Todd Kliman was the only winner from D.C. at this year’s Beard Awards. Last night at the Beard Award’s Restaurant Gala (a separate event from the Journalism Gala Sunday evening), Marc Vetri of the eponymous Vetri in Philadelphia won the award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic region, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that the category was dominated by the D.C. area. Michael Flynn, nominated for best wine service at Kinkead’s, lost out to wine director Tim Kopec of New York’s Veritas.

So was the fact that despite four nominations, no chef from D.C. was recogized with a Beard medal a snub for the area? We’re inclined to think not. As other area food watchers have noted, there’s a political element to the Beard Awards; it also could be that D.C. partisans were evenly split between our four nominees to give Vetri a plurality. Maybe it was just Philly’s year; like D.C., the City of Brotherly Love often gets ignored as a great restaurant town. In any case, judging quality cooking at the level the nominated chefs operate on is pretty tough. That Oscar-time platitude is probably appropriate for the Beard Awards: it’s an honor just to be nominated.