Highbrow James Beard Foundation Honors Mom-and-Pop Restaurants (and We Love It)
The James Beard Foundation, that hallowed food world institution whose annual, heavily-hyped event celebrates fancy chefs nationwide, also doles out awards to all-American institutions who have stood the test of time, but with perhaps less glitzy fanfare. As Grub Street reports, “To be considered, restaurants have to have been around for more than ten years and must be locally owned.”
The “America’s Classics Awards,” as they’re called, are a welcome counterpart to the flash-in-the-pan hype of restaurant industry coverage the rest of the year. These aren’t new hybrid restaurants, nor are they four-star palaces. They’re dishing out shaved ice and hot dogs, are primarily family-owned, and are sweet as can be. It’s a great reminder to support your beloved local establishments. Here’s a closer look at the winners:
Photo credit: Flickr, Infrogmation
The history of the New Orleans institution is enormously compelling; Ernest Hansen built his first Sno-Bliz ice-shaving machine in the 1930s, and he and wife Mary began selling them soon afterwards. Today granddaughter Ashley runs the stand, selling ices that come drenched in homemade flavored syrups including root beer, cardamom and satsuma.
Photo credit: Flickr, Eugene Kim
Get your chicken paprikash on at this 1923-era Eastern European restaurant with manic fans: “Sweet kitschy-bordering-on-but-gently-skirting-creepy Polish knicknacks peek out of every corner in what basically looks like the inside of a viking mead hall,” they wax poetic on Yelp. Sign us up! The same superfan goes on to call the sauerkraut a “euphoric blend of pure savory and piquant tartness.” And the pierogies are solid, too. (Who wants to go to Cleveland with us, like, now?)
Photo credit: Courtesy of Perini Ranch Steakhouse
Tom Perini lives west of Dallas, and his steaks are reported to be so fantastic Saveur went so far as to call him “One of the 24 Reasons We Love Texas.” Steaks are cooked over smoking-hot mesquite coals, and apparently the bacon-flecked hominy is outrageously good, too.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Olneyville NY System
The Greek family behind this old-school hot dog joint have been in the restaurant industry since the 1930s. Their Providence shop specializes in plump hot dogs with snappy natural casings smothered with ground beef, onions, and good old yellow mustard. If you want them with all those toppings, order them “all the way.” One regular suggests you stop at two wieners: “Any more than that and you need to bring a cot.”
Photo credit: TripAdvisor.
The “awesome" wood-fired pizza’s the thing at Nick’s, a McMinnville, Oregon institution whose roots stretch back to 1977. Local winemakers tend to come here in droves to hang out, and you might see founder Nick Peirano himself playing pool in the back room.
[via Grub Street]
