The 2008 James Beard Awards have come and gone, and this year's crop of Bay Area nominees fared pretty well. Sure local pony Nate Appleman lost out to Cafe Boulud's Gavin Kaysen in the Rising Star category, but as we noted last night, Tartine won Outstanding Pastry Chefs and Terra got the service award. Once last year's winner Traci Des Jardins got to the stage (it allegedly took her a shade under a decade to get to the podium), she eventually presented this year's well-deserved regional honor to Delfina's Craig Stoll. Also, Anchor Brewing's Fritz Maytag won a Lifetime Achievement Award for his, um, lifetime achievements in the micro-brewery and artisan spirits world.
Front-and-center though, was the feel-good story of the evening: Thomas Keller protégé (and tongue cancer survivor) Grant Achatz of Alinea, who took home the Outstanding Chef Award to a standing ovation. Elsewhere, future mayor of New York Danny Meyer and Team Babbo also racked up memorable nights in the big national categories. The rest of the media frenzy, along with the full list of winners, follows:
· The Complete List of Winners and Losers [JBA]
· Liveblogging The 2008 James Beard Awards [Eater]
· But There Was an Official James Beard Live Blog [JBA]
· Hangover Observations: '08 Beard After Parties [Eater]
· Kim Cattrall, Bobby Flay, Others in Red Carpet Gallery [Gothamist]
· Ed Levine: JBAs Will Never Be Popular or Entertaining [SE]
· Now You Can Take a Quiz About James Beard [YumSugar]
· Hey LA, How'd You Do? [~ELA~]