Two 2015 James Beard Awardees have neighborhood connections

The 2015 James Beard Awards honored two awardees with ties to the neighborhood. Gerard Craft, below, Chef/Owner of Niche in Clayton, Brasserie, above, and Taste on Laclede Avenue in the CWE was named Best Chef Midwest at the award ceremony held May 4 in Chicago.

In a press release following the ceremony, Craft shared the award with his customers and with the City of St. Louis. "You have welcomed me to your city and have stood by me for the past 9 1/2 years…" 

Craft has been nominated in the Best Chef category six times previously. Read more in Ian Froeb's article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch here. To learn what Craft is planning for the future, follow St. Louis Public Radio's account here.

 

 

 

 

Dana Goodyear, below, another  2015 James Beard awardee, in the Book, Broadcast, and Journalism division, also has ties to the neighborhood. 

Photograph: Gertrude + Mabel

Dana, a staff writer for The New Yorker, lived on Lenox Place from the time she was 11 until she left for boarding school. After that, the CWE was home base. Dana, who now lives in L.A., is the daughter of my dear friend Mary Morgan and step-daughter of the late Michael Morgan.

Dana's prize-winning article, "Élite Meat – A food entrepreneur offers a delicious—but pricey—solution for guilty pleasures," appeared in the November 3, 2014 issue of The New Yorker. You can read the article in its entirety by clicking on the link above.

In addition to her work as a journalist, Dana is a poet (The Oracle of Hollywood Boulevard, Honey and Junk), and an author. Anything That Moves, published in 2013, describes a new American food culture that celebrates "unregulated, illegal, and indeterminate ingredients." Pigs' ears or katydid & grilled cheese sandwiches anyone? Most of the "delicacies" discussed in the book are so out there, it's hard to imagine anyone finding them palatable. Dana is a fabulous writer, and her experience sampling these foods with the characters she meets on the journey makes for entertaining and fascinating reading.

Congratulations to Dana and Gerard for this well-deserved recognition.