Overheard at the 2024 James Beard Awards

A version of this post originally appeared on June 13, 2024, in Eater and Punch’s newsletter Pre Shift, a biweekly newsletter for the industry pro that sources first-person accounts from the bar and restaurant world. Subscribe now for more stories like this.

The biggest celebration of the restaurant and bar industry in the U.S., the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards took place in Chicago on Monday night. Celebrity chefs and emerging talent from around the country converged on the Windy City for a weekend of parties, panel discussions, and medal-worthy meals. The celebration has changed significantly since a 2020 audit, placing new emphasis on recognizing diverse talent from smaller markets. Throughout the weekend, nominees and past winners shared their thoughts on what the awards mean and how they can continue to evolve.

“My parents worked really hard to provide for us. I’m very happy that I get to represent our culture and share our stories from around the kitchen table and be an example of Haitian excellence. When I moved to Oregon 16 years ago, I felt like I had a lot to prove. I was a new kid in a new city. I was living in a very different culture. It’s been a long journey, so it feels really good to be here.” — Gregory Gourdet, Kann (2024 winner, Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific; 2023 winner, Best New Restaurant)

“[I would like to see more bar categories], maybe best new bar, cocktail bar, and hotel bar. But I don’t know if James Beard is really up for that much. I’m really happy that we started having this category 11 years ago. I have 33 years [of experience] in restaurants, six in the kitchen, and the rest in the bar — and the highest honor was winning the James Beard.” — Chris Hannah, Jewel of the South (2024 winner, Outstanding Bar; Hannah also won in 2017 with Arnaud’s French 75 Bar)

“It’s really awesome to represent our culture and Laotian cuisine. It’s been a challenge. It takes a lot of work on the chef side, the staff side, but I think we’ve been doing a great job at that and a lot of people have been very open to new cuisine. [Being nominated] has been great for the restaurant and great for the Laotian community.” — Jeff Chanchaleune, Ma Der Lao Kitchen (2024 finalist, Best Chef: Southwest)

Photo by Jeff Schear/Getty Images for James Beard Foundation

“The James Beard Awards have evolved immensely. Since COVID, they’re involved in many things that they weren’t 10 years ago: community outreach, sustainability, being advocates of smaller markets, climate change. It’s honorable. I think the change is drastic and necessary. Now I feel Chicago should have its own market. Not taking anything away from the Great Lakes region — for these independent, family-oriented restaurants, it’s great that they get recognized in smaller markets like Cleveland, Milwaukee, or Omaha. But Chicago, like New York, should be its own market.” — Donnie Madia, One Off Hospitality (2015 winner, Outstanding Restaurateur)

“[When I found out I had been nominated], I cried. I was on cloud nine for probably a week. It was insane. I don’t do a tasting menu. I don’t do fancy food. What I do is what Japanese moms have been cooking for their families for centuries. I really hope I’m making Japanese moms proud. People know about sushi, people know about ramen, people know about kaiseki, and I love them. But they’re not the food I grew up eating and I feel like I really wanted to introduce a part of our culture that people are not familiar with. People come and they want to try something different. They’ve heard about the Beards and now they’re interested in trying Japanese comfort food, and that really makes me happy.” — Masako Morishita, Perry’s (2024 winner, Emerging Chef)

“There’s 42 of us here tonight and I’m happy to be able to share this moment with all of them. It’s the team that makes a restaurant work. They’re the ones sharing the vision and the story, and without them, none of this would be possible. It’s been great and it’s really pulled the team together. We’re focused on everything we’re doing in the restaurant, but also what we’re doing outside the restaurant for our community.” — Kevin Tien, Moon Rabbit (2024 finalist, Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic)

Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for James Beard Foundation

“‘James Beard Award winner’ is the thing you want after your name, like actors with Academy Awards. It’s the thing that goes into your New York Times obituary. It drastically changes the amount of people who reach out to you. I wish James Beard would give you a personal assistant for the first six months to deal with all the media requests because it’s so overwhelming. What would be more interesting is if James Beard would look at smaller, more tertiary markets … to get that diversity and to find more interesting things that are a little bit more on the fringes. In whiskey, there are people who do what they call ‘looking for dusties’ [or rare, old bottles] at little tiny weird liquor stores in the middle of nowhere. Like, yes, James Beard does have the [America’s] Classics [award]. But going out and digging even more into the hidden gems in the middle of nowhere—that would be super cool.” — Toby Maloney, The Violet Hour (2023 Book Award winner, Beverage with Recipes; 2015 winner, Outstanding Bar Program)

“Being recognized like this is a great honor. It just reinforces what we’ve always been doing, which is to carry each other and do good work. The foundation congratulating us in front of our peers in our own city means the world to my team. We’ve been there for 25 years. We’re not going to change anything. We’re going to use the same farmers. We’re going to do the same kind of food. We’re going to care about everybody on our team and everybody who walks in. Logan Square is still a neighborhood full of great indie businesses run by the people who own them, and I’m super proud of that.” — Jason Hammel, Lula Cafe (2024 winner, Outstanding Hospitality)

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2024. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.

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