Hasta La Ideas

Here at UnBeige, we’ve been known to select dining establishments based on their chairs and typefaces, so when the James Beard Foundation announces its annual slate of award nominees, we head straight for the design and graphics categories. The Oregon Culinary Institute was the setting for yesterday’s announcement of the 2011 contenders, selected by committees of industry professionals in each of the categories. Duking it out for the James Beard Award for outstanding restaurant design (for establishments designed or renovated since January 1, 2008) are a trio of left-coasters: Aidlin Darling Design for Bar Agricole in San Francisco, Bestor Architecture for Pitfire Pizza in Los Angeles, and Stanley Saitowitz (Natoma Architects) for Toast in Novato, California. The restaurant graphics category, which for the past two years has been dominated by Korn Design and Steven Solomon, makes way for some new faces, two of whom are New Yorkers named “Katie.” Katie Barcelona is nominated for New York’s L’Artusi, and Katie Tully of Love and War impressed with her whimsical work for Geoffrey Zakarian‘s The National Bar & Dining Rooms. The third contender in the graphics category is the designing duo of Donald Madia and Jason Pickelman of Chicago-based JNL Graphic Design, nominated once again for their work for The Publican. Winners of the 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards will be announced on May 9 at a Lincoln Center ceremony hoted by chefs Tom Colicchio, Ming Tsai, and Traci Des Jardins. Wear your fanciest clogs!

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