It seems that New York City is the place to eat.

The 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards, considered the food equivalent of the Academy Awards, were dominated by New York restaurants and chefs, with only one top award going to someone outside the city, to Nate Appleman of San Francisco for the title of rising star chef.
Most of the winners were restaurants where meals can easily cost $100 a person.

The winner for best restaurant was a French-cuisine restaurant named Jean-Georges, and best new restaurant was the Asian-American Momofuku Ko.

Awards were also given out for regional winners, best restaurateur, best service, best wine service, best pastry chef and cookbook of the year.

While overall employment in the food service industry is expected to rise about the same as the average according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the high end jobs celebrated at the awards - chefs and head cooks - are expected to grow slightly more slowly, with an anticipated 124,000 such jobs in 2016.