Peninsula's Jake Howell won the prestigious James Beard Award on Monday for best chef in the Southeast. Why it matters: The national accolade is validation for the cozy neighborhood restaurant in East Nashville.

Portland had to settle for the fact that the very first regional winner, Caprial Pence, a then-28-year-old chef from Fullers restaurant at the Seattle Sheraton, promptly moved back to the place where she — and James Beard himself — were raised,

New York City restaurants won three of the six major national awards: outstanding chef (Jungsik Yim of Jungsik ), outstanding hospitality ( Atomix) and outstanding restaurateur (Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, Le Rock and Le Veau d’Or ).