The first James Beard Foundation Awards were handed out in 1991, at a ceremony that featured sculpted tributes to the late Beard made out of chocolate, ice and cheese. Back then Hawaii was lumped into the Best Chef Northwest category and Caprial Pence, then at Fuller's restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, was the award's first recipient.

Some of Seattle's James Beard recipients have retired from restaurant life, or in the case of Pence, moved to Portland. However most of our Beard winners have been busy in recent months. Both Scott Carsberg and Jason Wilson rolled out first-time happy hours and Maria Hines has, of course, been busy with her second restaurant, Golden Beetle. Jerry Traunfeld just brought on a new pastry chef at Poppy and developed the menu for Grace Kitchen at U Village. Next month Tamara Murphy will open the long-awaited (very long-awaited) Terra Plata in the Melrose Market, once again giving a local Beard winner a flagship to call her own.

The 2012 Beard are still months away, but here's a quick look at the whereabouts of award winners who are still in the biz. Did we miss anyone?