Here’s something for those of you who are fond of banging your head against a wall: The James Beard Foundation is accepting recommendations for its 2022 chef and restaurant awards.

Bang lightly, however, as this will be the first award program following an audit conducted by the foundation to attempt to make the awards more diverse, both in nominees and voting body, and remove any systemic bias.

(If I were giving this information in front of a live audience, this is where I would pause for laughter.)

If you’ve been kicking yourself because you missed out on booking the Flavorful Escape to New York City tour that I’m hosting in conjunction with Art In Voyage, I have good news: We’ve just had one room open up for the Dec. 8-12 trip.

That’s less than two months away so click on the Art In Voyage link for details and to snag that room. We’re keeping the group small – 10 or 11 of us – so no additional rooms will be added.

It’s going to be a wonderful return to New York, and December is one of my favorite times of the year to be there. We’ll do culinary tours to Chinatown and Little Italy, we’ll have high tea overlooking Central Park, we’ll take a class at the legendary Murray’s Cheese in Greenwich Village and do some cooking at De Gustibus Cooking School at the top of Macy’s in Herald Square.

Bad As’s Sandwich, the Milk District Foodster Award-winner that opened a second restaurant in Winter Park last year, has closed that location.

A post on the sandwicherie’s Facebook page told customers about the closing, saying, “Knowing when to walk and learning how to grow during these uncertain times!”

The statement continued: “As most of you know, we opened our Fairbanks [Avenue] location in the midst of a global pandemic, meanwhile, in the past 15 months, we have given it our all to grow a buisness during these difficult and challenging times without any government help, making it very difficult to sustain.”

Bad As’s chef and owner is John Collazo.

The post also said that the Winter Park staff had been moved to the original location at 207 N. Primrose Drive in Orlando and that “new projects” would be coming soon.

Originally operating as a food truck, Bad As’s Sandwich went brick-and-mortar in 2017 with the opening of the Milk District shop.