Why did James Beard Awards elude Arizona’s chefs — again?

If the James Beard Awards are the Oscars of the culinary industry, at least one Southwestern state is getting most of the glory. And it’s not Arizona.

For the second year running, we were completely shut out of the finalists list for the James Beard Foundation’s annual restaurant and chef awards.

On Wednesday, via live stream from Los Angeles, the foundation announced those who received the most votes from an anonymous panel of more than 600 food journalists, culinary educators and previous winners, but none of the six Arizona semifinalists that were announced on Feb. 15 were among them.

The James Beard Foundation — named for the beloved cookbook author, kitchen instructor and champion of the culinary arts — is a non-profit dedicated to supporting American culinary heritage. The foundation’s annual awards are among the industry’s most prestigious, honoring the best in food and drink from around the nation.

So why aren’t Arizona chefs and restaurateurs among them?

The frustrating answer is that we don’t know.

The awards start with an open, online call that is narrowed to a list of semifinalists by the foundation’s restaurant and chef awards committee, composed of 17 prominent, publicly disclosed food journalists in 2017. The vote for finalists and winners, however, is turned over to an anonymous panel of more than 600 previous winners, culinary educators and food journalists from around the country.

The panel is by invitation only, and those who constitute it are generally acknowledged to be a collection of capable and educated voters, but their identities and their

votes are not disclosed to the public.

Which means we can only speculate, but there are some pretty good theories, any or all of which could be contributing to Arizona’s recent dry spell. Here are a few:

1. Trends

One doesn’t need to look far to see that in the Southwest, Texas is the king when it comes to the James Beard Awards. In the “Best Chef — Southwest” category, Texas restaurants are on a run of six straight wins (2011 was a tie), and in 2017, they’ve constituted 11 of the 20 semifinalists and four of the six finalists.

There was a time when Arizona dominated the category. Starting with Christopher Gross in 1995 and ending with Nobuo Fukuda in 2007, Arizona chefs took home the top honor eight times in 13 years, including a four-year run from 1998 to 2001.

Restaurants and those who write about them are often driven by trends. Texas has built a reputation among many as the seat of culinary innovation in the Southwest, and narratives with momentum can be difficult to change.

2. Travel patterns

Since the voters are selected from around the entire country, more visitors to a city could mean more votes for the restaurants in that city. We don’t know the travel patterns of the voters, but if more of them are visiting Texas than Arizona, that could have a significant impact on the tally.

3. Snowball effect

The largest segment of the voting body (300-plus members) is composed of former winners. As such, when a city or region rattles off a long string of wins, that could make for a sudden influx of fresh, energetic voters who are certainly more likely to visit restaurants in their area, and may be more likely to vote for them as well, creating a feedback loop.

4. National exposure

As national food media continues to grow — particularly when it comes to food-focused reality shows and documentaries — more exposure means that more voters become familiar with you and your work. And while Arizona chefs have made some noise on the national scene, you’re far more likely to see Texas chefs on shows such as “Top Chef” and “Chopped.”

5. Restaurant quality

This is the third rail, which I’ve seen met with defiance, agreement and bewilderment. Maybe the James Beard voters just don’t like Arizona restaurants very much these days. As an enthusiastic traveler who cut his teeth on Chicago’s dining scene and spent the past seven years obsessively covering Arizona restaurants, I will fight anybody who tries to tell me that Kevin Binkley is the only Arizona chef of the past 10 years to merit recognition as a finalist (to say nothing of a win).

But when it comes to the James Beard Awards, there are, no doubt, as many opinions as there are voters, and perhaps it isn’t due to demographics or trends or media coverage. Perhaps they simply disagree.

Bottom line

As frustrating as the lack of a concrete explanation may be, there’s little we can do beyond continuing to build, support and promote Arizona’s culinary scene as best we can, and trust that the

recognition will come.

On May 1, the James Beard Awards Gala in Chicago will mark a moment of celebration for chefs and restaurateurs around the country. Arizona, unfortunately, will have to wait until next year.

Reach Armato at dominic.armato @arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8533.