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......

All the foodies are in a tizzy today as the coveted James Beard Award nominees were announced last night. The actual awards ceremony and reception will be held on May 8, at an event celebrating "the culinary legacy of New Orleans." Reservations for the May 8th event can be made by calling 212-367-9490 or toll free at 1-866-362-6442. Admission is $375 ($325 for James Beard Foundation members/$120 for students - find your old ID cards......

The big NY Times Dining feature is about how dining in the year 1985 shaped NYC's restaurant going experiences through today. Led by chefs and restaurateurs David Bouley, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Danny Meyer, Drew Nieporent, and Alfred Portale, diners were treated to fine fare in sketchy neighborhoods, less pretension, smaller checks, lighter California cuisine, and the reliance on fresh, Greenmarket ingredients. An overall democratization of going out for a delicious meal (freed from the restraints......

Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill's Acclaimed Chef, by Alfred Portale (Morrow, 2005) Gotham has always been one of our favorite restaurants to have other people take us to for lunch at the bar, or to take dates to for a glass of wine after a movie at Cinema Village. Despite the aversion that some people have to tall food, we have always enjoyed every experience we've had at......

The New York restaurant scene is flush with nominations from the James Beard Foundation, the top award in the food world. Mario Batali (Babbo, pictured left), Tom Colicchio (Gramercy Tavern), and Alfred Portale (Gotham Bar & Grill) were all nominated for Outstanding Chef (a national award); Nobu Matsuhisa (Matsuhisa, LA) and Judy Rodgers (Zuni Cafe, San Francisco) are the other two. Chanterelle, Felidia, and La Caravelle were nominated for Outstanding Restaurant (national). New York made......

Thanksgiving is a little more than a week away, and Gothamist is gearing up for the best holiday of the year. (Why is it the best holiday? Because there's no gift-giving, people usually come together, and it involves ridiculous amounts of yummy comfort foods.) Our stomach growled a little louder this morning as we read the 12 Thanksgiving side dish recipes from different chefs in the Times today. Here they are: Sausage Stuffing With......

Omnium Gatherum, the new play at the Variety Arts Theater in the East Village, gets a write-up in the Times. However, in the food section, because the play centers around a lavish meal. And in a brilliant marriage between art and edible art, the play's publicist and its designer David Rockwell struck upon the idea of nearby chefs supplying the food - Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill will finish up his rotation, and......

Like being only cool fashion-forward kid who wears jeans a certain way and then suddenly see it copped not only by your neighbors, but by the Gap to bring to the kids in Peoria, the Daily News looks at chefs who have felt the burn when dishes that they have created are copied with nary a glance backward, but more of a middle finger backward, it seems. One dish to be mercilessly imitated: Daniel Boulud's......