MCVGA Hosts Santé Magazine Restaurant Award Winners
Monterey County, CA - October 7, 2005 - The Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association (MCVGA) is pleased to announce a partnership with Santé Magazine to honor recipients of the Santé Magazine Restaurant Awards from October 29 through November 1, 2005, at The Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa on Cannery Row in Monterey Bay, California. Award winners will receive commemorative plaques from Santé and the awards' sponsors and they will also be recognized nationally in the publication. This is the eighth year that Santé Magazine has hosted the awards and it is the first time that the event will occur in Monterey.
Media are invited and encouraged to attend the Welcome Reception festivities at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Sunday, October 30 at 7:00. This is an exclusive opportunity to meet with the top chefs in the Country and leading wineries from Monterey County. Wineries that will be represented at the event include Blackstone Winery, Estancia, J Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Paraiso Vineyards, and Ventana Vineyards. Media interested in attending the event should contact Razonia McClellan at 432.352.7477.
Santé Award winners are chosen on a variety of criteria and represent a broad spectrum of restaurant-and-hospitality-industry professionals: owners, chefs, food-and-beverage managers, general managers, and wine-and-bar professionals from small, independent restaurants as well as international hotels and resorts. What they have in common is a passion for their work and a commitment to excellence.
“We selected Monterey as this year’s location due to the natural pairing of great wine and food that is representative of the region,” commented Mark Vaughan, Editor and Publisher of Santé Magazine. “Once recognized as a destination for simply golf and cuisine, the wine region has grabbed the attention of media and trade professionals alike. We’ve noticed a growing interest in the wines from Monterey County and it seemed only fitting to connect the leading professionals in the restaurant trade with some of the hottest winemakers in the country. We look forward to hosting our award winners to a one-of-a-kind experience at a destination that they won’t ever forget.”
Sponsored by the Allied Domecq Wines USA Academy of Wine and hosted by the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association and the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, the Santé Awards program is the only peer-judged restaurant-and-hospitality program in North America. The awards include four distinct programs: Service Professional, Culinary Hospitality, Wine Hospitality, and Spirits Hospitality. The culinary awards are granted in three subcategories: Traditional, Innovative, and Sustainable. The wine awards are also conferred in three subcategories: Fine-Dining, Bistro, and Hotel/Resort. And the spirits awards are given in two subcategories: Restaurant Bar and Hotel/Resort Bar. The Service Professional Award is not subcategorized.
This year's panel of top professional judges are Michael Bonadies, partner of Myriad Restaurant Group; Peter Cassell, general manager of Lever House and Lure Fishbar; Virginia Philip, chef and sommelier at The Breakers Hotel; Adrian Hoffman, group chef for Lark Creek Restaurant Group; Michael Schlow, executive chef and co-owner of Great Bay, Radius, and Via Matta; Ivy Stark, executive chef for Zocola; Rebecca Chapa, DWS and CWE; Leonard Logan, proprietor of Elizabeth's Café & Winery; Greg Harrington, MS, former beverage-division manager for B. R. Guest Inc.; Robert Plotkin, proprietor of Bar Media; Doug Frost, MS, MW, wine consultant and writer; and Tony Abou-Ganim, proprietor of The Modern Mixologist.
ABOUT MCVGA
The Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association (MCVGA) brings together the talents and resources of members, partners and our community in order to promote and support our leadership in the art, the science and the business of wine. Founded in 1974, MCVGA is a non-profit organization representing over 75 vintners and growers in Monterey County. MCVGA can be reached by calling 831.375.9400 or visiting online at www.montereywines.org.
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2005 Santé Restaurant Awards Winners
Culinary Hospitality Awards, Honoring Excellence in Wine and Spirits Cooking:
Grand Awards
Culinary Hospitality Restaurant of the Year
Cetrella Bistro and Café, Half Moon Bay, California
Culinary Professional of the Year
Edward G. Leonard, CMC AAC, team management/chef, ACF Culinary Team USA
Regional Winners
Traditional
Il Capriccio, Waltham, Massachusetts
Andale, Washington, DC
New Orleans Grill Room, Windsor Court Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana
Sparacinos Ristorante, Henderson, North Carolina
Andrae's, Boise, Idaho
Innovative
Hemingway's Restaurant, Killington, Vermont
New River, Providence, Rhode Island
The Bernards Inn, Bernardsville, New Jersey
Savoy, Asheville, North Carolina
Restaurant August, New Orleans, Louisiana
NoMI, Park Hyatt Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, Texas
The Ventana Room, Tucson, Arizona
Grand Café, San Francisco, California
Rosemary's Restaurant, Las Vegas, Nevada
Sustainable
Wheatleigh, Lenox, Massachusetts
The Tilghman Island Inn, Tilghman Island, Maryland
Soby's New South Cuisine, Greenville, South Carolina
The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Indianapolis, Indiana
The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards, Livermore, California
Canlis Restaurant, Seattle, Washington
Wine Hospitality Awards, Honoring Excellence in Wine Hospitality:
Grand Awards
Wine Hospitality Restaurant of the Year
Canlis, Seattle, Washington
Wine Professional of the Year
Debbie Zachareas, Bacar Restaurant and Wine Salon: wine director, partner
Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant: partner, Ferry Godmother
Regional Winners
Fine Dining
Il Capriccio, Waltham, Massachusetts
Barbetta Restaurant, New York City
Ristorante Panorama, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Port Land Grille, Wilmington, North Carolina
Charlie Trotter's, Chicago, Illinois
Swingos on the Lake, Lakewood, Ohio
Brennan's of Houston, Houston, Texas
Prima, Walnut Creek, California
Seablue Restaurant, Las Vegas, Nevada
Bistro
Rustic Kitchen, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Maxie's Supper Club & Oyster Bar, Ithaca, New York
The Greenbrier Sporting Club, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Harry Caray's Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Backstreet Café, Houston, Texas
Divino Wine & Cheese Bistro, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Cetrella Bistro & Café, Half Moon, California
Hotel/Resort Fine Dining
Wheatleigh, Lenox, Massachusetts
The Bernards Inn, Bernardsville, New Jersey
Horizon's, Grove Park Inn, Asheville, North Carolina
Ritz-Carlton Hotel-Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia
NoMI, Park Hyatt Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
The State Room, East Lansing, Michigan
The Ventana Room, Tucson, Arizona
Studio, Montage Resort & Spa, Laguna Beach, California
DW's Restaurant, Genoa, Nevada
Spirits Hospitality Awards, Honoring Excellence in Spirits Hospitality:
Grand Awards
Spirits Hospitality Restaurant of the Year
Rosemary's Restaurant, Las Vegas, Nevada
Spirits Professional of the Year
Dale DeGroff, master mixologist, author of The Craft of the Cocktail
Regional Awards
Hotel/Resort Bar
Wheatleigh, Lenox, Massachusetts
The Left Bank, Duck, North Carolina
NoMI Lounge, Park Hyatt Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Mission Inn, Riverside, California
Petrossian Bar, Las Vegas, Nevada
Restaurant Bar
33 Restaurant & Lounge, Boston, Massachusetts
Andale, Washington, DC
The Bombay Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
The St. Paul Grill, St. Paul, Minnesota
Brennan's of Houston, Houston, Texas
Cyrus, Healdsburg, California
NobHill at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada
Service Professional Award, Honoring Individuals that Exhibit a High Level of Professional Achievement in Food, Wine, and Spirits Service:
Regional Awards
Jeein Ha, Min Ghung Asian Bistro, Glastonbury, Connecticut
Terri Baldwin, The Bernards Inn, Bernardsville, New Jersey
Marc Sauter, Todd Jurich's Bistro, Norfolk, Virginia
Matt Tidd, Savoy, Asheville, North Carolina
David Pettinger, Andrae's, Boise, Idaho
Luis Cano, Duck Club Grill at Monterey, California
Shayn Bjornholm, Canlis, Seattle, Washington
