The semifinalists
Mystic chef and beverage program each earn James Beard Award nods
By Kristina Dorsey
The Day Features Editor
Two Mystic restaurant talents are semifinalists for a James Beard Award, one of the biggest honors in the culinary world.
David Standridge — the executive chef at The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic who won the James Beard Award in the Best Chef: Northeast category in 2024 — was nominated on Wednesday for Outstanding Chef, which is a national category.
Last year, the Oyster Club in Mystic was a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. This year, Port of Call — which is Oyster Club’s next-door, sister restaurant — is one of 20 semifinalists that earned slots in the national Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. The beverage director for both venues is Jade Ayala.
Standridge said he was shocked to be nominated this year.
“I felt like the stars really aligned for us to win in 2024," he said. "We didn’t expect to win. We were just happy to be nominated. So I thought, you know, I had my day in my sun."
Being among the 20 people nominated in the nationwide outstanding-chef category is “amazing,” Standridge said, although he added that he doesn’t think he has a chance of winning. “But I’m happy to be on the list. It’s a huge honor and surprise — it’s just wonderful,” he said.
He noted that he’s the second chef from Mystic to be included in that national category, following Renee Touponce’s nomination in 2024 for her work at Port of Call. (She was also nominated for Best Chef: Northeast in 2023.)
“So I think it’s a testament to what we’re all doing here in the community that makes Mystic special — enough to draw enough attention to get people nominated,” he said.
Standridge’s experience during the 2024 run-up to the James Beard Awards exemplifies what an impact these nominations have. The night after he was named a semifinalist, people came from all over the place to eat at The Shipwright’s Daughter. And winning “completely changed our business, from doing fine to doing amazingly well kind of overnight,” he said.
The Shipwright’s Daughter does a lot with sustainable seafood. Customers were much more willing to try certain dishes once Standridge became a James Beard semifinalist.
“Everything we do here and a lot of my motivation is to promote better choices around sustainable seafood and eating with the ecosystem in mind,” Standridge said. “The more attention I get, the more attention I can get for those issues.”
Port of Call’s latest honor
Ayala said that, after Oyster Club was a semifinalist last year, the fact that Port of Call's beverage program gets recognition this year “is incredible. They get to share it on both sides, both teams that I work with so closely. … It’s really exciting to share it with them. It’s really, really exciting to get other perspectives on what our program means to the country, I guess, to (the James Beard Foundation). We’re not in a localized category, so it’s overwhelming.”
Dan Meiser, owner of 85th Day Food Community, whose restaurants include Port of Call and Oyster Club, said Wednesday, “It’s an amazing day for Port of Call and for Jade and the amazing bar team that she leads and for the 85th Day Community as a whole. I’m unbelievably proud of what that team has accomplished and so thankful that the James Beard Foundation has been kind enough to recognize that exceptional work for the fourth time in four years.”
Meiser said the James Beard Awards are internationally recognized as the gold standard for excellence in the industry — like the Oscars for the restaurant universe,
The James Beard Awards don’t state why semifinalists are selected, but Meiser spoke about the Port of Call beverage program.
“The approach that Jade and her team brings to the beverage program is unbelievably thoughtful, it’s unbelievably creative, and it also takes in many respects a chef’s approach to how we build cocktails, how we balance flavor profiles, the real importance of the components and the ingredients and the quality of ingredients we use when it comes to cocktails,” Meiser said.
He noted that Ayala spends a great deal of time working with the wine distributors Port of Call uses and seeking out small producers from around the world who believe deeply in their craft of wine production.
With the wine program, Meiser said, Ayala is “looking for the unique, she’s looking for the delicious, she’s looking for the story in so many of these beverages that make it to our menu.”
Meiser noted that Touponce and Ayala have been partners for years and are engaged to marry.
“You put the two of them in a room together, what you have is this dynamic duo, these two individuals that work alongside of each other every day but also excel and are masterful in their respective fields,” he said.
Meiser said it’s remarkable that the two have spearheaded four nominations over the last four years.
Meiser also said the fact that a small town like Mystic has produced James Beard Awards nominees four years in a row is “something the community as a whole should be really proud of and the state of Connecticut should be proud of because it brings a tremendous recognition and attention to what’s happening here in Connecticut.”
The James Beard Award finalists are usually unveiled in April, with the winners are announced at a June gala in Chicago.
k.dorsey@theday.com
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