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The James Beard effect: Restaurant awards come with lots of excitement, some challenges

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The James Beard effect: Restaurant awards come with lots of excitement, some challenges


The owners of the Randolph restaurant Saap traveled to Chicago in the spring of 2022 to attend the James Beard Awards. The Northern Thai eatery’s chef, Nisachon “Rung” Morgan, was nominated for Best Chef: Northeast by the annual awards honoring the American hospitality industry.

Morgan won. By the time she and her husband, Steve Morgan, returned to central Vermont, their business and their lives had changed.

“We came back from Chicago,” according to Steve Morgan, “and there were 67 messages on my phone.” Most of those messages were for reservations in the 60-seat dining room. Revenue at Saap soared 300% after the restaurant won the award.

The Morgans were and remain ecstatic to have won. But soon after winning, what might qualify as good problems started to settle in.

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Saap had to turn away potential customers “right and left,” Morgan said, as diners were suddenly drawn in droves to their prize-winning restaurant. Sometimes, he said, Saap had to stop accepting takeout orders because the dining room was full and the small staff was stretched thin. Morgan said that on a couple of occasions, Saap made the mistake of overbooking the dining room, making customers wait longer than they should have.

“There’s obviously cons to everything,” according to Matthew Peterson, owner of May Day, a restaurant in the Old North End of Burlington whose chef, Avery Buck, is nominated this year in the Best Chef: Northeast category. The restaurant finds out April 2 if it and other Vermont semifinalists advance to the finals, with overall winners announced June 16.

May Day’s previous chef, Mojo Hancy-Davis, was a semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast two years ago. Despite recognizing there are cons to everything, Peterson sees almost nothing but positives in being a nominee in the most prestigious hospitality award competition in the country.

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“Two separate chefs (nominations) in three years feels more like a holistic representation of what we’re doing here,” Peterson said.

The James Beard ‘bump’

Peterson admits he didn’t take full advantage of Hancy-Davis’ nomination in 2023. May Day closed temporarily for previously planned renovations three days after the nod was announced. Any James Beard “bump,” as Peterson called it, passed May Day by.

“I didn’t necessarily know how to leverage that as an owner,” he said.

Months after that nomination, Hancy-Davis bought the Henry Street Deli in Burlington and left to run that business.

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“It took the wind out of my sails a little bit,” Peterson said. Soon, though, he soon landed Buck, with whom he had worked at Hen of the Wood, which has restaurants in Burlington and Waterbury and has been nominated for multiple James Beard prizes over the years.

The wind is back in Peterson’s sails now that Buck, like Hancy-Davis, is a James Beard nominee. “It feels very validating to have another chef get that,” he said.

Peterson feels he’s better at leveraging the honor to benefit May Day. After learning of Buck’s nomination, he reached out to Hello Burlington, a website that highlights the city’s restaurants and events. The night a video about May Day went live on that website, Peterson said customers came into his homey North Winooski Avenue eatery saying they had just seen the video.

“There has been a bump for sure,” according to Peterson, who said the nomination that mentions Buck by name is about more than one person. “It just feels like a whole team working together.”

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‘A monumental moment’

Christian Kruse felt the bump when he was a semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast in 2022, the same year Morgan at Saap won. At the time, he was chef at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling in Essex.

“It certainly was a monumental moment to me,” said Kruse, who left Black Flannel to work at The Big Spruce and Hatchet Tavern in Richmond, which have since closed. “It’s certainly something that I’ve worked hard to try to achieve. It is the Oscars of the hospitality industry. Any chef/owner/whatever that’s been working hard in their field and doing their craft, I think it’s something they want to achieve.”

Kruse is seeking investors to help fund his own restaurant in The Big Spruce location.

“It’s an accolade that really opens the door to have conversations with people,” he said.

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An invitation from Kamala Harris

Kruse, Peterson and Morgan all mentioned the same relatively minor negative aspect of being a James Beard Award nominee. It isn’t so much about the impact it has on the restaurant as the impact on the customer.

“People come in with a different expectation once you’ve won a James Beard Award,” according to Morgan. He said some customers think of the awards as honoring only elegant dining rooms with linen on the tables, or French- or Italian-trained chefs unlike his wife who’s cooking elevated versions of Thai food from her homeland.

Once those customers taste the food at Saap, Morgan said, their response is usually something like “Oh, I get it now.” He noted that the year Saap won was when the James Beard Foundation started recognizing more diverse cuisine than it had before; customers had not yet adjusted to that new way of thinking about the nominations.

“The (James Beard) Foundation is broadening the scope of what good food looks like,” according to Peterson of May Day.

Kruse heard comments from Black Flannel customers about a brewpub not being what they expected for such a prestigious nomination. He noted that one of this year’s nominees, Canteen Creemee – which dispenses ice cream and fried chicken from a takeout space in a Waitsfield shopping plaza – isn’t known for impeccable service but for its creative, innovative offerings.

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Peterson said his restaurant that aims for “fun, approachable food” has had “self-proclaimed foodies” come in expecting the elegance they might find in Boston or New York.

“We get a lot of that,” Peterson said of “self-proclaimed foodies.” That just encourages him and his staff to rise to the occasion.

“I like high expectations,” Peterson said, especially when the crew at May Day delivers what the customer wants.

A James Beard nomination does set a restaurant up for closer scrutiny, according to Morgan. “It kind of puts a bullseye on your back,” he said.

But the award also set Saap up for opportunities it might not have otherwise had. Just before President Biden left office in January, Morgan said Saap was invited to an Asian-heritage celebration at the home of then-Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C. Restaurants representing the cuisine of 25 countries served small plates that night, and Morgan said Saap likely would not have been included had it not won a James Beard Award three years ago.

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“It’s been quite the crazy ride,” he said.

And the nominees are…

This year’s Vermont semifinalists for the James Beard Award (finalists to be announced April 2):

  • Outstanding Restaurateurs: Cara Chigazola-Tobin and Allison Gibson, Honey Road and The Grey Jay, Burlington
  • Outstanding Bar: Wolf Tree, White River Junction
  • Best Chef, Northeast: Avery Buck, May Day, Burlington; Charlie Menard, Canteen Creemee, Waitsfield

www.jamesbeard.org

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.



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Hour-by-hour: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York

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Hour-by-hour: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York


The most widespread storm coverage will occur between 2-8 PM Tuesday, April 14

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Timeline: When to expect showers & thunderstorms Tuesday in Vermont, New York

The most widespread storm coverage will occur between 2-8 PM Tuesday, April 14

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NBC5 meteorologists expect strong to locally severe thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon into the evening for Vermont and northern New York.Watch the video to see when showers, downpours, and storms are most likely near your town.

NBC5 meteorologists expect strong to locally severe thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon into the evening for Vermont and northern New York.

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Watch the video to see when showers, downpours, and storms are most likely near your town.

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Vermont

Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits

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A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.

A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.

Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.

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“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.

The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.

“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.

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In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.

“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.

The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.

The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.

“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”

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Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.

“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.



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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her

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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her


BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.

Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.

“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.

Birthday gift unlike any other

For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.

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The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.

“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”

After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.

“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.

“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”

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‘Library for plants’

White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.

“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.

Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.

“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”

The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.

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“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.

White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.

No plans to stop

White says she has no plans to stop.

“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.

And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.

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“He just got good wishes!”

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