Hark! James Beard Award NominationsAfter much speculation, the 2007 nominees for the James Beard Awards, the Oscars of the restaurant world, are in. Adam Platt, Rob Patronite, Robin Raisfeld, and Grub Street all filled out Beard brackets (or at least revealed whom we’d like to see win) on Friday. Here’s how the academy’s coming down.
Foodievents
Floyd Cardoz Deigns to Educate You, Tomorrow OnlyTabla chef Floyd Cardoz is giving a demo tomorrow morning that celebrates his Grub Street-approved cookbook, One Spice, Two Spice. Cardoz’s Indian-American fusion makes him unique among cookbook authors; those in attendance will get to try to two of his savory dishes and one of his Indian desserts. — Alexandra Vallis
Cooking Class, “One Spice, Two Spice,” $135
Sat., Jan. 13, 10 a.m.–noon
Tabla, 11 Madison Ave., at 25th St.; 212-889-0667
NewsFeed
Jason Neroni: I Love Wylie, But …A friend of Porchetta chef Jason Neroni has alerted us to the fact that, despite having taken over for Wylie Dufresne at 71 Clinton Fresh Foods before starting his new gig, Neroni does not consider Dufresne his mentor. “Because Wylie made such a name for 71 Clinton Fresh Food, I think people tend to compare our styles a lot,” Neroni tells us. “But Smith Street isn’t the Lower East Side, and I’m in this business to do what I love, and to be myself.” The chef credits Alice Waters and Dan Hill for teaching him about ingredients, Floyd Cardoz for teaching him about “multidimensionality,” and Alain Ducasse for teaching him to “slow down, combine all the elements, and create a cuisine that I could, for the first time, truly consider to be mine.”
A Restaurant Revolution on Smith Street? [Grub Street]
User’s Guide
New Cookbooks You Might Actually Open
Back in the day, of course, most kitchens could get by with a single massive reference tome; as the Times just pointed out, it was often Joy of Cooking. Now so many cookbooks come out every season that you could spend your entire grocery budget on them. Here are an exceptional handful by New York chefs or celebrities that have come out this fall.