Top Chef‘s Tom Colicchio has one. Cronut creator Dominique Ansel has one. So does Austin’s Paul Qui. By this time on Monday, one of four chefs working in eateries in the Lone Star State (among them Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue, Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, both from Austin, Hugo Ortega of Hugo’s and Justin Yu of Oxheart, the latter two in Houston) could be the owner of a James Beard Foundation Award — the Oscars of the food world.
And for the second year in a row, no local chef made the cut. San Antonio is absent from semifinalist nominations.
The foundation honors the “dean of American cookery,” who pioneered food programming and culinary culture. As it gears up to celebrate its 25th awards ceremony (in Chicago for the first time) on May 4, SA chefs can take the consecutive snub in one of two ways: as a huge blow to a burgeoning scene, or an emphatic call to action for chefs and restaurants eager to be recognized for their innovation.
But the endeavors extend much farther than your local chef cooking badass plates. After February’s list of semifinalists was announced, Jason Dady didn’t hide his emotions.
“It’s certainly disappointing. The reality is our food culture is on solid ground and only getting better. Chefs like Stefan, Jesse, Steve, Diego, Robbie, Johnny, to name a few, are cooking food in restaurants that are as good as any in Texas,” he wrote in an email. “As a city, we need to speak up and get the voice out there. Pretty simple really. Anyone can nominate chefs, pick your favorite and help us put the SATX food scene on the national map once and for all. Soapbox. Out. “
Indeed, anyone can nominate their favorite chefs for the chance to score insane bragging rights, a bronze medallion and all the perks that come with being named the top of any category.
The JBF awards collect nominations or call-to-entry in mid-October, taking names up to the December 31 deadline. More than 38,000 entries were submitted for the 2014 restaurant and chef awards. The JBF restaurant and chef awards committee, made up of food writers and critics (Texas Monthly‘s Patricia Sharpe is the Texas rep) then has the monumental task of whittling down entries to 20 semifinalists. Category winners are selected by a panel of more than 300 previous JBF winners, as well as 250 judges in 10 regions and 17 members of the subcommittee.
So how do local chefs replicate — nay, surpass — the magic of yesteryear, when they made the semifinalist stage? Who will be the pioneer of a new cuisine à la Bruce Auden in the mid-’80s? Auden, known for his impish and playful plate, has seven semifinalist nominations to show for it, including an Outstanding Service nod for Biga in 2013.
Andrew Weissman has a couple of wins under his belt for Best Chef Southwest while David Gilbert and Michael Sohocki each have one. And Dady’s nomination for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2012 could see a repeat as he strengthens his lineup with the newly-opened Tre Enoteca and the upcoming Shuck Shack.
The nomination process is relatively simple, but the San Antonio dining scene might still have some waiting to do to regain and surpass previous achievements. Luckily, we won’t have to go hungry while we do so, as shiny new knives head into the kitchen (Mixtli’s Diego Galicia and Rico Torres; Quealy Watson and John Philpot of Empty Stomach; David Arciniega and Joel Herrera of Amaya’s Tacos, Luis Colon and staff at Folc; Steve McHugh, Tim Rattray and Jeff Balfour of the Pearl; and Best of San Antonio chef Pieter Sypesteyn, to name a few) and slightly worn ones drive the charge.
For Karen Haram, who witnessed first-hand the rise of the previous successful generation of SA culinary leaders as former food editor of the San Antonio Express-News for the better part of 30 years, the city’s going to need to grab a louder megaphone.
“The growth of the food scene in recent years in San Antonio has been phenomenal as an influx of new talent has joined existing restaurateurs to take restaurant and bar offerings to a new level. Now, the word needs to get out, and that’s not easy in a state that has three other food-intensive cities competing for culinary attention. Putting the word out means getting culinary influencers to the city, as James Beard Awards rules state that in order to vote for a restaurant, judges must have eaten there,” Haram said via email.
“So to get nominations, we need more than just great restaurants, chefs and bartenders. We also need an audience — regionally, certainly, and preferably nationally — that is aware of what we’re doing here.”
Leading the way in that effort is SA’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is targeting millennial travelers these days.
“We’re strategically trying to increase awareness and enhance their visitor experience. Millennials are traveling more aggressively, and when they come into some money as they enter the workforce, they like to be mobile and very experiential,” said Richard Oliver, CVB’s director of communications.
To zero in on this demo, the CVB has reached out to chefs and service industry professionals to form a culinary task force to expand on foodie offerings in the city. The bureau is planning to host more than 300 reporters from across the world this year to try to raise the city’s dining profile.
To better understand what a James Beard nomination means for our local chefs, the San Antonio Current sat down with two leading fine-dining chefs, Robbie Nowlin of Citrus and Stefan Bowers of Feast, to learn what else the city as a whole can do to take the city to a higher level.
For the sweeter side of things, we sat down with pastry chefs Kat Sees of Folc and Jessica Perez of Hot Joy to gain insight on their creative process and why you’ll want to try celery-lime ice or pig blood merengue.
To quote the puppet wisdom of Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
SAVORY
When you think about James Beard Foundation awards, is that something we want?
Robbie Nowlin: I think more so now than ever, San Antonio is “James Beard” worthy. We’ve been so held down by the nature of our convention business, but Biga and those restaurants get notoriety for being in all the terminals in the airport and the CVB as a whole all having a marketing scheme of their own accord. I don’t know any other local chefs who would be able to have that backing.
Stefan Bowers: Yeah, we 100 percent want it.
Who else in town do you think deserves a nod?
RN: I think, and I’ve been on this thing for a long time honestly because it’s a personal thing for me, but I’ve been held down by working for a chef-owner. A lot of times, chef de cuisines and sous chefs are the most talented chefs in town and any other fuckin’ city. All the big James Beard winners, Corey Lee, Tim Hollingsworth, obviously I’m talking about French Laundry, but these guys were not owners, they had no stake or equity in these businesses, they were chefs that became talented and their owners were smart enough and gracious enough to explore those talents and sharing with the community. And they went on to win these awards and rightfully so.
Is it a mentorship gap then?
RN: I don’t know what it is, I think the talent pool was so low in San Antonio five years ago that the biggest chefs became a boys club and they loved each other. It’s the Karate Kid syndrome. When the student starts getting better, they get insecure and instead of embracing they think, ‘oh fuck.’ I think it’s one of the reasons San Antonio has not had the influx of spotlight on us.
But within the last few years and certainly several months, sous have decided to host their own pop ups. How do we maintain that steam?
SB: You don’t even have to try. The ball is rolling. There’s no way that to say do we want it, that’s a no-brainer. He’s instantly made. I remember asking my chef in 2003, what does it mean to win James Beard and he kind looked at me stupidly, and goes, ‘It means you’re done.’ Cookbook, six figures, packed every night. That’s a grossly simplified explanation.
That was also in 2003.
SB: It’s a slow crawl here. If you take out the Pearl, you have one and a half fistfuls of restaurants that would arouse James Beard’s attention.
RN: I think my question is what’s James Beard worthy? What the fuck is worthy of it? I was cooking better food as a chef de cuisine at The Lodge and no one knew who the fuck I was. I was cooking the best food in the world as a line cook at the French Laundry and nobody knew who I was. All of a sudden, I get the title of executive chef in a hotel in San Antonio and people think I’m a badass chef.
The hotel does lend you the budget to try new things, though.
RN: But it all goes back to chef-owner. If you don’t have that title or executive chef somewhere nobody looks at you. If it’s about the food and the culture, that’s not the answer.
SB: Guys that win James Beard change the culture of things around them instead of just their cooking. Powerful James Beard winners change more than just what’s on the plate. It’s not good enough anymore to be a stellar chef. You have to change your landscape. That’s what’s happening here, finally, but it takes time. It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s not James Beard’s fault. What’s the process to win a James Beard award, I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell you what sponsorship I need. I know I need PR backing. The chef I mentioned earlier did a James Beard Dinner, but the hotel he worked at were huge society people and that’s how he got a dinner. It’s the ‘it’ factor. Some chefs have it and they get it.
RN: But what’s the ‘IT’ factor?
SB: What was it with Sean Brock? He’s brilliant. He took Southern cooking and inverted it and made it as raw as it can be and as refined as it can be. Brought it to its roots. He changed the cultural position of Southern food. Brock took it to Laundry standards.
RN: As a food writer, why do you think it hasn’t happened?
JE: I’m not entirely sure. I can’t stop writing about dinners and pop-ups and collaborations, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s how insular we are?
SB: That is a good term. I feel like I almost can’t escape it. It’s too tight-knit here. There’s no way of escaping that. Remove the Pearl and yes, you do have good chefs here, but it’s still … I have a hard time finding someplace to eat on my side of town that’s independent dining. Where do I go? Who’s the chef on my side of town where there’s half a million people living there?
RN: The demographics aren’t geared toward that.
Why don’t people eat out over there?
SB: It’s expensive to drop $150 for dinner. This is a blue collar city whether you like it or not. Ten percent of the city has the expendable income to throw at chefs. This is not New York, this is not Manhattan, LA, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville.
RN: It’s not even Houston.
How do you reconcile that?
SB: Franklin’s up for a James Beard this year for barbecue, right? Because he changed the landscape and viewpoint for that type of cooking. Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Arizona. Pizza won a James Beard (Best Chef: Southwest 2003) because he completely revolutionized his medium.
SWEET
Jessica, when did you take over all three restaurants’ pastry operations?
Jessica Perez: I came on and had to work the line for a little bit. It was supposed to be change one, and ongoing. It was a matter of time before the chefs wanted to change their stuff.
How hard is it for y’all to change their menu?
Kat Sees: I’m ready to change. I get bored after a month and a half and want to do something else.
What do you draw inspiration from? What sort of media do you like working with?
JP: Vegetables.
KS: I like sweet and savory. Every once in a while I’ll do an overly sweet dessert because people want that in this town, they get turned off by strange things. We’re not as adventurous as other cities, you know? Someone came in here once and asked, ‘Why don’t you just have a piece of chocolate cake on the menu?’ I’m like, really?
What about at Hot Joy? You had to reinvent your own Asian styles, were you familiar with Asian flavors at that point?
JP: I was, because back in L.A. I had just come out from an Asian restaurant.
The first thing I had of yours was a passion fruit meringue, with lychee sorbet, pineapple bits and a Thai basil whipped cream. How does that even come together?
JP: I don’t know. There’s a meringue sandwich that I used to do that I modeled it after. The way the merengue melts with the whipped cream is harmonious.
One medium you both seem to share is ice cream, why is that? Can you just get together and open an ice cream shop?
KS: That would be dope.
What are some flavors you lean toward?
KS: I try to go with what’s in season.
JP: Yep.
KS: We used to pick up loquats for Restaurant Gwendolyn because everything had to be local. We used to steal loquats; we found a banana tree once because you can’t get those here.
What’s your methodology behind plating?
JP: I guess it depends on the dessert. Barbaro is a little more rustic. The Monterey is my favorite.
What are you making out there?
JP: Right now I’m doing a celery, lime and apple dessert, a carrot dessert and a donut. We can do whatever we want there.
Where do you see desserts going in town in the next five years?
KS: Hopefully we get more recognition, man. Hopefully that brings more pastry chefs ’cause there’s very few pastry chefs in town. We’re pretty few and far between. I know Elise Broz, you, Libby Mattingsley, Jeremy and Anne obviously.
You’re introducing people to a ton of new stuff. What kind of questions do you get?
KS: I think people are just surprised that things work so well with each other, like when you pair a vegetable with something sweet. I think people are amazed by that.
Do you ever have to warn servers about what you’re making?
KS: I think their biggest thing is that they get frustrated when there’s 5,000 components and they have to explain all that to the guests. I think it’s a little overwhelming for some people ’cause there’s so much going on.
This article appears in Young And Hungry.