Nobu Matsuhisa and Masa Takayama have never won a “best chef” award from the James Beard organization.
That’s right, two of the most influential names in American sushi have a goose egg when it comes to garnering the prestigious culinary award. Nobu’s restaurant did win a James Beard in 1995. Takayama has three Michelin stars, but isn’t good enough for a Beard.
This is important, because I’m trying to understand and put in context how a chef named Hajime Sato who runs a strip mall sushi joint in Clawson, Michigan, called Sozai, ended up winning a James Beard Award for “Best Chef Great Lakes”, when it’s arguably not even the best sushi spot in the Great Lakes region and certainly not America.
Full disclosure, I haven’t eaten there. So it’s fair to say right now STFU Mike, you have no right to talk about this. But, now that we have that established, you should know there’s a good chance that members of the Beard committee that determine nominees and ultimately the winners haven’t either.
The James Beard awards nominating committees are regional. So in the Midwest, you might have selectors from Chicago, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Do these people eat at every single restaurant in the Midwest? No. Do they even eat in more than a couple towns where nominated chefs might occur? Not likely.
I’ve heard from people I know who served on this committee over the years that Beard stipends for voter expenses are meager and do not scratch the surface of what is required.
In other words, if you want to do this voting process right and truly evaluate all the contenders, you would have to do your research mostly on your own dime.
Some might argue that this lack of funding makes sense given that the Beard is a 501(c)(3), aka IRS-recognized tax-exempt non-profit.
The Beard isn’t exactly a mom and pop. According to its most recent publicly available audited financial statement (March 2023), it was sitting on $4.6 million in assets after its liabilities were accounted for.
Its executives were compensated with 2 million dollars (11.2% of all total expenses) (according to Propublica) including CEO Claire Reichenbach’s salary of $402,788.
Two other interesting financial facts about the Beards are that the awards themselves generate $3.1 million dollars for the organization, and that during the pandemic the foundation received almost $1.6 million dollars in forgiven PPP loans.
I recognize people have to eat, but that last fact bothers me. People were dying on the streets during the pandemic and there is no credible argument, even from a food-obsessed human like me, that the James Beard house was essential during COVID, and that it should cost taxpayers over a million dollars, when as an organization it doesn’t even pay taxes.
The Beard foundation also gets millions of dollars of regular and in-kind contributions. Because all awards are political, one of the surest ways to promote a nod, is to travel to New York and cook at the Beard house with free labor for donors and members.
I’m not gonna examine every line item of expense for the foundation, but the point is in 2023, the Beard foundation had over $18 million dollars of revenue. It’s first priority should be properly funding every judge to evaluate the awards on an even playing field. It should not be pool-side visits to the Caribbean like this one, even if the noble outcome is to promote native Grenadian cuisine.