The 2019 RAMMY Awards, affectionately known as “food prom,” crowned a new crop of winners Sunday evening at its 37th annual gala, offering a updated roadmap for the year’s best of the best in the D.C. area’s culinary and hospitality scene.

The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington presented awards to rising stars including The Line hotel’s Spoken English, Unconventional Diner, and chef Kwame Onwuachi, as well as long-time culinary staples Iron Gate and The Source by Wolfgang Puck.

Several restaurants were clear frontrunners after picking up multiple nominations. Unconventional Diner was the only spot in that group to secure two awards: one for Upscale Brunch of the Year and one for its Pasty Chef of the Year, Ana Deshaies.

Spoken English, home to Japanese small plates dreamed up by chef Erik Bruner-Yang, won for Best New Restaurant of the Year. The Salt Line’s Kyle Bailey took home Chef of the Year for his blend of classic and experimental seafood dishes. Chef Kwame Onwuachi, who made a comeback after closing Shaw Bijou with The Wharf’s Kith and Kin and the fast-casual Philly Wing Fry, was named the Rising Culinary Star of the Year. The win comes on the heels of Onwuachi’s win for Rising Star Chef of the Year at the James Beard Awards in May, and the release of his acclaimed memoir earlier this year.

Two players who helped shaped the city’s restaurant scene—Virginia Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl and John Laytham of Clyde’s Restaurant Group—received special recognition. Ali won the 2019 Duke Zeibert Capital Achievement Award for her 60-year career as the “Matriarch of U Street.” In a separate ceremony earlier this year, residents paid tribute to Ben’s Chili Bowl as one of the most recognizable representations of the District and as a historic landmark in the Civil Rights movement.

The association also remembered Laytham, who died in January, as a key figure in revitalizing the local restaurant industry and renamed the Exceptional Leadership and Impact Award in his honor. When Clyde’s director of operations David Moran asked everyone who had ever worked or eaten at one of Laytham’s 13 restaurants to stand, the majority of the ballroom’s crowd rose to its feet.

In a speech, Mayor Muriel Bowser proclaimed November 12 as “John Laytham Day” in Washington, D.C. and noted the continued rise of the D.C. area as one of the country’s culinary powerhouses: In 2018, the city’s 2,400 restaurants generated an estimated $4.4 billion in sales.

“Our restaurants blend the best of everything our city has to offer, exemplifying the diversity that is Washington, D.C., and the vibrancy of our city,” Bowser said. “Your service to all 700,000 of us not only puts money in your employees’ pockets but allows our city to invest in schools, in human services, in public parks.”

In a continuation of last year’s political stance against Initiative 77, RAMW gave the Joan Hisaoka Allied Member of the Year Award—a prize for a member of the group who consistently supports RAMW—to Veritas Law Firm, which was a central player in overturning the tipped minimum wage bill. The Initiative, which would gradually eliminate the tipped minimum wage in the District, was approved by voters in the primary last June, and later repealed by the D.C. Council.

There are some specifics about this particular award ceremony: To be in the running for awards, restaurateurs must pay membership dues to RAMW, and some categories require the nominee’s business to be at least one year old. Winners can’t be nominated in the same category for five years. Though most of the winners are slotted by a panel of anonymous judges, the public voted on their favorite in four categories: Upscale Brunch, Casual Brunch, Fast Bites, and Gathering Place.

Here’s the full list of who took home the gold (winners in bold):

New Restaurant of the Year

• Spoken English
• Chloe
• Kaliwa
• Poca Madre
• St. Anselm

Rising Culinary Star of the Year

• Kwame Onwuachi, Kith and Kin
• Javier Fernandez, Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly
• Adam Howard, Blue Duck Tavern
• John MacPherson, Three Blacksmiths
• Daniela Moreira, Call Your Mother Deli, Timber Pizza Company

Casual Restaurant of the Year

• Royal
• All Purpose – Shaw
• Bantam King
• Bindaas – Cleveland Park
• Maketto

Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year

• Iron Gate
• Centrolina
• Momofuku CCDC
• Sally’s Middle Name
• Sushi Taro

Formal Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year

• The Source by Wolfgang Puck
• Blue Duck Tavern
• Bourbon Steak
• Rasika
• Trummer’s On Main

Chef of the Year

• Kyle Bailey, The Salt Line
• David Deshaies, Unconventional Diner
• Marjorie Meek-Bradley, St. Anselm
• Russell Smith, The Source by Wolfgang Puck
• Nicholas Stefanelli, Masseria, Officina

Restaurateur of the Year

• Michael Friedman, Mike O’Malley, Colin McDonough, Gareth Croke, Red Stone (All Purpose Restaurants)
• Victor Albisu, Poca Madre, Taco Bamba Taqueria
• Jackie Greenbaum & Gordon Banks, Bar Charley, El Chucho, Little Coco’s, Quarry House Tavern, Slash Run
• Rose Previte, Compass Rose Bar + Kitchen, Maydan
• Daisuke Utagawa, Katsuya Fukushima, and Yama Jewayni, Daikaya Group

Pastry Chef of the Year

• Ana Deshaies, Unconventional Diner
• Fabrice Bendano, Le Diplomate
• Pichet Ong, Brothers and Sisters, Spoken English
• Paola Velez, Iron Gate
• Meagan Tighe, Trummer’s On Main

Cocktail Program of the Year

• Barmini by José Andrés
• Bresca
• Daikaya
• Petworth Citizen and Reading Room
• Royal

Beer Program of the Year

• Republic
• B Side
• Caboose Tavern
• Pizzeria Paradiso – Dupont
• Roofers Union

Wine Program of the Year

• Maxwell Park
• Cork Wine Bar and Market
• Le Diplomate
• Minibar by José Andrés
• Trummer’s On Main

Upscale Brunch of the Year

• Unconventional Diner
• Estadio
• Seasons
• The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
• The Source by Wolfgang Puck

Casual Brunch of the Year

• Compass Rose Bar + Kitchen
• Brookland’s Finest Bar and Kitchen
• Casolare Ristorante & Bar
• Maketto
• The Tavern at Ivy City Smokehouse

Favorite Fast Bites of the Year

• Taco Bamba Taqueria
• CHIKO
• Little Red Fox
• Rasa
• Shouk

Favorite Gathering Place of the Year

• Open Road
• Duke’s Corner
• Perry’s
• Quarry House Tavern
• Vinoteca

Employee of the Year

• Valentine King, Hummingbird Bar and Kitchen
• Oscar Ardon, Doi Moi
• Maria Contreras, Jaleo Crystal City
• Eloy Juarez Alvarez, Mintwood Place
• Fred Uku, The Red Hen

Manager of the Year

• Donna Seal, Oceanaire
• Dave Delaplaine, Roofers Union
• Sabrine Marques, PassionFish, Bethesda
• Richard Stewart, iRicci Ristorante
• Paris Twyman, Founding Farmers Tysons

Service Program of the Year

• Ambar – Clarendon
• Carlyle Grand Café
• Iron Gate
• Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak, & Stone Crab
• The Riggsby

Joan Hisaoka Allied Member of the Year

• The Veritas Law Firm
• Coastal Sunbelt Produce
• Congressional Seafood Co.
• Saval Foodservice
• TriMark Adams-Burch

Regional Food and Beverage Producer of the Year

• Ivy City Smokehouse
• Arcadia Farm
• Atlas Brew Works
• Ayrshire Farm
• Logan Sausage Co.