NEW YORK - A Chicago chef known for his ethereal cooking - as well as the tongue cancer that nearly ended his life - was named the top chef Sunday by the James Beard Foundation.
The award marked another victory in a tumultuous year for Grant Achatz, who last July was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer, had aggressive treatment to save his life and sense of taste and by December was cancer free.
Achatz told the crowd of food world elite gathered for the awards he credits lessons learned when he was 22 and working at The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., with teaching him not just how to cook but also how to survive.
Those lessons were going to "make me a good cook and ultimately a great chef. What I didn't know was that it was actually going to save my life," he said.
"That drive, that tenacity, that dedication that I took in at that restaurant...it became a part of who I am 12 years later and helped me get through a pretty ridiculous battle."
Achatz's cooking at his three-year-old restaurant, Alinea, has come to define the so-called molecular gastronomy movement.
His ultramodern style has crafted menus that read like the shopping list of a culinary mad scientist, with items such as "black truffle explosion, romaine, parmesan" and "transparency of raspberry, rose petal, yogurt."
Achatz thanked the many chefs in the crowd for their offers to help during his battle with cancer.
"I didn't let any of them come to the restaurant and cook as they suggested. I couldn't do that to the cooks," he said with a laugh.
Alinea was named the top U.S. restaurant by Gourmet magazine in 2006 and Achatz previously won Beard awards for rising star chef in 2002 and 2003 and for best chef in the Great Lakes region last year.
The James Beard awards are known as the Oscars of the food world, and honour those who follow in the footsteps of Beard, considered the dean of American cooking when he died in 1985.
Business partners Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich also were honoured at Sunday's ceremony as top restaurateurs. They oversee a cadre of restaurants, including New York's Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca and Del Posto.
New York's Gramercy Tavern was named the United States' Outstanding Restaurant.
Gramercy Tavern, which since opening in 1994 has been nominated for and received numerous Beard Awards and cemented the careers of culinary luminaries such as Tom Colicchio, is known for its contemporary American cuisine.
"If you can judge a restaurant based on the quality of its alumni, I don't think there's a richer restaurant that I could have dreamed of being a part of," said owner Danny Meyer.
Gavin Kaysen of New York's Cafe Boulud was named Rising Star Chef, while the award for Outstanding New Restaurant went to Michel Richard's Central Michel Richard in Washington. Richard was named Outstanding Chef by the foundation last year.
Frances Moore Lappe, whose nearly 40-year-old book, "Diet for a Small Planet," has been the blueprint for eating with a small carbon footprint since long before the term was coined, was named Humanitarian of the Year.
Described as the Earth's champion, Lappe was honoured for her work to highlight the need for affordable, quality food for all and for promoting the notion that small-scale, not industrial, agriculture is best at providing it.
