James Beard Fdtn Awards: Taco Truck Article A Winner
SF Chronicle writer Tara Duggan won top prize in newspaper column category for her columns in the paper's Sunday magazine. One of three winning columns was her Taco Truck article. I asked a friend who attended the Awards and she doesn't remember Tara thanking local Chowhounders (specifically Ruth Lafler and Melanie Wong) for her inspiration. I'm sure it was just an oversight. (vbg) Janet Fletcher won for her profile of wedding cake baker Sam Godfrey.
jenniferfishwilson
May 05, 2002 02:00PM
Maile Carpenter also won a James Beard Award for the profile of the Chronicle's Restaurant Critic, Michael Bauer that she wrote for San Francisco Magazine.
Anyone one who missed it when it ran last August can read the story on the magazine's website.
Link: http://www.sanfran.com/features/bauer...
Permalink | Reply
It is a great piece--of character assassination. I hope Maile Carpenter never covers my trial if I'm ever accused of anything.
Of course I agree with it entirely. I used to complain about Patricia Untermann that she never even bothered to hide her connections. A typical review of Hama-ko: "I called up my friends, the owners, and they said 'Patty, we can't wait to see you tomorrow' and then they prepared an unforgettable meal." They weren't much use as reviews, but you could at least envy her dining life. And she championed unpretentious (and affordable) places like Osteria Del Forno and Le Trou.
Bauer seems to believe that his dining experience is representative of the Bay Area. This was abundantly clear when the magazine ran several extravagant features at the peak of local unemployment last fall:
-pairing wines with foods you cook at home (no wines for less than $50 a bottle);
-what restaurant you would eat at every night if you had the choice (French Laundry or Chez Panisse? on whose expense account?).
The exception was a very useful bread and taxes feature last April with recipes for bread soup. Bauer, by the way, is no longer editor of the Sunday magazine.
Permalink | Reply
Another thing that sets Unterman way above the rest is that she knew what she was talking about. She'd go into a Shanghainese place and order the typical Shanghainese dishes. Ditto for Szechuan and any other cuisine. Couldn't say that for any of the other local critics.
Permalink | Reply
And Michael Bauer promptly canned Unterman when he took over as food editor.
As for the James Beard awards... I thought the anti- Michael Bauer article in SF mag was horribly written and journalistically lacking. And an award for that taco truck article? So basically, they're giving the awards out for the topics, not the writing. I don't get it.
Permalink | Reply
Who knows how the articles get picked? I've been nominated twice now for a column I used to have in the Bay Guardian--this time I got beat out by Duggan's taco trucks pieces. Oh well--hoping the 3rd time will be a charm! Alan Richman, of GQ, won 2 awards, and Gourmet also cleaned up.
Permalink | Reply
Dixieday: Wd love to read your nominated (and others) columns. Please provide a link.
Permalink | Reply
Well, unfortunately, the Bay Guardian's web site is really lame on archiving--but I'll try to find them if I can. Otherwise I'll provide links to the texts.
Permalink | Reply
Well, all food writing awards should go to Jeffery Steingarten of Vogue. He's simply the best food writer in the country, ever.
Dixieday,,, do you still write for the Guardian?
Permalink | Reply
No, alas, the Bay Guardian has fallen on hard times, financially, and they've cut a lot of their freelancers. So, no, I'm not writing for them anymore--my "Table Ready" column was cancelled last June.
Permalink | Reply
All might be an exaggeration, but Steingarten is a good food writer. He did win a James Beard Award (In his acceptance speech he called it "the most important of the James Beard Awards"--his ego is not small).
He is coming out with a new book soon called "It Must Have Been Something I ate".
Permalink | Reply
I had no idea I lived in Michael Bauer's town. What a great article -- character assasination, yes, but also a lot of good information. The setup at the Chronicle seems unnecessarily incestuous. I always thought the review in the Chron were badly written (I guess I didn't look at the bylines to see MB's name, but I get my restaurant advice from Chowhound!) and now I know why.
I love San Francisco, but jeez I wish we had another newspaper.
Permalink | Reply
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Tara Duggin isn't fit to lick Patricia Unterman's boots much less take her place.
Permalink | Reply
Here's a link to Ms. Duggan's article which does cite Chowhound.com as her media source.
Link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi...
Permalink | Reply