Because she's far too modest to brag on herself, allow me.
Last Friday in Toronto, Carrington Fox, our esteemed Bitesmistress and Scene food critic, took first-place honors in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' 2010 AAN Awards. In the circulation under 50,000 division, Carrington won the award for best food writing, nominated along with worthy contenders such as Creative Loafing Sarasota's Brian Ries and New Orleans Gambit's Ian McNulty. (To give you some idea of the honor, Carrington's counterpart in the over-50,000 category was the L.A. Weekly's awesome Jonathan Gold, a Pulitzer winner.)
Here's a sample from one piece that brought her the gold:
The most stunning was the triptych of bison marrow and cardamom-braised shank. At one end of a long plate, two short fingers of tempura-fried marrow from Kentucky bison balanced on a pile of yuca tostones. Marinated in vinegar prior to being cooked, mashed and fried into silver-dollar-sized latkes, the starchy cassava root cakes were an unexpectedly bright complement to the rich, fatty marrow. At the other end of the plate, two chestnut-size cippolini onions caramelized with balsamic vinegar and butter bobbled on a pair of toast points. The crisp lengths of bread were held in place by a schmear of finely minced and vinegar-steeped caramelized onions (also available as a dip), which played bitter counterpoint to the glassy molten bulbs.
Sweet, huh? The Scene took prizes in 11 categories, including four more first-place awards. A full list can be found on the Scene's news and politics blog
Pith in the Wind. Congratulations, C.
