"JamesBeardFoundation" news and stories

• Is the James Beard Foundation giving L.A. the cold shoulder, or what?
• Wild rice is harvested in the fall -- but it makes great spring eating, too.
• In L.A., Hatfield's restaurant is the real McCoy. (As in genuinely good.)
• The Corner Bakery's oatmeal currant cookies are extra big -- but somehow there's always room for more.

Got a spare hundred bucks on hand, a delicious dream in your heart and a keyboard at your fingertips? Then hie thee to jamesbeard.org and download entry forms for the 2010 James Beard Foundation's Book, Journalism, Broadcast Media and Design Awards.

Veteran entrants of the Journalism Awards will note that there are a few alterations from previous ballots (full disclosure -- I'm the vice chair of the committee that oversees the Journalism Awards), namely that the Restaurant Review award has been redubbed the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award, the former Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes and With Recipes categories have been combined into single category, and there's no requirement for the Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer, Food-related Columns, or Reporting on Health, Environment and Nutrition entrants to have ever appeared in print. Online's just fine.

Why the changes? Funny thing - we cracked a window in the Beard House's Peter Kump Boardroom during our last meeting and noticed it was 2009 outside. Oops.

Restaurant devotees also may submit their favorite chefs and restaurant for inclusion in the James Beard Restaurant Awards via a handy online form at jamesbeard.starchefs.com.

[Via: jamesbeard.org]

Photo: Alicia Griffin/flickr

Ben Ali, the founder of Washington D.C.'s historic Ben's Chili Bowl, has died at the age of 82.

Ali founded the landmark eatery on U Street with his wife, Virginia, during the Eisenhower administration, and it's become a hangout for presidents -- President Obama visited on Jan. 10 -- and entertainers -- Bill Cosby, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. Cosby was the only person to get a free meal at Ben's until Obama's election, when Ben's put up this sign in the window: "Who eats free at Ben's: _Bill Cosby _The Obama Family," the Associated Press reports.

The restaurant is renowned for its chili "half smokes" -- beef sausages larger than the average hot dog that are smothered in chili -- as well as its bowls of chili. The James Beard Foundation named Ben's Chili Bowl an "American Classic" in 2004. And the menu, Gourmet.com notes, isn't for the faint of heart. "Our chili will make a dog bark," it begins.

In breaking food news, the James Beard Foundation is announcing the 2009 JBA Nominees live on Twitter.

Follow them at twitter.com/beardfoundation or watch this post, and we'll update as the announcements roll in.

The 2009 inductees into the Who's Who of Food & Beverage are: David Burke, John T. Edge, Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Betty Fussell, Clark Wolf

Journalism Awards Nominees:

Multimedia: Ruth Reichl (Gourmet.com): Gourmet Cookbook Club and The Test Kitchen; Mike Sula (Chicagoreader.com): Whole Hog Project

Web Site Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant or Nutrition: Chow.com, Epicurious.com and Gourmet.com

Food Blogs: The BA Foodist (Bonappetit.com), Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (Honest-food.net), Our One-Block Diet (Oneblockdiet.sunset.com)

Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer: Jon Bonné (San Francisco Chronicle), Jay McInerney (Men's Vogue), Alan Richman (GQ)

Food-Related Columns: Dorie Greenspan (Bon Appétit), Corby Kummer (The Atlantic) and Laura Shapiro (Gourmet.com)

Nutrition/Food-Related Issues: Barry Estabrook (Gourmet), Mark Adams, et al (New York Magazine), Rachael Moeller Gorman (EatingWell)

Restaurant Reviews: Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly), Adam Platt (New York Magazine) and Tom Sietsema (The Washington Post)

Magazine Feature Writing w/o Recipes: Alan Richman (GQ), Patricia Sharpe (Texas Monthly), Monique Truong (Gourmet)

Magazine Feature with Recipes: Edna Lewis (Gourmet)*published posthumously, David Dobbs and John Ash (EatingWell), James Peterson (Saveur)

Magazine Feature Writing about Restaurants and/or Chefs: Ruth Reichl (Gourmet), Alan Richman (Departures), Anya von Bremzen (Food & Wine)

Newspaper Food Section: Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post

Newspaper Feature w/ Recipes: Rebekah Denn (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), David Leite (New York Times), Kathleen Purvis (Charlotte Observer)

Newspaper Feature w/o Recipes: Monica Eng (Chicago Tribune), Kristen Hinman (Riverfront Times) and Craig LaBan (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Newspaper Feature about Restaurants and/or Chefs: Monica Eng/Phil Vettel(Chicago Trib), Katy McLaughlin (WSJ), Tom Sietsema (The Wash Post)

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award: Celia Barbour (O, The Oprah Magazine), Aleksandra Crapanzano (Gourmet), Alan Richman (GQ)

Restaurant, Cookbook and Media Awards nominees are after the jump.

Over the years, the name James Beard has become synonymous with quality food, food writing, restaurant design and food media. Each May, all the players in the food world gather in New York to honor the best among them. However, when they convene in 2009, there's going to be whole new contingent in their midst.

The James Beard Foundation announced last week that in 2009, they will be adding a category for Blogs. In the press release, alerting us to this addition, they said,

Blogs have become an essential part of today's evolving media landscape. They provide journalists from both traditional and nontraditional backgrounds with an immediate, direct outlet for their work, and open up an unprecedented avenue for vibrant dialogue with readers. With the addition of this vital new category, the James Beard Foundation recognizes the tremendous impact that blogs have had on food journalism, and their importance to the future of the medium.

I look forward with great interest and excitement to seeing which blogs the James Beard Foundation will select as their first honorees.