L.A.’s Campanile Wins James Beard Award

Campanile is the best restaurant in the country, according to the James Beard Foundation, which gave it the outstanding restaurant award Monday night.

Owned by chefs Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton, Campanile was one of three Los Angeles restaurants to make the finals for the prestigious award. The others were Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino and Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois on Main. The award honors restaurants that have been in business for at least 10 years.

In the competition’s journalism awards, Vincent Schiavelli’s tale of Sicilian sheepherders that appeared in the Los Angeles Times was named best newspaper feature story with recipes. Schiavelli’s piece, “Sicilian Summers,” ran in the Food section July 26, 2000. Another Times column, “Professional Help,” by French Laundry chef Thomas Keller and Michael Ruhlman, was a finalist in the newspaper column category. Gourmet dominated the magazine awards, including wins by local writers David Karp, Laurie Ochoa and Jonathan Gold.

Other James Beard winners included Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco, named California chef of the year; Keller’s French Laundry in the Napa Valley, for outstanding wine service under sommelier Bobby Stuckey; Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va., for outstanding chef; and Santa Monica design firm Louey/Rubino Design Group, for outstanding restaurant graphics.

The Beard Awards were part of a busy foodie weekend that began with awards presented at the International Assn. of Culinary Professionals meeting Saturday in Minneapolis. Those awards featured a first: the best cookbook of the year, “In the Sweet Kitchen,” by Regan Daley, is published in Canada and is not available in the United States. Ruhlman’s book, “The Soul of a Chef,” was named best book in the literary food writing category. San Diego author Su-Mei Yu’s “Cracking the Coconut” was given the Julia Child Award for best first book.

‘Hot Sour Salty Sweet” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid won in both competitions, capturing the Beard cookbook of the year honor and a design award from the IACP.

BEARD COOKBOOK AWARDS: COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: “Hot Sour Salty Sweet” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Artisan, $40). AMERICANA: “Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen,” by Tom Douglas (William Morrow, $30). HEALTHY FOCUS: “Healthy Jewish Cooking,” by Steven Raichlen (Penguin Putnam/Viking Division, $29.95). SINGLE SUBJECT: “The Good Egg,” by Marie Simmons (Houghton Mifflin, $17). WINES AND SPIRITS: “American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine,” by Paul Lukacs (Houghton Mifflin, $28). BAKING AND DESSERTS: “Artisan Baking Across America,” by Maggie Glezer (Artisan, $40). GENERAL: “Think Like a Chef,” by Tom Colicchio (Clarkson Potter, $37.50). INTERNATIONAL: “Mexico One Plate at a Time,” by Rick Bayless with JeanMarie Brownson and Deann Groen Bayless (Simon & Schuster, $35). VEGETARIAN: “The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen,” by Peter Berley and Melissa Clark (Regan Books/Harper Collins, $35). WRITING AND REFERENCE: “Pot on the Fire: Further Exploits of a Renegade Cook,” by John Thorne With Matt Lewis Thorne (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25). ENTERTAINING AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS: “Savor the Moment,” by the Junior League of Boca Raton (Junior League of Boca Raton, $28.95). BEST FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: “Hot Sour Salty Sweet” by Alford and Duguid.

IACP AWARDS: AMERICAN: “The New American Cheese,” by Laura Werlin (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $35). BREAD, OTHER BAKING AND SWEETS: “In the Sweet Kitchen,” by Regan Daley (Random House Canada, $34). CHEF & RESTAURANTS: “The Herbfarm Cookbook,” by Jerry Traunfeld (Simon & Schuster, $40). FOOD REFERENCE / TECHNICAL: “The Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America,” by Bruce Cass and Jancis Robinson (Oxford University Press, $45). GENERAL: “The Minimalist Cooks at Home,” by Mark Bittman (Broadway Books, $25). HEALTH AND SPECIAL DIET: “Fresh and Healthy,” by Sally James (Media 21/ACP, $23.50). INTERNATIONAL: “Savoring Southeast Asia,” by Joyce Jue (Time-Life Publishing, $39.95). LITERARY: “The Soul of a Chef,” by Michael Ruhlman (Viking/Penguin Putnam, $26.95). SINGLE SUBJECT: “The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen,” by Peter Berley (Harper Collins/Regan Books, $35). WINE, BEER OR SPIRITS: “American Vintage,” by Paul Lukacs (Houghton Mifflin, $28). FIRST BOOK, THE JULIA CHILD AWARD: “Cracking the Coconut,” by Su-Mei Yu (William Morrow, $30). JANE GRIGSON AWARD: “The Pepper Trail,” by Jean Andrews (University of North Texas Press, $50). DESIGN AWARD: “Hot Sour Salty Sweet,” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid with Richard Jung (Artisan, $40).