Five years ago, when Sue Zelickson was leaving the Ivey Awards — the annual lovefest for the local theater community — the proverbial light bulb went off over her head when she bumped into Iveys founder Scott Mayer.
"I turned to Scott and said, 'If we can do this for stage artists, why can't we do this for chefs and restaurants?' " she recalled. "You look at every charitable event in town, and who is there? Chefs. They're cooking, they're donating food, they're the most generous people around. Why not give them an opportunity to just sit there, and smile, and accept an award?"
Why not, indeed? Mayer and Zelickson sprang into action, and the Charlie Awards were born.
The two are clearly onto something, because more than 700 well-wishers filled the Pantages Theatre for last year's iteration, cheering on a winners' circle that included Lifetime Achievement honoree Lucia Watson of Lucia's Restaurant, and Sameh Wadi of Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, who was christened the year's Outstanding Chef.
Now in its fourth year ("Can you believe it? And they said it wouldn't last," said Zelickson), the 2014 Charlie Awards will be lighting up the Pantages stage next Sunday, in a program hosted by WCCO TV's Jamie Yuccas and Salty Tart chef/owner (and past Charlie Award winner) Michelle Gayer.
Entertainment will include singer Erin Schwab with the Jay Fuchs Band, and the Minnesota Boychoir performing, inevitably, "Food, Glorious Food" from the musical "Oliver." The show will begin with an interlude by the Taste Buds, an all-chef musical ensemble assembled by Steven Brown of Tilia and featuring a dozen musically inclined food professionals, including Thomas Boemer of Corner Table, Tyler Shipton of Coup d'état and Ann Kim of Pizzeria Lola.
"I love Sue Zelickson, and if she asks me to do something, I say 'Yes,' " said Brown. "She thought I was a musician, but I'm not. But there are so many people who work in restaurants who are involved in music, so we put out an open call."
The results? An opening number, the details of which Brown is keeping under wraps, although it will involve kitchen utensils as musical instruments. "And singing a cleverly reworded song, one that everyone knows," Brown said. "What we've basically done is cajole friends into doing something fun and slightly foolish."
Awards will be handed out in 13 categories — many mirror the format from the national James Beard Awards — including Outstanding Restaurant, Outstanding Chef, Outstanding Emerging Chef (a food professional with less than five years' experience), Outstanding Pastry Chef, Outstanding Bartender, Community Hero, Outstanding Local Craft Brew, Outstanding Service, Outstanding Interior Design and Lifetime Achievement. New this year is a shout-out for Outstanding Beverage Program.
Winners are selected from a voting pool of 175 independently owned Twin Cities food-and-drink establishments.
In addition, an open-to-the-public online poll (it drew 10,000 votes) was used to select winners for the Outstanding Food Truck award. The top six vote-getters for Outstanding Food Item then face a panel of expert judges, who select the winner.
Presenters will include past winners, plus a number of special guests. The Outstanding Service award duties will be handled by three longtime Twin Cities servers — Marion Mulvehill, Monica Scheller and Michele Robidoux — who between them have nearly 160 years of experience.
Rather than a statuette, winners receive a commemorative Charlie Awards plate.
The awards are named for Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale, the legendary downtown Minneapolis restaurant that closed on July 21, 1982, after a 49-year run. (Three Charlie's vets — executive chef George Lisovskis, manager David Jensen and hostess Georgia Marshall — will be acknowledged during the presentation of this year's Lifetime Achievement award.)
The restaurant's famous potato salad — an affectionate tribute to it, anyway, since late owner Louise Saunders insisted that the exact formula remain a secret — will be one of the many small plates served at the after-party in the IDS Crystal Court, prepared by students from four metro-area culinary academies: Art Institutes International Minnesota, Hennepin Technical College, Le Cordon Bleu and St. Paul College.
"The students are so excited to be a part of it," said Zelickson. "They get to meet the people they hope to one day work for, and to cook for them."
Top ticket holders will then enjoy a meal at Windows on Minnesota on the IDS Tower's 50th floor, featuring dishes created by four 2013 winners: Wadi, Watson, Jack Riebel (formerly of Butcher & the Boar, last year's Outstanding Restaurant) and Outstanding Pastry Chef Khanh Tran, then of Cosmos and now at the Bachelor Farmer.
Following the Iveys format, the Charlie Awards skip the whole pre-announced nominee thing. So, for those in the restaurant industry, a word to the wise: If someone connected with the Charlies suggests you pick up a ticket, get one. Today.
Doubters need only follow Wadi's example. Last year, he received three suggestions. Each nudge was increasingly less, um, gentle.
"I figured they needed my help to clean up after the event, or that they needed more restaurants in the audience," he said. But purchase a ticket he did.
Fast-forward to the big event. It was time for the Outstanding Chef award, and presenter Doug Flicker of Piccolo, the previous year's winner, stepped onstage and began to extol the current honoree's many virtues. Without naming names, of course. What's an awards program without drawing out the suspense?
"He's basically describing me and I'm thinking, 'Wow, there's someone else out there just like me,' " said Wadi with a laugh. "All I could think was, 'I can't wait to find out who this is.' And then he said my name. I couldn't believe it."
Wadi remembers running through the auditorium and up to the stage ("I think I did a little dance, I was so excited," he said) and then improvised an acceptance speech.
"I said what was on my mind at the moment, and that's that I was hungry for fried chicken, and that I hoped that there would be some later at the after-party," he said. "That's the life of the chef, right?"
A year later, Wadi's still tickled. "It's really cool that it's a peer-based award," he said. "It's about being recognized by all of the other chefs, and cooks, and restaurateurs that have made the Twin Cities a dining destination, and that's really fun, and really an honor."
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