Alon Shaya Attributes His Beard Award To NOLA Being At 'The Top of Its Game'

Alon Shaya tells The Times-Pic his reaction to winning the James Beard Award for Best-Chef: South, and that's a feeling of "ovewhelming joy."  Shaya has been nominated for the past three years for the award and finally won on Monday night.  He again gives props to the city, just as he did in his acceptance speech, noting that

[The victory] shows that New Orleans is at the top of its game. That's not because of me. It's because of the entire city and everything that is on going here. When I travel, and I'm talking about food, they're blown away by New Orleans.

Here he is with his award:

I really owe this to our amazing and inspiring team of chefs, managers; servers and everyone who keeps us going each and every day!! Thank you for making this happen for us #jbfa I love y'all

A photo posted by alonshaya (@alonshaya) on May 5, 2015 at 12:33am PDT