jenrusso’s posthaven

Listmania continues (David Letterman's cultural legacy, perhaps, along with Velcro suits) but this time The Daily Meal has come up with something more compelling than a list of Top 10 Cupcakes. Theirs? America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food.

It's a good list, as it would be: The Daily Meal is headed by Saveur co-founder Colman Andrews. It's a list filled with "agribusiness moguls" and government officials and public figures, chefs and restaurateurs and journalists. They've also included "a few men and women whose connection with food is less than obvious, too (and explained why they're there). And #1 on our list doesn't fit neatly into any one slot -- though it's somebody the reader is apt to know very well." Of course. Otherwise what fun would it be.

Is Jonathan Gold on the list? Of course he is. As he pointed out to us himself, he's one above Martha Stewart. Turn the page for the complete list. Did they miss anybody? Include somebody you'd disagree with? And we'd love to know what you think of their (cute? sincere? Socratic, even?) pick for #1.

(P.S. Hugh Grant, #3, is not the British actor, but the CEO of Monsanto. Just in case you were wondering.)

The Daily Meal

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50. Adam Rapoport

49. Jeffrey Jordan

48. Ingrid Newkirk

47. Martha Stewart

46. Jonathan Gold

45. Dan Bane

44. Danny Meyer

43. Josh Viertel

42. Barry Estabrook

41. Nobu Matsuhisa

40. Dan Barber

39. Ruth Reichl

38. Michael Pollan

37. Mario Batali

36. David Dillon

35. Susan Ungaro

34. Lockhart Steele

33. Catherine M. Cassidy

32. Daniel Boulud

31. Rich Melman

30. Tom Colicchio

29. Irene Rosenfeld

28. Michael Bloomberg

27. Lisa Sharples

26. Indra Nooyi

25. Tim & Nina Zagat

24. José Andrés

23. Arturo Rodriguez

22. Maria Rodale

21. Oprah Winfrey

20. Grant Achatz

19. Thomas Keller

18. Gregory R. Page

17. Donnie Smith

16. Guy Fieri

15. James Sinegal

14. Rachael Ray

13. Wolfgang Puck

12. John Mackey

11. Michael R. Taylor

10. Jim Skinner

9. Sam Sifton

8. Mike Duke

7. Brooke Johnson

6. Alice Waters

5. Steve Jobs

4. Michelle Obama

3. Hugh Grant

2. Thomas J. Vilsack

1. You

Tags:

Americas 50 Most Powerful People in Food, Amy Scattergood, Jonathan Gold, The Daily Meal

I love lists. Some of my favorite people here! Hugh Grant of Monsanto tops the list. Yum! GMO veggies.

Flickr user Gary Soup

xiao long bao

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Update: Mayor Huang, possibly still nursing dumpling-related wounds, resigned from the San Gabriel city council this morning, stating that the "unwanted media attention has greatly affected [his] family.'' Which would seem to be an understatement, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. According to the Alhambra Source, Huang swore his reputation would be restored.

Then again, also according to the Source, his XLB-flinging companion reportedly owns one of the area's many, many foot-massage parlors, and a group of local businessmen, most of them former business partners of Huang, have apparently banded together to sue the now-ex-mayor on a separate civil matter. When the bao breaks, apparently it breaks hard.

The original story, published yesterday afternoon, after the jump...

When we heard that the mayor of San Gabriel had been arrested on Valley Boulevard late Thursday night, our thoughts predictably lingered less on the details of the alleged crime - purse-snatching and assault, apparently - than they did on the identity of the restaurant where he had been eating. If there was a place good enough for Mayor Albert Y.M. Huang to eat at 1:30 in the morning, we wanted to know where it was.

The first reports said only that the restaurant was on the 300 block of West Valley, which narrowed it down to, like, a million - that stretch is probably home to more Chinese malls than all of Shanxi province - and the police report said that the incident occurred at a cafe called Dumpling House, which didn't narrow it down much more. The mall at 301 W. Valley, the U.S. epicenter of the soup dumplings called xiao long bao, has no fewer than three or four places that might answer to that name, including Chowhound-favorite J&J, plus the dumpling-intensive Shangainese restaurant Mei Long Village, which may have the best XLB in town. Early betting was on Happy Kitchen, which stays open late. I was kind of thinking it was pan-Chinese newcomer New Taste Dumpling House, a guess that turned out to be correct.

"Police confirmed.'' tweeted my friend Daniela Gerson, who runs the hyperlocal news site AlhambraSource.org "I think this investigation will need to involve some dumplings for lunch.'' New Taste was soon crawling with reporters, who were drawn to a story involving dumplings -- and a mayor out with a woman, not his wife, at 1 a.m. -- the way that beat cops might be to a doughnut-shop robbery.

The alleged crimes themselves were non-trivial: Mayor Huang is said to have grabbed his companion's purse and keys after an argument, jumped into his SUV, and sped off up Prospect Avenue at 45 miles an hour while the woman clung to the side of his car. But the incidents leading up to the event, as New Taste owner Bao Gang Li told Alhambra Source reporter Tina Zeng, were like something out of a Chinese soap opera: She hit the mayor with a full steamer of xiao long bao. He sloshed a dish of black vinegar back at her. For a brief, lovely moment, I like to think, at least one soup dumpling met the arc of vinegar midair, becoming briefly but miraculously seasoned before joining its sisters on the floor. Huang was released Friday on $100,000 bail.

Tags:

AlhambraSource.org, Jonathan Gold, Mei Long Village, New Taste Dumpling House, San Gabriel mayor

Having just got back from the San Gabriel Valley and L.A. area, this was big in the news. I love the way Jonathan Gold combines food and politics in his own brilliant fashion.