Part deux of the annual James Beard Foundation Awards went down last night, when the Chef and Restaurant medals were given out. As per usual New Yorkers dominated, but again—better than last year—there were three Chicago winners, bringing the total, including two media awards, up to five. But who's counting? I am, I guess.

The first, and the one we've known about for months—the venerable 62-year old south side fish shack Calumet Fisheries took home its American Classics award, honoring "down-home eateries that have carved out a special place on the American culinary landscape." A beaming Mark Kotlick told me when he first got the call he thought it was someone asking for money. Incidentally, the little shack on the 95th Street bridge almost suffered a (second) head-on collision last week. Luckily—or not, Kotlick says—his own parked car stood in the way of the out-of-control driver.

Next Rick Bayless was on hand to present Avec's Koren Grieveson the Best Chef award for the Great Lakes region, her second nomination in the category, beating out Michael Carlson of Schwa, Bruce Sherman of North Pond, and the Susan Lucci of the Beards, Arun Sampanthavivat.

Finally, A whole crew from Alinea picked up the Award for outstanding Service. Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas also took the opportunity of the Awards to announce their two new projects, Next Restaurant, and The Aviary.

Here are a few more shots of the action.