It took Natasha Bahrami a moment to process the text message from her friend as she checked her phone between meetings one morning in January: “Congratulations!”
“I almost had no idea what it was about,” she said.
But in the following moments, Bahrami, the owner of the Gin Room on South Grand Avenue in St. Louis, realized two things: She had just been named a semifinalist in the James Beard Foundation Awards for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and so had the friend who texted her, Alisha Blackwell-Calvert.
“She's a brilliant woman, very talented, very deserving,” said Blackwell-Calvert, an advanced sommelier and the beverage director at Madrina in Webster Groves. “So not only am I excited for myself, but I'm also cheering on my friend.”
The James Beard Foundation’s annual awards are considered among the most prestigious in the culinary world. The list of semifinalists for 2025 included seven St. Louis-area restaurants, chefs, and hospitality professionals in the regional and national categories.
The inaugural list for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, which considers pros from around the country, included two St. Louis women: Bahrami and Blackwell-Calvert.
“This is one of the best recognitions and ultimate compliments I can get as a professional. This is like the Oscars of the restaurant industry,” said Blackwell-Calvert. “I've done a lot of studying, a lot of mentorship, a lot of sacrifice, to sit in this chair and talk about this, and it's more than just reading about wine. It's taking pride in my work, and making sure that the sommeliers behind me also have a legacy and a path to walk.”
According to its description of the category, the foundation honors a candidate who “has set high standards; demonstrates creativity and consistency in excellence, innovation, hospitality; is making efforts to create a sustainable work culture; and has served as an exceptional example or mentor for other beverage professionals.”
“It makes me cry every time,” said Bahrami, who added that the description makes her think of her parents, the owners of the longtime South Grand fixture, Cafe Natasha (now Salve Osteria), that houses the Gin Room. "I think that they were a glowing, outstanding representative of hospitality, when that word was never even used,” she said. “I feel like I've worked to go into the shoes that they've built and try to continue to create things that are not about having a business. It's about creating a community.”
The story of Bahrami’s passion for gin starts with a sip of a dirty martini with the spirit as its main ingredient, instead of the more commonplace vodka.
“Gin is a category of spirit that has such a range of flavor profiles, that it allows you to be very unique within yourself, and that's really exciting,” she said.
She moved home to St. Louis and decided to open a gin bar in her parents’ Persian restaurant. She's gone on to found Ginworld, a global network of gin and beverage enthusiasts and educators with pop-up events, teaching programs and other efforts to build community around the spirit.
“Everyone told me it wouldn't work. I understand, great. I've never been somebody who lives within those bounds. So I knew I had something to overcome,” she said. “Still to this day, we are an education-focused bar. You can step in here. You say, I like gin. Your best friend can't stand gin. You brought them anyway.”
In the past decade since the opening of the Gin Room, the number of gin distilleries in Missouri has gone from three to more than 20, according to Bahrami’s count. The bar has received prior national and international recognition, including from the James Beard Foundation and as part of the World’s 50 Best Discovery list last month.
“St Louis is a beer and bourbon town,” she said. “What we did was person by person, cocktail by cocktail, spoon by spoon, really try to find ways to bring people over to the category of gin by building trust.”
It’s an approach she says she shares with fellow semifinalist Blackwell-Calvert.
“The two things we do really have in common is we spend our lives educating,” said Bahrami. “We spend our lives being welcoming, so that we can be open to other people learning, and we spend that time just joyfully loving what we do.”
For Blackwell-Calvert, a science education helped hone her instincts as Madrina's beverage director.
“I learned in school about the basic biology and chemistry of plants. That works for grapevines too,” she said. “You take all of these things into consideration when you're talking about wine. Where it's grown, how it's grown, what part of the world it's from, what kind of soil these grape vines are grown in, and little things you pick up along the way. And you realize they have a very big impact on what's in the glass at the end of the day.”
As beverage director, it’s her job to ensure every drink option is served in its optimal presentation, from the temperature at which it’s kept to the glass in which it’s delivered. At Madrina, this includes wine, the cocktail menu and all non-alcoholic options – even water.
“The service side of things is something to take seriously,” she said, pointing out that the drinks are part of an overall dining experience. “You have to take all of these things into consideration when you're pairing wine and food together.”
Despite her science background, Blackwell Calvert sees her craft more as an art.
“Even though there's guidelines, like how you mix paint together, there are also no rules at the same time,” she said. She loves pairing red wine with fish, for example. But even more, she loves helping people discern their tastes, and navigate the well-curated Madrina beverage list.
“We want to embrace wine drinkers, old and new alike,” she said.
“St. Louis is an epitome of that Midwest hospitality."Natasha Bahrami, The Gin Room
The women say the recognition has been validating for their own work as well as that of the St. Louis hospitality scene.
“Even as an advanced sommelier, when I'm approaching a table because they ask for the sommelier, you still sometimes get that look like, you're the sommelier? And it's getting better, but I know being a woman of color, there's always that person that wants to downplay your accomplishments or or challenge what you're saying just for sport. So it feels great to have that validation that I do know what I'm doing and I am worthy,” said Blackwell Calvert.
“I think that St Louis has such a rich community of people who want to help each other and see each other succeed,” she added. “So I hope, in the spirit of things, I can continue with that legacy of helping the next person grow and be a better professional.”
“St. Louis is an epitome of that Midwest hospitality,” said Bahrami, adding that it’s unsurprising to have the region so well represented in this new category. “Our genuine happiness to be part of other people's lives is something that not necessarily every city fully embraces.”
The James Beard Foundation will announce the finalists for its 2025 awards on April 4.
