Californians dominated this year's awards from the James Beard Foundation, presented last week at a black-tie gala at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.
Thomas Keller, the owner of the French Laundry in Yountville, in the Napa Valley, was named the outstanding chef. The award for what the foundation calls "the rising star chef of the year" was Michael Mina of Aqua in San Fran-cis-co. The best new restaurant was Rose Pistola in San Francisco, and the outstanding wine and spirits professional was Zelma Long of the Simi Winery in Healdsburg, in Sonoma County. Alice Waters, the owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, was honored as humanitarian of the year. In her acceptance remarks, she spoke passionately about the importance of producing food that respects the en-vi-ron-ment.From New York, the Union Square Cafe was named the restaurant of the year, and Richard Leach of Park Avenue Cafe was named as the outstanding pastry chef. The award for wine service went to the Four Seasons restaurant, and a lifetime achievement award went to Joe Baum, who created some of the best-known restaurants in New York. Among the regional awards, Charles Palmer of Aureole was named the best chef in New York City.
This was the seventh year for the awards, which are given by the foundation organized in the memory of Beard, one of America's leading food writers, who died in 1985.
Awards for cookbooks in 16 categories were also announced. The top prize, for book of the year, was given to "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samar-kind to New York" by Claudia Roden (Alfred A. Knopf).
Three cookbooks cited by the Beard Foundation also won awards presented by the International Association of Culinary Professionals at its annual conference in Chicago two weeks ago: "1000 Vegetarian Recipes" by Carol Geller (Macmillan USA); "A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire" by Jacqueline Friedrich (Henry Holt), and "Baking With Julia" by Dorie Greenspan (William Morrow). The association's award for best cookbook went to "Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen" by Bayless with Deann Groen Bayless and JeanMari Brownson (Scribner).
The Beard Foundation presented a number of awards for food journalism at a separate banquet last Friday. For the fifth consecutive year, Alan Richman, the restaurant critic for GQ, was named best magazine reviewer. Richman also won the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for one of his articles.