Russ Cowan was just as surprised as anyone to learn from a phone call on Jan. 21 that he’s a semifinalist in the prestigious James Beard awards.
“This was Wednesday morning and people started calling me,” recalled Cowen, owner of Radin’s Delicatessen in the township. “I wasn’t aware. Obviously I know who James Beard is, he added of the prestigious culinary arts contest. “But, I had no warning whatsoever …
“Friends or people in the business, it just got out there pretty quickly,” he added. “So between emails and texts and phone calls, I had a lot of people reaching out to me.”
What surprised Cowan almost as much as being nominated was that deli foods are even considered in the first place.
“What’s interesting about this kind kind of product … this segment of the food industry, is usually not recognized by these types of awards,” he explained. “It’s just not something that’s typical. Usually, you’re getting fine dining or steakhouse or something very particular, but not corned beef and pastrami.
“This is definitely a little different.”
In a contest with multiple categories, Cowan – who has owned more than 20 restaurants in his 35-year career in the restaurant business – was nominated alongside 19 others for the title of best chef in the mid-Atlantic. The process started in October, when the James Beard Foundation began soliciting entries and recommendations. That process ended on Nov. 21, followed by the announcement of the semifinalists two months later.
Finalists will be named on March 31, with the winners to be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on June 15 at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.
Cowan actually has a connection to the awards. About 40 years ago, he went with his mother to the James Beard House in the West Village in New York City – where the late restaurateur once lived – to taste the food of various chefs.
“I grew up in New York in the city and my mother was a member of the James Beard House,” he remembered, “and they used to have a brownstone in the West Village. They would always have different chefs come in and prepare dinners, and I used to go there with her and – probably talking about 35, 40 years ago – I would go to some of these dinners at the James Beard House.
“So it’s kind of very interesting that my name came up … For me it’s kind of a personal issue because of what my mother’s connection was with the James Beard Foundation.”
Cowan owned the Famous 4th Street Deli in Philadelphia for 19 years and built Radin’s Delicatessen so he’d only have a two-minute commute to work. He plans to stay put.
“For years, I was what you’d call a store flipper,” he acknowledged. “I’d build a store, develop it, sell it … But then when I did Famous 4th Street, I kind of ended up there for 19 years. I didn’t expect to be there for that long, but I was. And it was a great run, and then I built this store. Next month is going to be two years …
“This is my final store,” Cowan added. “I’m done. I had a lot of stores. I enjoy it. I enjoy the business. But I built this so close to my house just to make my life easier. So that’s kind of what I plan to do.”
