The NCA's Managerial Award, given to the best manager of a restaurant, culinary institution, school, or event, went to William Vanderbilt for the second straight year Sunday.
Vanderbilt's fifth nomination led to his second victory in the category, with an outstandingly unanimous 1,533 votes, more than half of all those cast. 103 people were nominated.
"I am so touched and deeply moved to have been honored in this manner yet again," he said, emotionally stricken, at a press conference late Sunday.
"We are elated," Arthur Ayeiy, Vanderbilt's second-in-command, said when asked to describe the feelings of the FF chefs and other staff upon the announcement.
When he won this honor in 2011, some chefs disapproved and even booed at the announcement. This was because Vanderbilt's approval ratings among chefs had dipped sharply the week before the announcement due to his perceived support of reviled former chef Brianna Galen-Ames. However, there seemed to be no such dissension at Vandy's cradling of the award this time around.
Henry Lilton, manager of the New York Thanksgiving Spectacular, the largest Thanksgiving event similar to Feast Fest, placed fifth in the voting. Lilton's "Spectacular" has 34 chefs, about half of the amount Feast Fest has.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
No comments:
Post a Comment