Colorado Author Adrian Miller Elevates 'Black Smoke' With New James Beard Award

(CBS4) - Colorado is now home to not one, but two James Beard Foundation award winners. Adrian Miller took home top prize in the Reference, History and Scholarship category for "Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue."

CBS4's Justin Adams introduced you to Adrian Miller in 2021 for his book "Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time" -- for which he won the same award.

"Jazz musicians used the term 'soul' to describe the music in the Black church and the rural south and then that got currency in other parts of the culture. So, it was soul music first, soul brother, soul sisters, soul food. But, in the 1960s is when it really went mainstream," Miller told Adams at the time.

Caroline Glover, chef at Annette in Aurora, took home the Best Chef, Mountain award on Monday night. Glover was previously a nominee in the same category in 2020 and a semifinalist in 2018 and 2019.

The remaining four nominees in the Best Chef, Mountain category, which covers Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, were all from Colorado. One of them is the current chef of Casa Bonita which was recently purchased by South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

The nominees were:

Jose Avila, El Borrego Negro, Denver
Cody Cheetham,Tavernetta, Denver
Dana Rodriguez, Work & Class, Denver
Eric Skokan, Black Cat Farm Table Bistro, Boulder, CO