Sunday and Monday nights were the James Beard Awards annual gala events, and the results are now in. Sunday night focused on the journalists, highlighting books, broadcast media, and even websites (a new category), while Monday was all about the chefs and restaurants. The excitement was palpable in the food world, so much so that Ed Levine decided to liveblog Monday's Awards dinner, an extravagant black tie affair, for those of us not "in" enough to snag an invitation (thanks, Ed!).

New York kicked some serious culinary ass this year, grabbing the awards for both outstanding chef (Dan Barber, Blue Hill, pictured above right) best new restaurant (The Modern), and outstanding chef (Alfred Portale, Gotham, pictured above left). Other NYC awards listed below:
- Best International Cookbook: Molto Italiano, Mario Batali
- Best Reference Book: Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best, Max McCalman and David Gibbons (from Artisanal)
- MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award: Jay McInerney, Departures, "Will Alain Ducasse Take Over the World?"
- Best Radio Food Show: Leonard Lopate, WNYC
- Outstanding Pastry Chef: Johnny Iuzzini, Jean Georges
- Outstanding Restauranteur: Daniel Boulud

We also have to give a special shout out to William Sherer from Aureole, Las Vegas, who won for Outstanding Wine Service -- we had the pleasure of getting some assistance from him when we visited and we were quite impressed. Congrats to all the winners!