for good™. For more than 30 years, the James Beard Foundation has highlighted the centrality of food culture in our daily lives. Through the James Beard Awards, unique dining experiences at the James Beard House and around the country, scholarships, hands-on learning, and a variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in our community, the Foundation has built a platform for chefs and asserted the power of gastronomy to drive behavior, culture, and policy change around food. To that end, the Foundation has also created signature impact-oriented initiatives that include our Women’s Leadership Programs, aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the culinary industry; advocacy training through our Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change; and the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards, which shine a spotlight on successful change makers. The organization is committed to giving chefs and their colleagues a voice and the tools they need to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and delicious for everyone. For more information, please visit jamesbeard.org and follow @beardfoundation on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Media Contacts:
Mary Blanton Ogushwitz / Jane Shapiro
Magrino
212-957-3005
mary.blanton@magrinopr.com
jane.shapiro@magrinopr.com