The James Beard Award 2020 Finalists are here! After being postponed from its original scheduled ceremony date of March 25th due to COVID-19, uncertainty has hung over whether the James Beard Awards would even happen this year — even after the semi-finalists were announced in February. But the foundation has ultimately decided to go forward with the awards and has now released the full list of finalists. While there won’t be a physical ceremony this year, the foundation is planning to figure out a way to allow chefs a space to shine when they announce the winners on Wednesday, May 27th.
The foundation decided to go forward with a virtual ceremony after reaching out to chefs, restaurants, and industry professionals about how they’d feel given the circumstances of the global pandemic. “Those we consulted felt the Awards could also offer a glimmer of hope to an industry looking for light in a very dark time,” said the foundation in a statement. Considering the tremendous toll that the pandemic and lockdowns are taking on the restaurant industry, even restaurants nominated for prestigious awards need our help, so in addition to gathering all of the Best New Restaurant award finalists, we’ve indicated which ones are still open for take-out orders or offering meal kits.
Prepare to get hungry, here’s a food porn tour of the 2020 James Beard Award Best New Restaurant finalists!
Automatic Seafood & Oysters
Birmingham Alabama based Automatic Seafood & Oysters specializes in gourmet seafood and steak and offers an extensive menu of well-curated in-house cocktails. They’re currently preparing Mother’s Day Specials for pick up or delivery which feature brunch and dinner meals that feed two to four people, as well as refreshing cocktail kits, like the Mothers Day Punch with Cathead Honeysuckle vodka, hibiscus, lime, and orange.
Demi
Located right in the heart of Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood, Demi is headed by Chef Gavin Kaysen and specializes in incorporating local ingredients in a seasonal menu that is always shifting. Demi is currently closed, but beginning on Wednesday, May 6th, Chef Kaysen’s other restaurants Spoon and Stable and Bellecour will be offering to-go orders.
Demi is expected to open in the near future as the country begins to reopen.
Eem
Eem has established itself as one of Portland’s best spots to grab Thai food and BBQ and the fact that you get to wash it all down with a Tiki cocktail makes the experience all the better. No wonder it took the #3 spot on the UPROXX Travel Hot List in the food and drink section. Currently, Eem is periodically offering pre-ordered meals for take-out, so watch their Instagram if you plan on grabbing a meal to go while you wait out lockdown.
Fox & The Knife
If rustic Italian is your jam, you’ll be all about Boston’s Fox & and The Knife from chef Karen Akunowicz, who spent a year immersed in the cuisine and culture of Modena Italy. Chef Akunowicz’s aim is to bring her time in Modena to the tables of South Boston.
Fox & The Knife is currently available for take-out and also offers delivery.
Gado Gado
Gado Gado — named after the Indonesian salad that features boiled vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, tofu, and tempeh in a peanut sauce — specializes in its namesake, but also has a delightfully mixed up menu full of surprises and left-turns on Singaporean classics.
Gado Gado is currently open for take-out orders through online ordering.
Gianna
Just a block away from New Orleans’ Lafayette Square, Gianna’s menu consists of wood-fired Italian food with a distinct New Orleans southern twist. Headed by James Beard Award-winning chef Rebecca Wilcomb and Chef Donald Link, Gianna utilizes New Orleans’ abundance of fresh fish and seafood staples and reimagines what Italian food could be with the bounties of the Gulf of Mexico.
Gianna is currently offering take-out and delivery.
Kalaya
Serving up authentic Thai food to the Philadelphia area, Kalaya specializes in Southern Thai cuisine by chef Chutatip Suntaranon. There isn’t a single dish served at Kalaya that doesn’t look mouthwateringly amazing, so scope out their Instagram at your own risk, you will end up incredibly hungry (if you aren’t already).
Kalaya is currently open for take-out orders.
Nightshade
Los Angeles’ Nightshade, located in the food mecca that is the city’s Arts District, features a seasonal menu of Asian-California cuisine by Chef Mei Lin. Chef Mei Lin cut her teeth working in the Chinese restaurants owned by her parents and extended family in the suburbs of Detroit.
Nightshade is currently offering take-out with a regularly updated special menu of savory and sweet dishes.
Pasjoli
Located off of Santa Monica’s Main Street, Pasjoli’s menu consists of Parisian bistro favorites and small plates in a cozy and chic setting steps away from Venice Beach. Headed by chef Dave Beran, Pasjoli specializes in mostly a la carte offerings, which is perfect for our stay-at-home lifestyle, as nice as the Pasjoli space in Santa Monica is. We’ll be able to sit inside one day!
Pasjoli currently offers take-out and has a few at-home meal kits as well.
Verjus
Located in San Francisco’s dense and busy Financial District, Verjus matches the pace of San Francisco’s busiest district with this upscale fast service bistro and retail bottle shop. As of now, Verjus is currently closed, but since the space is half a wine shop, the restaurant is keeping afloat during California’s lockdown via online putchases.
After pulling out of the UFC 249 card, Amanda Nunes will return to the Octagon to put her featherweight title on the line on June 6 against Felicia Spencer, according to ESPN.
UFC 251 was scheduled to take place in Perth, Australia, on the same date, but the organization’s return to Australia has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, the promotion is reportedly hoping to hold the event featuring Nunes in Las Vegas at the UFC-owned Apex.
As of now, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has yet to announce if it plans to regulate events in June. Regardless of where the bout is held, Nunes is expected to square off with Spencer in her first featherweight title defense since she knocked out MMA phenom Cris Cyborg to win the belt in December 2018.
Since knocking off Cyborg, Nunes has defended her other UFC gold twice, beating Germaine de Randamie and Holly Holm in bantamweight bouts.
Spencer is 8-1 on her career, with her lone loss coming in a unanimous decision loss to Cyborg in July 2019. After losing to Cyborg in a fight in which she never looked fully confident, Spencer bounced back to earn a TKO victory over Zarah Fairn in February.
With the Westworld season three finale now in the books, fans of the HBO series undoubtedly have questions about the future of the show along with the fate of its characters. In a lengthy interview with Variety, co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy did their best to address what’s in store for their epic AI tale and whether or not key cast members will be back for the recently renewed season four.
Spoilers for Westworld season three below.
In the final moments of “Crisis Theory,” Dolores seemingly sacrificed herself to destroy the powerful AI-system Rehoboam in an effort to free humanity from its algorithm-cage and gift the world with true free will. Despite the fact that at least two of Dolores’ clones are still running around in the form of Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) and Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr.), there are understandable questions around Evan Rachel Wood‘s future on the show. After what Variety described as “a six-second pause,” Nolan answered a direct question about her potentially leaving Westworld:
I f—ing hope not. Let me clarify: Dolores is gone. We’re not yet discussing publicly the direction the show is taking, but the fun thing about this show is, you know, from the beginning Lisa and I wanted to make a show that constantly reinvented itself, that could be a different show every season. I think it’s important with a show in which death can be impermanent — these are robots, after all — to mark the occasion with Dolores. That version of that character is gone. We love Evan Rachel Wood and we haven’t [sighs] started talking publicly about exactly what the show looks like going forward. But it looks very different.
As for talking publicly about the future of the show, Nolan and Joy shot down reports that Westworld will end after six seasons because they don’t know how much time they’ll need to finish the series, but they did make it a point to say they’re erring towards not overstaying their welcome. That said, the reason they’re not sure how many seasons the show will run is because they haven’t even started writing the fourth season yet, which is also why they’re not sweating the recent production shutdowns and the complications involved with getting Hollywood up and running. A lengthy wait between Westworld seasons was already in the cards.
(Via Variety)
If things had gone differently, Roman Reigns would almost certainly be the WWE Universal Champion right now. After all, he was supposed to face Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, and nobody expected Goldberg to hold that belt for long. But Roman pulled out of WrestleMania out of health concerns due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and he was replaced in that title match with Goldberg by Braun Strowman. And sure enough, Strowman beat Goldberg and is now the Universal Champion. What’s more, WWE hasn’t even mentioned Roman on TV since Mania. In fact, this week’s Raw demonstrated the lengths they’ll go to not to bring him up.
With Money in the Bank coming up this weekend, Raw counted down the top Money in the Bank moments of all time, and of course #1 was Seth Rollins cashing in on the main event of WrestleMania 31. As you no doubt remember, that was a title match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, which Seth turned into a Triple Threat thanks to his MITB contract and thus won the belt. But you wouldn’t have known that from Raw’s replay of the cash-in, which neither showed Roman Reigns nor mentioned him.
It’s one thing to drop any angles Roman was involved in, since nobody knows when he’ll be back. But to avoid him so deliberately when recapping an event he was directly involved in really makes you wonder about his standing with the WWE brass. Nobody wants to believe that a company would hold a grudge against an immunocompromised cancer survivor for refusing to wrestle during a pandemic, but WWE is honestly kind of famous for holding petty grudges, so in moments like this it’s hard not to wonder.
Just a few days after his close friend and collaborator Lil Tjay announced his upcoming mixtape, Chicago rapper Polo G announced the release date and title of his own next album, The GOAT, which releases just a week later. The two rappers were introduced to mainstream listeners at just about the same time, with the breakout single “Pop Out,” and it seems that their respective journeys remain linked. Polo shared the album cover and release date in a post on Instagram.
The cover features a close-up shot of Polo with goat horns growing out of his head, flanked by a pair of portraits of the 21-year-old with his infant son Tremani. The GOAT is described in its press release as a celebration of his life and legacy. The press release also confirms that both of his previously released singles, “Go Stupid” with Stunna 4 Vegas and NLE Choppa and the moody, social distancing single “DND,” will appear on the project as well, along with production from some of the rap game’s biggest hit makers Hit-Boy, Murda Beatz, and Mustard.
The release date for The GOAT has been set at May 15 via Columbia Records. Check out the album’s very literal cover art above.
When Aaron Long leaves the New York Red Bulls to join the United States men’s national team — an event that has happened more and more frequently as he’s established himself as one of the top center backs for the red, white, and blue — he never finds himself in the room with all of his teammates playing FIFA. More frequently, Long squads up with his teammates who opt to play Fortnite.
One such Yank who has a reputation for being a formidable foe in EA Sports’ soccer simulation is Sean Johnson, the starting goalkeeper for Long’s club’s rivals, New York City Football Club. Add all of this together and when Long was asked about playing against Johnson as part of Major League Soccer’s eMLS Tournament Special, well, he didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity.
“I was really adamant about not doing it, especially because I was going to play my rivals, New York City FC, and I didn’t want to get a beat down from my rival team,” Long told Uproxx Sports over the phone. “But when they told me it was Sean John that I was going to play against, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s something I can get behind.’ We already have a really good relationship, me and him from the national team, so we knew that banter was going to be good and I don’t mind losing to a friend if I do end up losing.”
Still, Long wasn’t exactly put in an enviable situation. While he’s played FIFA in the past, it’s been quite some time — in addition to being more of a Fortnite guy, Long’s going to become a father in a few months, and opted to pack up his Xbox at the end of last year. The good news is he wasn’t alone in taking on NYCFC over the weekend. As part of the league’s FIFA tournament, players from the selected clubs would go head-to-head. Once that ended, the sticks would get passed to their club’s eMLS competitors, with the scores from the two games getting aggregated and the better club moving on.
7 PM ET on FS1
— New York Red Bulls | #StayHome (@NewYorkRedBulls) May 3, 2020
Long got paired up with George Adamou, who came in eighth place in eMLS last year, his first with the club. Over the span of a few hour-long sessions, Long got a crash-course in how to play the game like a pro. They weren’t particularly competitive — Long said they were like Adamou “playing a newborn baby” — but they proved to be invaluable.
“I think people say it’s just like FIFA, but there’s a lot more things to it,” Adamou said. “There’s formations and instructions that I know about that Aaron may not know about, and you have to go set the tactics because in this game it actually really matters. So I think it’s really important to get on the same page and help Aaron learn about a lot of the things that he wouldn’t know since he hasn’t played the game regularly.”
Adamou made it a point to bring Long up to speed on the more specific details of the game quickly. Beyond getting his formation down and figuring out the best way to play within the latest version of FIFA, Adamou told Long to embrace some specifics — get his wingers in behind defenders, have players congregate in the box for crosses, and around the 60th or 70th minute, overload ball side in an attempt to win the ball off of his opponent.
It helped that both know how to play soccer — Long, of course, is a professional, while Adamou played in college before he began his eSports career, one that saw him become the top-ranked American in the FIFA 20 Global Series (like Long, he was a defender when he took the non-virtual pitch). This understanding of the game in one medium is something that Adamou believes is helpful in another.
“I think that you can’t possibly be good at the game without having a background of actually watching soccer because there’s so many … you have to know things like an offside trap, things that you wouldn’t know,” Adamou said. “You have to know how to balance your positioning on your offense, how people attack. Do they go from the wings? Do they cross? Do they go direct? I think that’s something that you would need to watch actual players do so you could replicate it on the field.”
Of course, understanding does not necessarily equal expertise, something the two learned first-hand when they played their foes from the Bronx. Long lost to Johnson, 3-0, while Adamou lost to a longtime eMLS foe, Chris “Didychrislito” Holly, 2-1. In an ironic twist, virtual Johnson came up big in both games, winning Man of the Match honors both times.
“I was kind of screwed there in terms of, I felt like I was on my own and Sean John was kind of toying with me a little bit,” Long said of the first half of his matchup, which due to technical difficulties did not include any coaching, as Adamou could not see his screen. “And he did score a couple of, I don’t want to say crap goals, but they weren’t great goals. I got a little bit unlucky, and then from there I just couldn’t recover. He also made some unbelievable saves, Sean John, with himself in the game. I had two breakaways and he had two unbelievable saves.”
Both guys admit that some more time training would have helped, and in the event that something like this happens again, they’d love nothing more than to get the opportunity to get a measure of revenge on Johnson and Holly — they went on to beat FC Dallas in the quarterfinals and punched their ticket to the semis, which will occur on May 17. And for Long, while it’s unclear when this opportunity will come about, he might have to step away from the Fortnite room the next time he’s with the national team.
“I was already thinking about that,” Long said when asked about playing FIFA against Johnson when they’re wearing the red, white, and blue. “Yeah, I need to see him in person. I think I might be able to get in his head a little bit better.”
If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now. Also, there’s been a wild amount of new Apple TV+, Netflix, and HBO offerings over the past week, so here’s your chance to catch up as much as possible.
Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours To Kill (Netflix stand-up special) — The streaming giant’s offering multiple comedy specials to deliver laughs this month, and the first in the line-up would be the legendary Jerry Seinfeld in his second Netflix special. Expect him to keep mining everyday life to unveil comedy in the commonplace. Although the title of this special feels Bond-esque, Seinfeld doesn’t disappoint those expecting his trademarked sharp perceptions about everyday life.
Jimmy Kimmel Live — Aaaaand Jerry Seinfeld’s popping in for a quarantine-style visit.
The Flash (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Barry’s just now realizing that The Flash and Pied Piper are now enemies while the return of Godspeed coincides with Iris’ attempted escape from the Mirrorverse.
The Conners (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) — Darlene and Ben start building their life while Jackie and Becky go on a road trip to Mexico to meet an estranged family member.
D.C.’s Legends Of Tomorrow (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — The Loom of Fate’s causing friction while Constantine and Ava attempt to help Sara pick up the pieces of what happened.
For Life (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — Aaron attempts to take on retrial, while prison warden Cyrus Hunt has another idea, and the prison riot’s aftermath continues to reverberate.
The Last O.G. (TBS, 10:30 p.m.) — Tray’s having Thanksgiving with his rival and cousin while Amira and Shahzad truly get to know their family.
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Ryan Reynolds, Karlie Kloss, and Ezra Koenig
The Late Late Show With James Corden — Alain de Botton, Barry Manilow
Late Night With Seth Meyers — Nathan Lane, Lauren Lapkus
A Little Later With Lilly Singh — Larry Wilmore, Quinta Brunson
Even in quarantine, it seems DaBaby can’t dodge the constant accusations of assault that have plagued him since he blew up in early 2019. TMZ reports that the Charlotte rapper is being accused of attacking a driver in Las Vegas, with a warrant issued for his arrest.
The incident allegedly occurred in November of last year. The driver told police that he was called to pick up the rapper and his crew in a Mercedes Sprinter to drive them to the Hard Rock Hotel. The driver says he got into an altercation with them after they lit up a joint and he asked them to put it out. Upon arrival to their destination, the driver says that the rapper and his friends refused to pay, punching him in the back of his head and telling him, “You ain’t the boss.”
The driver also claims that the men threatened him further, saying, “You’re lucky you’re not in my city because I would have killed you, cracker motherf*cker” and that they “would have left him dead on the road.” A warrant has been issued for misdemeanor battery.
DaBaby is already dealing with a lawsuit from a woman he allegedly punched at a club in Tampa earlier this year, as well as one from a rapper his security reportedly beat into a coma at a show last summer. It seems folks can’t help taking the title of his latest album, Blame It On Baby, to heart.
Read TMZ’s original report here.
Previously on Jesus Christ, Superstars: My beautiful, twisted Dark Destiny debuted, and Integrated Conditioning Program wished us both a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays. Additionally, the Big Boss Man took a trip down to Cobb County, Georgia.
If you’d like to watch this week’s episode, you can do that here, and you can support the column (so we’re allowed to keep writing it) by reading previous installments on our Jesus Christ, Superstars tag page.
If you like these, and our break from the normal Best and Worst format, make sure to share it around so it gets read and drop us a comment below. As a reminder, why can’t keep writing about stuff if you don’t click on it. We’re trying to run a wrestling jokes business over here!
Here’s what you missed 28 years ago on WWF Superstars for December 26, 1992.
Jobbers Of The Week
Marching happily into their own graves against the Headshrinkers this week are the two worst guys from your dad’s bowling team, Chris Allen and Bill Vaper. That’s Chris on the left, Supermanning that ho, and Bill is the CVS toy section Kylo Ren action figure on the right.
As you might’ve expected, Bill Vaper is actually Bill Baker, and he’s billed as such in his Wrestling Challenge loss to Kamala the day before. That’s the eternal WWF Superstars question: did they slightly change his name to try and trick us into thinking they’re two separate jobbers, or is the guy running the graphics just illiterate, forgetful, and deaf? He deserves it, though, especially after giving Chloe so much anxiety. She should remember that if she wants a replacement coil but can’t pay for it now, she could Bill Vaper.
I can’t find much online about Chris Allen, but I remember him getting punched in the heart by Mean Mark on WCW Saturday Night, and I know he’s one of Yokozuna’s favorite bean bag chairs full of guts and cholesterol. Also he might have won season eight of American Idol.
Getting a surprise win over the future ECW star “Dante from Clerks with a bad haircut” is none other than Virgil, an emancipated slave turned candy striper whose name is an understated and subtle burn on Virgil “Dusty Rhodes” Runnels. Maybe I’m reading the character wrong and he’s supposed to be in loving tribute to the Roman poet. The Aeneid? More like Aeneid some more training, am I right folks?
On commentary, Vince McMahon puts over the Royal Rumble by pronouncing “melee” as me-LAY and declaring that Virgil might be the man to win it all. I can barely tell where the jobber ends and Virgil begins, so yes, I’m sure he’s about to toss out Yokozuna and Macho Man Randy Savage to earn a spot in the main event of WrestleMania. Virgil wins with a Russian leg sweep that McMahon calls a “neckbreaker,” because it’s so bad you’re not sure which one it is.
Stepping into the ring this week against the Native American Sensation
Tatanka® is unknown’s own Bret Tyler, who may or may not just be a white guy in a pretty good Aja King Halloween costume.
The major story of this match is the appearance of Doink the Clown, who’d shown up earlier during a Bob Backlund vs. Barry Horowitz match to keep the children in the crowd from falling asleep. He returns here with a mop, and mops up the aisle until Tatanka’s down [checks notes] sweeping the floor with Tyler. They do some light physical comedy, culminating in Doink doing a full-on Curly Howard bit where he puts the mop on his shoulder and spins around so it hits Tatanka in the face. Tatanka sells it like he just got his eyeball gouged out by the Road Warriors.
The mop swinging around like that looks a lot like Tyler Breeze’s old Beauty Shot. Somebody flip out and kill the clown already.
Blind Children Of The Week
Razor Ramon has a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble, so while Big Scott’s busy throwing poor Gus Kantarakis at the Earth, children in the crowd are wearing their Bret Hart sunglasses and taunting him. Well, “wearing” is a stretch. This poor little girl just gets them bandana’d around her head. There’s something truly Sisyphean about putting your kid on your shoulders so they can see, and then putting them in giant wraparound sunglasses, indoors.
The good news: Who has two thumbs and learned how to wear novelty sunglasses before the tapings were over? THIS kid.
Thirsty Bam Bam Bigelow Fan Of The Week
The first man with a craving for Fire Sauce.
Slamming Jam Of The Week
This week’s big selling point is the new hit single SLAM JAM, which Mean Gene Okerlund assures us debuted at #4 in the U.K. This should not be confused with ‘WrestleMania’ by the WWF Superstars (which came out around the same time and asks us if we’re “ready for the Survivor Series” despite it being “time for WrestleMania”) or the BAND “Slam Jam,” who perform the iconic ‘We’re All Together Now.’
The highlight, at least when The Undertaker isn’t trying to work in “The Undertaker says rest in peace” multiple times, is the rap break from Einstein. The rapper, not the theoretical physicist. Please read and memorize these lyrics, deciphered to the best of my abilities, in case you ever need to impress at karaoke.
we’re the cream
we roll like a team
but every great team needs a theme
here it is for the good the bad and the ugly
now here I am, the man so get with the jam
and pick up the program
(in the air) we’re flying, death defying, pumping iron, roar like a lions
pound for pound, round for round
mama said mama said take you out
bump it bump it bump it get with the jam
and slam
The song would later be rebranded and re-released later in the year as the SUMMER Slam Jam, but don’t believe their lies.
Next Week Of The Week
We finally leave 1992 behind for more Royal Rumble ’93 promotion, a Mr. Perfect vs. The Berserker match that we can only assume will be a catch-as-catch-can classic, and the WWF Superstars debut of Scott Steiner. Can’t wait.