Two Charleston restaurants won James Beard Foundation awards Monday night at the foundation’s annual ceremony in Chicago.

Rodney Scott of Rodney Scott’s BBQ on upper King Street was named Best Chef: Southeast, and FIG won the national award for Outstanding Wine Program, according to the foundation.

It was Scott’s first nomination. He is the first African American to win the Southeast award and only the second barbecue pitmaster recognized by the Beard awards, The Post and Courier reported. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Texas was the first, winning Best Chef: Southwest in 2015.

Scott took three steps toward the podium before the weight of the award hit him, the newspaper reported.

“The food has to be good tomorrow,” he told himself.

“That nervousness kicked in,” Scott said. He had figured on two or three years of nominations before he won, he said.

From Hemingway to King Street

The Scott family has cooked barbecue in Hemingway, in Williamsburg County, since 1972, The Post and Courier has reported. Rodney Scott was barely known beyond the county before 2009, when Southern Foodways Alliance director John T. Edge wrote about Scott’s Bar-B-Que for The New York Times. Guest chef appearances followed, many of them in Charleston.

Scott announced in late August 2016 that he would open at 1011 King St., in the former Chick’s Fry House building. The Hemingway restaurant would stay open, with his father and eldest son minding the pits, the newspaper reported then. Reggie Gibson Architects designed a pit house for the Charleston site similar to the one it built in Hemingway after a fire there, and the city’s Board of Architectural Review approved the plans that September.

Rodney Scott’s BBQ opened Feb. 8, 2017, with a free training session, then settled into a daily schedule of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu runs from whole hog, chicken, ribs and fried catfish to 11 side dishes and banana pudding. Two weeks after the opening, the newspaper reported that barbecue fans had organized trips from as far away as Canada.

Scott became the first pitmaster nominated for Best Chef: Southeast when the finalists were announced in March.

“Wow, I’m speechless. Wow,” he said then.

The other finalists were Mashama Bailey of The Grey in Savannah, Katie Button of Curate in Asheville, Cassidee Dabney of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, and Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman of Memphis, according to The Post and Courier.

FIG’s wine list

The wine award recognizes “a restaurant in operation five or more years that serves as a standard bearer for excellence in wine service through a well-presented wine list, knowledgeable staff, and efforts to educate customers about wine,” according to the category description.

FIG chef Mike Lata and his business partner, Adam Nemirow, traveled to Chicago with a crew from the restaurant. Accepting the award, Nemirow introduced wine director Morgan Calcote and thanked Lata, chef Jason Stanhope and several former managers who had shaped the wine list, including Brooks Reitz, David McCarus and Justin Coleman, The Post and Courier reported.

The other nominees in the category were a.o.c. of Los Angeles, Bacchanal of New Orleans, Benu of San Francisco and The Little Nell of Aspen, Colo. FIG first appeared on the foundation’s list for the wine award in 2014, the newspaper reported in March.

FIG’s list is small and focused. “Our wine list is focused on relevance and quality rather than depth or quantity,” the restaurant’s website says, as quoted by The Post and Courier.

The restaurant’s chefs have twice won Best Chef: Southeast, Lata in 2009 and Stanhope in 2015. Lata said that after his own win he worried about “meeting the expectations of the guests,” but found he did the best cooking of his career immediately after winning, according to the newspaper.

Lata agreed with Scott’s takeaway from the evening.

“Time to get to work,” Scott said.

Other winners

Other Southern winners included Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, Ala., which won Outstanding Restaurant, and its pastry chef, Dolester Miles, who won Outstanding Pastry Chef, according to the foundation. Nina Compton of Compère Lapin in New Orleans won Best Chef: South.