The Beard Awards disqualifies chef Timothy Hontzas over a code of ethics

The James Beard Awards require chefs to demonstrate their commitment to social justice

Hontzas, executive chef and owner of Johnny’s Restaurant in Homewood, Ala. , one Five finalists have been nominated In the Best Chef Category: South Category. But in the days following Hontzas’ selection in late March, the institution’s ethics committee received a complaint that the chef might have violated code of conduct The Beard Organization announced that it is part of a series of changes in 2021 aimed at increasing its commitment to social justice and equality between races and genders.

Disqualification appears to be one of the first public examples of law enforcement. The committee is an independent group that reports to the board of directors of the James Beard Foundation, which did not immediately respond to requests from The Post for comment.

“The Ethics Committee has found that you most likely violated the Code of Ethics,” the committee wrote to Honestas, in a letter sent to The Washington Post. “After the Board Governance Committee’s consideration of the Ethics Committee’s recommendation, you have been deemed ineligible for this year’s award. In addition, you are prohibited from using the James Beard Awards seal, logo, or image, and from claiming any recognition in connection with the 2023 Awards.”

Hontzas, 51, told The Post that he sat on Zoom in April with an independent investigator for about an hour. The interrogator asked him about a number of alleged incidents: yelling at customers for not closing the front door; yelling about the ice machine not filling up; yelling at kitchen staff and one incident in which an anonymous accuser said Hontzas had an argument with an employee where it “got physical”.

At the time of the interview with the investigator, Hontzas said he could not remember any details about the latest accusation, but two weeks later, he thought it might have been an accident in which a cook tipped over in the kitchen. “Maybe that’s what they were talking about? But that was the opposite of what they said,” Hontzas said.

“What happened is that one of my comrades flipped over onAnd a chef and another guy helped him out,” Hontzas added. “We all went out there and talked about it, and then the guy stayed with me for another year.” Hontzas said no one touched the cook, and he’s still friends with the guy.

James Beard hated trophies bearing his name

As for the other accusations, Hontzas says yelling at customers around the front door is essentially a ritual at Johnny’s, an interaction with a purpose (preventing hot Alabama air from encroaching on the dining room) but something closer in spirit to a hoax. from undressing. As for sometimes yelling at his staff, Hontzas says, yes, he can raise his voice. He says he is Greek.

Others who know Hontzas agree on this point.

“He’s a very sexy, vocal, and soulful Greek,” said John Curnes, chef and founder of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss. He embodies your adorable Greek cartoon character in every possible way. He has been friends with Hontzas for more than 30 years, says Curnes. Hontzas used to work and even live with Currence for a time at Oxford.

“But it’s my voice,” Kornes continued. “I’m not kidding when I say that 95 percent of his muscle mass is his diaphragm and jaw muscles. I mean, that’s what he is. That’s what everyone loves. He’s just as loud.”

Currence’s response to his friend’s disqualification was loud and dramatic. He took his James Beard Award—for Best Chef: South in 2009—from the wall and smashed it with a brick. Then he threw it in the trash. Post a photo on Instagram.

“I fell ill today in a way I can’t even begin to explain, but it’s time to stop this cycle of insane blame and shame through arbitrary accusations, nowhere near due process and stripping people of the credit they deserve based on nothing but nothing but… One opinion.

Kornes, 58, will be the first to tell you he’s old school. Too often, he said, the Baird Foundation has drifted in the opposite direction in its efforts toward diversity and inclusion, sometimes at the expense of well-deserved white chefs. The establishment is also accused of being more concerned with its progressive image than with actually excluding bad actors. Currence admits he grew up in the industry when kitchens were solid places, where voices ran high and nerves flared.

“Discipline comes in many different forms, and just because it comes in a form that might make you uncomfortable in some way, doesn’t mean it’s toxic,” Corrance said. “There is no universal definition.”

Kornes said he never saw Hontzas “cross the line in my kitchen, his kitchen, or anywhere else I saw him working”.

A food writer, who is a judge on the Beard Commission for Chefs and Restaurants in the South, and describes herself as a friend of Hontzas, admitted that the chef sometimes yells, calling him “definitively Greek.” But she said she believes Hontzas is being held back by “behavior that is certainly something many people nominated in many other areas are guilty of.”

“This is really frustrating because it is not an excuse for his behavior. He should never be yelling at anyone in his kitchen,” said the judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity because her posts have won multiple Beard Awards this year and she did not want nominees associated with her comments. However, it appears the South will have to take the fall for this.”

Todd Price is the food and culture reporter for the American South for USA Today. He is also a judge on the 2023 Restaurant and Chef Awards panel. He resigned this week after learning of Hontzas’ disqualification.

As the only member of the committee representing the South, Price said, “I was being asked questions about something I hadn’t been told and told to defend something that hadn’t been explained to me.” He said that put him in a “very uncomfortable position”. He was not told anything about the investigation, he said, nor was he told of the investigation’s outcome, even as phone calls and text messages started getting his way after Hontzas was disqualified. Disclosure on AL.com.

Price added: “I felt it was best to step away and make it clear that I had no part in this process that was completely opaque to me.”

All Beard Awards semi-finalists are screened, Price said, but he was unsure of the depth of those inquiries given the huge number of nominees at this level. He wasn’t sure if the finalists had been screened a second time before they were announced. But at any time, mentors can contact the Beard Foundation to file a complaint about a candidate or chef who may be under consideration.

“Any credible allegation of a breach of the Code of Ethics may disqualify a participant, semi-finalist or nominee from receiving a JBF Award.” Founding Notes on its website.

For his part, Hontzas says he was contacted only once during the operation, by the investigator. He said he told the interrogator he could talk to anyone on his team. The chef said he would provide the numbers. Hontzas said none of his team has been contacted to conduct the investigation. The only other message he received was an email from the organization, which disqualified him.

In fact, Hontzas says, his crew has remained very loyal to him over the years. His chef has been working with him for nearly eight years. Two of the housekeepers have been in the house for five years, and she’s been a dishwasher for over two years. The chef said that people did, in fact, come back to work for Johnny.

“The place doesn’t look so awful, does it?” Asked.

The Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Gala will be announced on June 5 in Chicago.