The Cities Blog

Zimmern, Perennial Plate among Twin Cities James Beard award winners

Twin Cities-based television host and food writer Andrew Zimmern won the James Beard award's Outstanding Personality/Host for his Travel Channel show, "Bizarre Foods America."
zimmern
Twin Cities-based television host and food writer Andrew Zimmern won the James Beard award's Outstanding Personality/Host for his Travel Channel show, "Bizarre Foods America."

Travel Channel host and food writer Andrew Zimmern, and "The Perennial Plate" hosts Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, get to bring James Beard Foundation media awards home to the Twin Cities. The prestigious awards were announced Friday night in New York City.

Zimmern was named Outstanding Personality/Host for his show "Bizarre Foods America." Klein and Fine won the best Video Webcast, On Location for their online weekly documentary series dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating.

Mpls.St.Paul Magazine writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, who was up for an MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, lost out to Mike Sula of the Chicago Reader.

She told us earlier Friday that all the nominations proved that, "Minneapolis has become a force to be reckoned with," in foodie circles.

Zimmern tweeted congratulations to the other Twin Cities winners:

Congrats to @perennialplate !!!!!Way to go D and M... We r cheering for you! #jbfa #minnesota

— Andrew Zimmern (@andrewzimmern) May 4, 2013

Moskowitz Grumdahl sent shout outs too:

Congrats to Mike Sula for winning MFK Fisher for his story in the Reader, well deserved!

— Dara Grumdahl (@DearDara) May 4, 2013

Congrats to @andrewzimmern !! Food personality of the year. So proud. Yay!! Yay!!! #jbfa

— Dara Grumdahl (@DearDara) May 4, 2013

Congrats to @perennialplate for the excellent win!!! #jbfa Enjoy Turkey, extra much!!

— Dara Grumdahl (@DearDara) May 4, 2013

The Beard awards are split into two nights, with Friday's batch going to food-related media, and another round Monday night designated for chefs, cooking and restaurants. Minneapolis restaurateurs Michelle Gayer of “Salty Tart,” and Jack Riebel, of “Butcher & the Boar”are among the competitors for Best Chef: Midwest.

Here's the full list of media winners: