Other People's Breaking News: Awards Edition

In the spirit of the Academy Awards season, this edition of Other People's Breaking News involves, well...awards.

Fresh from DCist, it looks like the James Beard award nominees are out, and DC has quite a few. Now I'm not sure how the Beard does their awards, I don't know if you can't be nominated if you've won too many in the past, or if you won last year, but it's hard to believe that Michel Richard or Thomas Keller is nowhere to be found on this list for best chef (though Richard's Central is up for best new restaurant).

Luckily however, there are quite a few DC chefs and other food related folks on the list, such as Apples & Bananas favorites Jose Andres (Outstanding Chef - which was won last year by Michel Richard), Koji Terano (Best Chef - Mid Atlantic), and Eve's Todd Thrasher.

Good luck to all of our local boys and girls. Make us proud.

Also from DCist, the 2008 Golden Clog nominees have been announced. For those of you who don't remember from last year, these are the awards that food bad boys Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman pass out every year. The categories include "The Alton", or, "For being on Food Network and yet, somehow managing to Not Suck", and, "THE CAT CORA AWARD", for, "most fame based on least actual culinary achievement."

Finally, from the NYT (by way of my friend Polson), a follow up to the post I wrote a few days ago about the slew of stars that Michelin has awarded in Tokyo. It seems that there's been a bit of a backlash against the French company's king of all food guides. According to the Times, "Food critics, magazines and even the governor of Tokyo have questioned the guide’s choice of restaurants and ratings", and some chefs have even turned down a chance to be listed, something that would be unthinkable in Europe or even here in the states.

That's all for now folks. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!