The James Beard Awards are the Oscars for the culinary trade, and the James Beard Foundation is its Academy. Earlier this month, chefs Tony Ferrari and Jonathan Sutton from the Hillside Supper Club on Precita Park were invited to New York to cook a special dinner at the James Beard House, and it was quite a big to-do.
Of course, Chef Tony and Chef Jonathan also live right around the corner from the restaurant, so the glory bestowed upon Neighbor Tony and Neighbor Jonathan — and, by commutative extension, the entire Dominion of Bernalwood — is even more sweet.
Neighbor Tony’s brother Austin traveled to NYC to participate in the festivities, and he tells Bernalwood why the James Beard Dinner meant so much to Team HSC:
Hillside Supper Club has been a close watcher and member of the James Beard Foundation for a while. When Tony was in college he earned a scholarship from them, and with that scholarship he traveled to Europe to indulge in his culinary dream. The James Beard Foundation is a non-profit culinary foundation founded by James Beard. He was a food writer, teacher, ad cookbook writer. Think, Julia Child; except the male version. The Hillside Supper Club team was invited to cook at the Beard House based upon our cooking style, our inspiration, and hard work and dedication. It is probably one of the best events we will ever do in our culinary career, to be honest.
Jonathan Sutton, Austin Ferrari, and Tony Ferrari at James Beard House, NYC
Cooking a James Beard Dinner is sexy accomplishment, but the hotness doesn’t stop there. In fact, like a big, wet, dripping maraschino perched atop a Tcho chocolate almond cake with amaretto cream, smoked sea salt, and candied almonds, Neighbor Jonathan took the sexy one step further recently when Marie Claire named him one of the 11 Most Eligible Bachelor Chefs in America. Seriously:
Rawr!
Bernal ladies, if you’re hungry, you know where to find him in the kitchen.
PHOTO: Top, Hillside Supper Club on Instagram
Bernalwood 
Huh, that ended so gendered and heterosexualized that I’m now really turned off by a restaurant in my neighborhood … and this blog, too. Didn’t expect that, but yeah, ending the piece with “What’s the sexiest thing about a woman?” and “Bernal ladies…” makes this Bernal “lady” feel gross.
The Supper Club welcomes everyone equally. No need to boycott such a neighborhood
gem before you have had a meal there.
I love this comment! I popped over here to the comments section to see if anyone would be creative enough to figure out a way to complain about this post, and I was not disappointed. By the way, the “What’s the sexiest thing…” quote was from the Marie Claire article, not Bernalwood. Still, well done!
+1
I can read. I know from whom each of the quotes came. Just because you disagree with me, or think I’m just complaining, doesn’t mean I can’t read.
I stand by my reading of the post. I often find this blog in bad taste, and rarely do I like the tone. I read it because it purports to represent this neighborhood in some fashion. When it does so as poorly as it did today, I might make a comment. It’s always interesting to see folks defend hetero-normativity as if it’s somehow in danger of ceasing to be the dominant paradigm.
Definitely not boycotting anything, just turned off. Hard to boycott something you can’t afford in the first place.
who cares + feel gross in silence next time
Warmest congratulations to chefs Tony & Johnny for the James Beard Dinner honor and for having a really cool restaurant in our neighborhood.
Give HSC a try. I have known the chefs since their days in a Bernal neighbors’ home cooking up meals, & to their various pop-ups on Valencia & Mission Streets. They are a great team! You walk in as dinner patrons, you leave as friends. No matter the length of time between visits, everyone there, from Chefs Jonathan & Tony to their crew, treat you as if they had just seen you yesterday. They have to be one of the nicest people around. Their menu is excellent. Lots of variety, ever changing for the seasons. Service is very good, friendly. Wait staff make really good suggestions if unsure what’d you like to order. Plus they make the best gnocchi!