So says GQ magazine, which runs down the list of D.C. heavyweights in its November issue. Most of the folks on the list are pols or the power behind pols or the eyes watching pols. Ashok Bajaj makes the cut, apparently, because he feeds the pols and treats them all with respect.

Bajaj tells GQ a few of his rules for navigating the political waters in this town:

• Know Your Client. “You can feel the temperature of the person,” he says. Last winter, with our economy teetering, that meant giving Geithner the privacy of a corner table when he dined alone at the Bombay Club but seating the more sociable Bernanke “in the thick of things” when he took his wife to dinner at the Oval Room.

Read More “More Good News for Bajaj: He’s One of D.C.’s Most Powerful People” »

The Washington Post placed in four separate categories in the Association of Food Journalists 2009 awards contest in New Orleans last week, including nods for Tom Sietsema, Jane Black, and the Food Section as a whole.

Black won or shared two awards. She earned a second-place finish for Best Newspaper Food Feature, circulation 250,001 and over category, for her profile on Patrick O’Connell, chef/owner at the Inn at Little Washington. She also shared a first-place award for Best Newspaper Special Food Project with Anthony Faiola, Dan Morgan, and Steven Mufson for “Clipping, Scrimping, Saving.”

Read More “Local Food Scribes Fare Well at 2009 AFJ Awards Contest” »

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As part of CBS’ Washington Unplugged, Under 40, segment, Kaylee Hartung asked WaPo’s Ezra Klein, the paper’s blogger on economic and domestic policy and part-time food writer, five rapid-fire questions. Among them: What’s his favorite restaurant? His favorite place for happy hour? And his “favorite person to watch under 40 in D.C. right now”?

Klein’s answers:

• Favorite restaurant: Palena for a regular Wednesday night dinner but Komi if you have “money to burn.”
• Favorite place for happy hour: Bar Pilar
• Favorite person to watch under 40 in D.C. right now: “I think Johnny Monis, the chef at Komi, is probably America’s greatest genius currently living.”

No matter how off the cuff, Klein’s last comment is a bold, strong endorsement of Monis, a chef who, despite his tremendous talent, has not won the Rising Star category at the James Beard Awards the past two years. Regardless, I didn’t find Klein’s choice questionable…until Hartung ended her segment by saying that the blogger is a vegetarian.

Come again?

How then could Klein call Monis a genius — or any chef who works with meats — if he hasn’t sampled a large portion of Monis’ creations? I e-mailed Klein for some clarification.

Read More “WaPo’s Klein Calls Johnny Monis “America’s Greatest Genius.” Can a Vegetarian Make Such a Claim?” »

At the beginning of the week, Y&H idly wondered if the very composition of the 400 James Beard Award judges would help explain the appearance of a Big Apple bias in this year’s winners. After all, of the nine national categories in which nominees can come from across the country, New York chefs and restaurants won eight.

Yesterday, Jessica Cheng, publicist for the Beard Awards, e-mailed and patiently explained the makeup of the 400 Beard judges:

Read More “More Background on James Beard Award Judges” »

Did you hear that? Utter radio silence.

Y&H expected a cacophony of food blog and board commentary today following the announcement of the 2009 James Beard Awards for restaurants and chefs.  But after the D.C. area got the cold shoulder last night at the Beard ceremony in the Big Apple, there has been little hand-wringing about the snubs, aside from an implication of favoritism among judges (Don Rockwell), an honor-to-be-nominated pep talk (Michael Birchenall), and a straight-forward, just-the-facts-ma’am report (the Post’s Joe Yonan, an award-winner himself this year).

What’s missing? Arguments, fussing, and outraged commentary about the New York-orientation of this year’s winners. However, if you study the 2009 winners, particularly national categories in which nominees come from all parts of the country, you’ll find that New York chefs and restaurants won 8 out of 9 times.

WTF? I mean, WTF?

OK, yes, everyone who follows food in this country understands that NYC is still the epicenter of the known universe when it comes to dining. Just ask a New Yorker — or even someone who just writes for a New York publication — and they’ll tell you.

This year’s winners got me to thinking about the process behind the voting. On the foundation’s Awards Policies and Procedures page, you can find this explanation under the Restaurant and Chef Awards:

Read More “D.C. Chefs/Restaurants Shut Out in 2009 Beard Awards” »

Then follow along with the play by play over at Delights & Prejudices, the official blog of the James Beard Foundation. They’ll be announcing the winners in the various restaurant/chef categories, which include a good number of District-area nominees. You can also follow along via the Beard Foundation’s Twitter feed.

It looks like the main topic of discussion right now is the weather. It’s raining in NYC as folks start enter the Lincoln Center via the standard red carpet. Writes “Snack” on the D&J blog:

Last year’s heat wave required attire of linen and flip flops while this evening’s rain requires something a bit more solid and water resistant for the red carpet. Fingers-crossed that the monsoon abaits a bit.

Read More “If You Can’t Be in New York for Tonight’s James Beard Awards…” »

The nominees for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced this morning, and the big local winners were the Washington Post and José Andrés with three noms each.

Technically, I guess you could say that Andrés, aside from nods for best new restaurant, outstanding chef, and web/radio, shared a fourth nomination, too. His boffo new Los Angeles restaurant, The Bazaar, also earned one for best design.

The Post’s Tom Sietsema racked up a pair of nominations, one for his Sunday magazine feature about noisy dining rooms and one for his restaurant criticism. Sietsema submitted three reviews to earn the latter nomination: Great Expectations (3/2/2008), Robo Restaurant (6/1/2008), and An Earned Exclamation (7/20/2008). In the review category, Sietsema will be competing against Adam Platt from New York magazine and LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his criticism in 2007.

“I’m humbled by the nominees in the criticism category in particular,” e-mailed Sietsema, who’s been nominated twice before. “I mean, Johnathan Gold [sic] was the first food writer to win a Pulitzer for his reviews! And I love Platt’s prose in New York magazine. Most of all, I was pleased to see all the Washington chef talent on the Beard list. Those guys all work very hard and deserve the kudos that have come their way.”

Read More “D.C. Rakes in the Noms for 2009 James Beard Awards” »

Thanks to the power of the internets, the first two spots on this week’s list belong to posts from last week: one on the departure of Bill Catron from Brasserie Beck and the other on the Cameron Perks tragedy. After that, the Top 5 looks like this:

1. The Sounds of Slurping: Get Ready for D.C. Noodle Shops
2. Ray’s the Net Is No More. It’s Now Ray’s: The Catch
3. Beard Semi-Finalists Just Announced: D.C. Is Well Represented
4. So Where the Hell Can You Find Jamie Stachowski Charcuterie in This Town?
5. Pizze in Woodley Park: Taking Aim at the Jumbo Slice Culture

The James Beard Foundation has released its massive list of semi-finalists [PDF] in the restaurant and chef categories, and the D.C. area has plenty of contenders. So far, at least.

It’s a bit early to get too pump over this list, which was whittled down from more than 15,000 entries. At present, many of the categories boast 20 or more semi-finalists, but by March 23, each will be pared down to five. The winners will be honored on May 4 at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

With that said, D.C. was well represented among the semi-finalists. Young & Hungry sends out a hearty congratulations for those local chefs and restaurants that made the cut. They include:

Read More “Beard Semi-Finalists Just Announced: D.C. Is Well Represented” »