Pheasant Restaurant and Lounge, a local spot in Brookings, has recently received the 2024 James Beard America’s Classics Award for the Midwest Region.
This award is given out to locally owned restaurants all over the United States “that serve quality food, have timeless appeal, and reflect the character of their communities,” as described by the James Beard Foundation.
This award is one of the most prestigious honors, recognizing the best of the best in the culinary world. It can be thought of as the equivalent of winning a Grammy in the music industry or an Oscar in the movie industry.
Pheasant Restaurant and Lounge was originally established as a gas station café in 1949. Almost 20 years later, current chef and Manager Michael Johnson’s grandparents, Georgiana and Ronald Olson, purchased the business, transforming it into what it is today.
The restaurant has been family-owned for three generations and currently holds the title of the oldest full-service restaurant in Brookings. Their menu remains mostly unchanged from what it was 75 years ago.
“The menu is full of iconic mid-century dishes of the upper Midwest, like hot roast beef on homemade white bread with mashed potatoes and gravy; Nordic waffles (vafler) made with cardamom and folded around smoked salmon or gjetost; classics, like chef salad, spätzle, and liver and onions; and riffs on comfort food like duck wings, bison steak au poivre, and a lamb burger with local jalapeño jelly and peanut butter,” as mentioned by the press release.
Their hallmark sandwich, the Pheasant Salad Sandwich, was created in commemoration of World War II, when soldiers traveling throughout South Dakota were served a pheasant salad sandwich.
“Most chefs and restaurants can only dream of receiving this kind of recognition in one or many lifetimes. We weren’t necessarily aiming to win a James Beard Award. As a team, we were just doing what we loved with our whole hearts,” Johnson answered when asked if he ever imagined winning such an award while starting his career.
“This award will mean great things for the restaurant, this team, future teammates, and this community for a very long time. Brookings has so many great things going for it. We’re happy to contribute to making this community even more of a destination than it was before,” Johnson added.
James Beard, the man behind the award, began his culinary career in New York City in 1939, establishing a catering company called Hors d’Oeuvre, Inc.
In 1940, he published his first cookbook, Hors d’Oeuvre and Canapés, with recipes stemming from his catering business. Years later, Beard began the first ever national cooking show in television history, “I Love to Eat.”
In 1955, he opened the James Beard Cooking School in Greenwich Village. Eventually, in 1986, following James’ death, Peter Kump, Julia Child, and a group of chefs and friends of James established the James Beard Foundation.
Since 1998, the America’s Classics Award has been given out each year, recognizing restaurants and chefs all throughout the US.
Over 100 restaurants have received the award since its establishment, with The Pheasant recently being added to the list.