Book your tickets to Alabama, because Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, Alabama, was just named America’s Most Outstanding Restaurant at the James Beard Foundation Awards in Chicago on Monday night. Highlands pastry chef Dolester Miles was also named best in the country, making chef and owner Frank Stitt’s modern Southern restaurant the place to check out this year.
The James Beard Foundation Awards, started in 1990, recognize restaurants, wine programs, chefs, designers, restaurateurs, cookbook authors, and journalists around the country, reports Bloomberg. More than 600 culinary professionals vote on winners across 23 food, beverage and design categories.
It was a good year for women, too. Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune in New York was named Outstanding Chef in the U.S, and Missy Robbins of Lilia in Brooklyn was named Best Chef in New York. Forty percent of this year’s nominees were female and women won many of the major awards.
Seattle’s Edouardo Jordan was another big winner. His restaurant, JuneBaby, was named best new restaurant in America and on top of that, he was named Best Chef in the Northwest at his other restaurant, Salare.
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