Earlier this week I attended an exciting evening for those San Franciscans in the food industry as we celebrated the First Annual Saucy Awards hosted by The Golden Gate Restaurant Association. The event took place at San Francisco’s historic Herbst Theater. Festivities began at 7pm with a brief awards ceremony sharing the winners for the nominations (list below). After the awards concluded there are was a cocktail reception with incredible food and swanky cocktails served by Estate Events by Meadowood. It is only fitting to serve such incredible food when hosting some of the most talented Chefs in San Francisco all in one spot.
How did it work? Well, nominations were first open to the industry, and then a steering committee (Joel Riddell, Virginia Miller, Joyce Goldstein, Patricia Unterman, Leslie Sbracco, and Marcy Coburn) narrowed down the selection concluding with the GGRA members voting on the winner (except for People’s Choice award and the Lifetime Achievement award open to the public).
The adorable charming and handsome Emcee Mr. Liam Mayclem, KCBS’s Foodie Chap
The Award Recipients
Category: Chefs
Chef of the Year : Ravi Kapur (Liholiho Yacht Club)
Pastry Chef of the Year: Belinda Leong (b.patisserie)
Rising Star Chef of the Year: Melissa Reitz (Bar Agricole)
Category: Service
Restaurateur of the Year: Nicole Krasinski & Stuart Brioza (State Bird & The Progress)
Beverage Professional of the Year: Lulu McAllister Churchill (NOPA & Liholiho Yacht Club)
Employee of the Year: Kory Cogdill (Tacolicious)
Manager of the Year: Justine Flynn (Souvla)
Outstanding Industry Service: Monterey Fish Market
Category: Restaurants
Exceptional Full Service Restaurant of the Year: NOPA
Exceptional Fast Casual Restaurant of the Year: Souvla
Exceptional Non Brick & Mortar Restaurant of the Year: RoliRoti
Category: Programs
Wine Program of the Year: A16 & SPQR (Shelley Lindgren)
Cocktail Program of the Year: Bar Agricole
Beer Program of the Year: Monk’s Kettle
Sustainable Restaurant or Bar of the Year: The Perennial (Anthony Myint & Karen Leibowitz)
Community Spirit of the Year: Tacolicious (Sara Deseran & Joe Hargrave)
GGRA’s Lifetime Achievement Award: Pete Sittnick
People’s Choice Award for Restaurant of the Year: Copita Tequileria y Comida
Chef of the Year: Ravi Kapur (Liholiho Yacht Club). Read my interview with Chef Ravi here.
Exceptional Fast Casual Restaurant of the Year: Souvla. Read my interview with Souvla Founder Charles Bililies here.
Exceptional Full Service Restaurant of the Year: NOPA. Congrats to the Nopa team who is especially near and dear to my heart. Watch my video interview with Owner + Chef Laurence Jossell here.
People’s Choice Award for Restaurant of the Year: Copita Tequileria y Comida
GGRA’s Lifetime Achievement Award: Pete Sittnick
GGRA’s Lifetime Achievement Award: Pete Sittnick with GGRA President Gwyneth Borden and other industry friends.
Quite possibly the most popular and gorgeous cocktail of the evening!! Cheers to the 1st Annual Saucy Awards
The fabulous Wagstaff Team (who did the PR for the Saucy Awards) and me!
Cheers to our amazing Emcee Liam and Beth of Spritz PR. Two incredible industry pals.
Pastry Chef of the Year: Belinda Leong (b.patisserie) and her partner and teacher Michele. Belinda is a Chef I see very frequently as I live close to B Patiss (as I call it) so I was extremely proud and happy to see their team win this well deserved award. Congrats Belinda and Michele.
Me and the two fabulous Koreys/Korys…. On my right is Kory, the winner of Employee of the Year at Tacolicious. On my left is his charming fiance and my pal Korey. These two are both super talented and work at delicious Tacolicious.
Cheers to Gwyneth Borden the fearless leader of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA) and also a friend and board member for The JetSetting Fashionista.
Cheers to the first annual Saucy Awards. What a night to be remembered. Congratulations to all the winners, nominees and The GGRA for putting on such a fabulous evening for our industry to celebrate and all come together.
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