James Beard News

Bravo's 'Top Chef' announces the cast of Season 17 - All Stars LA featuring the fiercest group of competitors the show has seen with 15 finalists, front runners and fan favorites from seasons past who have all returned to finish what they started and battle it out for the coveted title. Premiering with a supersized episode on Thursday, March 19 from 10 - 11:15 pm ET/PT, the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series returns with host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and judge Gail Simmons. Coinciding with the premiere, Bravo is teaming up with Universal Studios Hollywood for the inaugural Bravo's Top Chef Food & Wine Festival on March 19-20, 2020. In addition, Bravo and Spectra recently announced a new location of quick service restaurant Top Chef Quickfire to open in January 2020 in Philadelphia.

'A TIME TO WANDER' AUTHORS CHERA THOMPSON & NF JOHNSON

NO PASSPORT REQUIRED returns for a second season with renowned chef and executive producer Marcus Samuelsson visiting six new cities to explore the rich diversity of immigrant traditions and cuisines woven into American food and culture. To whet viewers' appetites for the new season, PBS will offer a special night of programming on Friday, December 13. Kicking off the evening will be CHEFS MARCUS AND VIVIAN: A TASTE OF WHAT'S NEXT (8:30-9:00 p.m. ET), featuring Marcus and Chef Vivian Howard from the new PBS series SOMEWHERE SOUTH as they meet new friends at L.A.'s Grand Central Market and provide glimpses of their upcoming seasons. NO PASSPORT REQUIRED “Seattle,” a special Season 2 preview follows immediately (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) as Marcus explores the Filipino American community, part of the city's longstanding Asian Pacific American heritage. 

First We Feast, part of Complex Networks, explores the fascinating world of Japanese comfort cooking in an all-new series titled 'Gochi Gang,' premiering Tuesday, November 12 at 11 a.m. ET on First We Feast's YouTube channel.

An Academy Award-winning actress, a James Beard chef, best-selling authors and leaders in the global Jewish community are among the headliners of the impressive and diverse lineup of philanthropic and social events hosted by Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County in 2019-2020.

High Water Festival is set to return for its fourth year to North Charleston, SC's Riverfront Park on April 18-19th. The two-day Celebration of Music, Food, and Libations – curated by the Holy City's own Shovels & Rope in partnership with AC Entertainment - has revealed its full lineup for 2020 today.

ABC is the home for unforgettable holiday programming as the network celebrates the joy of the season. In November, the network serves up a bounty of Thanksgiving-themed episodes and the classic animated special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” In December, ABC decks the halls with special Christmas and Hanukkah-themed episodes—the return of fan-favorite series “The Great Christmas Light Fight” and “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition”; and an all-new holiday movie, “Same Time, Next Christmas,” starring Lea Michele. Timeless cartoons and beloved holiday films will also return. The fun continues after Christmas with New Year's-themed programming ringing in 2020. 

Greenwich Entertainment announced today the acquisition of North American distribution rights to Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy, the directorial debut of Elizabeth Carroll. The film about the celebrated chef of Mexican cuisine premiered to glowing reviews at SXSW and Hot Docs earlier this year.

From James Beard Award-Winning Chef David Chang and Academy Award-Winner Morgan Neville, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner follows Chang as he travels around the world  accompanied by a different celebrity guest including: Seth Rogen, Chrissy Teigen, Lena Waithe, and Kate McKinnon.  Each episode explores a single city, its culture and its cuisine and as Chang and his friends learn about each city, they also uncover new and surprising things about themselves.

Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Chef James Waxman about his career and the restaurants of 85th Day Food Community for our 'Chef Spotlight.'

The New School's College of Performing Arts (COPA) today announced Aaron Copland: An American Portrait, a one-of-a-kind concert and performance at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall honoring Aaron Copland's legacy as a visionary composer and citizen-artist. CoPA's Mannes Orchestra, in partnership with the university's School of Drama, will perform Copland's A Lincoln Portrait and Symphony No. 3 as well as Art in an Uneasy World, a newly devised dramatic work based on Copland's testimony during the 1953 anticommunist hearings on a?oeun-American activities.a?? The concert will take place on Saturday, October 26th at 7:30 pm. 

As part of its 40th Anniversary Filmfest, Aspen Film is excited to host three panel discussions with local and film industry guests as part of the festival taking place September 23-29, 2019.

With great excitement, Teatro ZinZanni today announced the name and chef for their new restaurant Wheelhouse, a new gathering place for both locals and visitors to experience set to open mid-October 2019 within the world-renowned wine and outdoor destination. The name is an ode to the prominence of the railway line that ran along the site and the wheelhouse is a device for switching locomotives from one track to another. Located in the heart of Woodinville's Hollywood District neighborhood, Wheelhouse will be the newest addition to the Hollywood Station campus at the former Redhook brewery site, which is also home to Teatro ZinZanni's productions and world headquarters, as well as DeLille Cellars and Sparkman Cellars.

Miami Beach Pop Festival is taking bold steps to be one of the most environmentally conscious festivals ever. Set for November 8-10, 2019, the festival will include the groundbreaking ECOasis which will unite a roster of partner organizations to highlight sustainability as an integral part of the weekend-long festival. Miami Beach Pop's South Florida home is one of the most fragile, ecologically sensitive, and environmentally significant regions on planet Earth.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents Samin Nosrat in Conversation with Lindy West on Sunday, October 13 at 7 p.m. at Royce Hall. Tickets for $28a?"$79 are available now at cap.ucla.edu, 310-825-2101, and the Royce Hall box office.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre (KCRep), announced the full schedule for this season's popular Monday Night Playwright Series, which opened with BURIED ROOTS, its first play of the series, on Monday. The series features a line-up of new and returning playwrights including Michelle Tyrene Johnson, Darren Canady, James Still, Migdalia Cruz, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen and Ellen McLaughlin. These free public events take place on the UMKC campus at the Spencer Theatre Donor Lounge.  

Crown Media Family Networks announced today that Chadwick Boyd and Emily Hutchinson, two of American media's top food and baking personalities, have been tapped as judges for Hallmark Drama's first all-new series, 'Christmas Cookie Matchup'. The program also features cast members from Hallmark Channel's top-rated primetime series, 'When Calls the Heart', including Jack Wagner as host, along with Erin Krakow, Pascale Hutton, Kavan Smith, Chris McNally, Kevin McGarry, Paul Greene, and Andrea Brooks, who will serve as apprentices to the contestants - America's most talented amateur bakers.